How a low-fat plant-based whole food lifestyle
helped me improve my condition
Why is this lifestyle good for me?
-
I can eat large amounts of food without counting calories;
-
I can eat tons of fruits without having blood glucose spikes;
-
My physical performance has improved significantly;
-
I'm full of energy all the time;
-
I finally reached the ideal bodyweight I've always dreamed of
-
My HbA1C is lower than ever;
-
I can perfectly control my blood sugar levels even though I eat three times as many carbs as before.
When I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I was prescribed a 160g diet in addition to insulin, which at first seemed very effective. The less carbs I ate, the less insulin I had to inject. That’s why I tried to keep my carb intake to a minimum - which sometimes didn’t even reach 160g. However, over time, instead of further improving my condition, my lab results got worse, and I had to inject more and more insulin. Until I finally heard about the low-fat plant-based whole-plant diet ... I had to cut my insulin use by 50% in just one week, even though I was eating more and more carbs. My lab results have been fantastic ever since and I feel wonderful.
Research confirms
Dr. Neal Barnard American professor has cured thousands of people with type 2 diabetes with his program for reversing diabetes. Its program is based on a series of research studies, the most recent conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health! According to a study published in the August 2006 issue of Diabetes Care, Dr. Barnard’s program is three times more effective than traditional dietary guidelines in controlling blood sugar levels. In addition, Dr. Cyrus Khambatta, who is a type 1 diabetic himself and earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the Berkeley University in California, co-founded a website with Robby Barbaro (also type 1 diabetic) called Masteringdiabetes.org to help thousands of diabetics improve their condition or to fully recover from it with the same low-fat plant-based whole food diet. Besides that, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, the well-known author of the China Study - the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted that clearly shows the relationship between nutrition and the most common diseases, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and autoimmune diseases - teaches the positive effects of a low-fat, plant-based whole food diet on both diabetes and overall health at eCornell University.
The basics of a whole food plant-based diet
Eating a whole food, plant-based diet means maximizing your nutrient intake and obtaining your foods from natural sources while avoiding highly processed foods such as bleached flour, refined sugars and oils. It is centered on whole, unrefined or minimally refined plants that include fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds that are as close to their natural state as possible.
Plant-based whole foods have the highest amounts of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, water and fiber, all the really important components for health that we underappreciate and under-consume in a lot of cases. All of these things are in abundance in a whole food, plant-based diet, that are present in tiny amounts or simply not found at all, in animal based and refined foods.
Fruits for diabetics? Are you serious?
My name is Miri, I am a 28-year-old girl from Hungary who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in November 2016. Since then I've tried many diets and fads in order to improve my condition until I have finally found the perfect lifestyle that has enormously helped me get control back over my disease.
It is called a low-fat plant-based whole food lifestyle which is the only diet until today that has proven to prevent and reverse Type 2 Diabetes, PreDiabetes and Insulin Resistance along with many other chronic diseases, and helps reduce insulin needs and control Type 1 diabetes.
Many people ask me how it is possible that I eat several pounds of fruit a day as a diabetic. The answer to this is very simple: thanks to a low-fat plant-based whole food diet. After being diagnosed with diabetes, I couldn't eat a piece of fruit without having blood glucose spike, and now, I can eat tons of fruits without any problem. I often start the day with 4-5 bananas or eat a giant bowl of watermelon for lunch. I couldn't imagine that before. In fact, I eat 400-450 grams of carbs a day instead of the previous 160 grams, and yet I inject less insulin than before.
"But the fruits are full of sugar, aren't they?" Well, don’t get fruit sugar and white sugar confused; they are not the same! Fruits are among the most nutrient-dense foods on Earth. They contain vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, fiber, and water, which are all necessary to maintain exceptional health. In contrast, refined sugar is nothing more than empty calories without any positive effect.
Most diabetics are afraid to eat carbohydrates and try to keep their carb intake as low as possible although REAL carbohydrates such as fruits, whole grains, starchy vegetables, etc. not only lower blood sugar levels - with low fat intake - but they increase concentration, improve digestion, strengthen the immune system, and so on.
It's a fact that if we consume few carbohydrates, our blood sugar level rises less. But in the long run, this will not solve the problem, because the root cause is not carbohydrates but fats.
In order to understand why a low-fat diet is the way to improve your diabetes, you need to understand insulin resistance, which is a condition linked to type 2 diabetes. Insulin is a hormone that is produced by the beta cells in your pancreas and functions as a key to open the gate for the glucose in your blood to enter the muscle cell. But if there is something blocking the lock, the insulin can't unlock the door for the glucose and it stays in the blood stream. In this case, your body starts producing more and more insulin. This is called insulin resistance. If this condition persists int he long run, your pancreas will be depleted and this is how you develop type 2 diabetes.
And what is blocking the lock on your muscle cells, hindering insulin from letting glucose in? FAT!
So if you are overweight, obese, or consume too much fat, it makes it harder for sugar to get into the cells. On the other hand, if you reduce your fat intake or get rid of a large amount of excess weight, your insulin will be able to do the job and your blood sugar will return to normal. In case of type 1 diabetes, the injected insulin will work much more efficiently.
What to eat and what to avoid?
This diet completely eliminates foods of animal origin such as meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, animal fats, as well as refined sugars and sweeteners, refined grains (white flour, white rice) and vegetable oils. In contrast, we can consume unlimited amounts of vegetables, fruits, as well as legumes, whole grains, and a limited amount of seeds and nuts, with a maximum fat intake of 30 grams per day.
If you want to learn more about how a low-fat plant-based whole food diet affects diabetes and insulin resistance, I highly recommend my free downloadable manual. Click the button below for more information.