Let’s Talk About Diabetes

Many of you comment on my articles here, and I appreciate the chance that this gives me and everyone else to know what’s on your mind. But many other people would rather talk than write about your challenges and successes in controlling your diabetes.

So to enlarge the opportunities for exchanging information and feelings I’m will start a way for us to talk about diabetes. On February 15 — just next Monday — I will kick off the first call. This is a pilot project for me and indeed for the Health Central Network. If it works — in other words if enough people want to participate and actually benefit from the discussion — I’ll lead more of these discussions.

The best time of day to accommodate most of the people who might call in would seem to be 8 p.m. Eastern, which is 7 p.m. Central, 6 p.m. Mountain, and 5 p.m. Pacific. That’s obviously not perfect for everyone, but looks like the best we can do.

We will be able to talk for one hour. I understand that we will be cut off at that time no matter now exciting the discussion turns out to be.

For this first conference call I would like to focus on the most controversial aspect of diabetes control — the best dietary recommendation. My take on the best eating plan, as most of you certainly know, is a very low-carb diet. Let’s talk about the pros and cons, how easy or how difficult that this diet strategy is for controlling our blood glucose levels and our weight. We may also want to talk about whether we eat fructose and/or grains and starches.

If you like, perhaps before joining in the discussion you can review one or more of these articles that I have written about my journey leading me to a very low-carb diet:

1. Here four years ago I outlined the nature of the conflict in “The Carb Controversy” at www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/1490/carb-controversy

2. A very-low carb diet does not mean eliminating all carbs. So here about two years ago I reviewed “The Good Veggies” at www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/20167/good-veggies

3. Then about a year ago in an article that I wrote for the website of Diabetes Self-Management I explained “Why I Low Carb” at
www.mendosa.com/lowcarb.htm

Finally, the call-in number is 1 (800) 977-8002. When you call, a robotic voice will ask for the participant code, so enter 82611869#.

While I have called in to discussions before, this will be my first time leading one. I hope that it will work and will do my best to ensure that it does.

This article is based on an earlier version of my article published by HealthCentral.