Type 2 diabetes is also called type 2 diabetes mellitus and adult-onset diabetes. Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more cases of this type of diabetes in teens and children. Type 2 diabetes is much more common than type 1 diabetes but it shares with type 1 diabetes high blood sugar levels, and the complications of high blood sugar.
Instead of starting talking about carbohydrates and how our body breaks them down into glucose which is our energy source for the body’s cells, and how glucose stays in our bloodstream when we have Type 2 Diabetes because of a malfunction of the hormone insulin, I would like to put an emphasis on the WHY. Because I believe the glucose issue is quite clear now even for non diabetics. So WHY is insulin unable to bind with our cells to help glucose enter? What if there is enough insulin but it doesn’t work? What is the reason behind this? Well, the problem is not glucose. No no no. The glucose build up in our bloodstream is a CONSEQUENCE of having fat inside our muscle cells, so-called intramyocellular lipids. Fat in the bloodstream can build up inside the muscle cells, creating toxic fatty breakdown products and free radicals that block the insulin signaling process. No matter how much insulin we have in our blood, it’s not able to sufficiently open the glucose ”gates”, and blood sugar levels build up in the blood. And this can happen within three hours. One hit of fat can start causing insulin resistance, inhibiting blood sugar uptake after just 160 minutes.
So if fat is actually the culprit of insulin resistance to begin with, why do we keep blaming carbohydrates? Its about time we stop focusing on low-carb diets when clearly, you didn’t become diabetic from eating too much fruit and vegetables (yes, those are carbohydrates), you became diabetic first and foremost because you have a genetic predisposition to type 2 diabetes and second, because you have been exposed to environmental triggers and have been eating too much PROCESSED carbohydrates such as white bread, pasta, white rice, cakes, pastries, sweetened juices and sodas COMBINED with unhealthy trans and saturated fats. This deadly combination is all too common in the SAD (Standard American Diet). Every possible readily available pre-packaged good has in it processed carbohydrates and unhealthy (I want to say deadly…) fats. Its not your fault but you fall in the trap because those foods are constantly being put in front of our faces. And they’re cheap to make! $1 Donut vs. $7 mixed salad.
I wish we could stop praising diets, inventing new ones and making people crazy with them. Instead, let’s focus on eating what we are meant to: plant based whole foods and lean protein & plant protein to keep our muscles strong and our body functional. Let’s limit the amount of fat we consume (not all fats are created equal but as diabetics, we need to get rid of the fat we already have), we don’t need more of it.
For the ketogenic diet fans out there, sorry, I don’t support it. The results you see in the first weeks of switching to this diet are SOLELY linked to you eating less processed carbohydrates and more vegetables instead. The fat you’re eating isn’t doing you any good except clogging up your arteries if that can be called a good thing…Its a studied fact that patients with type 2 diabetes react positively to a low-carb diet initially, because you are cutting out the processed sugar, your body thanks you for that and you lose some weight but do not give the credit to fat for this, it will stab you in the back in the long term. More about that in my eBook.
More eating what nature intended us to. Less focus on miracle diets and human engineered addictive foods made of sugar and fat combinations, aka poison.
