“Sugar is a poison for patients with diabetes.“
To control diabetes without medicine, you have to accept this fact.
Our brains, hearts, kidneys, livers, muscles, and bones need oxygen-rich blood to function correctly.
Inflamed, swollen arteries cannot adequately supply your organs with oxygen and cause cell dysfunction and death. Inflammation-damaged arteries are the substrate that grows cholesterol plaques and blood clots that can lead to strokes and heart attacks.
This damage results from glucose spikes and inflammation.
The fantastic news is that it can be avoided and reversed by a lifestyle and diet that prevents raised glucose.
Can patients control diabetes without medicine?
This depends on a few factors.
Patient willpower
This is essential. It will take hard work and determination to maintain the diet and lifestyle.
Making an early diagnosis
The earlier the diagnosis, the easier it is to take control.
“Get into a routine. Ingrain a healthy, anti-inflammatory lifestyle into your schedule. This good habit will make life enjoyable instead of feeling like punishment.”
Good habits, like bad habits, are hard to break.
Ideally, everyone should be following these guidelines and prevent the disease from happening at all.
What does an inflammation-free lifestyle mean?
An inflammation-free lifestyle involves:
- A healthy diet,
- weight loss,
- exercise, and
- not smoking.
These points are obvious but vague.
Let’s delve deeper into the points that diabetics must focus on.
Tip number 1 – No sugars or refined carbohydrates
No sugar
“No sugar for diabetics, ever!”
If you only read one sentence today, make it this one.
Sugars are some of the most toxic inflammatory foods.
They are sources of instant energy and cause glucose spikes.
The glucose spikes lead to high triglycerides and LDL.
“Sugar is in everything. Read labels.”
Watch this TED animation below, Sugar: Hiding in Plain Sight.
No refined carbohydrates
What are refined carbs?
They are grains that have had their husks removed and/or been finely ground.
Thus, all the fiber, which slows the digestion of carbs, is removed.
They are pure energy sources, converted instantly into sugars and then glucose.
Examples are white pasta, white rice, and anything baked or made from white flour.
Why no refined carbs?
They cause glucose spikes. You are effectively eating sugar.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska
Tip number 2 – Avoid other inflammatory foods
Also read: 6 Foods That Increase Inflammation
Examples of the main offenders are:
- Omega-6 fatty acids,
- trans fats, and
- processed meat.
Photo by Pixabay
Read this article for lists of which foods contain the above.
Tip number 3 – Avoid glucose spikes by doing the following
Eat high-fiber foods
“Because the body is unable to absorb and break down fiber, it doesn’t cause a spike in blood sugar the way other carbohydrates can. This can help keep your blood sugar in your target range.”
You can:
- Have a fiber-friendly breakfast. Try avocado toast topped with chickpeas, or make a bowl of oatmeal with nuts and berries.
- Choose whole grains. Look for bread that lists whole grain flour as the first ingredient. Swap out white rice for brown rice or quinoa. Try whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta.
- Focus on non-starchy vegetables. Start dinners with a salad. Or, add spinach, broccoli, or a bag of frozen mixed vegetables to your meals for a fiber boost.
- Add beans or other legumes. Try adding legumes such as lentils and peas or different kinds of beans (pinto, kidney, lima, navy, garbanzo) to salads, soups, stews, or casseroles. Or you can puree legumes to make dips and spreads.
- Snack on fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Choose fruits and vegetables such as apples, pears, bananas, or baby carrots to snack on. Keep almonds, sunflower seeds, and pistachios handy for a quick fiber-friendly snack.
High-fiber foods will also help control cholesterol, which is critical to prevent vascular disease.
Eat lower Glycaemic Index (GI) foods
Low GI foods are digested slowly, releasing lower, more consistent glucose levels.
“I recommend that patients who want to control diabetes without medicine should only eat foods listed in the yellow column.”
Not all fruit is healthy
One interesting thing to note on this chart is that not all fruits are equal.
Patients with diabetes must take special note of this.
Pineapple and watermelon are harmful to diabetics. They are high GI and will cause sugar spikes.
Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich
“I refer you to the yellow section of the GI table.
Keep your fruit bowl full of berries, grapefruit, apples, pears, peaches, plums, and apricots.”
Eat fruit in moderation
“A problem I often encounter in my uncontrolled diabetics is that they are eating too much fruit.”
Because they can’t eat sugar, they indulge in tons of fruit, believing it is healthy sweetness.
Stick to two portions of fruit daily, and note that fruit juice is a fruit portion.
Eat large meals earlier in the day
This is common sense.
Eating a big meal and dessert in the evening, then sitting in front of the television with your feet up, encourages sugar spikes.
“Eat your main meal at lunchtime if possible.”
Even on a workday afternoon, just walking around the office will help you burn the energy produced. Following lunch with some exercise, even a brisk walk, will further flatten the curve.
Cook more starch and eat leftovers the next day
This is another simple trick to prevent sugar spikes I recently learned about on a YouTube video by Dr. Mario Kratz.
“Refrigerate cooked starch overnight and have it for lunch the next day.”
The cooling causes fiber-like changes in the carbs and locks in the glucose. The undigestible starch passes through the gut. This is called retrogradation.
Remember: no refined carbohydrates.
Eat protein with your starch
Dr. Mario Kratz also explains that a portion of protein strongly reduces the blood sugar surge of the carbohydrate.
The protein could be in the form of:
- beans,
- lentils,
- tofu,
- a boiled egg,
- almond butter,
- a piece of cheese,
- fish, or
- meat.
Choose your protein carefully, taking your cholesterol into account.
Eggs are a controversial subject, particularly when it comes to cholesterol. Too many is not a good thing.
Add fiber-rich, non-starchy vegetables to reduce the response further.
Photo by Nadin Sh: https://www.pexels.com
Add vinegar to your diet
In this podcast, Dr Greger explains that a tablespoon of vinegar on salad daily:
- increases metabolism and leads to weight loss.
- dilates blood vessels and protects them from
- helps to control and lower blood sugar levels
Dr. Mario Kratz agrees. He recommends adding:
- balsamic vinegar on salad
- pickled vegetables to a meal
Photo by Roman Biernacki: https://www.pexels.com
Tip number 4 – Exercise!
Within 30 minutes after a meal to reduce blood glucose spikes
Dr. Mario Kratz experimented on himself to prove this true by wearing a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device.
He says that even a 10-minute walk around the block can make a difference.
Regularly for general health
This is important to maintain a healthy
- Cardiovascular system
- Weight
Recommendations are:
- 150 – 300 min/week of moderate-intensity, or
- 75 – 150 min/ week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or
- an equivalent combination thereof.
You ask, “What exactly does moderate or vigorous mean?”
The CDC defines moderate exercise as
“working hard enough to raise your heart rate and break a sweat. One way to tell… is that you’ll be able to talk, but not sing the words to your favourite song.”
A brisk walk should do it.
What about vigorous exercise?
“you will not be able to say more than a few words without pausing for a breath..”
Find examples of both types of exercise on the CDC website.
Now that you have the tools to control diabetes without medication, it is up to you.
I wish you all the best. You can do this.
