The “Diabetes Sucks” Diet
Fifteen years ago, diabetes treatment started with popping a pill called metformin and you would pop that pill for the rest of your life. Then some radical doctors came along who said you could actually "cure" or eliminate diabetes by simply changing your diet. Sweet! Tweet
Highlights
What's for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
If you're on the diabetes spectrum, the answer is always the same:
Metformine. Same old, same old.
Or, if this doc is right, you could just change what you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Diabetes sucks.
And it sucks for a lot of people, according to the CDC:
- 34.2 million Americans—just over 1 in 10—have diabetes.
- 88 million American adults—approximately 1 in 3—have prediabetes.
- More men (36.6 percent) had prediabetes than women (29.3 percent).
- More people are developing type 1 and type 2 diabetes during youth, and racial and ethnic minorities continue to develop type 2 diabetes at higher rates.
There are many reasons why these numbers are so high, and you can probably guess the core issues; overeating, a bad diet that includes lots of processed foods, and a lack of exercise and overall sedentary lifestyle.
But here’s something you probably don’t know:
Just fifteen years ago if you had diabetes or prediabetes, the typical treatment started with popping a pill like metformin and you would continue popping that pill for the rest of your life.
And then some radical doctors came along and suggested that you could actually “cure” or eliminate diabetes by simply changing your diet.
Back in 2006, Men’s Health magazine did a profile on one of these radical doctors, Dr. Mary Vernon from Lawrence, Kansas:
Reading this article in Men’s Health back in 2006 changed my life and it might just change your life, too:
Granted, there are things in the worlds of medicine and nutrition that have changed since 2006; there have even been big changes in Dr. Vernon’s personal life since 2006 which included a stint in prison for tax evasion:
But Dr. Vernon’s fundamental, dietary approach to diabetes and prediabetes is as sound today as it was back in 2006 when Men’s Health published their profile.
Whether you are diabetic, prediabetic or just want to eat a healthier diet, we find the Cleveland Clinic’s “Diabetes-Friendly Diet” to be one of the easiest-to-follow sources for info on foods should be eaten and what foods should be avoided, and why:
Dr. Vernon:
