Diabetes mellitus: Prevention Is the Best Medicine

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September 14, 2014

In part one of this article we looked at what goes wrong in a body burdened with diabetes; the risk factors and symptoms as well as tests to find out if you have it. In this part we focus on what you can do to either prevent diabetes or manage your diabetes. In some cases reversing the progression of the disease is also possible if the necessary changes are made.

Even if most members of your family have it, you can’t blame genetics . Diabetes mellitus type 2 is a LIFESTYLE disease. So what? Well, my curious friend, it means that there’s something you can do about it. In fact, there are a lot of practical things you can do about it, especially when it comes to your diet.

Put simply, the key problem with diabetes (whether type 1 or 2) is that the body has trouble keeping blood glucose levels low. So lets look at which foods raise your blood glucose (and thus your insulin) levels:

Macronutrient	Some Food Examples	Does It Raise Your Blood Glucose?
Fats	Butter, egg yolk, lard, salmon, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, nuts	No
Protein	Red meat, poultry, fish, eggs	Yes, slightly
Carbohydrates - Starchy	Bread, pastry, rice, cookies, sweets, pasta, potatoes, corn, bananas, sweet drinks	Yes, a lot
Carbohydrates - Non-starchy	Other vegetables (e.g. leafy greens, broccoli, tomatoes), other fruits*	Yes, moderately - but the fibre in these foods slows the release of glucose into your blood.
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*Fruit varies in sugar content so some types raise blood glucose higher than others. We recommend whole, fresh fruit in moderation. Now that you know which foods spike your blood glucose, lets see what your diet would look like if you removed those foods:

Looks pretty good, huh? But what about the dangers of saturated fat? Won’t I get fatter and make my symptoms worse? Worry no more my friend, experts are now discovering that saturated fat is not the enemy is was originally made out to be. To read more about the misconceptions of fat read “The Fat Story”.

A low carb, high fat diet may be the answer for you. In a Swedish study scientists compared the effects of a low carbohydrate (low sugar and HIGH fat) diet versus a low fat (high carbohydrate) diet on weight and blood glucose control among type 2 diabetic patients.

More specifically the macronutrients in their diets were divided like this:

A total of 61 patients were included in the study. They were randomly divided into the two groups (low fat, HIGH carb (LFHC) versus low carb, HIGH fat (LCHF)). The results were as follows:

Both groups lost weight (about 4 kg on average).
The low carb, HIGH fat group’s HDL (high density lipoprotein or “good cholesterol”) actually improved, contrary to what was expected. While no significant changes in the HDL’s of the low fat, high carb group were seen.
Despite the weight loss in the low fat, high carb group (which was expected), no statistical significance was seen in their blood glucose level control (Surprise!). While the low carb, HIGH fat group showed an obvious improvement in the control of their blood glucose levels.

This study shows that you can actually lose weight and have better blood glucose control on a diet rich in healthy fats, low in carbohydrates and with moderate amounts of protein!

In fact this type of diet is now recommended as the first choice by the Swedish Board of Health and Welfare for diabetics in Sweden. According to the Swedish Family Doctor, Andreas Eenfeldt, people see improvements in their blood glucose levels from day one, from their very first meal. Also their requirements for medications, especially insulin are reduced and general feelings of wellbeing and many other health markers improve.

Here are some more tips:

1. Prepare your own food whenever possible. Being the one in charge gives you the pilot seat, putting you in control of what's in your food. You can avoid the sugar and refined vegetable oils that seems to be hidden in everything nowadays.
2. Don’t be afraid of saturated fats. Our great grandparents ate lots of them and they were healthier than most people are today. The fats to be careful of are refined vegetable oils and oils rich in omega-6 fatty acids. Click here to read more about healthy fats.
3. Get up and get active. Our moderns lives are so sedentary. We sit in the car to get to work, we sit all day at work, then we sit again when we drive home and finally we sit all evening watching TV. Try cycling or walking to work. Go for an evening walk with a friend after dinner. Or try out some of these fun exercise options. Exercise has been shown to improve our mood and our general wellbeing.
4. Moderate, not high protein. When you cut back on your carbohydrates, replace them with healthy fat. Remember fat does not affect your blood glucose levels and beyond popular belief it does not make you fat.
5. Curb your unhealthy drinking and smoking habits. Smoking has been recognised as a risk factor for developing diabetes so why not quit now. While you’re at it why not cut back on alcohol too, most types of alcohol are packed with sugar.

Whether you want to manage your diabetes better to prevent those nasty complications or keep diabetes out of your family altogether. Try these suggestions out and see how you feel. You can get a blood test before you start and then again after a month or two of your new eating plan to see how it affects your blood markers.