About Diabetes Unpacked

Diabetes used to be rare and clear. One boy in the school had Type 1 and a friend of a friend’s granny had Type 2. We now see adults being diagnosed with Type 1 and children developing Type 2. There are over 400 million diabetics world-wide – four times as many as in 1980. The vast majority of these have Type 2 – sometimes judged as a ‘lifestyle’ disease.

The traditional view of diabetes is that is it a “chronic and progressive” condition and that nothing can be done about it. Serious complications include loss of eyesight, amputations and death.

This book has gathered together some of the finest minds working in the field of diabetes and diet. The result is a collection of chapters by thought leaders, academics and doctors addressing the big issues. What is diabetes? What are the different types? What causes it? Who gets it? Why do we eat so much carbohydrate? Why do diabetics die of heart disease? Why do athletes commonly get Type 2 diabetes?

The writers in this book approach diabetes from many different angles, but they all share one common belief: Diabetes does not need to be “chronic and progressive.” Both Type 1 and Type 2 can be substantially alleviated and the latter can be ‘put into remission.’

Let us tell you how...

by Dr Robert Cywes, Dr Jason Fung,
Dr Jeff Gerber & Ivor Cummins, Mike Gibbs, Dr Zoë Harcombe PhD, Dr Malcolm Kendrick,
Dr Ian Lake, Lars-Erik Litsfeldt, Professor Tim Noakes, Nina Teicholz,
Dr David Unwin, Dr Neville Wellington, Jen Whitington, Dr Caryn Zinn PhD.

 

Contents

Some Quotes

“Asking a diabetic to count their carbohydrates is no different than asking an alcoholic to count their drinks.” Dr Robert Cywes

“Perhaps we should rename diabetes completely. Instead of IGT (impaired glucose tolerance) IFG (impaired fasting glucose) and then diabetes. We should call this metabolic condition stage 1, 2 or 3 diabetes. Maybe I should not suggest this, as the pharmaceutical companies will soon be out with even more medications, to be used even earlier. Then we will all be bankrupt!” Dr Malcolm Kendrick

“At its very core, T2DM can be understood as too much glucose and too much insulin. The solution becomes immediately obvious. We must lower the insulin and lower the glucose. The sugar is not just in the blood. That’s only part of the problem. There’s too much sugar in our entire body.” Dr Jason Fung

“I dodged a bullet on the day I discovered the ketogenic diet. It was a shift in my knowledge that transformed my life. I have discovered so much in the last couple of years that I cannot begin to believe how I could have thought otherwise. I have Type 1 Diabetes and am also a GP. So I am talking Type 1 from both sides of the consulting desk.” Dr Ian Lake

“My colleague, Professor of Public Health, Grant Schofield flew into the office one day ranting about low carb, high fat diets and the problems with our current nutrition guidelines, I figured it was my job (because I’m the dietitian) to put him straight… How naive was I at that point in time?” Dr Caryn Zinn PhD

“I start conversations with my patients by asking Where do you think the sugar is in your diet? A significant number are mystified as they have ‘already cut most of the sugar out of their diet.’
I then find ‘The breakfast question’ invaluable. Ask a patient what they have for breakfast and, so often the answers include toast, breakfast biscuits, cereals, bananas or fruit juice.” Sugar, sugar and more sugar. Dr David Unwin

“It does not seem logical to advise populations away from carcass meat, dairy produce, eggs, nuts and seeds, in the name of saturated fat, when the modern processed foods, biscuits, cakes, pizza, desserts and ready meals, are more sensibly related to modern illness.” Dr Zoë Harcombe PhD

“There are many contributors to heart disease progression, but the insulin resistance syndrome best describes the state that accelerates vascular degeneration. It is essentially a state of metabolic mayhem.” Dr Jeff Gerber & Ivor Cummins

“For 33 years I personally ate and promoted a high carbohydrate diet for both health and for athletic performance. So in the 4th Edition of my book Lore of Running (2002), I wrote that: ‘… all athletes … must be advised to eat high-carbohydrate diets both in training and especially before competition … this interpretation forms the central pillar … (of) the profession of sports nutrition … as high carbohydrate diets are now considered ideal for both health and sport.’ I no longer believe that this statement is correct. In fact I now think this advice is totally wrong and probably harmful to a majority of those who might choose to follow it.” Professor Tim Noakes

“The cause of T2DM is not a lack of insulin, it is a chronic excess of carbohydrate consumption that results in genetically predetermined failure of the insulin-glucagon blood glucose management system.” Dr Robert Cywes

“Science requires respectful dialogue and fair consideration of alternative ideas. Yet in nutrition we see the opposite: the systematic oppression and persecution of viewpoints that challenge the status-quo.” Nina Teicholz