IS TYPE 2 DIABETES really a progressive disease?
MOST HEALTH PROFESSIONALS consider type 2 diabetes to be a chronic and progressive disease. This promotes the idea that type 2 diabetes is one-way street, a life sentence with no possibility of parole: the disease continually gets worse until you eventually require insulin injections.
But this is actually a great big lie, which is excellent news for anyone who has been diagnosed with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.
Recognising the fallacy of this belief is the crucial first step in reversing the disease. Actually, most people already instinctively recognise this. It’s ridiculously easy to prove that type 2 diabetes is almost always reversible.
We have intuitively sensed this truth all along. But only diet(woe) and lifestyle changes- not medications- will reverse this disease, simply because type 2 diabetes is largely a dietary disease. The most important determinant, of course, is weight loss. Most of the medications used to treat type 2 diabetes do not cause weight loss. Quite the contrary. Insulin, for example, is notorious for causing weight gain. Once we start insulin injections for type 2 diabetes, we often sense that we are heading down the wrong path.
Since weight loss is the key to reversing type 2 diabetes, medications don’t help. We only pretend they do, which is the reason most doctors think type 2 diabetes is chronic and progressive. We have avoided facing an inconvenient truth: drugs won’t cure a dietary disease.
They are about as useful as bring a snorkel to a bicycle race. The problem is not the disease; the problem is how they treat the disease.
Now, we are going to have a closer look at the right diet for reversing type 2 diabetes and who should not be doing it, or more likely be aware of the risks for some people, then we will dig a little bit deeper into details and what’s is good to eat and drink, and what should be avoided.
A low carb diet is low in carbohydrates, primarily found in sugary foods, pasta and bread. Instead, you eat real foods including protein, natural fats and vegetables.
Studies show that low carb diets result in weight loss and improved health markers, and just about everyone knows someone who has successfully tried it. There’s not even any need to count calories or use special products. So why is it still controversial?
Learn more about low carb and how to use it for your personal goals here.
1. Introduction to low carb
A low carb diet means that you eat fewer carbohydrates and a higher proportion of fat. This can also be called a low carb, high-fat diet (LCHF) or a keto diet.
For decades we’ve been told that fat is detrimental to our health. Meanwhile low-fat “diet” products, often full of sugar, have flooded supermarket shelves. This has been a major mistake, that coincided with the start of the obesity epidemic.
Studies now show that there’s no reason to fear natural fats. Fat is your friend (here’s why). On a low-carb diet, you instead minimise your intake of sugar and starches. You can eat other delicious foods until you are satisfied – and still lose weight.
How does it work? When you avoid sugar and starches, your blood sugar stabilises and the levels of the fatstoring hormone insulin drop. This increases fat burning and makes you feel more satiated, reducing food intake and causing weight loss. Studies prove that a low-carb diet makes it easier both to lose weight and to control your blood sugar, among other benefits. The basics
Eat: Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables growing above ground and natural fats (like butter).
Avoid: Sugar and starchy foods (like bread, pasta, rice, beans and potatoes).
Eat when you’re hungry, until you’re satisfied. It’s that simple. You do not need to count calories or weigh your food. And just forget about industrially produced low-fat products.
Who should NOT do a strict low-carb diet?
Most people can safely start any kind of low-carb diet. But in these three situations you may need some preparation or adaptation:
If you’re not in any of these groups, you’re good to go. Great!
Getting started fast
2. What to eat on a low-carb diet
In this section you can learn exactly what to eat on low carb diet, whether you prefer visual guides, detailed food lists, delicious recipes or a simple get started guide. Let’s start with a quick visual guide to low carb. Here are the basic food groups you can eat all you like of, until you’re satisfied:
The numbers above are grams of digestible carbs per 100 grams (3.5 ounces). Fibre is not counted, you can eat all the fibre you want. All foods above are below 5% carbs. Sticking to these foods will make it relatively easy to stay on a strict low-carb diet, with less than 20 grams of carbs per day.
Try to avoid
Here’s what you should not eat on low carb – foods full of sugar and starch. These foods are much higher in carbs.
The numbers are grams of digestible carbs per 100 grams (3.5 ounces), unless otherwise noted.
What to drink
What drinks are good on a low-carb diet? Water is perfect, and so is coffee or tea. Preferably use no sweeteners. A modest amount of milk or cream is OK in coffee or tea (but beware of coffee latte and other speciality coffees!).
The occasional glass of wine is fine too.
How low carb is a low carb diet?
The fewer carbohydrates you eat, the more powerful the effects on weight and blood sugar will be. We recommend initially following the dietary advice fairly strictly. When you’re happy with your weight and health, you may carefully try eating more carbs (if you want to). Here are three examples of what a low-carb meal can look like, depending on how many carbs you plan to eat per day:
Here’s a picture with basic low-carb advice, that you may want to print and have around, or give to friends who are curious:
Why would you consider eating fewer carbs? There are many potential benefits, proven by science and experience, like these four:
Most people start eating fewer carbs to lose weight, a well-known and often highly effective method.
However, the reason many people keep eating low carb is more often the powerful health effects, like the following ones.
Low-carb diets can normalize blood sugar and thus potentially reverse type 2 diabetes. Low carb can also be very helpful in managing type 1 diabetes.
