Having had a couple of months to allow my complete boil over to come down to a gentle simmer, I need to talk about the hospital visit that was the trigger for finding and starting the Caveman diet, hopefully without going off into a complete rant. Until recently contemplating dieting after repeated failures has left me with feelings of complete hopelessness and lack of control, but the Caveman diet changed that.
As I mentioned in my first post I had been left in complete shock following a hospital consultation. I had been simply seeing my general practitioner regarding the management of my diabetes, which until the beginning of this year had been completely diet controlled. I enquired about Byetta (exanetide), a drug extracted from a lizard’s venom; reportedly it lessens appetite and also contributes to lowering raised blood sugar. However, unfortunately my GP was unable to prescribe this as was not yet licensed outside of hospitals in the UK and she referred me on.
So, I calmly went along to the appointment, expecting some discussion etc, but ended up being lectured at – this it was quite a shock as I am not a confrontational person and felt completely cornered into an argumentative defensive position. I was indeed quite insulted for anyone to make assumptions about my eating habits without even knowing me or of the efforts I’ve made. Gist was - 'you are overweight because you eat too much, don’t diet, don’t exercise' (despite me in the background saying ‘but I do diet’ and ‘I have exercised’). ‘The fact is we know that there is no metabolic problem other than overeating for weight gain’ and ‘you just want Byetta because you thinking it’s going to be miracle cure – you have to put in some effort too’. …. Blah de blah blah…
Actually ‘NO’, Byetta, as well as improving blood sugar levels,is known to reduce the appetite, which is why I wanted to go onto it.
Anyway just a month later when the GP told me the hospital (contrary to what they’d told me) had recommended Byetta, I was able to say that it was no longer of any interest to me. The fact is the Caveman diet has very quickly had the same effect without taking a toxic drug (doctor had warned me that essentially Byetta, coming from venom, was quite toxic drug). Now my domiciliary blood sugar readings so far are consistently improved and my appetite is reduced.
I’ve now had a chance to cool off and contemplate, I do feel the time is right to go right back in the past and explore my relationship with food - admittedly I have overeaten from time to time, but the ratio I would give to this would be 20% binging, and 80% watchful eating or on a weight reducing diet. The consultant did force the issue though and made me to consider my diet and weight, and having had time to reflect I do appreciate that. On the other hand, I wish that the medical professionals could try not to doubt their patients in the first instance. A small minority of patients may lie about diet but overall, if you go to the doctor stating you’re not losing weight despite dieting, surely that’s clinically significant, but not a lot of use if the doctor distrustful and thinks you’re telling porkies, and visa versa.
Sorry, that did indeed turn out to be a bit of a rant!
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