Great question/answer regarding are you really doing very well?

Question
You talk pretty cavalierly about my health, without knowing a thing about my health history. Nine months ago, my HbA1c was 9.2 and I weighed 309 pounds (I am 6’3″). I read Taubes’ Why We Get Fat and immediately started the diet he described in the back of the book, which I later learned was the Atkins induction phase. Within five months, I had lost 60 pounds and my HbA1c went down first to 7.2 then to 6.1 (my last reading). Then, despite strict adherence to the very low carb induction diet, I stalled, like most people do. I did not lose any more weight for about 12 weeks, and my blood glucose levels plateaued as well. That’s when I discovered the Perfect Health Diet.

Upon starting the PHD, my blood sugar readings dramatically improved again, as described in Jaminet’s post, undoing the stall from the Atkins induction diet. I am 239 pounds now and still progressing. I suspect that if I were one of your patients, you would be touting my weight loss progress and blood glucose progress, rather than criticizing it, as you do in the post above, as “still very unhealthy and considered impaired glucose tolerant.” I still have about 25 pounds to lose to get down to my goal weight, but the weight loss stopped until I started the PHD progress.

So to say I am “still very unhealthy” ignores the dramatic progress that has been achieved in less than nine months. My physician is, frankly, stunned by the health reversal. My Triglycerides/HDL is less than .8 and my HDL has increased substantially. She claims that in 20 years of practice, she has rarely seen such a dramatic change in health in a positive direction.

My general view of physicians is that most of them, even the internists and endocrinologists who should know a thing or two about diabetes are, in general, clueless about diabetes. Calling my progress “still very unhealthy” as you did was like a slap in the face, given my starting point. I am not merely a link or an argument by Paul Jaminet to be refuted, I am a real human being.

Dr. Rosedale answer:
…and a human being that deserves to be as healthy as possible, and you are not there yet. It is for people such as yourself that this post was written. It is great that you are doing better, and I had stated that Paul’s diet is a good diet and better that many others. I don’t believe, however, that it will take people to a level of health that mine will. My diet is not the same as Atkins, that allows much higher protein. I said several times that excess protein is particularly adverse, which is why protein grams are the only nutrient that I have people count. You and others must realize that not all very low carb diets are equivalent; the amount of protein and type of fat make a huge difference. I had said in my post that a person might do better on Paul’s diet than one with excessive protein. Again, it is great that you are doing better, though the numbers given are not yet healthy and can yet be improved. This is what you need to understand.

Furthermore, you are illustrating a major point of my blog post. You have not mentioned anything about your insulin numbers. You likely do not know them, and you and your doctor may not know enough to measure them. This is unfortunate. If your starch intake is driving up your insulin to get your morning blood glucose numbers looking better, you have done yourself no favors. I am very confident that if you were on my diet, you would have done better yet. Hopefully you will see this for yourself.

Saying that I talk cavalierly about health and hinting that I know nothing about you or diabetes, when you have never tried my diet or know nearly nothing about me or my history, is really what talking cavalierly and being “clueless” is about.

I know much more about your history and disease than you realize. It is not unlike stories that I have heard countless times before, and I know the history of your disease as well or better than anyone. I talk very seriously and with much thought about health and have totally reversed countless cases of very severe diabetes, being likely the first person to have done so nearly 2 decades ago, and also have reversed many cases of severe coronary disease, heart failure, cancer, and other chronic diseases of aging. I have talked extensively around the world about this for the last 2 decades and ultimately taught the majority of health care practitioners treating diabetics with lower carb diets today. I have also treated people on diets similar to what you are now eating, lowered their carbohydrate and sometimes protein intake further and taken them to the next level of health. I have much more experience with using diet to treat illness than you realize.

I am very happy that you have done better, but we were not just talking better; we were talking best. Isn’t that what you and others deserve?