Low carb can help settle a grumpy gut, reducing symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome such a bloating, gas, diarrhoea, cramps and pain. Indigestion, re-flux and other digestive issues can improve, too. For many, this is the best part of going low carb and happens usually within the first few days, or first week, of starting the diet.
Are you struggling to stay away from sweet foods, even though you try to eat them in “moderation”? Tons of people do. A low-carb diet usually reduces and sometimes even eliminates cravings for sweets.
Weight loss, shrinking fat stores, lower blood sugar, improved mental clarity, and a calmer digestive system are the most frequently cited benefits of low-carb eating.
But some people experience even more life-changing improvements: lower blood pressure, less acne and better skin, fewer migraines, improved mental health symptoms, better fertility, and even more.
If you stop eating sugar and starch cold turkey (recommended) you may experience some side effects as your body adjusts. For most people these side effects tend to be mild and last a just few days. There are also ways to minimise them.
Another option is to decrease the intake of carbohydrates slowly, over a few weeks, to minimise side effects. But the “Nike way” (Just Do It) is probably the best choice for most people. Removing most sugar and starch often results in several pounds lost on the scale within a few days. This may be mostly fluids, but it’s great for motivation.
Here are side effects that may occur when you suddenly start a strict low-carb diet.
By far the most common side effect is called the induction flu. It’s what makes some induction flu people feel really poorly 2-3 days after starting low carb.
Here are the common symptoms:
Headache
Fatigue
Dizziness
Light nausea and Irritability
These side effects rapidly subside as your body adapts and your fat burning increases. Within a week, they are usually gone.
The reason for this is that carbohydrate-rich foods may increase water retention in your body. When you stop eating high-carb foods you’ll lose excess water through your kidneys. This can result in dehydration and a lack of salt during the first week, before the body has adapted, resulting in the symptoms above.
You can minimise the induction flu by drinking more fluids and by temporarily increasing your salt intake. A good option is to drink a cup of bouillon/broth one or two times a day. This usually keeps the induction flu minor or even non-existent.
Alternatively, drink a few extra glasses of water and put more salt on your food.
The most difficult step, it is nothing that you need to do any preparations for, yet it is very important for everyone who wants to succeed in low carbing and reversing type 2 diabetes. It all starts with cleaning. For some it may seem as waste of money, but trust me, it will save you some at the end.
Cleaning and clearing your cupboards, fridge and other food storage of anything that holds more than 10 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams of product. You decide what to do with it (bin it, give it away), just get rid of it. I personally have given all of that stuff to the lady next door and she was really grateful for it. As a thank you I have been given two pheasants, can't argue with that.
“”NOTE: if this is not possible and you have family members who still eats carbohydrate heavy meals, split the cupboards and set aside all carb heavy products. It will be hard at the beginning not to touch or eat them, but this will get easier with time.””
The food list will help you. This list should also be considered as your shopping list. Do not buy anything what is not on that list, at least for a couple of months or as long as necessary for anyone to get the low carbing right.
Counting carbohydrates is the most important, and the best way of doing it, is simply write everything down in a notepad. Get yourself a good set of kitchen scales, notepad and pen. Get familiar with nutrition labels as you going to read a lot of them. The most important information for you will be the Carbohydrates value. Here in the UK we are a bit more lucky because all the work has been done for us. I am talking about net carbohydrates. In US unfortunately this must be done by you. But don't worry, it isn't that complicated. What is different and how do I know it is US label? This is very easy. The difference is in the word Fiber. In the UK it is spelled Fibre and it is already deducted from the total carbohydrates value. See the example of US nutrition label.
The values that you are looking for are:
If you are US based, then you will need to deduct Dietary Fiber from the Total Carbohydrates, and if, there is Sugar Alcohol, then deduct half the amount of Sugar Alcohol from the Total
Carbohydrates too. Only after that you will get the Net Amount of Carbohydrates. On the example label, if you got it right, it should get you 10.5 grams Net Carbohydrates per serving (26 grams). This is just an example, and whatever the label is from, you would better avoid it. As we prefer to look for values per 100 grams, this example would go to 40.38 grams of Net
Carbohydrates per 100 grams of the product. That is simply to much and for somebody like me it would be 1/3 of my daily target in just one serving.
The amount of Net Carbohydrates you should be aiming for?
The amount of Net Carbohydrates per day is each persons individual decision. As you remember, we are aiming for a low carbohydrate way of eating. This means that everything below 100 grams of Net
Carbohydrates per day is considered low carbohydrate. Keep in mind that this target might not be suitable for everyone and many people will need to go lower than that. In my experience, 50 grams of Net Carbohydrates per day should really be target to aim for, but some may have to go as low as 20 grams per day.
Apps to make it easier for you:
MyFitnessPal – App Store | Google Play
Carb Manager – App Store | Google Play
This leads directly to next step, and you might have already guessed which one. Yes, you are right. How on earth one can keep eating just 50 grams of Net Carbohydrates per day?
This is achievable only by changing your eating habits and the amount of meals per day. Current ADA (American Diabetes Association) and NHS (National Healthcare System- UK) recommendations are, at least 3 meals and 2 snacks per day. These recommendations are simply too old and we know that this will not work, at all. Not just because one cannot simply do low carb diet by eating so many times per day, but also it will keep your insulin levels high all the time. About insulin and why we need to keep it low for longer periods of time, later in this guide.
Let’s get back to how many meals per day is acceptable and why.