Before dietary guidelines, the standard diabetes treatment was simple:
— Sama Hoole (@SamaHoole) November 28, 2025
"Restrict carbohydrates. They raise your blood sugar."
This was obvious. Logical. Effective.
Diabetics who restricted carbs had stable blood sugar. Those who didn't, didn't.
Elliott Joslin, founder of…
Before dietary guidelines, the standard diabetes treatment was simple: "Restrict carbohydrates. They raise your blood sugar." This was obvious. Logical. Effective. Diabetics who restricted carbs had stable blood sugar. Those who didn't, didn't. Elliott Joslin, founder of Joslin Diabetes Center: "The chief principle of treatment is limitation of carbohydrates." This was 1916. It remained standard through the 1960s. Then 1977 Dietary Guidelines: "Everyone should eat more carbs, less fat." Diabetics included. The American Diabetes Association updated their advice: "Diabetics can eat carbs! Just take insulin to cover it." Diabetes treatment became: Eat carbs → inject insulin → blood sugar spike → inject more insulin. Instead of: Don't eat carbs → stable blood sugar → minimal insulin needed. One addresses the cause. One treats the symptom forever. We chose symptom management. Created a multi-billion dollar insulin industry. Modern diabetics eat 200-300g carbs daily and inject insulin 4-6 times daily. Pre-1977 diabetics ate 20-50g carbs daily and used minimal insulin. One group had stable blood sugar and minimal complications. One group has unstable blood sugar and complications despite medication. Guess which approach we recommend today. The pre-1977 doctors were right. We abandoned their approach for profit.
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