What To Know
- There are many studies that highlight the potential benefits of a low-carbohydrate diet including the long-term effects of a loosely restricted carbohydrate diet [1], another that even allowed a reduction/elimination of medication [2] and a systematic review and meta-analysis that concluded clinical improvements in the management of type-2 diabetes [3].
- Something I like to do often is what is considered a Cyclical Ketogenic Diet [4], although mines slightly modified, I will generally save my carbohydrate intake towards the end of the day and replenish my glycogen energy stores so I’m ready to tackle the next day.
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The number of people suffering from diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate and according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), numbers are moving towards 500 million, making this a world epidemic.
Unfortunately, due to the standard Australian diet (or the SAD Diet I like to call it), we are constantly cramming low-quality, carbohydrate-rich food into our gaping maws, overloading our cells with glucose and creating this little thing known as insulin resistance, leading to type-2 diabetes.
Time for a short tour down biochemistry lane…
When we eat carbohydrates, your body takes these molecules and breaks it down to it’s simplest, manageable form known as glucose (practically anything that’s a carbohydrate is broken down to this, yes even fruit), and thus, blood sugar rises. Your pancreas then releases insulin, a hormone that knocks on the door of your cells and signals them to absorb this glucose for energy use or storage (which is found in the muscle and liver).
Now, if your cells are full of energy and the storage cells are at maximum capacity, your cells don’t open the door, they put up a no-entry sign. Now after repeated knocking of the door, insulin still has to do something with this glucose, so what does it do? transports it to the liver where it’s converted into fatty acid and becomes stored as fat (which fortunately for insulin has an almost unlimited storage capacity).
Now as you can imagine over time after excessive stuffing of carbohydrates (and lack of physical activity or movement, which I won’t go into), your cells begin to ignore insulin more and more, and get stored as fat, it’s a vicious cycle and this is what leads to insulin-resistance.
What’s wrong with today’s dietary advice to people
with type-2 diabetes?
To keep it brief, most recommendations for diabetics in many instances still revolve around an intake of carbohydrate-rich foods that’s still too high. Although many guidelines are starting to resonate with the research on the benefits of low-carbohydrate intake and diabetes management, further education is still paramount to extending this management protocol.
There are many studies that highlight the potential benefits of a low-carbohydrate diet including the long-term effects of a loosely restricted carbohydrate diet [1], another that even allowed a reduction/elimination of medication [2] and a systematic review and meta-analysis that concluded clinical improvements in the management of type-2 diabetes [3].
So how can Type-2 Diabetes be reversed?
The two lowest hanging fruits you can do to manage or even complete reverse type-2 diabetes is…
- Lower your carbohydrate intake significantly, not sure if what you’re eating is considered low? this is where Clarity Natural Health can help.
- Get physically active daily & burn it off, this could even be a light morning or afternoon walk, this goes especially for people who are sedentary more often through-out the day.
Something I like to do often is what is considered a Cyclical Ketogenic Diet [4], although mines slightly modified, I will generally save my carbohydrate intake towards the end of the day and replenish my glycogen energy stores so I’m ready to tackle the next day.
Some great books also to read include..
The Diabetes Code – Dr Jason Fung – Dr Fung is disrupting the world with this revolutionary guide to reversing diabetes and offers some fairly good techniques, some of which I haven’t mentioned in this article.
Fat for Fuel – Dr Joseph Mercola – Although not specific on diabetes, Dr Mercola highlights the importance of fats in regards to healthy functioning metabolism and mitochondrial function, a goodie if you’re a little bit more on the nerdy side.
if you have any other books you’ve found useful, send them our way!
The Key Takeaway?
- Shoving more insulin-stimulating carbohydrates into an already insulin-resistance driven problem is not the solution.
- Switching to a lower-carbohydrate, high-fat diet has been shown time and time again to help.
- Utilize that stored glucose and burn it off, increase your physical activity!
If you have any questions regarding this article or have any areas you’d like me to discuss about, let me know, until next time.
All the best in health,
Stephen Brumwell.
References:
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18495047
2. https://nutritionandmetabolism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-7075-5-36
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29269890
4. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cyclical-ketogenic-diet
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Former drinker, Nutritionist, Biohacking enthusiast, self-experimenter, research fanatic, and self-taught writer, Stephen immerses himself deep into the literature of human optimisation and better understand the nature of addiction. His goal is to help people take control of their addiction, reset their cravings, unscramble their broken brain circuitry and use actionable strategies that work ten times better than anything else.