If you or someone you love has type 2 diabetes, you know that carb intake is the single biggest factor in raising blood sugar levels.
And if you – or someone you love – is taking medication for diabetes, you might have wondered, if carbs are the problem, then why does the dietary guidance recommend a whopping 45 to 50 grams at each meal?
According to Dr. Sarah Hallberg, board certified in obesity medicine and internal medicine with a Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology, the meds actually increase your need to eat carbohydrates. In a catch-22, in treating the disease, you fuel it with what caused it.
Realizing this approach creates a dependency on medication and enables the progression of disease, Hallberg designed a different approach. To reverse diabetes, which contributes to other diseases of chronic inflammation such as gum and heart disease, we need to do more than just medicate symptoms. We need to address the root cause: diet.
In this excellent TED Talk, Hallberg points out that changing your diet doesn’t have to leave you feeling deprived. The tenets of her basic plan includes five basic “Rules for Eating”:
- If it says “light,” “low-fat,” or “fat-free,” it must stay in the grocery store.
- EAT FOOD.
- Don’t eat anything you don’t like.
- Eat when you’re hungry. Don’t eat when you’re not.
- NO GPS: No grains, potatoes, or sugar.
If you’re currently taking medication for diabetes, talk to your health care provider about the information Hallberg presents. It may be that you, or your loved one, can learn how to stop using medicine by dealing with causes rather than symptoms.
