ELIMINATE Type 2 Diabetes

I am on my third day of dramatically lowered carbohydrate intake and working on totally eliminating grains from my diet. Step number one for me which was the hardest to do was to get off the cereal for breakfast train. I have always done pretty well for lunch and dinner, however I grew up during the whole grain cereal for breakfast generation and stayed with it. I always assumed it was a healthy breakfast, even though I could not help but notice my BG level went up dramatically after eating, shredded wheat, or oatmeal, wheaties, cream of wheat,  or any other natural grain cereal. The BG dropped down during the day, however I found myself doing more and more exercise to try and stay one step ahead of my glucose meter. Another aspect of many but not all packaged breakfast cereals is they are HIGH in sodium which raises your blood pressure. The "Wheat Belly" website indicates that the grains we eat today do not remotely resemble the grains we ate 50 years ago. They have been processed and altered to a great degree. I am a Christian and know the Lord's prayer says, "Give us this day our daily bread".......however the daily bread in the Lord's prayer is radically different from the loaf of bread on your grocer's shelves today.

I found if you have been on whole grain cereals etc. for a long time along with an occasional slice of 12 or 15 grain bread for a sandwich at lunch etc. for a while, the first couple of days OFF from the grains will likely result in some minor constipation. Once that passes, I found myself feeling lighter, more mentally alert, seemingly boundless energy and a sense of well being. I do add a tablespoon of ground flax seeds to my bowl of soup for added fiber and Omega 3's in my diet. I am still eating lots of fresh raw veggies, big salads, some fruit (for me especially a couple of apples a day) AND EXERCISING. I am still exercising, doing push ups, walking, abdominal crunches and stretching, stair climbing etc. and taking all of my supplements.

The blood sugar spikes after breakfast have been lowered substantially even after just two days. I am reading a lot of testimonials from type 2 diabetics who got off the grains and dramatically lowered the carbs whose A1C levels are now down in the 5.5 to perhaps 6.1 range, some without any medication at all.

Seems like we have been getting ill fated advice from the ADA (American Diabetes Association) and most magazines enertaining so called diet experts etc. concerning the best diet for treating type 2 Diabetes. They have been pushing a diet rich in whole grains as part of a healthy diet to lower diabetes. Turns out, if the wheat belly folks are right,  that the opposite appears true.

If you read articles by Dr. Davis and the "Wheat Belly" advice, it appears that "Grains and sugars CAUSE type 2 Diabetes", and therefore should be eliminated from your diet.

Some food for thought:

The AMYLOPECTIN A complex carbohydrate of WHEAT, given its unusual susceptibility to digestion by salivary and stomach enzyme, (amylase), raises blood sugar to sky high levels. In fact 2 slices of whole wheat bread, raise your blood sugar higher than 6 teaspoons of table sugar. Read that, whole wheat bread and NO, it doesn't mean switch to white bread).

HIGH BLOOD GLUCOSE damages the delicate pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin, a process called "GLUCOTOXICITY".

FOLLOWING CONSUMPTION of highly-digestible carbohydrates, including amylopectin A of wheat, the process of liver de novo lipogenesis causes a FLOOD of triglyceride rich liver lipoproteins like VLDL particles to enter the bloodstream. This in turn damages pancreatic beta cells, a process called "Lipotoxicity"

Repetitive HIGH BLOOD SUGARS such as that developing after a diet rich in whole grains leads to the root cause of our diabetes and that is INSULIN RESISTANCE. This in turn places even more demand on the pancreas to produce more insulin. (This is what I am talking about after following a former healthy breakfast routine of high whole grains, which results in sharp upward sugar spikes day after day after day.)

INSULIN RESISTANCE then triggers the accumulation of "visceral fat", love handles or the new coined phrase of ...........wheat belly.

VISCERAL FAT is INFLAMMATORY FAT that in turn worsens insulin resistance.

This is a NEW approach for me going forward, as I have been told all my life that whole grains are good for you and you need them as a major component of your diet etc. In addition I realize it isn't ONLY the whole grains that one has to start eliminating. It includes all the EMPTY calorie foods and the sweet tooth cravings and using deserts, snacks etc. as "A Reward system of sorts". .

Per Dr. Davis and the "Wheat Belly" concept, wheat consumption = diabetes. Likewise often NO WHEAT = NO DIABETES.

There is a STRICT WARNING IN THE CONCEPT in that pancreatic beta cells for the most part, DO NOT REGENERATE once destroyed. If for example you only have 70% residual beta cell function remaining, (Very Common), you need to get off the wheat and grains today or else your type 2 diabetes may end up being  IRREVERSIBLE.

Remember that diabetes causes heart attacks, breast cancer, strokes, and folks undergo amputations of limbs, and go blind from this reversible disease. It is serious business. Do you know of anyone who died from complications of type 2 diabetes? I do. Do you have any friends or acquaintances who have mild to SEVERE  diabetic reitinopathy from type 2 diabetes. I do. Do you know anyone who went blind from complications of type 2 diabetes? I do. IT ISN'T PRETTY. The time to make changes is today.

Diabetic eye disease may include:

• Diabetic retinopathy—damage to the blood vessels in the retina.
• Cataract—clouding of the eye’s lens. Cataracts develop at an earlier age in people with diabetes.
• Glaucoma—increase in fluid pressure inside the eye that leads to optic nerve damage and loss of vision. A person with diabetes is nearly twice as likely to get glaucoma as other adults.

"Today is the first day of the REST of your life" No one is guaranteed tomorrow. Start making positive changes TODAY.

TO ME, the message means you don't settle for good control taking prescription drugs and insulin while attempting to manage your diabetes. It gets progressively worse the longer you have it, so why not eliminate possible root causes and be cured.

(Scope of the Problem) - this is to show that whatever the ADA and doctors and dietitians are recommending for the most part has NOT been effective:

According to the National Diabetes Fact Sheet, 2011 from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), type 1 and 2 diabetes now affects 25.8 million people, or 8.3 percent of the U.S. population. That number skyrockets in older age groups: nearly 27 percent of American seniors had diabetes in 2010. If you add in pre-diabetics (insulin resistance), the number jumps to more than 1 in 4 Americans across age groups!

God Bless,

Dan