John McDougall, MD, is a physician, speaker, and best-selling author who teaches the importance of a whole food, starch-based diet in order to halt, reverse and heal chronic disease. Join Dr. McDougall as he explores the benefits of a low-fat vegan diet, based on starchy foods and vegetables as a method to treat diabetes.
Diabetes should be thought of as a spectrum of problems with insulin production and insulin resistance at the cellular level. With type-1 diabetes the pancreas fails to produce sufficient insulin. Damage to the pancreas is caused by an auto immune reaction with animal proteins. Cow’s milk is a common antigen. Type-2 diabetes is a normal adaptation resulting from the over accumulation of body fat. Type-1.5 diabetes lies in between and results from a combination of insufficient production of insulin and insulin resistance. Type-2 is 100% curable with weight loss. Type-1 always requires insulin supplementation. Type-1.5 is best treated, when symptomatic, with long-acting insulin.
The entire spectrum of diabetes is best treated with a low-fat, starch-based diet.The complications, from loss of vision to kidney failure, are prevented and treated best by eating a low-fat starch-based diet. This diet is high in carbohydrates and low in all kinds of fats. Benefits for the blood sugars are seen because carbohydrate (even white sugar) makes insulin work better and fats (animal and vegetable) paralyse insulin activity. A starch-based diet is also low in protein and cholesterol making it highly beneficial for common diabetic complications.
