I wanted to let any interested readers know that my article for the ADA’s Diabetes Spectrum is now viewable by all on their website. Two points to keep in mind:

1. This article was heavily edited by the ADA, and I was asked to modify some of my recommendations and add qualifiers to certain statements. I’m also not thrilled with some of the changes they made in terms of verbiage and sentence structure (there are definitely a few awkward phrases), but that’s a minor concern.
   
   
2. I wrote the article over a year ago and realize there are other studies I could have cited as references. This was my first professional article, and I was pretty green in terms of research.
   

While I did have to make some concessions, I’m still very encouraged that the Spectrum editors asked me to write an article favorable to carbohydrate restriction. Slowly but surely, we are making progress!

I can’t publish the article here because the ADA owns it, but you can access it through this link:

http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/25/4/238.full.pdf+html

Quick update:  My article, "A Low-Carbohydrate, Whole-Foods Approach to Managing Diabetes and Prediabetes" has been published in the Fall/Winter edition of the ADA journal, Diabetes Spectrum!  Unfortunately, you won't be able to view it online for several months unless you're a professional ADA member (or you want to shell out $30 for the privilege), although you can read the first few paragraphs. They do offer open access to all archived articles originally posted at least six months prior. I'll try to post a PDF on this site as well if I'm able to. 

Essentially, I recommended a moderately low-carb diet (100-110 grams total carbs, 80 grams net), as a starting point. While I definitely believe many people would benefit from going lower (in fact, I generally consume slightly less than half this amount of carbs myself), the notion of taking in less than 130 grams  a day is still considered dangerous by many diabetes health professionals, and one of my primary aims was to dispel this myth while recommending a more gradual easing into carbohydrate restriction. Also, for anyone who does read the article, please be aware that it was heavily edited: I was asked to remove some of what I considered important statements and add in content in the form of qualifiers (lots of "however's.") Some of the verbiage is also not my own. Apparently this is what happens to all authors of professional papers, so I can't complain too much. Overall, I think the paper adequately addresses the benefits of, concerns about, and how-to's of low carbohydrate eating.

One other exciting bit of news is that, based on writing this article, I was been asked to speak on a panel at the annual meeting of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) in August! The name of the panel is "Diabetes Meal Planning," and I believe the other people on the panel will be the dietitians who wrote the Diabetes Spectrum articles  "Rationale for the Use of  a Mediterranean Diet in Diabetes Management" and "Preparing to Prescribe Plant-Based Diets for Diabetes Prevention and Treatment."  While I'm looking forward to this opportunity to promote a way of eating I feel passionately about, I can't deny feeling a little nervous speaking to what will surely be a tough room : doctors, nurses, and dietitians who largely disapprove of low carb (although I'm hoping to find some like-minded practitioners as well).  Fortunately, they're giving me plenty of time to prepare. 

I just wanted to thank all my regular and new readers for your kind words of support in the comments section of my blog and in your e-mails. It's very gratifying to know how many of you enjoy and in some cases learn from my posts :)