Let them debate, but you decide: low carb or low calorie?
There is an ongoing debate about whether people with type 2 diabetes benefit from low-carb diets. Naturally, friends of drug manufacturers say Nobut low carb diet makers say Yes. If you have diabetes or are predisposed to developing this disease, you better decide now.
But how?
This is easy. There are two things (yes, and even a third!) that you need to keep in mind.
- Diabetes is not caused by carbohydrates, so don’t blame carbohydrates. Diabetes is the inability to properly metabolize carbohydrates (glucose).
- Fat intake, on the other hand, is a large part of the complex lifestyle conditions that cause type 2 diabetes.
- The pharmaceutical industry does not want to die and the diet planners surely want to live: they are struggling to survive financially and our financial sponsorship is their source of life.
Now, did you hear the ADA say that they don’t really negate the benefits of low-carb diets? Yes, everyone admits that fewer carbs per meal will mean fewer carbs to raise your blood glucose level after a meal.
Low-carb eating cannot be long-term
Who wants to spend the rest of their life on a low carb diet? Who can, anyway? No one. It is a temporary solution. A kind of “quick fix”.
Although low-carb advocates say “many people are essentially cured of their type 2 diabetes on low-carb diets,” the ADA refuses to endorse the low-carb option. They say they prefer to endorse a diet that people can live with long-term.
The benefits of a high-fiber, high-carbohydrate diet have been repeatedly shown in research. If the type of carbohydrate is right, you can eat a lot without suffering the adverse effects. Refined or processed foods tend to raise blood sugar levels quickly compared to high-fiber carbohydrates.
Problem. Problem. low carb problem
There is often a problem with low-carb diets, especially for diabetics. We know that dietary and body fats are the main culprits in the development of adult-onset diabetes (type 2). This has been shown in experiments conducted by Dr. Anderson at the University of Kentucky. Healthy young men developed symptoms of diabetes within two weeks on a high-fat diet, while a control group on a high-sugar diet did not show a single symptom after eleven weeks into the experiment.
Given the popularity of the Western diet today, everyone is now more at risk for developing diabetes. You have to be strong to resist what hangs in the air in a fast-food kitchen today, especially if you’ve spent most of your life eating the stuff. It is tempting.
But diabetics who have this kind of strength have been able to get off medication and insulin injections. It is almost impossible to live the rest of your life on low-carb foods. However, many of these diets have been shown to be too high in fat and protein.
Limiting carbohydrates means lowering your calorie intake. But your energy has to come from somewhere. Given what we know about the effects of excess fat and excess protein on metabolism, all diabetics (indeed, everyone) had better stay away from these low-carb, high-fat, high-protein options .
It seems clear that the safest long-term option is the most natural: a complex high-carbohydrate, high-fiber diet with regular (daily) exercise. It requires a lot of work, but it works.
And it works for a long, healthy, long time. Just ask Okinawans and other groups who don’t know what the word “retirement” means. I’ll watch the low-carb debate, but I want to be here until the truth is clear: I’ll choose high-fiber, high-carb foods and build muscle as the debate grows.
