Go Vegan and Kick Diabetes

Guess what’s not Big in Japan? Diabetes! At least not among those who still eat a traditional Japanese diet high in “plant-delivered foods” like rice, beans, and, obviously, fruits and vegetables. The rate of diabetes is also low in Thailand and China, where people eat a lot of rice and other grains, starchy vegetables, bean dishes, and noodles.

What happens when people from these countries move to the West or adopt a fast food-based American diet? You guessed, their rate of Type 2 diabetes soars.

Type-2 diabetes results when your body stops responding normally to insulin, the hormone that pulls sugar from the bloodstream into cells, where it’s used for energy. When left untreated or poorly treated, Type 2 Diabetes can result in kidney failure and loss of fingers, toes or even limbs. Each year, more than 60,000 diabetics have a limb amputated because of nerve damage.

There is hope, though. More research is showing that a vegan diet – rather than the traditional low-carbohydrate diet recommended by most American specialists – may be a better way to manage diabetes, and, in some cases, even reverse it. And while the jury is out on treatment, medical authorities agree that America’s “meaty, cheesy, sugary” diet is leading to both obesity and an all-out epidemic of Type II Diabetes, Studies suggest that America’s diet—high in fatty animal products—can even make the body be more insulin resistant.

The New 4 Food Groups

To fight the onset of Type 2 Diabetes—and in many cases even reverse it—a vegetarian diet high in vegetables and fiber has proven effective. Even better: eliminating animal-based products entirely. Cutting everything from pork and fish to milk and cheese eliminates both animal fat and animal protein, which has been shown to accelerate kidney damage in people who have already lost some kidney function.

A highly encouraging study compared a low-fat, vegan diet with the diet recommended by the American Diabetes Association. The result? People eating a vegan diet reduced their diabetes medication by 43 percent, compared to 26 percent on the ADA diet, while also losing more weight!

For anyone considering the switch to a vegan diet, it helps to think in terms of “The Four New Food Groups”: Fruits, Vegetables, Legumes and Whole Grains.

They may taste sweet, but most whole fruits are compatible with a Type 2-diabetic diet; oranges, bananas, blueberries, strawberries are recommended. Fruits to avoid include watermelon and cantaloupe. Not surprisingly, the list of “good” vegetables is almost limitless. Broccoli, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, spinach, kale, collards, squash, green beans, bok choy, and artichokes are all on the approved menu.

“Legume” is just a fancy word for beans and a vegan/diabetes-friendly diet can include peas, split peas, lentils, and fat-free soy products, as well as black, pinto, or kidney beans, chickpeas and baked beans. Brown rice, bran cereal, oatmeal, pumpernickel or rye bread, couscous, bulgur wheat, millet, and barley are just a few of the recommended whole-grain options available in most supermarkets or health food stores.