The Diabetic-Diet-Secrets guidelines for diabetics fall between The American Diabetics Association and the guidelines released by the Joslin Diabetes Center.

The dietary strategies recommended on this site are different from all other dietary strategies known to the site author. The strategies are gleaned from many different sources. These dietary strategies have resulted in exceptional diabetic control and as a side benefit has been very affective in promoting better health in may other areas. This page highlights differences but is not the complete story.

Joslin Diabetes Center Released New Nutrition Guidelines for Diabetes. This new guidelines recommend that 40 percent of total daily calories come from carbohydrates, mainly from fresh vegetables, fruits and beans; 20 to 30 percent from protein, unless the person has kidney disease; 30-35 percent come from fat, mostly mono- and polyunsaturated fats; and at least 20-35 grams of fiber.

This is a new approach since the American Diabetes Association guidelines state that low carb diets are not recommended in the management of diabetes. They recommend an intake of 45 to 65% of total calories from carbs. In addition, both the Joslin and the ADA's guidelines mention that "because the brain and central nervous system have an absolute requirement for glucose as an energy source, restricting total carbohydrate to less than 130 g/day is not recommended". The American Diabetics Association goes so far as to say to treat all carbohydrates the same.

This is part of the ongoing controversy of high-carb vs. low-carb diets and, if you read Dr. Richard Bernstein's "Diabetes Solution", you will notice that he recommends an average of 15g of carbs per meal, which is extremely low carb. Even lower is the recommendation from Dr Barry Grove who would have us eliminate all carbohydrates. It is interesting to note that both Dr Bernstein, and Dr Grove try to classify some foods as no carb foods when in-fact they do contain carbohydrates. Milk would be a good example.

Source:

American Diabetes Association. Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes.
Position Statement. Diabetes Care 28:S4-S36, 2005

Joslin Diabetes Center Announces New Nutrition Guidelines for People with Type 2 Diabetes or Pre-Diabetes who are Overweight or Obese. Press release. April 2005

Dr. Richard Bernstein's book, "Diabetes Solution"

The  recommendations are different and are based on what has worked for Toma Grubb, the founder of Diabetic-Diet-Secrets. The Diabetic-Diet-Secrets formula for healthy eating is closer to the Joslin guidelines than to the American Diabetic Association, but differs from both in key areas. When formulating the Diabetic-Diet-Secrets guidelines, Toma looked at a total nutrition package to deal with more than just diabetes. The Diabetic-Diet-Secrets guidelines are an attempt to balance health concerns from many different points of view. Diabetes of course is the main starting point since Toma is a type 2 diabetic. Besides diabetes, the guidelines also take into account cholesterol, high blood pressure, weight control, heart health and lowering cancer risks. Even though it would seem these may be conflicting goals, it became apparent that what is good for a diabetic in many cases is also good for the other conditions. In no case does a diet that considers a total health agenda compromise one area for another. In fact many foods that work extremely well for one condition often are beneficial for many others.

Key points of the  guidelines:

Accurately determine the actual makeup of everything you eat. Maintaining an optimal diet requires an accurate analysis of daily intakes. Whether your goal is weight-loss, glucose control, high cholesterol or any other diet plan, you will reach your goals much quicker if you know the composition of your meals. The failure of many plans is in their efforts to make it easy. Using the palm of your hand, the size of your fist, a deck of card or many of the other strategies can produce wildly inaccurate results. The only truly accurate method is to weigh and measure every thing eaten, and then analyze each component in the diet for it’s particular nutrient composition. This can be a daunting task if done with pencil, paper and printed databases.

The Diabetic-Diet-Secrets Diet strategy relies on accurate measurements, recording and analysis of food intakes. This requires a foods scale and a method of recording and analyzing the food intakes. Prior to the advent of personal computers this would have meant written logs and extensive databases in books. In recent years, research quality food databases have been compiled and made available to the public. The NutriBase 6 Personal Diet software is the software program of choice for the implementation of our dietary strategies.  NutriBase 6 has a data base of over 33,000+ food entries, 52 popular US restaurants and  is capable of tracking up to 108 nutrient values.

Weight loss is tied to caloric intake. Maintaining a caloric intake consistent with calorie expenditures is the only method that has the full backing of the medical community.

A PCF ratio of 20-50-30 will work for most type 2 diabetics. PCF Ratio is the amount of calories derived from protein, carbohydrates and fats. All foods are composed of one or more of these three nutrient values. Most foods have all three in their makeup. If the 20-50-30 ratio does not work for a particular diabetic then the carbohydrates should be reduced further but probably not less than 40%.

Increasing protein to more than 20-25 percent is unnecessary and undesirable in any case since any amount over 15% will most likely be converted to glucose (even for a bodybuilder), but runs the risk of stressing the kidneys.

All carbohydrates should be low glycemic carbohydrates. Many researchers from around the world are showing that different carbohydrates affect blood glucose differently. Low Glycemic carbohydrates raise the blood glucose of a diabetic much slower than high glycemic carbs.

Everyone should consume between 20-35 grams of fiber per day. Fiber is a form of carbohydrate that is not absorbed by the human body. Fiber has been shown to aid in maintaining a healthy digestive system, slow the rise in blood glucose, aid in lowering cholesterol and in maintaining a healthy heart.

Healthy adults should consume in excess of 1000 mg omega 3 (EPA/DHA) per day. Some guidelines say more. In unhealthy adults the omega 3 consumption may need to be as high as 4000mg per day. Omega 3 (EPA/DHA) comes from fish and seafood.

Healthy fats (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats should make up about 30% or more of a healthy diet. Unhealthy fats (saturated fat, cholesterol, and trans fats) should be severely restricted or eliminated.

Drink lots of water. Water helps our bodies eliminate toxins. Water also helps in flushing the system of excess glucose.