Diabetes
“Diabetes is a condition that prevents the body from properly using energy from food. It occurs when the pancreas does not produce insulin, or when the pancreas produces insulin, but it is resisted by the body.” (diabetes-info.co.uk)
Diabetes is suspected when the blood sugar level is too high and there is not enough insulin, a hormone, to transport the sugar (glucose) in the blood to the cells for energy.
The NHS/GP solution is to put the individual on a low GI diet. This is a diet that avoids foods that produce glucose when broken down in the body. Basically this is a diet that tries to match the amount of sugar consumed to the amount of insulin available to transport it. But the problem with this is that a low GI diet causes insulin to be produced less and less.
If the diabetes is very bad ie insulin in very poor supply, then insulin injections are advised.
But what isn’t investigated is why the pancreas is not producing the insulin the body requires.
“If your body is not making enough insulin to keep up with the amount of sugar in your bloodstream, or if your body is having trouble making insulin, the glucose in the blood remains there and causes your blood sugar levels to elevate. If it continues, even after monitoring your diet, you will develop diabetes.” (diabetes-info.co.uk)
Consummation of too much sugar, increases insulin production and this increase in insulin encourages weight gain.
“Along the way a curious thing happens called insulin resistance. This means that as the blood sugars are chronically elevated, and the insulin levels are rising, the cells build a shield or wall around themselves to slow this influx of excess sugar. Insulin resistance is a protective or adaptive response, it is the best the body can do to protect the cells from too much glucose. But as time goes on the sugar in the blood increases, more insulin is made by the pancreas to deal with this elevated sugar and the cells resist this sugar influx by becoming insulin resistant, in a sense by shutting the gates. This leads to the curious situation in which blood sugar levels are high but cellular sugar levels are low. The body perceives this as low blood sugar. The patient has low energy and feels hungry so he eats more, and the vicious cycle is under way.” (Treating Diabetes by Tom Cowan)
Therefore my query is twofold:
1 What foods contribute to insulin resistance?
“Unless eaten to great excess, fats do not contribute to diabetes–with one exception. Trans fatty acids in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils can cause insulin resistance. When these man-made fats get built into the cell membrane, they interfere with the insulin receptors. In theory, this means that one could develop insulin resistance without eating lots of carbohydrates. But in practice, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are always used in the very high-carbohydrate foods–french fries, cookies, crackers, donuts and margarine on bread or potatoes–that flood the bloodstream with sugar. Trans fatty acids in modern processed foods present a double whammy for which the human species has developed no defenses.” (Treating Diabetes by Tom Cowan)
2 What nutrients would prevent diabetes?
“Putting all these rules together, we find that a nutrient-dense traditional diet fits all the requirements for the prevention and treatment of diabetes. The diet should include sufficient trace minerals from organic and biodynamic foods, Celtic sea salt, bone broths, shellfish, red meat, organ meats, unfiltered olive oil and nutritional yeast. High levels of vitamins A and D are essential, as are raw animal foods to provide vitamin B6.” (Treating Diabetes by Tom Cowan)
“During the 1980s, researchers began to ask whether obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension and other common medical problems that occur together are really separate diseases, or manifestations of one common physiological defect. The evidence now points to one defect and that is hyperinsulinemia, or excessive insulin levels in the blood. Hyperinsulinemia is the physiological event that links virtually all of our degenerative diseases. It is the biochemical corollary or marker of the events described in heart disease.” (Treating Diabetes by Tom Cowan)
It seems essential therefore for our overall health to put in steps to avoid Diabetes by changing ones diet to that suggested by Tom Cowan.
It therefore becomes obvious that our modern manufacturing processes to produce substances deemed edible ie margarine, low fat spreads, refined oils, refined flours, refined sugars, whitening and preserving agents such as sulphites, pasteurisation processes, hydrogenated processes, use of corrosive chemicals like hexane and caustic soda to break down yeasts, grains and pulses are a cause of ill-health and should be stopped.
While reading this may also make it seem obvious to you, you may be totally unaware that the substances just mentioned are in every single food you buy in supermarkets.
No wonder Diabetes is on the rise.
Read more: Treating Diabetes by Tom Cowan