From: Judith Preston <[log in to unmask]

> Ben,
>
> You posted regarding the Glycemic index a quote including the following:
>
> HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The glycemic index was
> developed for helping diabetics choose foods that would not cause
> big swings in blood glucose levels.  The type of starch, particle
> size, maturation of a fruit or vegetable, cooking time, and many
> other factors affect the glycemic index.  Only knowledge of many
> variables makes the glycemic index useful for those who need to
> control their blood sugar.
>
>
>     I have some major problems with the glycemic index.  The major one is
> that it doesn't seem to work as far as I can tell.

Glycemic Index works on a day to day basis. Over a month by month or year by
year basis it may be different. GI is not a diabetic treatment, it's just a
meausure of "how sugary" a food is.The problem is that it's combined with a
grain based Neolithic Diet to help diabetics. The obvious problem here is
that grain based neolithic diets are the CAUSE of diabetes hence they are
NOT going to CURE it. (this beng the Paleo point of view).
>
> I most diabetics I know are Type II, and I used to be on the alt.diabetes
> forum.  There I learned a lot, about how people follow this glycemic index
> to the letter, yet their diabetes condition worsens, and over the years on
> the diet they have to add more and more meds.  Many people are on 3 or
more
> meds after 5-10 years of following these guidelines...I believe they are
set
> up by the US dept of health?
>
> Anyways, diabetes II can be successfully treated so that you need NO meds,
> and many doctors have diets which include paleo-type guidelines (sorry, I
am
> not a hardliner!) and they have treated diabetes patients back to full
> health, with no meds.

Yes, many diabetics on this group have reported excellent results from
Paleo. I think that posts from this group need a warning footer advising
diabetics on medication that this diet can cause hypo's- ie it's extremely
effective. Ray Audette in Neanderthin got off insulin within a few days of
starting the paleodiet. Now, I presume that Ray had type 2 diabetes. Most
type 1 (juvenile ) diabetics have permanently lost their pancreatic beta
cells and therefore can no longer make insulin.

>
> It may be a well intentioned diet, but in practice I have never heard of
it
> curing one case of diabetes.


Again, GI is just a tool- it can be combined with any diet you like.
ALthough it's not popular, one can have a high carb Paleo diet- by loading
up with fruit veges and root veges. Most of these have low GI.

The real thing about bread, rice, pasta, etc is that it has a GI of 80-90
mostly. Therefore, 100 grams of bread will have the same effect on your
blood sugar as 80-90g of sugar. This has been UNFORTUNATELY used to promote
the idea that sugar is not a villain (because it's so close to bread , and
we know bread is good, so sugar must be good-
YUK)http://www.monash.edu.au/ANF/newsletter/Feb-98/2.htm . The correct
interpretation IMHO is that they're all bad, and that Paleo diets are the
answer. The real proble is that there is a dearth (ie bugger all) clinical
research done on diet.

Ben Balzer
>
> Judith