Diabetes...What we don't know can kill us!

News flash of the day:  Paula Dean, the famous southern cooking show host and restaurant owner famous for her greasy, fatty foods, has announced that she has Type II diabetes.  Are we surprised?  Frankly, it was just a matter of time.  But before you get the wrong idea, it wasn't the greasy, fatty foods that caused her problem.  What is the number one contributor to diabetes?  Say it with me... "SUGAR."  Specifically chronic high blood sugar.  Every dietician worth his or her salt knows that diabetes is the result of insulin resistance brought on by too much sugar in the diet (including foods that break down into sugar, i.e. carbohydrates). 

So why does the American Diabetes Association continue to get away with erroneous declarations like this one?

"Heredity, according to the American Diabetes Association, always plays some part. 'You can’t just eat your way to Type 2 diabetes,' said Geralyn Spollett, the group’s director of education. But, Ms. Spollett added, Southern cooking, as often practiced, can be particularly hazardous to those predisposed to the disease. 'There’s no denying that Paula’s food has a lot of what we call the deadly triangle: fat, sugar and salt,' she said." (Excerpt from nytimes.com article)

While heredity does play a part in diabetes, the truth is you CAN eat your way to Type II diabetes!  But, there is absolutely no connection between diabetes and fat or salt.  If there is a "deadly triangle," it would be sugar, bread, and processed foods, because these are the building blocks of the three major chronic diseases of the western world-- diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

As Dr. Diana Schwarzbein, who worked with Type II diabetics in the early days of her practice, explained in her book, The Schwarzbein Principle:

    "When insulin levels are kept high too long, the result is a physiology that promotes excessive body-fat gain, a physiology prone to infections and all the chronic degenerative diseases of aging:  osteoarthritis, different types of cancer, cholesterol abnormalities, coronary artery disease, ... high blood pressure, osteoporosis, stroke, and Type II diabetes." (p. 11)

I have two good friends who come to mind as I write this post.  Both were diagnosed in their 40s with Type II diabetes.  One made a life change.  He eliminated the sugar and refined foods from his diet and began running and exercising on a regular basis.  Within a year or two he was off insulin therapy and had no significant symptoms of diabetes.  He is currently as healthy as the proverbial ox.  My other friend's health steadily declined over the years under the care of doctors while following the "standard" treatment prescribed by the mainstream medical profession.  She passed away last year after 15 years of misery.  I wish I had known the truth about diabetes while she was still alive.  I wish somebody had told her the truth about diabetes.

My sympathies are with Paula Dean because diabetes is a dreadful and debilitating disease.  But she will be better served by forgoing the expensive $500 a month medication and treating the CAUSE of her illness - her diet.  

Ignorance is bliss?  You decide.  I've adopted a new mantra:  What we don't know can kill us.