I think it is bad health insurance or lack of it for many years, that meant I didnt see a CDE until now.

I guess my thought is that keeping my food consistant while fine tuning my dosing leaves me with less variables. I realize the CDE is not embracing the alternative lifestyle I speak of. And coming from a Standard American Diet perspective. It's frustrating, so many experts, who don't consider food as medicine. I cannot believe that i have been diabetic for 15 years and its the first time I've had a one on one session with a CDE, why didnt I get assistance years ago?! It is helping.

I did 30 days of low glycemic raw, based on Gabriel Cousens. Have not been able to maintain it 100%. It was intense, lost 20 lbs. in about a month. Have since gained it back. I'd love to talk more, and hear your experience.

My fasting BG Saturday a.m was 78, this morning was 108.
Yesterday I enjoyed a pizza for the first time in over a year:)

Parrformance

Feel free to ask me any time about anything. I've experimented with a number of supplements targeted at 1. blood glucose control 2. depression, and 3. fibromyalgia. Since you referenced HbA1C, I'm assuming that you're primarily interested in #1. I've found with chronic diseases that there's no 'magic bullet'. We all know that carb calorie control and daily exercise is critical in order to maintain good BGL (blood glucose levels). At one point, I realized that there must be a missing component, since, despite the low carb diet and daily exercise, I was still struggling with good BGL. I had read two different books and many online articles suggesting that my insulin sensitivity could be improved with the right nutrients and/or supplements. One such nutrient that I realized I was not getting enough of (and Metformin has been shown to deplete you of) was potassium (see article)... which is found in abundance in avocados, almonds, bananas, apricots, and others. I was a bit worried about the sugar content, at first, but soon realized that the nutrients had enough of a beneficial effect on BGL regulation than the adverse effects of the sugar. Adding those foods to my daily diet made a remarkable difference. That's not to say that it is the only thing. I had been taking supplements like fenugreek, gymnema sylvestre, cinnamon, bitter melon, chromium, vanadium, banaba leaf, and others prior to increasing my potassium intake. Shortly after getting my BGL under control, I stopped taking Metformin with only positive results. (I hate the stuff). That was 2008. Since then, I discovered Dr. Joel Fuhrman MD who wrote the book "Eat To Live", which is all about shifting your nutrient to Calorie ratio from low to high. This makes all the difference in the world. Giving your body more of what it needs and less of what it doesn't need (excess carbs). I feel that this is key toward maintaining and/or improving an ailing pancreas. I hear that T2DM is a progressive disease quite a bit. I maintain that it's only a progressive disease if you continue to do those things that provoked it in the first place. (low nutrient, carb rich diet, and sedate lifestyle). I love to write about this stuff and intend to reestablish a webpage on it (mine was taken away by Geocities some time ago) when time avails. Feel free to write with more questions, just be patient as my life is pretty full right now. - Be well, Craig

Wow thank you for that information it was very helpful and I will pass this information along to my husbanc=nd. Again thank you for the information.

I've never used cassava as such, it may be included in the flour mixes of some of the GF products I use. Since I found a brown rice bread I like & know the carb factor for me, I don't do much baking, mainly as I rarely eat desert. I mainly use brown rice flour to thicken gravy etc. Mixed with dessicated coconut it makes a delicious crumble topping for the few times I do make desert.

It has been shown that T1s are statistically more likely to have Celiac than the general population, I'm noy sure if it works the other way or not.

I think diabetic side effects are a crap shoot, I've been lucky, nothing until the mid-80s when I developed retinopathy in 1 eye, after a lot of laser treatments that has now been stable for over 10 years, & who knows what my control was like in the 60s & 70s. But my friend really suffers from neuropathy, but no eye problems. That's why the Joslin 50 year medalists study is so interesting, they are trying to determine if the lack of side effects in some long term T1s is genetic.

So just do the best you can & don't worry about side effects. Sorry maybe I am being too glib.

50 years of T1 is not that dramatic, one just plods on, luckily I always had good friends who accepted it.

I was diagnosed Celiac in the early 70s about 10 years after the T1, but I think I had it for a few years. As I remember the diabetes got a lot easier to control when I want gluten free, in those days there weren't many gluten free products around, luckily I always liked cooking.

What makes you think you might be Celiac?