Phyllis Dowty

               My name is Phyllis Dowty.  From the time I was born - when I weighed a little over nine pounds while being only 18 inches long - until just recently, I don’t remember ever being described as “skinny.”  Along with that, I grew up in a southern-style family.  By that I mean that we regularly had meat, potatoes, biscuits and gravy on the menu.  I had a stay-at-home mom who was known as a great cook.  She made home-made noodles and baked fresh, hot cookies for us regularly.  Over the years, I learned to cook a lot like my mom.   

               I have been married to Bill for 27 years.  When Bill came into my life, we were in our mid-20’s.  He had also had a stay-at-home mom who was a great cook.  Food has often been a focal point of our relationship over the years.  Our first date was at an all-you-can-eat restaurant.  I quickly learned that he could eat two Big Macs (with fries) in one meal.  One of his favorite treats was chocolate covered peanuts, and he usually ate about a half pound at a time.  One year on vacation, we visited the same ice cream shop three times in one day, not to mention the times we stopped there on the other days we were in that town!

Because there was a family history of diabetes in Bill’s family, when his dad learned that he was diabetic, his mom encouraged Bill to be tested, too.  Although he had no symptoms at that time, Bill was diagnosed as having diabetes and was put on an oral medication to control his blood sugar levels.

Immediately, Bill attempted to eliminate sugar from his diet, and it seemed that he was doing quite well.  He began drinking diet soft drinks and eating sugar-free cookies and candies, including sugar-free chocolate covered peanuts.  But other than that, he continued to eat many of the same foods that he was used to eating, including burgers and fries from fast food restaurants at least a couple of times a week.  For a while they were not too bad, but his glucose readings rose gradually higher and unhealthier over the next several years, and his medication had to be increased. 

Eventually, in February of 2003, Bill’s blood glucose levels rose to the 250 (mg/100 milliliters) range.  Of course, we made an appointment to see our physician who added a second medication and instructed Bill that he had to begin eating “right”.  Bill said he was ready to make the necessary changes.  But I was the one who had to do the cooking!  What did it mean to eat right?  I began learning all I could about how food affects the sugar levels in the body and how I could help Bill regain control over his diabetes.  I made some very fascinating discoveries.  Over the next several weeks, Bill began losing weight and the doctor took him off of the additional medication he had started in February.  Eventually, the doctor reduced the amount of his original medication, and by mid-October, Bill had lost about 40 pounds and was taken off of the last of his diabetes medication.  Today, he has lost a total of 50 pounds and he controls his diabetes solely with diet and exercise. 

                 One of the most important discoveries I made regarding Bill’s diet was that sugar isn’t the only thing that affects the blood sugar levels.  All carbohydrates have some affect on the blood sugar.  At first, we told people that we were eating a low carbohydrate diet.  But the more I learned I realized that although it was lower than we had been eating, we were actually eating a “smart carbohydrate” diet.  Compared to some of the popular low-carb diets, we eat a large amount of carbohydrate foods.