Disease

DIABETES and "INSULIN RESISTANCE"

NOTE: The purpose of the All Wholesome Herbs project is to gather the best information available in scientific research and clinical practice to enable every individual to manage their own healthcare. The information provided on this website is for informational purposes only and is subject to individual interpretation and discretion. All Wholesome Herbs is not responsible for individual medical decisions based upon the information provided.

What is Insulin? What Causes Insulin "Resistance"?

Insulin is an important hormone that performs many functions for proper health. One of its actions is to signal to our body cells to take up glucose (and magnesium) to be metabolized for energy. The less insulin that can be used to accomplish its functions, the better. The body is acutely sensitive to insulin on a high-carbohydrate (whole plant foods) diet, which means that it requires very little insulin to accomplish its functions. For many complicated reasons, animal-based foods (meat, eggs, and/or dairy) in the diet make the body “insensitive,” or “resistant,” to insulin – a condition called insulin “resistance.”

Animal products increase insulin resistance; whole plant foods increase insulin sensitivity. Eliminating animal products from the diet, and transitioning to a diet of whole plant foods, is the best, most effective, and most rapid way to improve insulin sensitivity in humans (Adeva-Andany MM et al; Adeva-Andany MM et al).

Is Diabetes Caused by Too Much Carbohydrate?

A common misconception about diabetes is that it is caused by eating too much carbohydrate. This is not true. In fact, diabetes can be completely reversed by eating a diet very high in carbohydrates. It is the inability to utilize the carbohydrate, which is caused by animal products in the diet, that causes insulin resistance and diabetes.

Consider a comparison between diabetes and a flood:

Imagine a dry, compacted field that is not cultivated with any plant life, and so has few to no roots growing in its soil. When it rains, the water floods on top of the soil rather than absorbing into the ground. Is it because the water is bad for the ground? Absolutely not. In the moment, it may seem that the water is bad because flooding can be problematic, but water is exactly what the ground is most in need of. So why does the ground not absorb it in? It is because the ground is too hard and compact, and lacks air pockets into which the water can seep in.

Insulin “resistance” (and diabetes) is much like the state of this ground, and carbohydrate (glucose) is like the water. If the body’s primary and cleanest fuel is carbohydrates, then what is it that makes the body “resists” absorbing glucose? It is the effect on the body of animal foods in the diet. When we eat animal-based foods (animal flesh, milk, or eggs), there are some significant changes that take place in our bodies:

Animal foods alter the body’s metabolic state from carbohydrate metabolism to fat (and protein) metabolism – the “starvation state” of insulin “resistance.”
Stiff animal fats replace softer plant fats in the body’s cells, making the cells more rigid and impenetrable (similar to the hard, compacted ground in our example above).
Animal-based foods make the body acidic, a condition called metabolic acidosis.

Even a little animal-based food in the diet alters the body’s metabolism and causes the body to become insulin “resistant.” It is not the carbohydrate, but the inability to use the carbohydrate, that leads to diabetes, as a result of the metabolic disturbances of animal-based foods.

Metabolic Disease, Metabolic Cure

Because insulin resistance and diabetes are metabolic states (as opposed to genetic diseases), they can generally be fully reversed in a matter of weeks. What we eat determines our metabolic state, and when we change what we eat, we change our metabolic state. Try the experiment – eliminate meat and animal products from your diet, and eat whole plant foods – and see if your insulin sensitivity significantly improves.*

*NOTE: Individuals with diabetes who switch to a diet of whole plant foods must be carefully monitored due to the rapid improvement in insulin sensitivity, requiring constant adjustments to their insulin medications, with consideration of their cessation altogether.**

**NOTE: This is a good thing. 🙂

RESEARCH

McMacken M, et al. A Plant-Based Diet for the Prevention and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes. Journal of Geriatric Cardiology, 24(5), 342-354, May 2017.

Adeva-Andany MM, et al. Effect of Diet Composition on Insulin Sensitivity in Humans. Clinical Nutrition ESPEN, 33:29-38, Oct. 2019.

Adeva-Andany MM, et al. Dietary Habits Contribute to Define the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Humans. Clinical Nutrition Espen, 34:8-17, Dec. 2019.

McCarty MF. GCN2 and FGF21 Are Likely Mediators of the Protection from Cancer, Autoimmunity, Obesity, and Diabetes Afforded by Vegan Diets. Medical Hypotheses, 83(3): 365-371, Sep. 2014.

Huaidong D, et al. Fresh Fruit Consumption in Relation to Incident Diabetes and Diabetic Vascular Complications: A 7-y Prospective Study of 0.5 Million Chinese Adults. PLOS Medicine, 14(4): e1002279, 11 Apr. 2017.

Michaelsson K, et al. Milk Intake and Risk of Mortality and Fractures in Women and Men: Cohort Studies. British Medical Journal, 349:g6015; 28 Oct 2014.

McCarty MF. Vegan Proteins May Reduce Risk of Cancer, Obesity, and Cardiovascular Disease by Promoting Increased Glucagon Activity. Medical Hypotheses, 53(6): 459-485, Dec. 1999.

McDougall J. Plant Foods Have a Complete Amino Acid Composition. Circulation, 105(25), e197, June 2002.

Fernández-Quintela A, et al. The Role of Dietary Fat in Adipose Tissue Metabolism. Public Health Nutrition, 10(10A), 1126-1131, Oct. 2007.)

Disease

DIABETES and "INSULIN RESISTANCE"