Atkins Diabetes Revolution (40 page)

Answers1.c.2.a.3.b.4.a.5.b and c.6.a,b,and c.7.a and b.

AN ALTERNATIVE TO DRUGS

When her doctor prescribed diabetes medication, April Greer vowed never to take it. By choosing to follow the Atkins Nutritional Approach instead, she kept her promise to herself—and is living proof that a low-carb lifestyle reaps healthy rewards.

For several months, I had been going to the doctor because of chronic bladder infections. One day he decided to run a urine test. It turned out that the sugar level in my urine was very high, which led him to investigate further. He found that my average blood sugar was 207. When he said, “You are a full-blown diabetic,” his words triggered what would be my personal turning point.

My doctor prescribed diabetes medication, but I did not fill it because I didn’t want to become dependent on pills. I knew that the typical treatment for Type 2 diabetes starts with pills and ends with shots. So I visited the Atkins Web site, and after reading the information, I wanted to start implementing the Atkins program that very minute. Truly, the last thing
on my mind was losing weight. My husband liked me the way I was. What I did think about was being able to play football with my sons, who are now six and nine years old. I also feared having organ troubles and maybe losing limbs if I couldn’t get my diabetes under control.

BEFORE AFTER

N
AME
: April Greer

A
GE
:34

H
EIGHT
: 5 feet 3 inches

W
EIGHT
B
EFORE
:

    
237 pounds

W
EIGHT
N
OW
:

    
137 pounds

From the beginning, I was very serious and careful about doing Atkins. I tested my blood sugar every morning and evening. During the first two weeks my blood sugar dropped from 207 to 148. At the end of six months I had lost 100 pounds and my fasting blood sugar stabilized at between 80 and 110. I no longer needed to test my blood sugar every day, which was a real victory.

Looking back, my diet had been a nutritional nightmare. For breakfast, I would have fast-food pancakes or French toast and orange juice; for lunch, takeout burritos or tacos; and pasta with bread was a typical dinner. Now I eat hard-boiled eggs at my desk or pick up some scrambled eggs with bacon or sausage. I still eat a fast-food lunch but I might order a chicken breast with no bun, plus a salad. If I’m pressed for time, I’ll eat an Atkins Advantage bar. For dinner, we have chicken or fish or bunless hamburgers. Sometimes we’ll have breakfast foods like eggs and bacon for dinner. We always have a green veggie. Broccoli has become my vegetable of choice.

I had always been a size 5 in high school, but after my first child I began to gain weight and eat for comfort. It was a very negative cycle: eat, sit, gain, feel tired and depressed, eat, sit, gain….Eventually,I wore asize 22 and had to shop at plus-size stores. My husband really hated those “old lady” clothes. After I had lost about 50 pounds, I no longer wanted to just sit on the couch. I began swimming laps in our pool. At first, four laps left me huffing and puffing but I kept at it and still try to swim every day. Our family also began walking to the park together and playing touch football there regularly. Exercise really gives you an energy boost so the more you exercise, the more you
want
to exercise. This is important for me because I also have a full-time job as a broker for an international freight service that keeps me sitting at a desk.

A week ago I saw my doctor and he said, “Do you realize because of you I now recommend Atkins to all my diabetic patients?” I feel so proud of what I’ve accomplished and feel blessed to be taking no medication or shots. My kids used to look at old pictures of me and ask,“Mom, when are you going to be skinny again?” It hurt me and I hurt for them. Before,when a man would be ahead of me going into a restaurant or store, he’d look behind him, see me, and let the door slam in my face. Now I have three guys
waiting
to hold the door open for me. I can’t tell you what that does for your self-esteem. But what really matters most to me is that I have my health and I’ll be around to enjoy it with my kids.

Note: Your individual results may vary from those reported here. As stated previously, Atkins recommends initial laboratory evaluation and subsequent follow-up in conjunction with your health care provider.

Chapter 22

WALKING AWAY FROM DIABETES

Exercise isn’t an option when it comes to helping improve your insulin sensitivity. It’s mandatory. That it also helps you lose weight and improves your health in other ways is just another huge bonus.

THE EXERCISE ADVANTAGE

Exercise doesn’t just reduce body fat; it increases the amount of muscle you have. Here’s something we bet you didn’t know: More muscle mass helps reshape your body, preserve your strength, and turbo- charge your metabolism. The more muscle you have relative to your body weight, the more insulin sensitive you are. And because muscles burn glucose faster than fat can, the more muscle you have, the more energy you’re able to expend. That’s why exercise and controlling carb intake are the two integral components of the Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program (ABSCP).

