Photo Friday: The One Thing I Know for Sure after the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Public Meeting

2019.07.11 DGAC USDA, Washington, DC USA 192 10018
2019.07.11 DGAC USDA, Washington, DC USA 192 10018 (View on Flickr.com)

…is that I can be in a normoglycemic state all day through diet.

This photograph was taken in Washington, DC (of course), while sitting with physicians from the future, following the second public meeting of the US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. I happened to be sitting next to Georgia Ede, MD (@GeorgiaEdeMD), who is an/the foremost national expert on diet and mental health.

Like many others, I am still thinking through what I saw that day and what it all means for our nation’s health future.

The information presented was wildly divergent and I have no doubt the Committee will work diligently to understand the science.

This is the truth I left with – my continuous glucose monitor tracing from the entire day. The bump above 100 was morning exercise (physiologic), with an overall average in the 80 mg/dl range. The apple icons refer to meals, not actual apples….

2019.07.11 DGAC USDA, Washington, DC USA 193 01010
2019.07.11 DGAC USDA, Washington, DC USA 193 01010 (View on Flickr.com)

There are more ways to achieve normoglycemia via diet than a lamb burger, I know, I just like food photography and good lighting 🙂 .

There are also known ways to lose glycemic control, even briefly, when ingesting foods commonly felt to be good for you, like cornflakes and milk, even among a “healthy” population:

2018.08.06 Glucotypes reveal new patterns of glucose dysregulation 509
2018.08.06 Glucotypes reveal new patterns of glucose dysregulation 509 (View on Flickr.com)

Or sometimes, when ingesting the wrong food that’s served to you by accident:

2019.05.13 Inadvertent Glucose Tolerance Test, Washington, DC USA 9460
2019.05.13 Inadvertent Glucose Tolerance Test, Washington, DC USA 9460 (View on Flickr.com)

See: See: Part 9: Wearing a Continuous Glucose Monitor as a non-diabetic Physician: An unrequested oral glucose tolerance test – Ted Eytan, MD

My experience is my experience (n of 1) and not meant to generalize and not meant to tell people what they should eat. However, there is a fairly robust body of evidence that prediabetes and diabetes can be managed better or reversed with diet. For prediabetes, there’s no other way to do it besides diet. I think that’s really interesting in this century, that diet is not an aside to certain parts of medical care, it’s the intervention that works the best. If that’s the case, it’s good that we know about it for ourselves and the people we serve.

Ted Eytan, MD