Hi, new here and had a ? or two...

I always had a carb problem since young, went on Atkins diet at 17, probably the most anti-raw food diet around, and it had kept my weight down and blood sugar, fats normal to low. Around my mid-40's, things changed and weight ballooned and always felt tired. Having been involved with alternative med, always used vitamins, herbs, etc. as needed, trying new things. Have found out 2 years ago was type 2 diabetic, not a surprise since strong family history and I was hypoglycemic, pre-diabetic since childhood. Spent last two years figuring out how to eat to reduce blood glucose levels, which I now see makes me tired, blurs vision and more recently started to get neuropathy symptoms, like stabbing pains in toes and fingers along with elevated blood pressure.

Since Atkins diet wasn't working for me anymore, I found doing a liver detox, using a Detox 7 kit brought down my blood sugars dramatically. When using that, would do a detox diet, no red meat, little protein, no dairy, no wheat/gluten, no soy, no orange/grapefruit, no peanuts, no beans. Basically eating lots of brown rice, rice cakes, fruits, veggies, decaf tea. Now I find if I add red meat, cheese, etc. blood sugars go up. So, animal sat fats seems to be a problem. Eating lots of brown rice keeps blood sugar low, though it's high in complex carbs. Almonds also keep blood glucose low. Adding back wheat/gluten also a problem. I have also lost 10 pounds since detoxing and can see just that benefit of not eating animal sat fat.

I like the idea and feeling of eating raw, I use various digestive enzymes that help a-lot since being overweight affects many body processes and know eating natural raw foods is healthful as proteins/carbs/fats are in nature's proportions. I also use non-digestive enzymes that seem to help my sometimes sluggish constitution. I also show a weak liver, whether from Chinese TCM, iridiology, Aruveydic, complementary medical, constitutional homeopathy diagnoses which contributes to if not causes my diabetes.

Since I don't want to go blind, have feet amputated, have heart disease, etc. from diabetes complications, I'm trying to be strict when it makes sense, just trying to figure out what I need to be strict on, basically liver friendly diet which may not mean 100% raw, for example, cooked beets are very liver friendly. Also, various fruits, like blueberries, raspberries made in a smoothie causes large blood sugar spikes due to their simple sugar content though they are considered lower carb fruit. I'll eat low fat cottage cheese, chicken/turkey and while I can go for days without animal protein, I seem to feel out of sorts and better once consuming some.

So, my ?'s are:

Will eating brown rice negate what benefits a 100% raw food diet provides? Or, why shouldn't one eat brown rice? the Asians have used it for centuries.

Raw acorn/butternut squash?

Any type 2 diabetes stories? I searched but only found type 1.

Will US gov't new raw almond mandate make them non-raw, unsafe?

Manna rye bread is sprouted, sold frozen, is it made heated and thus non-raw?

Ezekial 1:9 bread? It's in the Bible.

Black Sesame Seeds, not sure if raw or not, one brand says roasted but they all look alike. Mostly an Asian product with little info. I once read raw sesame seeds are unhealthy????

Thanks for any help!

Dave

Hi Dave,

Dr. Gabriel Cousens is a raw foodist and has had success treating diabetic patients - I think his website is www.treeoflife.nu. Might want to check there. From what I've read on diabetes treatment, there seems to be some conflicting theories on what works best.... and I wouldn't have the authority to advise you. One thing I do know is that if brown rice works for you but you want to try raw, you could always try sprouting various grains instead of cooking them.

Dave,

Welcome to the raw world. It is totally possible to heal your type 2 diabetes even without going 100% raw. The key is to keep your fat intake under 10%, preferably under 7% of your caloric intake. A recent study comparing a low fat cooked vegan diet versus the standard American Diabetes Association (ADA) diet found that the cooked vegan diet had superior results in terms of reducing insulin medication as compared to the ADA diet. Here is a repost of some articles that talk about this:

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Here are some articles about the recognition of the value of the low fat vegan diet in healing diabetes:

Here is the research: A Low-Fat Vegan Diet Improves Glycemic Control and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Randomized Clinical Trial in Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes

Here's what the American Diabetes Association has to say:

A Low-Fat Vegan Diet Helps Improves Glucose Control and Heart Health

Here is some media coverage:

Low-fat Vegan Diet Rivals Oral Diabetes Medications In Federally Funded Study
Low-Fat Vegan Diet May Treat Diabetes

When my mother (type 2 diabetic) started her program her blood sugar was topping 400 pts and her weight was at 220.

At approximately 12 weeks she had lost 20lbs. and lowered her blood sugar to 98 pts.

She used a 100% vegan, very low-fat diet. She ate a lot of raw fruit and vegetables. She ate very little whole grain pasta or bread (which tended to raise her blood sugar) and ate more brown rice, quinoa and millet with LOTS of cooked beans and legumes. She more often than not had a fruit smoothie for breakfast, a large salad for lunch, and beans, rice and a raw side vegetable or salad for dinner.

The more raw fruits and vegetables you eat the better, for a host of reasons, but with diabetes its even more important what you leave out than what you leave in. Saturated fats and too much fat of any kind, as you already know, is one of the biggies. Any processed flours, grains or sugars needs to be eliminated. Dairy too, as it contains fats and sugars that raise blood sugar.

Of course, on a raw food diet none of these things are included, except vegetable fats, which can be used in moderation. My mother wasn't prepared to go 100% raw, but if you are there are plenty of people out there with Type 11 that have experienced great success with a raw diet.

Best of luck,

khale

I used to have carb problems, and constantly had low blood sugar. I tried low carbing; even macrobiotics for a short while (that was especially disastrous!). I found I had to get the candida and toxins out of my system and just stay raw and keep cleansing. Now I'm able to eat a diet of greens and fruit and very little fat, with no problems. While I didn't have diabetes, I was well on my way there, as I was hypoglycemic for many years.

Grains are not good for us. Read what Douglas Graham says about grain damage. Starches will only complicate things and slow down one's progress in overcoming metabolic anomolies. If you can't do 100% raw, I'd suggest having steamed vegetables instead. They're really filling and won't cause nearly as much of a problem.

Best of luck to you!

Sharrhan:


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Khale -

How is your mother now? How long has it been since she started the vegan diet? Does she feel better?

She's doing well aquadecoco.

After the initial 12 weeks she continued to lose weight - her lowest was 179!
Her blood sugar is stable and "high" now is 130 - a big difference from the 400+ that she started out with.

She got off track for awhile and gained back some weight, but she's back at it.

She feels a great deal better in general: is sleeping better, has fewer aches and pains and lots more energy.

I think she's been vegan approx. 6 months now.

khale

That's great progress for 6 months. Nice to hear about it.

Bryan wrote, "A recent study comparing a low fat cooked vegan diet versus the standard American Diabetes Association (ADA) diet found that the cooked vegan diet had superior results in terms of reducing insulin medication as compared to the ADA diet."

I recently heard Dr. Gabriel Cousens interview Dr. T. Colin Campbell and when Cousens mentioned his success with diabetes, Campbell mentioned McDougall and Barnard and here is Cousens' response:

Cousens: 26:13 "Our results are a little faster. Dr. Neal Barnard is seeing a 30% improvement over 22 weeks, we’re seeing a 100% improvement within 2 weeks."
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Peace and Love.........John