Loss of muscle mass is an inevitable part of aging, especially in the absence of regular exercise. That’s one reason your metabolic rate slows down, making it far easier to gain weight. But vast societal changes in the last century have conspired to make even young people fatter as we exercise less and eat more empty calories. The reliance on machinery, particularly the automobile and household appliances such as vacuum cleaners and washing machines, has significantly diminished the amount of physical activity in most people’s lives. To compound our increasingly inactive lifestyles over the past few decades, many people now spend work hours staring at a computer screen or standing in one spot on an assembly line, only to go home, where they crash in front of the “tube.” Combine this couch-potato mentality with a diet heavy in carbohydrates and relatively low in protein (the recommendations of the USDA as expressed in the food guide pyramid), which signals your body to store fat instead of burning it, and you have a recipe for the current health crisis.

ELEVEN REASONS TO WORK OUT

If exercise were a drug,factories wouldn’t be able to make it fast enough. Here are 11 reasons to step it up:

1. To build and tone muscle
   
2. To improve insulin sensitivity
   
3. To raise your ACE (Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium)
   
4. To help maintain weight loss with a more liberal food plan
   
5. To help prevent diabetes if you don’t already have it
   
6. To improve cardiovascular fitness and longevity
   
7. To help lower blood pressure
   
8. To help improve blood lipids and clotting factors
   
9. To help maintain balance and joint support to prevent falls
   
10. To maintain bone density
    
11. To improve energy levels,mood,and ability to deal with stress
    

To buck the trend and avoid becoming a statistic in the epidemic of “diabesity,” you should follow the blood sugar control program outlined in previous chapters and begin an exercise program. In tandem, they will shift into high gear those hormonal signals to burn fat.

EXERCISE HELPS PREVENT DIABETES

The protective effect of exercise against diabetes is powerful—and it’s strongest in the people who are most at risk. Let’s look at a very interesting study.Researchers reviewed the patterns of physical activity and other personal characteristics of nearly 6,000 male graduates of a major university over a 15-year period. Among the men who had several risk factors for diabetes at the start of the study—including a family history, being overweight, and high blood pressure—the ones who actually went on to develop diabetes by the end of the study were the ones who were the least physically active. The at-risk men who were the most physically active were far less likely to develop diabetes. In other words, the protective benefit of increased physical activity was strongest for the men who were at highest risk of diabetes.
1

Similar results were found in a long-term study of more than 110,000 men and women in China. When the members of the group were screened for diabetes in 1986, the researchers found nearly 600 who already had impaired glucose tolerance, or prediabetes. The participants were randomly divided into four groups. One group was the control group, who made no dietary or exercise changes. Of the others, one group made only dietary changes based on the standard diabetes recommendations; one group made no dietary changes but added exercise; and one group added exercise and made dietary changes.After six years, nearly 68 percent of the control group had developed diabetes.In the diet-alone group,nearly 44 percent had developed diabetes; in the exercise-alone group, 41 percent had developed diabetes; and in the diet-and-exercise group, 46 percent had developed diabetes. Exercise alone was actually more helpful in preventing diabetes than the standard diabetes diet alone or the diet in combination with exercise.
2
This is no surprise. The standard carb-filled diet didn’t allow people to do as well, even when they exercised to overcome the effects of all those carbohydrates.

EXERCISE AND YOUR BLOOD SUGAR

Researchers have known for decades that exercise helps to improve insulin resistance by making your muscles more responsive to the effects of insulin. So, if you have signs of the metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, or diabetes, your primary motivation for exercising is crystal clear. But exactly how much improvement can you expect? In an attempt to answer that question, researchers recently conducted a meta- analysis of clinical trials on the effect of exercise in patients with Type 2 diabetes. They looked at the results of 14 different studies using moderate exercise alone—the patients in the study didn’t take any drugs to treat diabetes and they didn’t change their way of eating. The result? Not a lot of weight loss, but significant improvement in blood sugar control as measured by the glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test. In fact, the improvement was enough to make a dent in the risk of diabetic complications.
3
And that was just with exercise alone! Just imagine what can happen when you combine the Atkins controlled- carbohydrate program with exercise.

THE RIGHT PROGRAM FOR YOU

Almost everyone can find an exercise plan that is safe and achievable, but we strongly advise you to consult your doctor before you begin. If you have been completely inactive or have a heart condition, it is
absolutely essential
to do this. You may need a stress test to check if you can exercise safely. These tests are usually easy to do, so don’t hesitate to ask for one. You may be asked to exercise by walking on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike while hooked up to a heart monitor. Sometimes a doctor may also use a medication or a sound wave test (echocardiogram) to provide additional information about your heart function while exercising.

GETTING GOING

Once your physician has given you the green light,how should you begin?

First, before making any fitness changes, you may want to wait until you’ve established your new controlled-carbohydrate dietary program for at least two weeks.Allow your body time to adapt to your new way of eating. Then it will be ready to move on to the next component of your new lifestyle. Of course, those of you who are eager to step up your fitness level can certainly begin to be more active in general to prepare for the official start of your exercise regimen.