We are living amidst an unprecedented epidemic that is impacting families regardless of race, economic status, education or address — the epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes. According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), over 50 percent of adults in this country suffer from diabetes or prediabetes.
Over 50% of us – let that sink in.
It is women that are hit especially hard by diabetes and its consequences. The risk of heart disease is twice as great among women with diabetes compared to men with diabetes. Additionally, women suffer more severe outcomes after a heart attack. Our sisters, mothers, daughters and friends are also at a higher risk of other diabetes-related complications such as blindness, kidney disease, and depression.
The good news is that we can do something, not only to prevent, but also to reverse diabetes. It is not yet another medication or surgical procedure, it is food. For years, women have been told that if they just follow the standard dietary advice to eat less and exercise more they can prevent or control Type 2 Diabetes and weight gain. When women gain weight, cannot lose weight, or develop diabetes, they are blamed for not following the advice. What if instead the advice has been wron
Hint: The advice has been wrong.
Instead of the old advice, recent research shows that if we decrease carbohydrates in our diet instead of focusing on calories; Type 2 Diabetes becomes a reversible disease. This means blood sugar can be normalized while getting off diabetes medications, including insulin. This year the American Diabetes Association joined the VA/DOD in changing their guidelines to endorse a low carbohydrate eating pattern for diabetes secondary to all the new research.
Yes, it is possible to take control back from a very controlling disease by decreasing carbohydrates. Women often determine the food and meals in the house which means they have the power to change health outcomes by altering their own eating habits and breaking the cycle of diabetes in their family.
However, making sustainable lifestyle changes is difficult and that is why ongoing support is so critical. Our study, which combined personalized nutrition advice with support through technology, found that 60% of completers had reversed their diabetes at a year and 54% maintained this reversal at two-years. This in addition to significantly lowering, triglycerides, markers of fatty liver disease, inflammation and blood pressure among other metabolic benefits. By using technology through an app on their phone, patients in our study are able to have “in their pocket” a health coach and physician who get to know them, their preferences and health history. This enables sustainable success for long term disease reversal.
Science confirms it. Type 2 Diabetes is a reversible disease. Women have the power to change the health outcomes in their family by using Food as Medicine.
