> Leonie wrote:
> 
> Have a look at Dr Bernsteins site. He is a type 1 diabetic who was
> able to stop using insulin. There are testimonials and case studies
> on his site if I 
> remember correctly.
> 
> www.diabetes-normalsugars.com
> 
> Leonie
> 

Yes, I had looked at that site before, but I took another look and it looks
like there is more info there than there was the last time I looked at it
about a year ago (or I missed it). I found answers to most of my questions
there. Dr. Bernstein says that if your pancreatic islet cells get completely
burned out from high blood sugar then you will need to continue to take
insulin the rest of your life (unless and until there are breakthroughs that
make the injections unnecessary), but you can reduce the amount of insulin
you need to take and prevent big blood sugar spikes by reducing carb intake
(and this helps prevent diabetes complications). 

So if Ray Audette did have Type 1, it must have been caught early enough
that he still had some functioning islet cells. From his book, it does sound
like it was diagnosed quickly and Ray began his dietary experiment soon
after being diagnosed. Interestingly, both Ray Audette and Dr. Bernstein
figured out on their own that they could use a blood glucose meter to better
manage their diabetes.

So instead of the conventional method of prescribing patients a high carb
diet with offsetting high doses of insulin injections (which the American
Diabetes Association recommends), Dr. Bernstein recommends a low carb diet
with low doses of insulin. It seems such common sense that it's strange that
most doctors still use the high carb/high dose method. Dr. Bernstein
explains that doctors tend to follow the "orthodoxy of their early training"
and that many of them may be afraid that if diabetic patients can manage
their own low-carb diet and track their own BS levels with a digital meter
on a daily basis, they won't need doctors as much (diabetes patients provide
a large and growing chunk of the business of the medical industry).
Bernstein says he was the first to use a blood glucose meter to manage
diabetes (he began by using it on himself) and says there was much initial
opposition to even letting blood glucose meters be sold to patients.


> Marily wrote:
I was just speaking to someone last night whose brother is slowly going 
blind (although has stabilized for the time being) because of type 2 (adult 
onset) diabetes and his diet seems to allow for starchy foods like white 
bread. We didn't really get into his exact diet but she was saying that it 
was recommended by the Canadian Diabetic Association (or some such 
organization). I wish I could talk to him!

If you are still in touch with the person you spoke to, I would let him/her
know there Dr. Bernstein claims to have stopped the deterioration caused by
retinopathy and glaucoma in some of his patients, and even reverse it. You
can find a testimonial about this here:
http://www.diabetes-normalsugars.com/testimonials/testimonials.shtml


>Carrie wrote: 
This doctor seems bass-ackwards to me--giving a set amount of insulin and
trying 
to manage the child around it? Does seem crazy indeed. 

Yes, and unfortunately it is apparently standard practice.

> For animals, I recommend taking blood glucose readings regularly, and
adjusting the insulin 
dosage as necessary. Over time on a good diet, the necessary dosage becomes 
lower, and sometimes becomes unnecessary. 

That is essentially Dr. Bernstein's approach as well.

> Giving insulin and trying to adjust the animal by feeding sugar seems,
well, stupid. Of course, I'm not 
an M.D.--maybe that's why I don't get it.

Dr. Bernstein thinks it helped him that he was an engineer not wedded to
medical orthodoxy when he hypothesized that an approach using a low carb
diet with frequent blood sugar monitoring might work. He was not brainwashed
by medical school (though he later went through medical school and had to
tolerate listening to the misguided approach).