My husband, John, started a gluten-free diet after Christmas 2012. He was feeling like gluten may be causing health problems that have plagued him for years. So he cut out the wheat, the rye and the barley. And just to be on the safe side, he cut out the oatmeal, too.

And me? Why did I try knocking the gluten out of my diet? I was just a desperate type-1 diabetic, willing to try anything to feel better.

After a month, being gluten-free, John started feeling a little better. Most his digestive problems improved dramatically. He still, however, felt as fatigued as ever. With a little more research John found that many people suffering from gluten intolerance felt the same way. Getting rid of gluten wasn’t enough.

This led us to Elaine Gottschall’s book Breaking the Vicious Cycle. Her Specific Carbohydrate Diet eliminated all starches.

So we soon found ourselves on a no-grain, no-bread, no-pasta and no cookie diet.

At this point, the long-avoided low-carb diet of Dr. Richard Berstein, as outlined in his book Diabetes Solution, was not too much of a leap for me.

My husband is a big experimenter. I tag along kicking and screaming. In the end I admit it’s been a great learning experience (and a little fun). And reducing the carbohydrate load has certainly made it much easier to control blood sugars.