To start off with, I don’t know how to “cite” so anybody requiring hard-core facts is going to have to go fish. This is a place where I can vent.
Alec Baldwin was Dave’s quest. (Both people I would think of as being intelligent and informed.) Apparently Alec was told he was “pre-diabetic.” When I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes I was told that you could no more be pre-diabetic than you could be a little bit pregnant. You either are or you’re not. Your pancreas is either firing on all cylinders…or it’s not.
Anyway, Alec was talking about his new sugar-free diet which meant that he can no longer eat pasta because it becomes sugar.
??? Color me stoopit if I’m wrong, but I was taught that every single thing we eat or drink eventually breaks down into sugar. That’s the only form of nutrients that our cells can assimilate. Everything we ingest is like a time-release capsule; it’s only a question of how long it does take to ultimately break down into sugar. So, pasta isn’t a bugaboo. Vegetables break down into sugar, too, tho they take longer. Proteins take the longest time. The trick is to try to balance out the timing and choose fiber over “soft.”
At one point Dave said “So you can no longer eat carrots?” I have no idea where he was coming from, tho at one point in my diet carrots tasted almost too sweet to me. Doubt if David Letterman has ever been on that strict of a diet.
Next Dave said, more or less, “I’ve been thin ever since I was in college because I have a high metabolism.” Well, no. Not from what I’ve heard. (Was it Dr. Oz? Can’t remember.) Actually, naturally thin people have a low metabolism.
Again, I can’t “cite” but I know what I’ve learned. It’s too bad that two fairly intelligent people who reach a LOT of other people could be passing on such fallacies.
There. I said it. And I’m glad.
AND to all those who swear potatoes are bad…pffft. It’s not potatoes that are bad. It’s all the stuff that people put on them that’s bad.
First off, you seem sorely uniformed regarding diabetes. The American Diabetes defines prediabetes as "blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. " Yes, it does exist. You can learn more by following the link.
Second, all though it is true that everything you eat is eventually turned into glucose, many foods such as proteins or fats or first broken down and then the body makes glucose from the energy obtained. Carbohydrates, on the other hand, are chains of sugar to begin with. For example starches such as pasta are made up of long chains of glucose. Thus when consumed they dump a large quantity of glucose into the bloodstream. This is what Alec was referring to, as the starch in pasta becomes glucose directly (as glucose is the building block of starch), whereas proteins and fats do not.
In short, Alec knows what he is talking about. You however, do not. And since you have diabetes you really, really, need to read up on it more as it doesn’t seem like you understand some of the basic things about the disease.
I seem to recall Letterman losing a significant amount of weight in the early 90s after having gained more than he’d liked, and admitting that his “secret” involved being hungry all the time. “I’m STARVING right now,” he told a guest I can’t remember.
So the claim about always being naturally thin, at least, seems questionable.
Wow-- I did NOT know much of this. As someone who should have diabetes by now (eat tons of sugar, carbs, starches), I really need to read up on this stuff.
(Hmm, but if I do, will I have to cut back on my Food Friends?)
Sorry you got such a strong reaction, Becky. But Fighting Ignorance ain’t pretty in the Pit.
And what I’ve heard—and I’m sure someone will be along to correct me if I’m wrong—is that eating lots of sugar/carbs does not put you at risk for diabetes if you don’t already have it, but being overweight does (as does having a family history of it).
In addition to everything ELSE you got wrong, which is almost everything you posted, Letterman didn’t say this. He said he USED to be thin in college - 150 lbs - and he’d like to weigh that again. Baldwin said he [Dave] didn’t look heavy, but Letterman said that he weighed more than he’d like.
So… just… yikes. You can vent in the Pit, but you can’t just guess or make things up and expect not to be called on it.
Thanks digs. I should take PlainJane’s advice and take it to MPSIMS next time. Then if the mods think it belongs in the Pit, they’ll move it.
kaylasdad99 I was diagnosed around 15 years ago. That’s when I was told a person is either diabetic or they’re not. I was on meds for only a short time.
Believe it or not, Gary Kumquat, since then my diabetes has been managed by diet alone. I attended a class for a few weeks given by a dietician. That’s when I learned how food affects the body. Maybe she dumbed it down? I don’t know. Maybe I’ve dumbed it down over the years to remember better. She stressed, tho, that we needed to eat a balanced diet and only avoid sugar. I followed her plan and lost 70 lbs in about a year. (I had gained a lot of weight from meds taken for a previous illness. Since then I’ve yo-yo-ed depending on meds and mobility.)
As usual, expected and appreciated, I’ve learned a lot from reading this thread. That’s what the SDMB is about. Not much mean-spiritedness here, more guidance than anything else. I did relay Alex and Dave’s (yeah, we’re on a first-name basis dontcha know) conversation as I perceived it and didn’t deliberately make stuff up. I was more concerned that they were misleading in their comments about food.
It is true that everything breaks down into sugar. Here’s how I remember the diet I was on, (still am but not as strict) starting from the bottom up: sugar is sugar. Avoid it. Next comes fruit, then carbohydrates followed by vegetables and last, protein. Can’t remember where fats fit in. I know I restricted it so much she talked me into using a little butter on my potatoes and corn-on-the-cob. For reasons I’ve talked about in other threads I only “do” dairy a little bit. I eat garlic bread and pizza occasionally and that’s about it. Once or twice a year, ice cream but even now, just typing this, I’m getting a bad taste in my mouth and thinking Not so much. :eek:
And PlainJane, the color Stoopit is always the one you don’t have so you have to go buy another box.
AIUI;
Type 1, all about the pancreas
Type 2, way more fucking complicated.
As the child of a mother and grandmother with Type 2 I know more about this than I really want to. It’s just a matter of time before that genetic time-bomb goes off in me. :mad:
Fucking genes, what good thing have they ever done for me!
It’s just a matter of time before that genetic time-bomb goes off in me. :mad: