Diabetic/Training

[Christopher C Brophy]

2 weeks ago was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic...Changed my entire diet now to pretty much exclude all suger...tonight was my first wod in 3 weeks...was difficult...

My question is releated to the zone diet...do you think I could follow the diet even though the carb % is high?

Any recommendations..

Thanks,

Chris

[Greg Battaglia]

Christopher, I'm no doctor, but I do a whole lot of reading of scientific research. Most studies comparing low and high carbohydrate diets have found that the test subjects on low carbohydrate diets had far superior glycemic control as compared to the high carbohydrate participants. To put it simply, diabetes is a disease of sugar metabolism. In simple english, the pancreas gets overused by excessive levels of insulin release and the receptors in your pancreas become desensitized to high blood sugar levels, resulting in a reduction or complete absence of insulin release. With this in mind, we can easily conclude that the less sugar in your blood (the amount of sugar/carbs you eat influence this) the less need there will be for insulin. Remember, I'm not a doctor, but if I was personally in your position I would not follow the Zone approach. Although the carbs in the Zone are mostly of low GI, they are still carbs and still register as sugar in your body. I would look into trying a very low carb diet that includes plenty of fat. Here's a site that I think you should really check out. Jan has helped thousands of people to overcome a lot of diseases simply by switching them to a very high fat diet that is low in carbs. Here it is: http://homodiet.netfirms.com/ I would check out the whole site but specifically the diabetes section, lots of good info.
Another good link is: http://www.theomnivore.com/Diabetes.html
Hope this helped you out.

[John Velandra]

Christopher were you doing the wod before the diagnosis? If so, what were results like? Especially with the metabolic wods....

I've a trainer of ours and we're trying to figure out his T1 diabetes and CrossFit. He's seen good success as a bb, but this is totally new for him.

Love to hear more insight from people on this....

[Christopher C Brophy]

John and Greg:

Thanks for the feed back...My thought on the zone diet is the carb % is too high...

John, yes I was doing the wod's prior to the diagnosis...I am a type 2 so I have pretty much taken out as much sugars as I can...at the time of the diagnosis I was at 300..My blood sugar level is now at 100-111...Last night was my first night back doing the wods and I could tell a difference in my energy level as I have not gotten my diet figured out...

I started the wods around December 1st...this was my first exercise in a while so my metabolic capacity was not very good to begin with but in hindsight I could tell I was struggling...From the strength I improved...what is intersting I started out only able to do 2-3 dead hang pullups but yesterday I did 13...I assumed it was just loss of weight as I have now cut out all fruits and 99% of sugars, i.e., gatorade, orange juice, white breads..

It will be interesting to compare my results now to when I began...Until I can utilize other sources of energy I am going to assume my energy will be low...

[Jonathon Edward]

Chris,

In my opinion, your best bet is to avoid the Zone due to its carbohydrate content. Base your diet on healthy meats, eggs, nuts, olive/coconut oil, and a wide assortment of non-starchy veggies. Once you reach your ideal body composition and regain your insulin sensitivity (fish oil, alpha-lipoic-acid, and cinnamon will all help here), you can add back in some low sugar/low gi fruit such as berries if you so choose.

If you're into reading I would check out, "Life Without Bread," by Wolfgang Lutz, and, "Neanderthin," by Ray Audette. Both are great reads with tons of valuable information. Dr. Lutz is a medical doctor who has successfully treated a wide range of diseases (including diabetes) with a low carb diet and offers compelling evidence for the use of, and great advice on implementing a low carb plan. Ray Audette is basically an armchair scientist who stumbled across the paleo diet concept and managed to reverse his diabetes and various other ailments.

Best of luck! Keep us posted!

[Pamela MacElree]

Chris and All,

I'm a type 1 diabetic, which I know is completely different from type 2, however the issue with carb consumption is still about the same. I've been following the Zone and its actually been working well for me.

For my carb blocks I choose the carbs that are low GI, or more veggies over other carbs. In fact the only starchy carb I eat is oatmeal in the morning. In my opinion, carb consumption is necessary, its just a matter of choosing the correct carbs.

I'm not a doctor, but I have been diabetic for 18 years. I've only met one endocrinologist who point blank told me that I would know more about how my body handles certain foods then any other doctorate out there. Research and studies are great but each person reacts differently to different treatments. I know the foods that give me a hard time (banannas, pasta, potatoes, corn, to name a few) so I avoid them.

Although I regularly see the endocrin doc, I make my own adjustments to insulin. Most don't understand the WOD or the other types of workouts I do, just as I had one doc tell me that I should limit my carb intake to under 30grams a day. I would melt away if I did that.

Long story short, which I am too late for, run everything by your doc, but don't be afraid to speak up when what they say doesn't make sense. Monitor on your own how the WODs make you feel as well as the different foods you consume, its not just as simple as cutting out the cake, cookies, and sweets.

My blood sugar and A1C tests have never been as good as they have been in the past 2 years, which I attribute to kettlebell training, the WODs, and my nutrition. Don't get me wrong I have bad days, and there is still some confusion as to why I get a high or low reading when I haven't changed a thing, but that's bound to happen.

Please let me know how it works out for you, I'd be interested in hearing.

Pamela

[Christopher C Brophy]

Pamela and Jonathon:

Thank you so much for the information and I will update after I have more of a baseline back training.

Chris