The diabetes code is a book written by Dr. Jason Fung, a Canadian nephrologist. He is a world-leading expert on intermittent fasting and low carbs, especially for treating people with type 2 diabetes. He has so many works which have been featured in many outlets like the Forbes, Fox News, the Daily Mail, the Atlantic and the New York Post.
He has written so many books like: The Complete Guide to Fasting (co-authored with Jimmy Moore) and his bestselling “The Obesity code” after which he followed up with another book called “The diabetes code”.
Just like in his book “The Obesity Code”, where he challenged most typical weight loss methods and pointed out why his method where he highlighted combining a low-carbohydrate, high-fat eating plan with intermittent fasting results in rapid weight loss and is more effective than traditional energy.
THE DIABETES CODE
The diabetes code focuses on how his method can prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is one of the complex type that can result to many complications if not managed very well, some of the treatment methods include exercising and changing your diets to very low carbohydrate foods and intermittent fasting for some period of time, these methods especially diet change is seen as a way of treating type 2 diabetes and even reversing it in most cases.
With this book, Fung said type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance. Although this is a known fact, he was able to simplify how this insulin resistance happens. He explained that constant production of insulin by the pancreas causes obesity and can lead to insulin resistance as a protective mechanism for chronically high insulin levels.
He stated that if insulin resistance is overcome, then the blood sugar returns to normal and the type 2 diabetes is reversed.
DIABETES CODE FOR REVERSING TYPE 2 DIABETES
The diabetes Code states three principles for reversing type 2 diabetes:
(1) Avoiding fructose
(2) Avoiding refined carbohydrates while increasing natural fats, and
(3) Eating only unprocessed foods. The extra fourth principle is intermittent fasting.
(1) Avoiding Fructose
Fructose is a simple sugar that makes up 50% of table sugar or sucrose, the other 50% is glucose. The difference between the two sugars is that glucose is easily absorbed by your body to produce the main energy needed in your body cells while fructose needs to be changed to glucose by your liver before it can be used.
Unlike glucose that your body can easily use, fructose must be broken down by the liver in small amounts. Because of the small amounts the liver can process at a time, eating foods that are high in calories and fructose can only make your liver to be overloaded with these sugars and they are turned into fats.
Eating excess fructose can lead to many diseases like heart disease, cancer and even type 2 diabetes.
Here are other harmful effects of consuming large amounts of fructose.
- It can lead to liver disease because of the large amounts of fructose deposited in the liver which are converted to fats.
- Fructose leads to over eating because it cannot suppress appetite like glucose.
- Excess fructose consumption may cause leptin resistance, the Inability of the body to respond to the leptin hormone which can disturb how body fat is regulated and this contribute to obesity.
- It can lead to high blood pressure due to the increase in blood levels of uric acid.
- The connection between excess fructose and diabetes especially type 2 is that it causes insulin resistance. Note that the fructose under this discussion is not the one obtained in fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain fructose in small amounts with low calories and lots of fibers. The fructose we mean here is the added sugars in sodas, sweetened syrups and beverages.
(2) Avoiding refined carbohydrates while increasing natural fats
Refined carbohydrates here include processed sugar like table sugars and processed grains like refined wheat. Refined carbohydrates are foods empty of vitamins, fibers and even minerals.
A whole grain must have bran, germ and endosperm, they are the part that contains most of the nutrients found in a grain, nutrients like magnesium, selenuim, phosphorus, B vitamins, manganese, iron and fiber. These nutrients are removed when the grains are being processed, in order to make up to these loss, producers add synthetic vitamins to the refined grains, these synthetic vitamins have almost no effects like the natural nutrients would have had.
These refined carbohydrates can be found in white flour, white bread, white rice, pastries, sodas, snacks, pasta, sweets, breakfast cereals and added sugars. There are many effects of these refined carbs like:
(1) Obesity: Because these foods contain little amounts of fiber, they are easily digested and hunger sets in quickly than it should. Foods that are high on the glycemic index, promotes short-term fullness, lasting about one hour. After about one or two hours, the blood sugar levels drop and this stimulates hunger, the signal is sent to your brain and you end up eating to satisfy the hunger.
(2) Heart Disease: A study conducted in 2013 by the National Library of Medicine, USA showed that people who eat refined carbs foods two or three times daily are more likely to get heart disease as compared to those who take lesser amounts. Excessive intake of refined carbs increase blood triglyceride and this can cause heart disease.
(3) Type 2 Diabetes: A study also conducted in 2014 by the National Library of Medicine, USA showed that insulin resistance and high blood sugar level can be linked to excessive intake of refined carbs.
(4) Eating only unprocessed foods: Unprocessed foods are those foods gotten from plants and animals sources which have no preservatives or additives in them, even if they are processed, it must be minimally and only for the purpose of preservation.
ADVANTAGES OF EATING UNPROCESSED FOOD
Unprocessed foods are whole foods like nuts, seafoods, meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, natural herbs and spices. There are so many benefits of eating unprocessed foods like:
- Better sleep.
- Improved mental health.
- Healthy weight.
- Strong and healthy bones and teeth.
- Functional organs and systems.
- Lower risk of diseases like diabetes, heart diseases and others.
- Stronger immune system.
- Increased energy, focus and agility.
- A longer lifespan.
Intermittent fasting can also put remission in some people with diabetes especially type 2 due to the weight loss. A study in 2018 by the National Institute of Health, USA evaluated three people with type 2 diabetes who used insulin and fasted at least three times a week. Within a month, they no longer needed to use insulin. After several months, the participants each lost about 10 percent of their body weight.
CONCLUSION
The diabetes code has been helpful to people with type 2 diabetes after following due principles. There has also been significant evidence in some people with type 2 diabetes who have adopted this sort of management plan.
The author ended the book with a simple-to-follow meal plan for 2 weeks and a fasting plan too. He made sure to include foods whose ingredients are not hard to source or look for.