[shabbie]

you may remember i posted a thread recently that i had adopted eating alkaline only foods in a bid to try and get the better of diabetes and better health overall..

i got 'booed off the stage' at my announcement, but i am here to tell you today that 3 weeks in i am still enjoying a massive reduction in insulin usage. my average TDD was 23 units daily of which 9.9 units were basal.

now i take only 3.7 units TDD average!!! i am running my pump on 30% temp basal to acheive this!

its been an awesome journey, and i am happy to report i'm not just living on lettuce and tomatoes!!! i've been able to include some alkaline grains to my meals without the need to take insulin for them at all!!

overall i am very happy and i am feeling very fit and healthy....at last!!!

[type2in NY]

Originally Posted by shabbie

you may remember i posted a thread recently that i had adopted eating alkaline only foods in a bid to try and get the better of diabetes and better health overall..

i got 'booed off the stage' at my announcement, but i am here to tell you today that 3 weeks in i am still enjoying a massive reduction in insulin usage. my average TDD was 23 units daily of which 9.9 units were basal.

now i take only 3.7 units TDD average!!! i am running my pump on 30% temp basal to acheive this!

its been an awesome journey, and i am happy to report i'm not just living on lettuce and tomatoes!!! i've been able to include some alkaline grains to my meals without the need to take insulin for them at all!!

overall i am very happy and i am feeling very fit and healthy....at last!!!

Congrats!!!!


I too go against the "convential wisdom" of this board and eat 100-130 of carbs per day and yet my weight keeps dropping and I feel very good. EACH person has to find what works best for them, I don't particularly care for other peoples preaching to people their way of handling diabetes.

I let the numbers speak for themselves, but consider all opinions.

[NoraWI]

The following is a list that you posted previously on foods you can and cannot eat:

meat products and dairy products are prohibited due to their very acidic process (not to mention all of the stuff that goes into it during the animals life)

no root vegetables or grains.

no alcohol, coffee, chocolate, soda drinks or fermented products ie vinegar


heres what you can eat:

lots and lots of green leafy vegetables, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, watercress etc etc

lemons,limes,grapefruit
avocados
nuts but not peanuts
fresh tomatoes
bell peppers ~ all colours
fish
oils, olive, coconut, linseed, flax etc etc
sprouted grains/seed/nuts

This diet is close to what T1 diabetics were fed to survive before the discovery of insulin.

[Tribbles]

Originally Posted by NoraWI

heres what you can eat:

lots and lots of green leafy vegetables, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, watercress etc etc

lemons,limes,grapefruit
avocados
nuts but not peanuts
fresh tomatoes
bell peppers ~ all colours
fish
oils, olive, coconut, linseed, flax etc etc
sprouted grains/seed/nuts[/b]

This diet is close to what T1 diabetics were fed to survive before the discovery of insulin.

I thought citrus fruits were acidic (lemons especially) or is this a different acidic in some regard? Likewise tomatoes are acidic.

As NoraWI points out this works because there are so few carbs to need insulin, acid or alkaline has nothing to do with it.

[foxl]

shabbie there is a man who is pro-alkaline diet on another forum. It is TuDiabetes, you might want to go over there and talk to him. I had never heard of it before but thought you might be interested ...

Mods my apologies if this is out of line to mention!

[Gordonm]

I don't get it. What is so bad about taking insulin. You were not taking much to start with. You still have to take the insulin and are existing on pretty much nothing. What is the benefit of doing this??

[shiftzor]

Originally Posted by Gordonm

I don't get it. What is so bad about taking insulin. You were not taking much to start with. You still have to take the insulin and are existing on pretty much nothing. What is the benefit of doing this??

I understand why someone would want to eat a extreme low carb diet however my concern is always how long they can keep up the diet and what about enjoying life. Even with the mental strength to keep up the diet and feeling better while on the diet I can't imagine that eating it long term would reduce stress on the body. The body will just be in a constant state of starvation maybe I am wrong. I wish you all the luck in the world Shabbie, as long as it works for you.

Motivation
Low carbs = less insulin = less fluctuation in BG (low standard deviation) = lower A1c = potentially less complications

[Funnygrl]

3.7 units? Congrats, you have a pancreas well capable of producing insulin, at least for now.

[ant hill]

This is interesting as it's simular to a vegitarian diet (I would have troble. ) Even just low carbing would be difficult to master.
Shabbie, You are a determined girl and so Congratulations.

[viranth]

Hasn't it already been disproven that eating something of x pH, will have an effect on the body? It's not like there is ONE pH in the body.

