I follow many paleo/lowcarb practiotioners on the web and their patients get really mad with the previous practiotioners who made them follow the official guidelines with no dietary changes.
I agree, but to a limited extent. Some Type 2 diabetics can control their blood sugar with diet and exercise. Many can not. At 20-25 carbs per meal, I was hyperglycemic all night, and couldn't go any lower without getting weak and sick.
But even Type 2 diabetes has a range of causes and complicating factors, so there really isn't any one diet that's right for everyone. In fact, a major reason I left an otherwise pretty good diabetes forum was because it was so focused on low-carb dieting (and related commercial sponsorship) that some forum members and moderators (elected by popular vote) were ignoring the actual diabetes in their pursuit of championing diets and exercise. For example, it's a
really bad idea to encourage a newly diagnosed diabetic to exercise when they don't know what their blood sugar is and are having symptoms of hyperglycemia
I completely agree that the dietary guidelines are absolutely horrible, especially for diabetics. The dietician I saw initially told me to pretty much double my carb intake by adding a lot of bread to my diet, because I wasn't eating any. She did alter her stance when I explained what even 20 carbs per meal did to my blood sugar levels (and symptoms).