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Comment by sombragris | Hacker News Reader

Type 2 here. The article text sounds strange to me, maybe because I live elsewhere than the US/UK. From Day 1 of my diagnosis (in 2009) I was prescribed a low-carb diet alongside with medication and, eventually, insulin. I was never told I could just manage my blood sugar with insulin and medication without a low-carb diet. So this guy comes across to me as preaching to the choir.

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From all the diabetic I know, in France, Asia or North America, you're the only one I ever heard of with such recommendation. A friend of mine in France was actively advised _against_ a low-carb diet to control her diabetes. She did it anyway and saw incredible results. Nevertheless, and despite improvement on all indicators in her blood test, her doctor advised her to return to a normal diet and control it with insulin and "complex" carbs. That was in 2019.

My mother’s doctors do similar things - partly because they have internalized the “cultural impossibility” of old Asians to cut carbs and if someone says they are cutting carbs, according to their experience it’s often a lie. It’s also possible that some of these doctors have indoctrinated themselves into believing this can never work.

You have an unusual doctor! Listen to them.

It's standard diabetology doctrine in Paraguay (South America). Most diabetologists do it. They say that the key to control blood sugar lies in a multi-faceted approach.

It's not "carb abstinence", but "carb restriction". Carbohydrates should be greatly reduced and if you must eat them, eat complex carbs with a lot of fiber instead of sugars. But they should be reduced as much as possible.

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