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Type 2 diabetes cases have reached epidemic proportions. But simple diet and lifestyle changes can prevent, and even reverse, the disease, says specialist
We’re all too familiar now with the devastating impact of Covid-19. But there’s another global pandemic – type 2 diabetes.
I have worked as a diabetes specialist for more than 30 years.
For 20 of those years I, along with everyone else in the diabetes field, believed that it was a progressive condition. Patients were advised to base every meal around starchy carbohydrates and take medication in the hope of halting its progress, which meant they avoided ill health as a result of complications.
It was all rather depressing for me as a doctor. It must have been even more depressing for my patients.
Then, 10 years ago, an incredible notion that you could reverse type 2 diabetes – simply by changing your diet – began to filter through.
For the first time in my career I began to ask patients about their diet and lifestyle, suggesting they ignore official advice and, instead, strive to reduce the carbohydrates (sugars and starches) in their meals.
Their blood sugar levels improved and some no longer needed medication.
My book Reverse your Diabetes: The Step-by-Step Plan to Take Control of Type 2 Diabetes, caused quite a stir when it was published in 2014.
Some doctors thought I was jeopardising my reputation and career for a fad diet.
But within a few months, readers and medics were contacting me with success stories. There is now greater acceptance that the condition can be reversed, and that a low carbohydrate diet can help people achieve this.
Despite this, I still come across many sceptical health professionals. So many of their patients are continuing to follow, and believe, what I now call the ‘diabetes myths’. But with a few lifestyle changes, anyone with type 2 diabetes can transform their health.
Myth 1: Type 2 diabetes gets worse over time and there’s nothing you can do to stop it
Fact: With dietary changes, you can not only halt the condition in its tracks but, by reverting blood sugar levels back to normal, put it into remission.
Myth 2:
You’ve got type 2 diabetes because you’re lazy and eat a lot
Fact: Many people feel ashamed at developing type 2 diabetes. But this is not your fault. People have not made a conscious decision to become less healthy. In just 20 years, cases have tripled globally as lifestyles adapt to changing environments.
Junk food has supplanted real, fresh produce, and industrial-level marketing of the food industry has shifted us towards a highly processed, high-calorie, carb-rich diet.
Together with more sedentary lifestyles, this has led to harmful effects on our metabolism and overall health.
Myth 3: You just need to eat healthily
Fact: Type 2 diabetes, and prediabetes, is a form of carbohydrate intolerance. Tackling it means ignoring official dietary advice (to reduce fat and base meals around starchy carbs) and reducing carbs in your diet.
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Myth 4: Saturated fat is bad
Fact: Saturated fat is no longer the enemy. Fat is essential in your diet. Dairy products are minimally processed, low in carbs and high in protein and healthy fats. It’s better to eat cheese than a biscuit.
Myth 5: It’s only people with type 1 diabetes that need to