Last week, a recipe was posted on the Medtronic Australia Facebook page. The recipe was for a Chocolate Tim Tam Cake, which looked rather gooey and very chocolate-y.

I was looking for something to bake over the weekend, but decided that this cake wasn’t really the sort of baking I was up to, so I scrolled on, searching for the right recipe for my baking adventures.

But for some reason, I kept seeing the recipe appear in my FB feed, a couple of times because it had been posted in some of the LCHF groups I follow.

And then I did what I know I shouldn’t do. I looked at the comments, and down the rabbit whole of the very angry LCHF brigade I tumbled.

I am always very wary when it comes to dietary advice. I don’t follow the Australian Dietary Guidelines because I find the quantity of carbs recommended is just simply too difficult for my non-functioning pancreas. Or rather, for my (frequently barely-functioning) brain which has to act like my non-functioning pancreas. Also, I just don’t really want to have to bolus large quantities of insulin in one go. But that’s just me.

Equally, I don’t follow a paleo diet or I Quit Sugar or Dr Bernstein because anything that is so prescriptive is never going to work for me. Instead, I pick and choose what I know will work for me and, more importantly, what I can manage sustainably. I couldn’t really care less what other people with diabetes (or people without diabetes) eat, because I’m far too concerned with my own diabetes existence. And being obsessed with the @TrumpGoogles Insta account…

In exactly the same way I would never accept a HCP who judged what people eat or the tools people choose to manage their diabetes, I don’t take too kindly to other PWD (or anyone, really) suggesting that people who prefer to eat in a certain way are ‘killing themselves’. This is what was happening in the case of the recipe posted by Medtronic.

You can read the comments yourself (the post is here), or you can just assume that they all had to do with the criminality of a company daring to post the recipe while suggesting that people with diabetes might want a piece of cake. And varying versions of ‘you might as well just kill yourself’.

I’m not bagging the LCHF movement and anyone who fully subscribes to it. But I am calling out the frequent aggressive and belligerent rhetoric of some LCHF folk. I’ve had more than enough disrespectful and rude comments sent my way anytime I write about food or share recipes. Despite that, I’m not for a minute suggesting that the way you are choosing to eat is harmful, in fact, I completely agree that eating LCHF is one way for some people to best manage their diabetes. I know a significant number of people of have changed to this way of eating and they have found the results to be incredibly positive.

I also know a significant number of people who simply haven’t found it to be the right thing for them. Some say they have found it unsustainable, others say they found it boring. Others say they are simply not interested because they found it too restrictive, or too expensive. And some say the results they saw simply didn’t warrant the effort they needed to put in.

I know that for me, exclusively following a LCHF diet doesn’t work because I just don’t do food restriction. I’ve never dieted in my life and I don’t do well with being told what I can and can’t eat. I also know that I can quite easily manage to limit my carbs to around 50 grams per day and that the results I have seen since doing that have been worth the effort for me. I also know that all carbs are not created equal and I try to be smart about what I choose to make up those 50g (or so).

Oh – and mostly I know that sometimes…sometimes, those 50 grams of carbs are going to be a doughnut. I’m okay with that. Doughnuts are delicious and bolus-worthy.

As I firmly and resolutely believe, everyone has the right to manage their diabetes in a way that works for them. And they have a right to do that without being bothered by others. Being told that what you are eating is ‘poisoning your body’, or being told that the devices you are using are toxic helps no one.

Oh, and the personal attacks are also totally unnecessary. The person who sent me an aggressive FB message after seeing this profile photo can just pull their head in. I ate a few bites of chocolate cake (the best chocolate cake ever), not ‘poison’. And yes – even after eating those few bites, I still have both my legs, and my kidneys continue to work just fine. But thanks for asking.

Eat how you want. Let others eat how they want. It’s really not that hard.

For the record – this is what I made on Saturday evening. (This one went to the neighbours, but I also made a smaller one for home.) It’s a blueberry crostata. I added a little ricotta underneath the fruit and made a ridiculously buttery pastry to hold it all together. Super easy. Super delicious. (And my CGM trace peaked at 7.3mmol/l for anyone wondering…)