I have mentioned this before, but I will reiterate it again.  Diet was not a priority during my medical training.  We always asked or ordered an  American Diabetes Association (ADA) diabetic diet consisting of 1500-2000 calories per day for hospitalized patients with diabetes.  The ADA diet consisted of eating a well-balanced  diet that limited processed food consumption.  On the surface,  it seemed to help diabetes, but these patients rarely improved their sugars and many had to at least maintain their present medications.

The ADA diet is inadequate for eliminating diabetes, but eating clean fuel and limiting dirty fuel can clearly control diabetes and reduce insulin  and medication use.   Carbohydrates are supposedly the problem, but rice is consumed in large quantities in Asia where diabetes is rare.  Furthermore, parts of Africa are similar and their primary diet is sweet potatoes and beans.  Again, carbohydrates do not cause diabetes.

However, there are several studies showing the contribution of fat to the diagnosis of diabetes.  Fat containing foods or dirty fuel promote fat absorption, weight gain and insulin resistance leading to diabetes.   The difference between the western world and parts of Africa and Asia is that the western world eats more processed food, fat and animal protein than the simple carbohydrates consumed in other parts of the world.

Compare a diabetes-causing meal versus a diabetes-curing meal.

Dirty meal:  Fried or baked wings, french fries and cole slaw.

Clean meal:  Two oven roasted sweet potatoes (1 tablespoon of olive oil) prepared like french fries, a bowl of black beans and a tossed salad.

The dirty meal causes diabetes, but there is not one sweet item on the menu.  However, the grease and animal protein causes insulin resistance fueling diabetes.  The clean meal is a profoundly low fat meal.  Eating this way will reduce a patient’s weight, diabetes medications or insulin requirements.    I did not provide the specific references to articles contained in the post, but please write a comment if anyone is interested in obtaining them.