ATHERTON MAN LOSES 60KG ON A STRICT LOW-CARBOHYDRATE DIET:

THREE years ago, Dennis Bauer ate the way you’d expect a 143kg man to eat – his diet was full of bread, pasta, biscuits and ice cream.

But a number of medical scares led him to the low carb movement and the Atherton bushman lost almost 60kg.

Mr Bauer puts down his impressive reversal of his Type 2 diabetes symptoms, leukaemia and recovery from a malignant melanoma on his head to a diet low in carbohydrates and high in vegetables, nuts and protein.

His case was the subject of a conference over the weekend at CQUniversity Cairns hosted by Low Carb Downunder.

“I had this idea that cancer sticks to sugar and I came across the low carb way of eating and gave it a go. After three weeks and six days I lost 10 kgs,” Mr Bauer said.

“At the same time I started really feeling well.

“A year later my leukaemia results were clear. I’m not saying it’s still not there but it is not showing up. It’s put five years on my life. ”

Over 26 days on the diet, Mr Bauer recorded his blood sugar, a key indicator of Type 2 diabetes and found it fell from a high 13.7mmol/L to 6mmol/L.

Now, Mr Bauer snacks on nuts and cheese and eats meat and a large serving of vegetables at meal times.

Dr Paul Mason said conventional thinking taught doctors diabetes was “relentlessly progressive” and the best they could do was manage it.

“By definition carbohydrates are chains of glucose formed together, a type of sugar. When you eat them, all of that sugar goes into your blood,” he said.

“If you simply stop putting sugar into your body and your bloodstream, you’ll stop registering high amounts of glucose, an indicator of diabetes.”

While Dr Mason was at pains to distance himself from outspoken health campaigner and chef Pete Evans, although he did say the cookbook author was unfairly maligned for his comments on eating carbohydrates.