My son has now had type 1 diabetes for 12 months. He recently had a full blood work performed for his 1 year doctor's review. I still have not revealed my son's low carb diet to his healthcare team, so they assume he eats the standard (unhealthy) Australian diet.
So, here are his astounding blood test results. Note that the units we use in Australia are mmol/L. The figures in brackets are what is deemed to be normal range.
TYROID FUNCTION TESTS
Free T4 13.5pmol/L (9-19)
TSH 0.9mIU/L (0.3-5.3)
ROUTINE CHEMISTRY
Sodium 137 mmol/L (132-145)
Potasium 4 mmol/L (3.5-5.5)
Chloride 104 mmol/L (95-110)
Total Protein 69 g/L (65-80)
Albumin 43 g/L (39-49)
Globulin 26 g/L (20-38)
HbA1c 5.6% (non diabetic range is 4-6)
HDL CHOLESTEROL
Cholesterol 4.6mmol/L (3.9-5.5)
Triglycerides 0.5 mmol/L (0.6-2.0)
HDL 1.54 mmol/L (0.9-1.50)
Total cholesterol/HDL 3.0 (0-4.5)
I have some comments to make on these readings.
Total protein is within normal parameter, in fact on the low end of normal. And this is whilst eating protein with every meal. So eating more protein than the average Australian (who usually eats toast and cereal for breakfast) does not lead to a rise in blood protein. Yep, bacon and eggs for breakfast every day.
HbA1c - this measures how much advanced glycation end products (AGES) is stuck to the haemoglobin cells in the blood. This one is so simple to explain; the more carbohydrate you eat, the faster the rate you will produce AGES. AGES are the cause of: atherosclerosis, cataracts, dementia, kidney disease, wrinkle, cancer, peripheral neuropathy. This explains why diabetics develop complications. But, non diabetics can still develop these complications on a high carb diet. In essence; A LOW CARB/HIGH FAT DIET=SLOW RATE OF AGING.
The comment on his pathology results said that it may be a good idea to aim for a HIGHER HbA1c in children or elderly, due to the risk of hypoglycemia. Sorry, but this is completely wrong. You do not want to raise your HbA1c. Moreover, the risk of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) is dramatically lowered when you eat a low carb diet, mainly due to the decreased risk of error in injecting insulin. When you eat high carb, you need to inject high amounts of insulin. If you over inject, it can result in hypoglycemia. but, if you eat low carb, you only need a small amount of insulin, and even if you make an error in the amount injected, it will only be a tiny error, with not much consequence on your blood glucose. It follows the principle of
low input=low error risk. Sometimes my son only injects 0.1 units of insulin for his food, which is tiny. And even if he made a 50% error and doubled the amount of insulin, it would still be just a tiny amount injected of 0.2 units. However, if he required a large dose of insulin and made a 50% error, it could be disastrous.
Now for the most dramatic results; the lipid panel. Let me explain what the abbreviations mean.
HDL stands for high density lipoprotein. It is actually a PARTICLE , NOT A TYPE OF CHOLESTEROL. There is only ONE type of cholesterol, but different types of particles containing the cholesterol. There is no such thing as "good" and "bad" cholesterol, as doctors usually describe it.
HDL particles transport used cholesterol from tissue back to the liver to recycle it and put it in other lipoprotein particles. Your body is trying to CONSERVE cholesterol because it is so important - especially in the brain. HDLs can remove LDLs lodged in the artery endothelium.
LDL stands for low density lipoprotein. There are two types of LDL particles: big and small, however you need a special test to measure the two types - by nuclear magnetic resonance lipoprotein analysis. But, I don't think this is ever done, as doctors generally only think there is just one type of LDL.
Trigs is short for triglycerides, another name for fats. As you can see, my son's triglycerides were even LOWER than normal range. Surprisingly, this has been achieved whilst eating lots of fat: bacon ,eggs, meats, fish, coconut oil, macadamia nut oil, walnut oil, olive oil, butter and cream! Fat is good for us (in the context of a low carb diet), despite what dieticians and TV advertising tell us. Fat is the most efficient type of fuel for humans.
One important thing to note is, lipid panels are "calculated" and not "measured" which is the norm for doing these blood tests. Please head on over to Wheat Belly Blog for a detailed explanation of this.
http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2013/11/a-grain-eaters-cholesterol-panel/
http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/category/triglycerides/
How has my son with type 1 diabetes achieved these excellent results? With a low carbohydrate diet of course. Eating carbs stimulates insulin release which instigates conversion of carbs to fat for times of famine. I recommend reading
Wheat Belly by Dr Davis, The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson, Grain Brain by Dr Perlmutter , The Rosedale Diet by Dr Rosedale, The Diabetes Solution by Dr Bernstein for an explanation as to why it is carbohydrate and not saturated fat which causes heart disease. Please also refer to the many websites in my sidebar which are great resources for health restoration with healthy eating.
If you have diabetes, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease, digestive disease or neurological disease, please do your own research by reading books and websites.
Yes, everybody is different, but the same principle applies to every human; the more carbohydrate your eat, the higher your blood glucose will be.
2013 was the worst year of my life - learning to live with type1 diabetes. But, learning how to control this deadly disease simply by changing diet and exercise has been empowering, and I really hope my son can be a role model for other type 1 children. Diabetes does not have to result in devastating complications. Eating and cooking low carb is not difficult - it just involves some effort. Watching what my son goes through on a daily basis is difficult- cooking low carb is not in comparison. And when I receive such excellent result as these, it encourages me even more to maintain the low carb lifestyle, and reinforces that all I have researched does work when put into practice.
A very happy new year to all my readers. Lisa xo
A very tired little diabetic alert puppy.
