Greetings from Kent, the Garden of England.. page

[Artichoke]

Hi there, this is my first day here. I was having a convo yesterday with another low carber on another website by PM and she recommended Mark's Daily Apple. Curious, I started reading yesterday and found that diet-wise I'm 100% Primal.

I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2007 and was really shocked because as a college-trained ex-chef I wasn't eating ready meals and takeaways, cakes and biscuits etc and had an organic allotment for our vegetables. We did eat soya, potatoes, bread and pasta however.

I followed the NHS guidelines to eat starchy carbohydrates <rolls eyes> and took the drugs. When my HbA1c hit 13% my doctor told me that he was worried and that I was heading for insulin. I didn't want to be on insulin so I researched some and went low GI. That just didn't work for me, however.

I researched more and found Gary Taubes' article 'What If It's All A Big Fat Lie ?' from the NYT online. I was ecstatic but however brilliant Gary Taubes is (and IMO he is) he's not a doctor. Watching his lectures on YouTube led me to Dr Robert Lustig's iconic video. I tracked down Dr Lustig and emailed him with questions and he was kind enough to answer me. I chucked out the spelt and went low carb in 2010.

In the first 3 months my HbA1c dropped 8% !

December 2011 I decided to reduce my max daily carb intake yet further. Since doing that I have lost a further six inches off my waist and am now UK size 14 - which is below the UK average of 16. In March I quit sweeteners and diet Pepsi (had terrible headaches for a fortnight).

Around March/April I noticed that the pork loin steaks husband had bought from UK's biggest supermarket, Tesco contained dried glucose syrup, sodium acetate and 11% added water. I was appalled. Having lived in Canada and read 'Fast Food Nation' I was aware of the stuff added to American food, but I didn't think it had gotten that bad in the EU. We're supposed to have tough food laws. I called ASDA (owned by Wal-Mart), Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Lidl and Waitrose and none of the others add those things to pork.

I was reading an article on 'The Grocer' the online version of the trade magazine for UK supermarkets and found an announcement that Morrisons was following ASDA and allowing farmers to feed GM feed to animals and poultry. As I had been buying from ASDA I was upset, because it wasn't labelled.

Again I called and emailed supermarkets and found that Waitrose doesn't allow any animals or poultry or products from them, destined for own brands, to be fed GM feed. ASDA, Morrisons did confirm that to avoid GM-fed animals and poultry and products from them, I'd have to buy organic. Lidl told me I'd have to buy organic or Bally Manor ranges and Sainsbury's has a list on their corporate website. GM feed is OK for some ranges but not others. I didn't bother asking Tesco.

I called DEFRA (Department for the Environment, Food, Regions and Agriculture ?) and was told that thanks to an EU regulation, supermarkets don't have to label food containing under 0.9% GM or foodfrom animals fed GM feed. I have written to my MP and asked him to raise the matter with the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Jim Paige and await a reply.

That's what decided us to go organic. I'm finding it's not easy here, living outside of London. Sometimes the best I can do is additive free. I live in a town of 50,000 people with one butcher, one fishmonger, one greengrocer, six supermarkets (one open 24/7) and about seven chain-owned convenience stores. Only one supermarket does any organic frozen veg, finding organic meat is hard, I have to order stuff in from online shops.

In May my HbA1c was basically as good as a person without diabetes. I do need metformin however but I hope to reduce this over time.

So that's my story..

[Lewis]

You might also find Dr. Jay Wortman's blog of interest.

I think he's a friend of Gary's. He's also a medical doctor who works with diabetics. He's the man behind the film “My Big Fat Diet” in which overweight Canadian First Nations people were persuaded to go back to something closer to their traditional pre-contact diet. Very knowledgable man:

Dr. Jay’s Blog | A forum to discuss the documentary film, “My Big Fat Diet” , and the science of low carbohydrate diets.

[Elsielou]

That's what decided us to go organic. I'm finding it's not easy here, living outside of London. Sometimes the best I can do is additive free. I live in a town of 50,000 people with one butcher, one fishmonger, one greengrocer, six supermarkets (one open 24/7) and about seven chain-owned convenience stores. Only one supermarket does any organic frozen veg, finding organic meat is hard, I have to order stuff in from online shops.

Do your supermarkets not stock organic meats and fresh veg? Or have you got a market nearby? I live in a little town that hasn't even got a supermarket other than a tesco metro and manage to source decent stuff by shopping around the local area (usually in a larger town about 5 miles away) and going to farm shops when I get the chance. Have you asked your butcher if he can get hold of organic meat if he doesn't already? Or if he gets wild game you can guarantee thats had a natural diet even if it can't officially be "certified organic".

[Artichoke]

There was a farmer's market here but it closed. There aren't any farm shops nearby because in this area it's mostly sheep as downland. I can get organic milk, butter, eggs, yoghurt, balsamic vinegar, baked beans, chick peas, Dutch carrots, French cauliflowers - but really very little meat. Wild fish isn't a problem but the butcher isn't a licensed game dealer. Looking at the website, there's a lot about the meat being local, but that doesn't mean it is organic. Nor does it mean that it hasn't been fed GM feed. I have been able to order from Abel and Cole however and my first order arrives tomorrow. But this town is pretty much an organic desert.