By Dr. Frank Sabatino

Plants capture the energy of the sun and produce glucose in plant carbohydrates that feeds the energy factories of your cells (mitochondria) to satisfy your energy needs. This is especially important for your brain which is just 2% of your body weight but demands 20% of your energy.  

However, blood sugar (glucose) is a double edge sword. If sugar levels rise significantly above the body’s basic needs, it becomes one of the most devastating toxic, aging factors in the body. Think about what happens to people with diabetes that maintain extremely high blood sugar levels. They can lose their eyes, damage their kidneys and the heart, and even have their limbs amputated. So the control of blood sugar is one of the most important functions of the body, and the body is devoted to always  keeping your blood sugar level within a healthy normal range. 

To accomplish this, the body releases the hormone insulin from beta cells in the pancreas that attach to specific protein receptors, on the surface of cells, like a key that matches the lock of a door. When insulin inserts into its lock, it opens a door in the cell membrane and allows glucose to enter cells. This enables glucose to satisfy the energy needs of the cells, or to be stored as a savings account in your liver and muscle cells for a future time of need, when your carbohydrate consumption exceeds your immediate glucose requirement.  

The primary destination of excess dietary sugar is the skeletal muscles that move the body. (1) Due to the large energy demands of activity and movement, your muscles have the greatest need and impact  on the removal of excess sugar from the blood accounting for 60-70% of glucose removal. (2) However, if you eat the excessive amounts of saturated and processed fats in typical diets containing animal products and ultra-processed food, these fats are rapidly absorbed into muscle cells, basically taking up space and blocking the entry and storage of glucose. The combination of this blockage, with the effect of excessive fat directly altering and adding oily gunk to the insulin receptors, effectively blocks insulin from attaching to its receptors creating a decrease in insulin sensitivity referred to as insulin resistance. 

As cells resist insulin attachment and the entry of sugar, glucose levels in the blood begin to rise posing a potential toxic threat to the body. This urges the body to protect itself by storing sugar as fat, as a protective energy reserve, thereby increasing body fat and weight gain. In addition, the stress of the toxic threat of elevated sugar, urges the body to release the stress hormone cortisol that stimulates the fat making enzyme lipoprotein lipase to increase risky, visceral belly fat and weight gain. 

As sugar levels rise, the body believes it’s not producing enough insulin and drives the pancreas to over produce insulin. It has been know for decades that the excessive production of insulin is a characteristic feature of obesity and weight gain. (3) Elevated levels of insulin in the blood also increase the risk of heart disease, brain damage, and cancer. If this continues over time, insulin producing cells will be overworked, exhausted, and eventually become less able to release insulin creating the condition of diabetes. 

There are basically two forms of diabetes. Type-1 is an autoimmune condition where the body attacks its own insulin producing cells, that accounts for only 5-10% of all diabetics, and requires hormone replacement therapy with insulin. Type-2 accounts for 90-95% of all diabetics and is the result of food and lifestyle factors (including processed and animal-based foods, obesity, and lack of physical activity) that foster chronic insulin resistance and hyper-insulin release across time resulting in the body’s inability to eventually produce sufficient amounts of insulin. While many people with Type-2 diabetes are treated with a variety of medications, including insulin, this form of diabetes is remarkably preventable and reversible with a whole food plant-exclusive diet. 

While the combination of insulin resistance and increased refined sugar intake can maintain dangerously high blood sugar levels, it is the high fat and oils in animal products and processed foods, and typical cooking methods with oils, that promote insulin resistance and higher blood sugar levels. For this reason, a high-carbohydrate, high-fiber, low-fat whole plant-exclusive diet will reverse insulin resistance, significantly lower blood sugar and reverse diabetes. I, and many other plant-based doctors, have seen blood sugar levels drop hundreds of points within days to a few weeks on a whole plant food diet.

So it is essential that the diet be centered on whole plant foods, with the lowest glycemic impact, without added salt, oil, and sugar. This includes a diverse use of raw, steamed and sautéed greens, fresh fruits including lots of berries, large mixed vegetable salads, and cooked starches including potatoes, whole grains, lentils, peas and beans. With this prescription in hand, you will have the best opportunity to prevent and reverse Type-2 diabetes. 

References

1. DeFronzo RA et al. Regulation of splanchnic and peripheral glucose uptake by insulin and hyperglycemia in man, Diabetes 1983; 32(1):33-45.
2. Bjorntorp P, Sjostrom I. Carbohydrate storage in man: speculation and some quantitative considerations. Metabolism 1978;2, (12 Suppl 2):1853-1865.
3. Bjorntorp P, Brodoff BN. Obesity, Philadelphia, PA. JB Lippincott Co. ; 1992: Chapter 10.