The American Diabetes Association is one of the WORST places a diabetic can go for dietary advice

Spotting the road signs to ruin

This happens every day. It’s happening right now.

A newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic is shaken to her core. Diabetes! How did that happen?

After a talk with her doctor, she goes home and starts searching the Internet. And the one website where she’s most likely to end up is one of the most dangerous sites for anyone confronting blood sugar issues…

The American Diabetes Association website.

Fair warning. Be afraid… be very afraid…

The road less traveled

Here’s one diabetic’s story.

His name is Steve Cooksey. In 2009, when he was diagnosed, he was middle-aged and out of shape.

Two different nutritionists steered Steve to the ADA for dietary guidelines. But he soon suspected that the ADA carb-loaded path was a road to ruin.

Steve began following a strict low-glycemic diet. As I’ve mentioned many times, the glycemic index categorizes foods according to their effect on blood sugar.

Steve was astonished by his success. He was soon able to control his diabetes without medications. This inspired him to start his own website to share details of his regimen.

Throughout this process, Steve came to realize that the ADA is more about drugs than diabetics.

In one post, Steve writes that the ADA, “promotes a meal plan that creates more and more drug usage…while they receive MILLIONS from the companies that profit from the meal plan.”

That’s a bold charge. Of course, I didn’t doubt it for a second. But is it really as extreme as Steve claims?

Well…follow the donations. On the ADA website, you’ll find a page titled “Our Corporate Sponsors.” The cluster of logos looks like a Big Pharma convention.

Here are some of the drug companies that donate at least a half million dollars per year to the ADA…

* Merck

* Lilly

* Abbott

* Sanofi Aventis

* Takeda

* Novo Nordisk

Okay, but does the ADA really advocate dietary choices that promote drug use?

On the website of Diabetes Forecast (the ADA magazine), I found an article titled, “Are Carbs the Enemy?”

And there it is — the smoking gun.

The article weighs the pros and cons of carb intake. And the question is “settled” with the observation that diabetes patients can eat their favorite foods in moderation… “as long as they lower their blood glucose with medication and exercise.”

Exercise? Absolutely.

Control portions? Excellent advice.

Eat what you want and balance that with medication? APPALLING! (Unless you’re a Merck executive.)

The ADA website is the LAST place any diabetic should go for advice to manage diabetes.

If you’re diabetic, take the danger out of your web surfing. You can find safe tips for living drug-free with diabetes on Steve Cooksey’s website: diabetes-warrior.net.

Corporate donors: zero.

Sources:
“$19 million paid to ADA by BigPharma?” Steve Cooksey, Diabetes Warrior, 2/8/11, diabetes-warrior.net

“Are Carbs the Enemy?” Tracey Neithercott, Diabetes Forecast, American Diabetes Association, forecast.diabetes.org