I heard a doctor being interviewed on the radio the other morning. He was an expert from a diabetes organization talking about the alarming rates of increase for that disease. He had some truly frightening information. In 2001 the number of people with type II diabetes was approximately 11 million. At that time, the estimated rate of increase for diabetes in America was projected to be 30 million by the year 2050. The disturbing news was that we had already hit that number back in 2011. He spoke of grave concern over the lack of awareness of this information among the public in general.
Probably the scariest part of his message was regarding fixing this problem. He kept repeating it over and over again “people must get fit! They must start exercising and getting into shape” What? So, this guy is a doctor and an expert on the subject and this?!?! This is his answer??? Wait a second. What seems to cause type II diabetes? Well, we know that the greatest co-factor to this disease is being overweight or obese. Aside from having excess body fat, we know that a very high percentage of people with this disease DON’T follow a healthy diet. This correlates perfectly with the overweight co-factor. Regarding this note on lifestyle, most people who DO follow a healthy diet simply avoid this form of diabetes. Regarding this disease, a healthy diet would be generally defined as one high in fiber, with a high polyunsaturated to saturated fat ratio, and a lower mean glycemic index (less sugar resulting in less blood glucose). This would lead any rational, reasonable person to address this problem directly by consuming much less sugar and fewer calories in order to lose body fat.
Note: our evolutionary diet delivers the general parameters of this “healthy diet” to the fullest. Yet, it goes much further by providing an exceptionally low glycemic index, even more quality fiber and mostly healthy fats relative to other dietary plans that include many of our modern foods and food groups. Even better, research has shown that the health effects of this diet on those suffering from type II diabetes have been extremely positive. To those people and populations to which this diet has been a way of life, this disease is practically non-existent.
Intuitively then, the first solution then would be to change one’s DIET. To concentrate on exercise would miss the mark entirely. Further, it has been proven that exercise does not work against modern food to considerably lower body fat (just see the lousy results from the CDC diabetes prevention program). Even the non-clinical host of the show added with a quizzical tone in his voice….”and consume less sugar?” as he openly questioned the doctor’s advice.
Answers like this seem to be relentlessly propagated by the media as we torture and deny overweight people in television shows like “The Biggest Loser”. All the while, corporate interests sponsoring such shows, as an example, sell low-grade, fast food sandwiches full of low nutrient, industrially processed ingredients. The doctor on this radio show seemed to echo the same advice that is generally provided to the public regarding this disease. It could be said that he also represented the general lack of good information regarding how to best fight this terrible disease.
Unfortunately, the best known educational and medical institutions we rely on for diet and disease information seem to consider the true causes of this epidemic disease – branded, processed, high-fat and high-sugar foods – as “verboten”. This is a strange, obvious and outright refusal to deal with the truth head-on and actually do something materially effective about preventing and treating this awful disease.
No doubt, this course of action is likely attributable to the fact that most of these organizations, their doctors and experts are funded and sponsored by the same food companies that create those highly processed and over-sweetened food products.