According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), Diabetes now afflicts 20.8 million Americans, or 7% of our population. Only 5-10% of Diabetics are type 1, where through autoimmune destruction of insulin producing beta-cells, they now have a lifelong dependence on insulin. The rest are classified as type 2, resulting from insulin resistance (the cells of the body stop responding to insulin) combined with insulin deficiency. According to the ADA there are 54 million Americans who have prediabetes, or 17% of our population.

What’s causing this epidemic? Is it really “bad genes” or what we are putting into our bodies?

Diabetes is a serious, life-threatening condition that has everything to do with what one eats (excessive and poor food choices) and what one does not eat (nutritional deficiencies), and much less to do with the supposed biological fatalism of our genes. While geneticists apply vast amounts of time, energy and money to finding the “causes” of disease in our genes, much less attention is placed on research that has already proven that the consumption of foods like wheat, dairy and soy are major contributing factors in the development of type 1 diabetes, or that the consumption of high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oil contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes.

Blaming “bad genes” on diseases like diabetes is a convenient way to escape the obvious things we can do individually, and as a culture, to prevent the escalation of an already epidemic problem.

We shouldn’t settle for the unlikely prospect of a future “cure” via the pharmaceutical pipeline, gene therapy, stem cell research or similar scientific fantasies, when the cause (and therefore the cure) of diabetes may be as close to us as what is at the end of our fork.

It is universally accepted that type 1 diabetes is caused by the immune system attacking the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Eventually the pancreas is no longer capable of producing insulin. While geneticist look for the “bad genes” that are supposedly “causing” the autoimmune problem, it is well documented that in susceptible individuals something in wheat known as gliadin stimulates diabetogenic class II HLA antigens on the surface of the pancreatic islet cells (cells that normally do no display these antigens), marking them for autoimmune destruction. [Do dietary lectins cause disease? BMJ 1999;318:1023-1024].

Not everyone who eats wheat will develop diabetes. Different people will exhibit differing degrees of susceptibility to wheat lectin and this is why it is right to say that there is a “genetic component” to the development of type 1 diabetes, or to any disease. But acknowledging the existence of genetic differences and differing susceptibilities to illness in a population is not to say that genes are “causing” the disease. In the case of wheat lectin, it is not the gene that is causing the islet cell to present an antigen on its surface. It takes wheat lectin to activate the genes necessary for this cellular transformation. To use an analogy, the genes predisposing one to higher risk for diabetes are like an “unloaded gun.” The “bullets” are certain allergenic foods like wheat, dairy and soy. The “triggers” that “fire” this “loaded gun” are varied, from prolonged exposure to these foods, to increased intestinal/gut permeability, vaccinations, viral infections, and perhaps a multitude of as of yet unknown factors.

If we know that the three most commonly lauded “health foods,” wheat, dairy and soy all are implicated in the development of type 1 diabetes, wouldn’t it be a good idea to remove them from the diets of our young as a precaution? What is the other alternative? Succumb to the fatalistic fallacies of the “gene theory” of disease, and just hope that our children won’t develop the disease because they do not have “the bad gene,” or have just been lucky in the game of nutritional Russian roulette?

Type 2 Diabetes - a preventable and reversible disease!

Type 2 diabetes, and the prediabetic state of insulin resistance that precedes it, are caused by the following preventable factors:

1) excessive consumption of calories.

2) inactivity; lack of exercise.

3) Consumption of high glycemic foods (foods that make the blood sweet):

a) primarily sugar and grain derived carbohydrates, e.g. pasta, cereal, crackers.

b) high fructose corn syrup, and other sources of concentrated fructose: e.g. sugar, agave.

4) hydrogenated oils

5) nutritional deficiencies of minerals, especially magnesium, chromium and zinc, and omega 3 fatty acids, as found in foods like flaxseed, walnuts and wild fish.

