Study Show's Vegan Diet best for Diabetes

: "NEW YORK, Jan. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes (Rodale), to be released on Tuesday, January 9, outlines a powerful new dietary approach to diabetes, based on scientific research proving that a low-fat vegan diet can lower high blood sugar levels three times more effectively than oral medications or the standard diet recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

Dr. Barnard's program is based on a major study he conducted in conjunction with George Washington University and University of Toronto that was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The study, recently published in Diabetes Care, a journal of the ADA, also shows that the low-fat vegan diet is easier for study participants to follow- and stick with-than the ADA diet. Additionally, the vegan diet controls cholesterol better and results in faster weight loss even though it places no limits on calories or portion sizes and doesn't require exercise.


While Dr. Barnard's program recommends against white bread, sugar, and other foods that can cause blood-sugar spikes, the diet allows unlimited quantities of 'good' carbs, such as rye bread, pumpernickel, sweet potatoes, rice, and, pasta. Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes is the first book to prove that nutrition is more powerful than oral medications in the treatment of diabetes. "

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm a vegan, so this good news for me I suppose. Although, I bet fruits aren't good, since they have lots of suger.

Thanks,
Scott Hughes
Vegan Discussion Forums
Steve Pavlina, who’s a professional author and speaker and whose website is one of the most visited on the web, did a 30-day trial of a 100%, low-fat, fruit-based raw food diet. During these 30 days, he recorded every single meal he ate. He also monitored closely his blood sugar, weight, blood pressure and other key stats. Here’s what he has to say about the effects of eating fruit on his blood sugar:

I monitored my blood sugar using a blood sugar testing device, the same kind diabetics may use. It showed no discernible spikes in blood sugar throughout the trial whatsoever — absolutely none. In fact, my blood sugar remained incredibly steady throughout the trial. My highest blood sugar reading of the trial was 94, which is still medium-low. All that sweet fruit in my diet simply did not have any adverse effect on my blood sugar.

Eating this way gave my blood sugar more consistency than ever. I couldn’t spike my blood sugar on this diet if I tried. Even eating 19 bananas in one day made no difference.
Fruit eating does NOT cause diabetes. Diabetes is actually caused by a high-fat diet, combined with other factors (some possibly genetic) that will cause insulin sensitivity.

While type 1 diabetes occurs early in life and is rarely reversible, type 2 diabetes is simply an acute form of insulin resistance or “reduced insulin sensitivity.” This type is completely reversible when the root of the problem is addressed in time.

If you want to improve your body’s response to the natural sugar in fruit — and all of the food you eat for that matter — all you have to do is improve your insulin sensitivity by doing the following:

Reduce your body fat to a healthy level
Eat a high-fiber diet (or should we say, an “adequate” fiber diet)
Eat a low fat diet (10% or less by total calories)
Exercise regularly (and favor cardio type of exercises)
Avoid animal foods
These recommendations, endorsed by many health professionals with extensive experience healing with diabetes naturally (Fuhrman, Mc.Dougall, Ornish, Barnard, etc.), are actually perfectly compatible with a high-fruit, low fat diet.

Most diabetics I know have done incredibly well on a fruit-based diet (as long as it’s a low-fat one), by reducing dramatically the quantity of insulin they have to take, or eliminating it completely.

The problem of diabetes should be addressed by looking at the root of the problem rather than superficially claiming that sweet fruit will only exacerbate it. You should pay attention to all the important factors that can improve insulin sensitivity, the main ones being: a low fat diet, regular exercise, low body fat, and a raw food diet.