DIETARY TREATMENT OF DIABETES
Report #7271
Many people who develop diabetes after age 40 can be cured by eating a diet based on vegetables, whole grains, beans and fish and severely restricting bakery products and sugar/ and limiting meat, chicken and eggs/ and not eating fruits between meals.
Most late-onset diabetics have insulin, they lack the ability to respond adequately to insulin because they are overweight or they eat too much fat. The first order is to restrict fat and reduce calories,/ by substituting whole grains for bakery products because they fill you up and help you to eat less/ and to restrict major sources of fat. A major study from Europe shows that eating too much protein damages the kidneys in diabetics (1). So diabetics should restrict meat, chicken and eggs. Another recent study shows that diets rich in refined carbohydrates harm diabetics and that taking monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids in fish helps to reduce insulin requirements (2). So substitute whole grains for foods made from flour.
High blood sugar levels after meals cause sugar to stick to cells and be converted to a poison called sorbitol that causes nerve, kidney, artery and heart damage. To keep blood sugar levels from rising too high, substitute whole grains for refined carbohydrates found in bakery products, avoid table sugar and eat fruits only with meals.
By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News
1) M Toeller, A Buyken, G Heitkamp, S Bramswig, J Mann, R Milne, FA Gries, H Keen, B
Karamanos, C Tountas and 4 more authors. Protein intake and urinary albumin excretion
rates in the EURODIAB IDDM complications study. Diabetologia 40: 10 (OCT 1997): 219-1226.
adress M Toeller, Univ Dusseldorf, Diabet Res Inst, Clin Dept, Hennekamp 65, D-40225
Dusseldorf, Germany. 2) EM Berry. Dietary fatty acids in the management of diabetes mellitus. American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition 66: Suppl. 4(OCT 1997):S991-S997. Address EM Berry, Hebrew
Univ Jerusalem, Hadassah Med Sch, Dept Human Nutr & Metab, POB 12272, IL-91120
Jerusalem, Israel.
Checked 8/9/05; see report #D222.
Health Reports from The Dr. Gabe Mirkin Show and DrMirkin.com