Diabetes expert extols new low-carb diet report

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/ju..._new_lowcarb_/




Area Physician, Diabetes Expert Extols New Low-carb Diet Report


Finally, Atkins and low-carbohydrate diet supporters have their vindication.

In a two-year Israeli study released Thursday in the New England Journal
of Medicine, results show low-carb and Mediterranean diets helped
patients lose more weight and lowered their cholesterol and sugar levels
more than patients on low-fat or non-restricted carb diets.

According to Dr. Mary Vernon, a national expert in obesity and diabetes
and chairwoman of the board of the American Society of Bariatric
Physicians, this evidence substantiates her practice in using a low-carb
diet to help diabetics.

Vernon, who practices in Lawrence and Shawnee, was an associate of
Robert C. Atkins, who created the Atkins diet that has been the subject
of debate for numerous years. She also co-wrote “Atkins Diabetes
Revolution.”

The study was sponsored in part by the Atkins Research Foundation and
included a small population of diabetics as subjects, so its findings
could still be up for debate in mainstream medicine. But Vernon has seen
all the proof she needs that food choices can improve diabetics’ lives.

“For years, carbohydrate restriction and the low-carb folks, those of us
who really spent our lives telling patients they could regain metabolic
control and kind of being ostracized for it, we’re finally validated,”
she said.

Vernon said she had seen her patients lose weight, boost energy levels,
lower cholesterol and maintain their blood sugar level, all with a
low-carb focused diet, which she learned later in her career was a
viable alternative to medicine.

She and two of her patients will share their success with the low-carb
diet on a national television show, Diabetes Life Television, which will
be broadcast at 7 p.m. tonight on CNBC.

If you had asked two of her patients to consider a low-carb diet years
ago before they received diabetes diagnoses, they would have scoffed at
the idea.

“I thought it was a bunch of rubbish,” said Bill Simpson, 51, a retired
Emporia State University computer science professor. After receiving a
Type 1 diabetes diagnosis five years ago and “finally being talked into”
the diet, Simpson said, “I know for a fact it saved my life.”

He dropped 60 pounds, lowered his blood pressure and got off insulin all
before he had a heart attack in 2004. He said if he hadn’t lost the
weight, he doesn’t think he would have survived.

“I’m not the one that would go out and seek a diet,” said Susan Ludwick, 57.

Food, especially sweets, had been her weakness for years. Vernon gave
Ludwick a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis in 1986. Ludwick tried to control
her diabetes with medicine and diet and exercise for 20 years.

Ludwick, too, lost about 60 pounds, but she still suffered from fatigue
and high blood pressure. In March 2006, she said she hit “rock bottom.”
It was time for a change, she said, and that’s when she tried the
low-carb diet.

Vernon said she gives patients the option of medicine or diet, and they
decide what they want to try. “Nine times out of 10, they will try the
diet,” she said.

As soon as Ludwick returned home, she cleared her cupboards and
refrigerator of carbs, she said. The diet hasn’t been easy, but she
encourages others who suffer from diabetes or know others with it to
consider the lifestyle change. That’s a reason participating in the show
was important to her, she said.

Ludwick is committed to the changes.

“I think we have an epidemic of diabetes in this country, and I think a
lot of that is the kind of stuff we put in our body,” she said. “I never
want to get back to medication. I never want to get out of the size of
clothes I’m wearing today.”

Good article, thanks. I always like hearing from Mary Vernon. I notice there
appears to be a regularly scheduled TV program on diabetes (1)

"Cookie Cutter" wrote in message
. ..

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/ju..._new_lowcarb_/




Area Physician, Diabetes Expert Extols New Low-carb Diet Report


Finally, Atkins and low-carbohydrate diet supporters have their
vindication.

In a two-year Israeli study released Thursday in the New England Journal
of Medicine, results show low-carb and Mediterranean diets helped patients
lose more weight and lowered their cholesterol and sugar levels more than
patients on low-fat or non-restricted carb diets.

According to Dr. Mary Vernon, a national expert in obesity and diabetes
and chairwoman of the board of the American Society of Bariatric
Physicians, this evidence substantiates her practice in using a low-carb
diet to help diabetics.

Vernon, who practices in Lawrence and Shawnee, was an associate of Robert
C. Atkins, who created the Atkins diet that has been the subject of debate
for numerous years. She also co-wrote “Atkins Diabetes Revolution.”

The study was sponsored in part by the Atkins Research Foundation and
included a small population of diabetics as subjects, so its findings
could still be up for debate in mainstream medicine. But Vernon has seen
all the proof she needs that food choices can improve diabetics’ lives.

“For years, carbohydrate restriction and the low-carb folks, those of us
who really spent our lives telling patients they could regain metabolic
control and kind of being ostracized for it, we’re finally validated,” she
said.

Vernon said she had seen her patients lose weight, boost energy levels,
lower cholesterol and maintain their blood sugar level, all with a
low-carb focused diet, which she learned later in her career was a viable
alternative to medicine.

She and two of her patients will share their success with the low-carb
diet on a national television show, Diabetes Life Television, which will
be broadcast at 7 p.m. tonight on CNBC.

If you had asked two of her patients to consider a low-carb diet years ago
before they received diabetes diagnoses, they would have scoffed at the
idea.

“I thought it was a bunch of rubbish,” said Bill Simpson, 51, a retired
Emporia State University computer science professor. After receiving a
Type 1 diabetes diagnosis five years ago and “finally being talked into”
the diet, Simpson said, “I know for a fact it saved my life.”

He dropped 60 pounds, lowered his blood pressure and got off insulin all
before he had a heart attack in 2004. He said if he hadn’t lost the
weight, he doesn’t think he would have survived.

“I’m not the one that would go out and seek a diet,” said Susan Ludwick,
57.

Food, especially sweets, had been her weakness for years. Vernon gave
Ludwick a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis in 1986. Ludwick tried to control her
diabetes with medicine and diet and exercise for 20 years.

Ludwick, too, lost about 60 pounds, but she still suffered from fatigue
and high blood pressure. In March 2006, she said she hit “rock bottom.” It
was time for a change, she said, and that’s when she tried the low-carb
diet.

Vernon said she gives patients the option of medicine or diet, and they
decide what they want to try. “Nine times out of 10, they will try the
diet,” she said.

As soon as Ludwick returned home, she cleared her cupboards and
refrigerator of carbs, she said. The diet hasn’t been easy, but she
encourages others who suffer from diabetes or know others with it to
consider the lifestyle change. That’s a reason participating in the show
was important to her, she said.

Ludwick is committed to the changes.

“I think we have an epidemic of diabetes in this country, and I think a
lot of that is the kind of stuff we put in our body,” she said. “I never
want to get back to medication. I never want to get out of the size of
clothes I’m wearing today.”