Consuming Cereal As A ‘Low-Carb’ Means Of Battling Diabetes? This Is A Joke, Right?

Oh man, don’t get me started. In the year after my daughter was born, I regained the weight I lost after her birth and then some, rocketing up past the 200 lb. mark. I still suspect thyroid issues and I’ll be looking into that when my health insurance kicks in at the beginning of the year. But for part of that time I was also experimenting with vegetarianism and then veganism, both of which made me fatter and crazier, especially the latter. (Hint for you moms-to-be out there: Wanna avoid postpartum psychosis? Going vegan is not the way to do it. I don’t think I got quite *that* bad, but I was pretty bad. Still safe with my child but not safe for my own social life. I lost a lot of friends that year.)

There’s really no reason to eat grains other than the cultural and the economical, but I question even the economic argument, as the only reason most of us can afford grains is that the U.S. government subsidizes their production. Without grain subsidies we couldn’t have huge factory farms, they’d have to feed grass to cows again instead of corn and we’d all be about a hundred times healthier. I really don’t buy the idea that we’d be going hungry. If you’ve got $300 in a month to plunk down on an iPod or a cell phone bill, don’t tell me you’d go hungry. Anyway, nobody said we couldn’t subsidize the foods that are actually good for us rather than nutritionally questionable. I’d kill to see a grass-fed beef and dairy subsidy put into place. I’m so there, dude!

We have a grass-fed dairy here in Ohio that I’ve been using for most of the past year, Snowville Creamery. I never knew before I started buying their cream that it’s supposed to be bright yellow in springtime. Up til that point all the heavy cream I’d ever seen in grocery stores had been white year-round. No wonder they have to add annato to industrial butter. Tsk, tsk.

Raw milk’s great, supposedly–I’ve never tried it. In a lot of U.S. states it’s illegal. (If you live in California you are one lucky you-know-what. It can be sold at retail there.) But there’s a workaround. Never buy ultra-pasteurized dairy. You might as well be drinking dead snot. Get regular pasteurized and if it says on the label that they used the lowest permissible temperature for pasteurization, favor that brand of milk over any other.

Then learn how to ferment milk. Doesn’t matter what you do, pick a culture. I’ve experimented with kefir grains (they finally succumbed to whatever mold I apparently had in my apartment’s HVAC system) and with yogurt-making. I actually like the kefir better, it has more consistent results and you can ferment at room temperature. I’d like to try piima yogurt at some point because that’s a room-temperature yogurt, but I will have to order the culture on the Internet so I’ve been putting it off. Anyway, fermentation eats up most or all of the lactose, breaks down the fats and proteins to make the milk a lot more digestible, gives you access to good bacteria for colonizing your gut and adds nutritional value to the milk as well. It more than makes up for not being able to get the milk raw, in my opinion.

Breakfast cereal is not only bad for diabetics and everyone else, it’s a stupid expenditure. You’re basically paying for air. Can you believe WIC pays for this junk for new moms and their kids? I was on WIC early in my daughter’s life and that cereal wouldn’t even last a week. No, I didn’t feed it to her, I hogged it up myself. I had to drop cereal along with the full-sugar soda because they both made me feel like crap and made my blood sugar swoop and dive all over the place. And the price wasn’t worth it! When I realized what a waste it all was I stopped getting the cereal and chose to take some of the little money I had and buy oatmeal instead. Turns out oatmeal’s full of phytates and I wasn’t preparing it right, but it’s still a way better deal than cold cereal. I hope whoever came up with the idea for that colossal waste of money is toasting somewhere on a long fork right now. Wanna know why so many kids need college loans… there’s your answer right there. OK, I exaggerate… but not by much. Do your heart and your pancreas a favor and eat eggs and bacon for breakfast instead. Fried in butter or coconut oil over low-ish heat. Sheesh.

I’m with you Jimmy! I’m so tired of advertisers blasting “health” messages to sell products. There doesn’t seem to be any truth in advertising anymore, if there ever was. They will say anything to get you to buy their product, even to notice it, and will propagate misleading, dated or outright wrong information to do it (like those commercials still trying to vilify butter). If you get your health information from advertisers, you are in trouble.

Minor correction regarding Dr. Bernstein’s carb limits. He recommends 6:12:12.

THANK YOU, JD! I suppose I was doing the average per meal.

–Jimmy

my local grocery store is promoting a “diabetes tour” of the store…. No doubt they are promoting the low fat whole grains nonsense, I wouldnt be suprised if even these crappy cereals are included on the “tour.” It’s really a shame, an outrage really.

Maybe I should start doing my own tour, starts at the butcher’s counter, next stop is the produce area, find the cooler with the eggs and bacon, then go straight to checkout!

And don’t forget the BUTTER, too, mrfreddy!

–Jimmy

Many food companies take cereal to be the product that’s easy to ride and market to anyone, even if they make outrageous claims about health benefits etc. To much fiber is very bad, not enough is also bad, that’s why people need to be conscious of their diets these days and not rely on food companies.