When we eat beyond our capacity, excess energy is stored in the body as glycogen and saturated fat. When through prolonged over-consumption of food our body no longer has room to store these unneeded calories, insulin resistance emerges. As if to protect itself from caloric over-saturation, the fat cells and muscle cells begin to lose the number of insulin receptors, thus reducing the amount of glucose that may enter. This causes the blood sugar to raise to unhealthy levels leaving the pancreas with no other option than to overcompensate and produce more insulin. If this cycle continues, eventually the insulin producing beta cells become enervated and lose their ability to produce insulin, resulting in full blown type 2 diabetes. Caloric restriction becomes of vital importance in forestalling the development of type 2 diabetes.

Exercise is essential in helping the body use up stored energy, converting calories consumed into calories burned. Exercise has the opposite effect of over-eating, increasing the number of insulin receptors in muscle, and increasing the sensitivity of the body to insulin; hence, releasing the pancreas of the burden of constant insulin production. Exercise also results in the release of appetite suppressing hormones and neurotransmitters which help to forestall over-eating.

Carbohydrates generally have an insulin secreting effect on the body because they have a high glycemic rating. That is to say, carbohydrates cause the blood to become sweeter than protein or fat, which are broken down slowly in the body, independently of insulin. Even so-called “complex carbohydrates” like puffed rice have higher glycemic ratings (110) than white sugar (80), which is 50% fructose, and therefore less likely to induce an insulin response than these “whole grains.” On the flip side, fructose while having a low glycemic rating, can raise blood sugar on the back end by reducing the affinity of insulin for its receptor, hence contributing to insulin resistance and elevating blood glucose.

When it comes to “whole grains,” no food category is associated with greater misunderstanding in realm of blood sugar disorders. The perception that “whole grains” are good for our health and should be consumed in plenty is based on the assumption that the millions of years of biological evolution that preceded the advent of the agrarian revolution (circa 10,000 b.c.) are no longer relevant. We spent 300,000 years as archaic homo sapiens in the capacity of hunters, gatherers and foragers, where the consumption of cereal grasses, and especially the seed form of these grasses, would not have occurred with any regularity, if at all. Our metabolism is simply not designed for large amounts of starch, sugar, and synthetically produced sweeteners and fats. We need fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts, and high quality animal protein in plenty. Moreover evidence exists demonstrating that the glycoproteins in starchy grains known as “lectins,” can bind to the leptin receptors in the hypothalamus blocking out the appetite suppressing effects of the hormone leptin. This is one reason why bread, pasta, cereal, crackers, etc, can generate incessant cravings and contribute to a condition known as “leptin resistance.”

High Fructose Corn Syrup has been shown to cause insulin resistance in rats and humans. It also been associated with insatiable hunger and increased production of fat by the liver, along with other blood lipid alterations associated with “metabolic syndrome,” which includes high triglycerides, increased blood pressure, low HDL and elevated LDL.

Hydrogenated oils dramatically reduce the responsiveness of our muscle and fat to insulin, whereas, omega 3 fatty acids increase that responsiveness. A search of the biomedical citations on www.pubmed.gov shows a treasure house of research proving omega 3 fatty acids help to correct insulin resistance.

Numerous clinical studies have also been done showing that magnesium, gtf chromium, chelated zinc, alpha lipoic acid, cinnamon (ceylon or true cinnamon; not cassia or false cinnamon) all help to prevent, reduce or reverse the progression of type 2 diabetes.

The reason why these truly remarkable dietary supplements receive less attention than they deserve is because they are not “patentable drugs.” Mother Nature’s formulas are proprietary, but She does not grant patents! Rather, she offers these things to us to use freely for self-healing, if only we would listen and consider ourselves deserving enough to use them.

• Can You Beat Diabetes by Changing Your Lifestyle?
• Using Cinnamon to Beat Your Diabetes
• Is There a Relationship Between Type 2 Diabetes and Depression?
• Gestational Diabetes Diet Plan - Planned With Proper Medical Consultation
• Why You Should Talk to Your Doctor Before Going on a Pre-Diabetic Diet
• How to Beat Numbness in the Extremities
• Creating a Diet Plan For Your Diabetes

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