Diabetic Mediterranean Diet

From Dr. Guyenet:

“You’ve heard the story before: when you eat carbohydrate-rich foods that digest quickly, it sends your blood sugar and insulin levels soaring, then your blood sugar level comes crashing back down and you feel hungry and cranky.  You reach for more carbohydrate, perpetuating the cycle of crashes, overeating, and fat gain.

It sounds pretty reasonable– in fact, so reasonable that it’s commonly stated as fact in popular media and in casual conversation.  This idea is so deeply ingrained in the popular psyche that people often say “I have low blood sugar” instead of “I’m hungry” or “I’m tired”.  But this hypothesis has a big problem: despite extensive research, it hasn’t been clearly supported.  I’ve written about this issue before.

A new study offers a straightforward test of the hypothesis, and once again finds it lacking.”

Source: Whole Health Source: Do Blood Glucose Levels Affect Hunger and Satiety?

The study at hand involved 15 healthy young men. Results may not apply to overweight post-menopausal women with T2 diabetes, but I bet they do.

Steve Parker, M.D.

“About 700,000 cholecystectomies are performed every year in the United States, according to the American College of Surgeons. Most are the result of blockage due to gallstones. “Gallstones are very common, but most of them are asymptomatic, meaning people have no symptoms. If you don’t have any symptoms from your gallstones, there’s no reason to have your gallbladder removed,” said Dr. James Lewis, a gastroenterologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia who was not part of the study.

The vast majority of people with gallstones never have problems from them, Lewis said in a phone interview.”When they do cause problems, then having your gallbladder removed is completely appropriate,” he said.

64,000 women surveyedThe new study, led by Dr. Amelie Barre at the University of Paris Sud in Orsay, used information on nearly 64,000 women who were born between 1925 and 1950 and covered by a national insurance plan. Every two years, they answered questions about their health status, medical history, and lifestyle.

Over the course of 18 years, 2,778 of the women had their gallbladder removed.Women who ate the most legumes, fruits, vegetable oil, and whole grain bread were anywhere from 13 to 27 per cent less likely to have gallbladder surgery than were women who ate the least of those foods.”

Source: Mediterranean diet tied to lower risk of gallbladder surgery: study – Health – CBC News

Click the link at bottom for details about the healthy Mediterranean diet. You’ll see a reference to a low-carb Mediterranean diet that helps newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics avoid drug therapy. Click here my free low-carb Mediterranean diet.

Some quotes:

“A diet with a name that conjures up memories of suppers in the sunshine, the Mediterranean diet plan celebrates the fresh, colourful produce of a region that boasts an enviable life expectancy. Hence why it has been heralded as one of the world’s best diets – but what makes Med cuisine so healthy?

What is a Mediterranean diet? The diet plan consists mostly of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, pasta, rice and olive oil, with a moderate amount of cheese, wine, yogurt, nuts, fish, eggs, poultry and pulses, and meat thrown in.

Unlike our diet in the UK, which tends to be very high in saturated fats (pies, pastries, meats, pizza and take away foods like kebabs and burgers), the Mediterranean diet includes more monounsaturated fats, such as plant oils, nuts, seeds and oily fish.”

Source: What’s so healthy about a Mediterranean diet?

Osteoarthritis, aka degenerative joint disease, is quite common in folks over 45 and eventually may require knee replacement surgery. Recovery from that surgery is slow and painful; best to avoid it if you can.

Having good strength in the muscle that extends the knee helps to preserve the knee joint. That muscle is the quadriceps.

Click below for the evidence:

“Although limited, the reviewed studies suggest that participation in a resistance training program can potentially counteract the functional limitations seen in knee osteoarthritis; positive associations were found between increased muscle strength and walking self-efficacy, reduced pain, improved function, and total WOMAC score. Notably, improvements were greater in maximal versus submaximal effort testing, possibly due to a ceiling effect.”

Source: Strength training for treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee: A systematic review – Lange – 2008 – Arthritis Care & Research – Wiley Online Library

To get started on strengthening the quadriceps muscle, consider the following four-minute video that is two minutes too long:
Note her mention of ankle weights.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: If you’re overweight or obese, you lower limb joints will last longer if you lose the fat by following one of my books.