I hear you, and the diet I'm currently on would have frightened the pants off
of me just over two years ago. However, it is the diet of an
internationally recognized clinic which has had a diabetes research arm since
1923. I'm on their diabetes diet (which they put all diabetics on) and
require no medication. The diet is 15 carbohydrates per meal for a daily
total of 45 and is fewer carbos than Atkins induction. I bounce between
that and Dr. Bernstein's (a Type I himself) which is 4 carbos per meal.
Admittedly I fall off from time to time but for the most part stick with it
because when I do, I feel much better and keep my blood sugar in line.
Because a small study at one of the Arizona schools found that ingesting ACV
prior to a meal helps control BS, I've done a lot of that and think that keeps
my acid/alkaline in balance. My last a1c, a measure of the glucose retention
of your body over the past few months, was in the normal range where in the past
it has been on the high end of normal. I've been eating this way for two
years. Several years ago I was a dyed in the wool McDougaller, but all it
ever did was to get me fat and diabetic (though I do have a family history of
that).
My arthritis has actually stabilized since going high protein, and has not
progressed like it did before.