If you have diabetes, changing your diet may help treat the disease, according to a new book.
NewsCenter 5’s Heather Unruh reported Thursday that the book “Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes” claims the strict vegan diet may even reverse diabetes.
Diabetes is a disease that affects millions of Americans, but what you eat could help prevent it.
“With this diet, you learn some new way of eating, but you’re never hungry. There’s no limit on calories or carbs or portions,” said Barnard, of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Barnard said sticking to a low-fat vegan diet can help you manage, and possibly even reverse, your diabetes. The new book details this latest approach.
“With a vegan diet what we mean is a diet that sets aside the animal products, no meat, no dairy, no eggs, and that gets rid of all the animal fat,” Barnard said.
Yo? can eat vegetables and fruits, grains and legumes.
“We take the fat out of the diet, and the insulin resistance seems to go away,” Barnard said.
New research found people with type 2 diabetes who cut out meat and dairy lowered their blood sugar more and lost more weight than people who followed the traditional diabetes diet. Almost half of vegan dieters were able to stop taking medication altogether.
There’s no cutting carbs or portions. But dietician Karen Chalmers said even though the diet works, the challenge is getting people to follow it.
“Even though people know eating fiber is beneficial or that cutting down on fat is going to be beneficial in the long run, it doesn’t mean they’re going to be able to do it on a day-to-day basis,” Chalmers said.
Even if a vegan doesn’t work for you, Joslin experts said what does work is exercise.
“It does many things. It lowers blood pressure. It lowers stress. Exercise can help you manage your weight. There are so many benefits to exercise,” Joslin Clinic’s Cathy Carver said.