over the past decade the number of
people living with diabetes has more
than double by 2050 about one out of
three Americans will have diabetes
according to the CDC the vast majority
of cases are pre-diabetes and type 2
diabetes type 2 diabetes is already the
number one cause of adult onset
blindness kidney failure and surgical
amputations
this is metformin the drug most commonly
prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes and
prediabetes
its side effects are diarrhea nausea
physical weakness and fatigue and it
doesn't work very well at least not
nearly as well as a different treatment
that is less expensive and has no
negative side effects so why aren't
doctors prescribing this better
treatment well because it's not a drug
it's a diet in one study by dr. Neal
Barnard and other researchers funded by
the National Institutes of Health a
group of participants were asked to do
just two things eat only plants no me
dairy or eggs and choose low-fat foods
they didn't have to exercise count carbs
or portion out their food they can eat
as much as they wanted after three
months the researchers looked at the
participants a1c values analyzing a1c
values which measure long-term blood
glucose control is the best way to see
if a diabetes treatment is working the
better your body's ability to control
the glucose the lower your a1c value a
healthy person not living with diabetes
has an a1c
of five point six or below the group
eating a low-fat vegan diet saw an a1c
improvement that was equal to or better
than the typical result achieved by
using oral medications like metformin as
a big bonus
the vegan group saw bad cholesterol
levels dropped by 20% and they also lost
significantly more weight and this group
found that
easier to stick to this diet than the
standard diabetes diet because like I
said they could eat as much as they
wanted and didn't have to count their
carbs so let's take a step back for a
minute what actually causes pre-diabetes
and type 2 diabetes okay time for a
quick biology lesson when you eat
carbohydrates your body breaks them down
into individual sugar molecules
including glucose glucose then
circulates in the blood until it's taken
up by tissues to be stored or burned for
energy think of insulin as the key that
unlocks the door to let glucose in the
blood enter your brain liver muscle and
other tissues diabetes happens when your
body can't unlock millions of cyber
doors so the glucose is trapped in your
blood and can't get inside their tissues
to be used for energy in type 2 diabetes
and pre-diabetes the issue is insulin
resistance which basically means that
the body is resisting against when
insulin is trying to do the culprit
causing this resistance is fat when you
eat fat some gets burned for energy and
some gets stored in your fat tissue if
you eat more than your body can use or
has room to store some of it ends up
getting stored in your liver and muscle
cells too over time these cells get
clogged up it's like putting gum inside
the lock that insulin is trying to
unlock in order to get glucose into the
cell scientists have known for more than
85 years that eating a high-fat diet
especially a diet high in fat from
animal foods and processed foods causes
insulin resistance so that's why a
plant-based diet is so powerful in
preventing and even reversing type 2
diabetes this is Adam when Adam was
diagnosed with type two diabetes of age
30 he weighed 300 pounds and had an a1c
above 9% his fasting glucose was often
close to 300 which is three times what a
healthy person's level would be Adam had
heard about a plant-based diet and
decided to try this approach after just
two months of eating fruits vegetables
potatoes squashes
beans lentils and whole grains he lost
over 40 pounds he was amazed to find
that even though he was eating as much
as he wanted he was continuing to lose
weight his fasting blood glucose dropped
down to 120 six months later Adam had
completely reversed his diabetes in one
year he lost over 100 pounds the bottom
line is this we know exactly how to
solve a diabetes epidemic it's really
really simple simply minimize or
eliminate meat dairy eggs and high-fat
processed foods and replace these foods
with delicious and nutritious foods such
as fruits vegetables whole grains and
legumes like beans lentils and peas
diabetes is a big problem that affects
all of us to one degree or another in
fact most people with pre-diabetes don't
even know it this disease weighs on our
country's public health and even our
economy but it doesn't have to be this
way at the end of the day the power to
prevent and reverse diabetes is right on
your plate
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