REVERSING TYPE TWO DIABETES.

I had an interesting chat with a Doctor friend last Saturday. He had a big challenge or, should I say, concern that he faces almost daily in his line of work. He sometimes feels hopeless, despairing that nothing you do to help some persons living with diabetes appears to work in assisting them to achieve key glycemic goals. According to him, even though you are prescribing ever more medication, doing more blood tests, and every day advising your patients about the urgent need to lose weight, most of them never seem to achieve desired results and keep complications at bay.

What should medical practitioners and people living with type 2 diabetes do to avoid using lifelong medication? The answer lies in the correct dietary management, explicitly cutting down on sugars/carbs. This is a wake-up call to everyone, even those who are not diabetic or sick but still feeding their children endless refined carbs and sugar, to start saving for medication. I believe you can reverse or manage type 2 diabetes better with a low-carb, high-fat lifestyle for weight loss and wellness.

In his book, Escape The Diet Trap, Dr. Briffa points out fats contain the essential vitamins A, D, E & K, and sugar represents 'empty calories. If T2DM is primarily about sugar, why should people with diabetes take foods high in carbs or 'sugar' such as bread, ugali, or rice? How will you know the amount of 'sugar' in your food? The answer is in the glycemic index. Glycemic index (GI) is the ability of carbohydrates to raise blood glucose. The glycaemic index of a food is measured in two hours following food consumption. The blood glucose response curve captures the peak in blood glucose and the period when the blood glucose was raised. Glucose (being pure glucose) itself is assigned a glycaemic index (GI) of 100, and then all foods are measured relative to this score of 100. The GI score of a particular food indicates how much glucose gets into the bloodstream in the two hours after consuming that specific food, relative to consuming pure glucose itself.

So what should you eat to control Diabetes or Pre-diabetes?

-Reduce starchy carbs a lot (remember, they are just concentrated sugar). -Cut out the 'White Stuff' like bread, ugali, pasta, and rice.

-Stop taking sugar in any of your beverages – cut it out altogether,

-Avoid fast foods, cakes, and biscuits

-All green veg/salads are fine – eat as much as you can. Mushrooms, tomatoes, and onions can be included in this.

-Fruits are trickier; some have too much sugar in and can set those carb cravings off. All berries are great, and can you can eat them freely; blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, apples, and pears, but not tropical fruits like bananas, oranges, grapes, mangoes, or pineapples.

-Proteins such as in meat, eggs, and fish – particularly oily fish such as salmon and tuna – are fine and can be eaten freely. Tilapia too. You, however, need to prepare them well, i.e., avoid certain types of oils and don't deep fry them.

-Plain/Natural full-fat yogurt makes a good breakfast with berries.

-Processed meats such as bacon, ham, sausages, or salami are not as healthy and should only be eaten in moderation.

-Four essential vitamins A, D, E, and K, are only found in some fats or oils. Please avoid margarine, corn oil, and vegetable oil when preparing your food.

-Beware 'low fat' foods because they often have sugar or sweeteners added to make them palatable.

-Cheese: only in moderation – it's a very calorific mixture of fat and protein.

-Snacks: avoid. But un-salted nuts such as almonds or walnuts are great for staving hunger. The occasional treat of strong dark chocolate 70% or more in small quantity is allowed.

-EATING LOTS OF VEG WITH PROTEIN AND FATS LEAVES YOU PROPERLY FULL in a way that lasts.

-Sweeteners have been proven to tease your brain into being even more hungry, making weight loss almost impossible – drink tea, coffee, and water or herb teas.

-Alcoholic drinks are full of carbohydrates or what I love referring to as Empty calories – Ever wondered why beer gives you a potbelly? (Kitambi) a glass of dry red wine wouldn't be too bad if it doesn't make you get hungry afterward.

The effect of a lower-carb approach in Type two diabetes management.

Here are a few things to look out for or expect when you switch to a low-carbohydrate diet & Type two diabetes management;

-Hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) can be experienced, usually only for people on diabetes medication. Talk to your Doctor for a review on the same.

-Hypotension (low blood pressure) can be experienced, particularly in those on blood pressure-lowering medications who lose a significant amount of weight. The good news is that the blood pressure medication may need to be reduced or stopped altogether. Talk to your Doctor if you are on blood pressure medication and dramatically cut down carbohydrate intake.

-Muscle cramps can be experienced. This is likely due to a potassium/sodium short-term imbalance as people tend to lose sodium and so may need extra salt in the early days of going low-carb.

-Savings on drugs for diabetes: This is a no-brainer. Your finances will improve because you wouldn't require high dosage drugs

-Weight loss, improvement in liver blood tests, and better sugar control

-Reduced cholesterol and improved blood pressure

DID YOU KNOW;

A serving of 160 grams of white rice is equivalent to 10 teaspoons of table sugar?

Potato (viazi) is about nine teaspoons?

Chips (fries); about 7.5 teaspoons

A banana; about five teaspoons

An apple about two teaspoons....

Want to learn more? Please pay us a visit at DMMC Ngara, and let us walk the journey of reversing T2 together.