Let's start from scratch and pull all the evidence together.
Adults and children develop Type-2 diabetes as a consequence of eating a high-carbohydrate diet – and for no other reason.
As a diabetic, there is only one way to 'cure' the condition and lead a normal drug-free life again: stop doing the thing that caused the disease. Diabetes is caused by a chronic high intake of carbohydrates – sugars and starches
The current "healthy" dietary recommendation advise a chronic intake of carbohydrates
The evidence says that a low-carb diet is healthier. The reason why is explained in part 5 and my vegetarian pages.
The current concept of a "healthy' diet quite different – and unnatural.
Now let's get back to sorting out the diabetes problem.
The conventional approach to diabetes treatment is with dietary means PLUS drugs and there is a good reason why this is not a good idea
Two Types of Disease
There are two distinct types of disease.
1. Diseases caused by living organisms: (typhoid, measles, colds). In these cases drugs, to kill bacteria, viruses, etc are the best answer.
2. Diseases caused by environment / lifestyle: (obesity, diabetes, ischaemic heart disease). In this class of diseases, drugs are rarely successful. In these cases it is better to find and modify the cause. And the cause in pretty well all of them seems down to unnatural diet.
The Alternative Approach
For that reason I believe, and teach, that the correct way to treat diabetes is with weight loss by dietary means alone – without the use of drugs.
The strategy is to reduce excessive insulin with a very high fat, low-carb diet. Trials prove that it works – see Part 5.
Forward to the Past
All this isn't new. Before 1984, diabetics were treated with low-carb, high-fat diet. Think about it: a low-carb, high-fat diet reduces postprandial (after meals) glucose spikes. If there are no glucose spikes there's no hyperinsulinaemia and with no hyperinsulinaemia there's no weight gain and no diabetes.
Summary of Protocol
The diet is explained in my book Eat Fat, Get Thin! This book is written for people who are overweight but otherwise healthy. It advocates 60 grams of carbohydrate a day. For diabetics, this should be reduced to around 30-40 grams a day.
The amount of calories lost through cutting down on carbs must be made up in some way from other foods. It is important that you do not go hungry.
It is equally important that these calories come from dietary fat – NOT from protein. The aim is to reduce blood glucose and insulin levels. Our bodies will make glucose from protein – they don't make glucose from fat. And fat is a much better fuel anyway (see my page on diet for athletes).
To help you here is a list of foods to avoid, a list of foods to eat and a simple carb counter
Given this, the ratios you should adopt for your daily meals are:
10% – 15% carbohydrate
20% – 25% protein
60% – 70% fat
The amount of fat might seem too high to manage. In fact, it isn't too difficult if you fry as much as possible, buy the fattiest meat you can find – and don't cut the fat off, eat full-fat cheeses, put cream on the small amount of fruit you are allowed and spread butter on cooked vegetables or fatless meat.
As an example, here is an actual menu for my meals for one day in September 2002:
| Breakfast 8:00 am
72g extra large egg
120g fat bacon
70g mushrooms (these soak up fat)
15g lard
75g banana
70g single cream (in drink)
C= 24.5g: P=37g: F=67.2g
781 cals
|
Lunch 1:00 pm
300g fat pork chop
40g carrots
70g runner beans
60g squash
50g onion
Butter on vegetables
C=16g : P=57g : F=90g
1098 cals
|
Evening 6:45pm
140g brie cheese
75g apple
50g cream (in drink)
C=13.9g : P=31g : F=45.9g
593 cals
|
plus 2 litres of water as plain water or in tea/cocoa
| Totals for the day |
Carbs |
Protein |
Fats |
Grand total |
|
54.4g |
125g |
203.1g |
|
| Calories: |
217.6 |
500 |
1827.9 |
2545.5 kcals |
| Percentages of calories: |
8.6% |
19.7 |
71.7% |
100% |
That is an example of what I use as a slimming diet – Does it really look so difficult to live on?
Do I exercise to burn off all these calories? Not really, I spend most of my day in front of a computer.
NOTE: There are two points from a diabetic point of view:
A diabetic should cut out the fruit at breakfast time if he/she notices the "Dawn Phenomenon" (higher blood glucose levels on waking than before going to bed).
