What you should know about a Diabetic Diet (especially since your doctor doesn't!)

Regarding a heart healthy diet:

 

The heart is best protected by eating natural, low carbohydrate foods such as non-starchy vegetables, meats, fish, eggs, high fat dairy, nuts, and healthy oils.  Limiting all manner of carbohydrates is paramount for diabetics of all ages.  Our bodies cannot metabolize carbs and do not thrive while on a high carb diet.  

Eggs are the perfect protein.  They contain all essential and non-essential amino acids.  

Sodium is a necessary and vital mineral and limiting it would be detrimental.  Rather than table salt, which is unhealthy, Himalayan Pink salt should be used. 

Cholesterol is a vital nutrient, without which we will die.  Lower cholesterol levels have been associated with early mortality and higher cholesterol has been associated with longevity.  HDL and LDL are not exactly cholesterol but they’re envelopes that carry cholesterol through the body.  HDL carries the old cholesterol to the liver to be recycled.  If cholesterol is so bad, why would our body bother to recycle it?  Simply because our body needs it.  Our bodies make 2,000 mg of cholesterol every single day.  Nearly every single cell in the body makes cholesterol. Cholesterol works as a band-aid to help arteries that are corroding, getting ulcers or getting inflammation. It acts as a healing agent and that’s why cholesterol is in the artery – to heal it.  It’s not the culprit; it’s the middleman.  Most of our brain is made of cholesterol to allow the insulation to travel through the nerves.

All the cell walls are made from cholesterol.  Most hormones are made from cholesterol, especially the sex hormones.  It’s also needed to make vitamin D to help convert and increase the calcium in the blood.  With that, we can transport other vitamins into the bone. Thus, we desperately need cholesterol to survive.

 

Now about “bad cholesterol.”  They're not really bad.  They’re envelopes to transport calcium back and forth.  Out of the LDL, only a very small part of it is really bad.  LDL comes in different sizes, and the really small ones form the plaque.  But, the purpose is to heal the inflammation.  What causes inflammation?  Sugar and cortisol.  Sugar is the biggest culprit.  Cortisol is also anti-inflammatory in nature but, when it loses that effect, you’ll end up with inflammation in the body.

 

Saturated fats are healthy for you and protect vital organs.  Unsaturated and trans fats such as canola oil, soybean oil, and margarine are best avoided at all costs.  Olive oil, coconut oil, and full fat grass-fed butter are best.  

Grains of all kinds should be avoided for diabetics as they spike blood sugars and increase inflammation.  

Non-starchy vegetables should be consumed, but not vegetables that are higher in carbs.  

Fruits should be avoided as they contain natural sugars that spike blood sugars.  Avocados are the exception.  

Low fat dairy products are unhealthy.  They contain extra sugar and spike blood sugars.

All sweets should be avoided.  They are unhealthy and spike blood sugars, causing inflammation and complications.  They cannot be bolused for with insulin adequately.

Hypo- and hyperthyroidism cannot be properly medicated without a full thyroid panel.  TSH is a pituitary hormone that is useless in the treatment of thyroid imbalances.  Only by examining the Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3, and thyroid antibody values can an accurate dose and type of mediation be prescribed.  Suppressed TSH means adequate T3 and T4 are being used by the body, because the TSH is not knocking on the thyroid’s door asking for more to be produced. 

Regarding ketones:

Ketones are best measured with a blood test rather than a urine test.  Urine tests are highly inaccurate.  

When a diabetic follows a low carb diet, ketones become less of an issue.  When blood sugars are normal, there is nothing to worry about.  It is only when there is a lack of insulin and very high blood sugars that high ketones become a problem.  But when the blood sugar is constantly maintained at a normal level on a low carb diet, monitoring ketones becomes obsolete.  They act as a protective agent for the brain, especially in the event of a low blood sugar.