Joining the diabetes revolution

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Body matters

Joining the diabetes revolution

Our health editor, Chris McLaughlin, was so intrigued by a new eating programme to treat diabetes, she decided to give it a try

When I read that Dr Charles Clark claimed that following his diet programme could stabilise blood glucose, reduce cholesterol and the need for insulin – and make it easier to lose weight - it sounded too good to be true. Six months after meeting him and starting on the programme, I still think it might be. It’s not that it doesn’t do what it says on the tin, but there’s definitely a price to be paid.

September 1995

When my GP diagnosed my diabetes, I wasn’t surprised or even very concerned: my father and my mother’s sister had had it for years, and I assumed I’d just have to watch my weight a bit more and probably take daily tablets. But I was taken aback when the GP said he thought I would need to start injecting insulin in a very short time, and he was right. Within three months, I’d seen a hospital consultant, several specialist diabetes nurses and a dietician and tried three different kinds of tablets – but my blood glucose was still way too high.

So I started a regimen of four insulin injections a day, monitoring my blood glucose and following a diet based around carbohydrates, vegetables and salad, fish and meat. Over the years, I’d gradually been increasing the insulin dose as tests showed that I needed more to control my blood glucose levels. At the same time, I was gaining weight although I was eating what the dieticians said was a healthy diet suitable for someone with my condition and swimming two or three times a week.

October 2008

I contacted Dr Clark after reading The Diabetes Revolution and he invited me to try his programme for myself. After a batch of blood tests, I met him to discuss the diet plan he’d devised based on my results.

First the good news: I could eat as much as I liked of lean meat, fish and shellfish, olive oil, butter, salads, herbs and spices and vegetables (except parsnips and potatoes). There were some restrictions on foods such as eggs, cheese, fruit, nuts, pulses, milk and yoghurt and I could have two glasses of wine a day.

The real sting in the tail was what I couldn’t have at all: pasta, rice, potatoes, pies, pastries or cereals, and no more than one slice of bread a day. I didn’t mind that sweets, cakes, biscuits, processed foods and beer were also on the forbidden list but didn’t relish life without crusty baguettes and wholemeal bread, croissants and potatoes!

December 2008

Six weeks later, back in Dr Clark’s office with a detailed food diary and a record of four-times-daily blood glucose tests, I was delighted to discover I’d lost 6kg. Dr Clark noted that my blood glucose was much better controlled, and I’d cut my insulin dose by around 20 per cent. However, with Christmas fast approaching, he suggested I relax the regimen a little, then in January, start to introduce some of the ‘forbidden’ foods one at a time and check the effect on my blood glucose levels.

March 2009

I put off making an appointment to see Dr Clark because, after giving up testing my blood four times a day over the holiday period, I hadn’t managed to get back into it. And while I hadn’t gone back to my old ways with regard to carbohydrates, I was having a potato or two and the odd home-made pie and dumpling, and once I even had fish and chips. At the beginning of March, I got going again with the blood tests and keeping a detailed food diary in preparation for another meeting with Dr Clark.

He was not impressed with my blood glucose results, nor with my eating habits. Although I told him, truthfully, that 'potatoes' in the food diary meant literally two or three small new potatoes, and ‘bread’ just half a slice of pitta, he said this, in conjunction with my morning porridge, was too many carbs. What’s more, I hadn’t lost any weight since the December check-up.

What now?

Dr Clark recommends returning to the pre-Christmas dietary plan, which means no carbs for two months. Otherwise, he told me bluntly, if I continued with my current diet I’d be risking blindness, kidney damage and possible heart disease. After that, I can try re-introducing the culprit foods, one at a time, and see what effect they have but should be prepared to limit bread, potatoes and the rest probably for good.

As something of a foodie and an enthusiastic cook, I find the prospect of avoiding or severely restricting many of my favourite foods forever deeply depressing. On the other hand, his warnings of the consequences of not following his advice were too scary to ignore.

So, for the moment, it’s back to the programme for as long as I can stand it and at least dumplings and pies are less appealing with summer on its way. And just maybe Dr Clark will prove to be right and I will eventually lose my taste for pasta and ploughman’s lunches and baked potatoes…

The Diabetes Revolution by Dr Charles Clark and Maureen Clark, Vermilion, £10.99. To buy the book at a discount from Saga Books, please click here

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Information on this site is for interest only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should consult your own doctor about any specific health concerns.