Dr. Bernstein's book, Diabetes Solution is the gold standard as far as I'm concerned. I started reading it 1/10 when I was at 300lbs. Today I'm at 218. I started following his advice and the side effect of eating right was weight loss...imagine that.

As you are a student, be very careful of giving advice outside of the protocols of the clinic where you are working. You could suggest to you patients that they take their post meal blood sugars to work out for themselves which foods have the least impact. This lady has done a lot of research and self experimentation http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/index.php and this man http://diabetes-solution.net/

I don't have any studies I can cite. I can just tell you my own experience. I am a Type 2 diabetic. When I was first diagnosed by Dr. Atkins, he put me on Metformin, blood pressure meds and a low carb diet. Eventually I was able to go off all my meds. I'm still low carb now, but I consider myself more primal/paleo than anything.

I recently moved to California, and my new doctor told me that carb counting is very important, then gave me a meal plan that included TONS of carbs (bagels, cereal, muffins for breakfast). If I ate the way he recommended, I would be in big trouble, and on insulin. It's sad when we have to ignore our doctors' advice in order to stay healthy, but that's exactly what I need to do.

Might want to consider reading and preparing your plan based on some of this research:

1. Nutr Hosp. 2011 Jan-Feb;26(1):170-5. Effect of a low glycemic load on body composition and Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA) in overweight and obese subjects. Armendáriz-Anguiano AL, Jiménez-Cruz A, Bacardí-Gascón M, Hurtado-Ayala L. Source Medicine and Psychology School, Universidad Auntónoma de Baja California, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.

2. Nutr Clin Pract. 2011 Jun;26(3):300-8. Low-carbohydrate diet review: shifting the paradigm. Hite AH, Berkowitz VG, Berkowitz K. Source Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.

These articles are both pretty recent, and provide a little bit of groundwork for developing a plan. My recommendations for myself (now free of metabolic syndrome and down 150 lbs from my high weight over 3 years, though I am still quite obese--but a surprisingly 'healthy' obese...) is to eat a good bit of leafy foods; a small amount of "fruity" foods (any seed-bearing production from a plant -- not necessarily sweet... for example, zucchini and cucumbers are both "fruits" of the vines they grow on, and are as much 'fruits' for my purposes as blueberries or mangos); occasional roots, nuts, and seeds; and animal, avian, and piscean foods (eggs, meat, poultry, and fish, and even a little full-fat raw fermented/cultured dairy)--provided that they are grown on their naturally-selected food-source, in fresh air and sunshine, and killed humanely, with as little stress as possible. If i can't get good food, I choose not to substitute with unhealthy options (most of the time -- I'll occasionally waver on a good friend's birthday cheesecake)... instead, I just don't eat at that time. Oh... and move around... a lot... use your body and put it to work and it will usually thank you over time (even when the initial work causes it to complain like an ol' creaky door!)

I was diagnosed as type 2, then got tests indicating I am 1.5/LADA. I take a small amount of basal insulin, and eat pretty low carb with paeleo leanings. Thats where im coming from. And while I think there are lots of well-intended folks on paleo, primal, and LC sites who have opinions on what might work for a diabetic, you don't know until you have it yourself. And even then, you still don't know, because everyone's experience with it is fairly unique.

Ok, so, in any case, my answer to the question: you are really not going to find any conventionally-accepted final info on low carb for diabetics. It's still a big controversy, even among diabetics. A huge range of experiences, opinions, tolerances, etc. I concur on the Bernstein book, though it can feel extreme and scary to the newly diagnosed.

Check out diabetesforums.com for tons of anecdotal evidence, and experiences. The best thing to tell diabetics is to encourage them to take responsibility for their blood glucose management, test often, keep records of food and corresponding bg levels, make their meter their best friend. It's better if they can make their own connections between what they eat and how their numbers are, how exercise helps, and how they feel. So much better than having a study to cite or handing over a piece of paper with a "diet" on it.

As an ex Type 2 here's what helped me:

-My dr asking me what I had done to junk up my diet. It was overeating dry breakfast cereal. He suggested peanut buttered toast instead. Not paleo, but a step in the right direction.

-He also gave me a book on carb exchange counting published by Novo Nordisk. Following that, and changing my breakfast habits, got my blood glucose (which had been 200 fasting) down to normal in a week.

-After this, I found glycemicindex.com. It puts numbers to the problem paleo addresses: just how bad a carb is. It immediately steered me into eliminating or severely limiting sugars, starches (breakfast cereal and white rice especially), pastries and bread.

I hope that helps. But as mentioned earlier, let the dr's prescribe it. You don't carry the malpractice insurance.

Assuming that the person has removed the most obvious cause (fructose) from their diet, I think it's actually far more effective to focus on increasing activity. If these people did a large volume of walking in the fasted state they would likely cure their NIDDM in pretty short order. Boiling it down to "walk a couple miles before every meal" would take them much further toward managing their blood glucose (and be more accepted by conventional structures in place) than most dietary details beyond fructose avoidance.