Can we avoid or even reverse or Type 2 diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which there is a high level of glucose in the blood stream
despite the pancreas producing insulin to bring it down.
High blood glucose has a number of serious health consequences; and the problem in type
2 diabetes is not a deficiency of the glucose lowering hormone insulin, but rather a problem
with the body’s response to insulin- a condition called insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance is also feature of the "Metabolic Syndrome".
In type 2 diabetes, at least in the early stages, there are high levels of both insulin
and glucose in the blood stream.
A common misconception is that type 2 diabetes only affects the overweight and obese.
Many doctors now believe, myself included, that type 2 diabetes is characterised by an
inability to metabolize or handle the huge quantities of carbohydrates that we eat nowadays.
Many of us are just eating way too many carbohydrates for our body’s metabolism to handle – too
many carbohydrates in processed food particularly.
This overload of carbohydrates is overwhelming our hormones which control the blood glucose
level such as insulin and overwhelming our hormones which control hunger such as leptin.
This leads to insulin resistance, high blood glucose and high levels of insulin as well
as continuous hunger and weight gain.
So how do we avoid type 2 diabetes?
Well, Professor Tim Noakes in the book the Real Meal Revolution gives the scientific
evidence that supports the idea that we are eating too many carbohydrates.
He explains in this book that although we need adequate quantities of protein and fats
in our diet, we don’t actually need carbohydrates at all, because, our liver can make glucose
in large quantities if needed from dietary fat and proteins through a process called
"gluconeogenesis".
So if there is no obligatory need for carbohydrates in our food, we don't need to eat them in
the quantities that we are - currently doing.
Insulin resistance leads to fat accumulation in the liver and pancreas, and this then leads
on to diabetes.
So if type 2 diabetes is caused by eating too many carbohydrates, it would seem logical
to suggest that one way at least to avoid this condition is to eat fewer carbohydrates
- and that means from any source.
In this excellent book, Diabetes Unpacked, Dr David Unwin a GP in the UK describes the
spectacular results he has achieved by advising people with type 2 diabetes to eat fewer carbohydrates.
Many diabetics in his practice have been able to reduce or even eliminate their medication
and put their diabetes into remission.
All carbohydrates even carbohydrates that you might consider healthy such as wholemeal
bread, baked potatoes and whole meal pasta are digested and they all enter the blood
as glucose.
So the logic is this: if type 2 diabetes is characterised by too much glucose in the blood
stream, it would make sense to eat fewer carbohydrates to avoid the condition as well as to reverse
it.
A great resource in addition to these 2 books is dietdoctor.com.
This is a website that gives information about how to eat a low carbohydrate diet based on
real food.
It gives the scientific background to a low carbohydrate way of eating, practical advice
and recipes as well as interviews with international experts.
So, in summary, type 2 diabetes is characterised by too much glucose in the blood stream; all
carbohydrates enter the blood stream as glucose (mainly); and it seems sensible to advise
people with type 2 diabetes to eat fewer carbohydrates.
In fact, it has been suggested by Professor Tim Noakes, that all of us, could improve
our health and avoid T2D in many cases by eating real food, which is naturally low in
carbohydrates.