[Jonathan_R]

It amazes me how many misconceptions there are. If you don't understand it, go research it. But let me give you this to chew on. Ketoacidosis is where your blood is acidic due to your blood sugar. If your blood can be acidic, then don't you think there is a middle ground as well, a pH balance.

Actually, there is. That pH balance is 7.3. There is also alkalosis, and the symptoms look very similar to acidosis. Alkalosis: Acid-Base Balance: Merck Manual Home Edition

I also have a chart of research that was done showing the pH of the blood sugar, ranging from 80 to 150.

The FDA has the pH of various foods. US FDA/CFSAN - Approximate pH of Foods and Food Products There has been a study done by the Endocrine Associates on the bone retention. It actually helps prevent bone loss. (endojournals.org)

Here are some of the sites I have read, good and bad.

Science of:

acid diet: Alkaline acid diet science

Acid Alkaline Diet Review | Get the Truth About Acid Alkaline Diet

Potassium Bicarbonate Attenuates the Urinary Nitrogen Excretion That Accompanies an Increase in Dietary Protein and May Promote Calcium Absorption -- Ceglia et al. 94 (2): 645 -- Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism




Improve Your Health Following the Alkaline Food Diet | Diet Plans Reviewed | Nutrition

Diabetics:

Importance of Alkaline Food

http://www.diabetesforums.com/forum/...et-anyone.html

Acid Alkaline Diet: Essential to Healthy living

Can the pH miracle diet prevent or control diabetes

Alkaline Foods

And an entire Google search confined to endojournals.org, the Endocrine Society.

- Google Search

[Tribbles]

Looking at the endocrinology articles there is a difference between being injected with an alkaline solution to modify the blood balance, which is the approach a lot of those articles use, and eating alkaine substances which is what you are talking about. Other of those articles are using compounds for their chemical properties and not because they are alkali.

The fundamental flaw in this whole diet approach for me is that everything you eat winds up in the acid bath that is your stomach. The pH variances in the things you are eating are in no way sufficient to alter the pH of your stomach significantly and probably not even marginally.

This diet works because there are almost no proteins or carbohydrates so there is little requirement for insulin. It will work for anyone but most people would rather take insulin than follow that diet.

[butterflykisses]

I think the acid from ketoacidosis is from fatty acids, not sugar, if I understand it correctly. High glucose levels cause the body to try and remove the excess using fluids, leaving blood thicker, which leaves thick acid pumping through the body...again, as I understand it.

[Jonathan_R]

Tribbles, there is a fundamental flaw in your logic. The pH levels are tested with pH strips passed through urine. Which would be after the food has gone through the stomach, and the gastro-intestinal tract.

Not everything in the diet is low carb or low glycemic index. In fact quite a few things are high. I have the food list from their book. I have also read the pH miracle and another book on the subject.

Butterflykisses, you are largely correct. I was in such haste, I did not articulate that very well. Yes, ketoacidosis is from the improper burning of fats in your body. However, it is also the high content of sugar in the blood that triggers this condition. We know from chemistry, that everything has a certain pH. Blood does have a pH of 7.3. We know that sugar is acidic, as are a lot of foods, since it becomes acidic when we eat it. This is really where we are talking about anyway. The pH of the food when metabolized. Which is why lemon water becomes alkaline to the body. Anyway. Sugar becomes acidic to the body when metabolized. Doubt it? Ask a dentist. Or maybe measure the pH of soda pop. (I don't normally say soda pop, but saying soda just didn't work)

Here is a chart and list I did up from the documentation I read. Acid-Alkaline Food list I couldn't upload it, since it was 328KB and the limit is 100KB.

I took the image from a pdf I have, that shows the pH of different blood glucose levels. I hope this answers a few questions.

[Gary_W]

Sharon - glad the diet is suiting you. How much of the health benefits you've experienced do you put down to the pH of the foods and how much do you put down to the lack of carbs / dairy / grains / meats / caffeine etc. It kind of sounds a bit like a detox-style diet, and I'm just curious as to how your body would cope with a similar diet that didn't actually take the pH into consideration.

Jonathan_R - I have to take issue with your little chart. It is suggesting that, if I have a BG value of 150 (or 8.3 in UK terms) that I would have a blood pH of 6.9? As death is pretty much a done deal at 6.8, you can say that many of us with T1 would be ending up in intensive care on a daily basis as we will cross this level an hour or so after eating as part of the 'normal' spike that we get. If I'm reading it wrong then apologies, but it looks way off to me.

Gary