The Keto Diet and Diabetes: What You Need To Know.
The road to diabetes is paved with marketing schemes that make Americans fat and the pockets of the food industry even fatter.
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The Keto Diet principles lay the foundation for a healthy, more balanced way of eating than the standard American diet could ever offer.
Its emphasis is on using healthy carbohydrates in balance with high amounts of fat and moderate protein makes our bodies well-fueled machines and helps equalize hormonal imbalances.
This is in stark contrast to what most Americans eat daily.
The average American eats tons of "affordable" processed foods with hidden sugars and highly processed carbohydrates.
We are bombarded with messages that support terrible choices for our bodies.
Chances are good; these are the biggest struggles you face when looking into the keto diet.
I know I did.
I was overcome with fear at times because I didn't understand how everything I had ever been told about food could be a lie.
Keto Diet and Diabetes: What You Need To Know
Here are just a few marketing schemes that we have been brainwashed to believe are healthy:
- Low-fat foods
- Low-calorie foods
- Portion control
- 100 Calorie Packs
- Calories in equal calories out
- Burn calories to lose weight
- Sugar and fats should be eaten in moderation
- You need carbs to fuel your body
- If you work out, you need carbs to gain muscle
- Low-carb diets are not sustainable.
- Eggs are bad for you; eat the whites.
- Turkey bacon and ground turkey are better for you
- Whole wheat will help you lose weight, especially your belly fat
- You can work out in 5 minutes a day and lose weight
Keto Diet and Diabetes: The Lies
These lies have put most of us on the road to diabetes and pre-diabetic conditions.
The saddest part is, at this rate, our children don't stand a chance.
They are overweight and lethargic. They have low self-esteem, and we and society blame them for something they have no control over.
They are addicted to sugar, and we are the suppliers. Parents unknowingly sabotage their child's efforts at weight loss every day, and I don't know about you, but I am tired of it.
If you know anything about the ketogenic lifestyle and how the body works, you only have to watch 20 minutes of the documentary Fed Up to understand why these poor children aren't losing weight.
What is sadder still is that diabetes has a predictable set of stages and that they can be easily recognized. The road to diabetes is connected to something called the glycemic index.
All carbohydrates are rated on this index by the level of insulin reaction they produce in our bodies.
Foods with a high glycemic index rating will cause your pancreas to release a large amount of insulin to break down some sugars and carbohydrates (which produce high amounts of glucose).
The refined carbohydrates and sugars that make up most of the foods you find in your supermarket rank very high on the glycemic index.
Keto Diet and Diabetes: Diabetic & Pre-Diabetic Children:
When I was growing up, the low-fat propaganda had just begun, and it was in full swing by the time I was a teenager.
It's no wonder I went from being a healthy-weight, and normal kid (who mostly ate farm food anyway), to a depressed, tired, mood-swing-laden teen.
That's not to discount the normal hormonal changes that happen in the teen years, but do you ever wonder why teens are more overweight, depressed, and out of control than ever?
I'm not blaming everything on our diet, but even in my children, I have noticed a huge difference.
We have one son who is borderline ADHD, and when he is on the Keto diet, he is an entirely different child.
He has told me in his words that he feels smarter, like he can focus.
Why would that be the case? That, my friends, is the result of his brain running on ketones instead of sugar.
The result of not living with blood sugar spikes and falls throughout the day.
Keto Diet and Diabetes: Diabetic & Pre-Diabetic Adults:
As we age, these symptoms we possibly explained away when we were children begin to grow and become more prevalent.
The nationwide obesity epidemic results from high-carbohydrate diets and unstable blood sugar levels.
Many people who are overweight are also insulin resistant.
Insulin resistance means that the insulin is not doing its job in removing glucose from the bloodstream.
The pancreas gets overworked, and it releases massive amounts of insulin, sometimes 20 times more than the body needs.
This results in blood sugar dropping to extremely low levels.
Which sets off a chain reaction in the body that leads to a release of adrenaline to correct the blood sugar problem.
With age, blood sugar and insulin difficulties become more aggravated.
The condition is called "hyperinsulinism" and is a precursor for type II diabetes.
It is commonly accompanied by high blood pressure and high triglycerides.
After years of eating a high-carbohydrate, overly processed foods diet, you will finally fully develop diabetes.
Insulin is the body's primary fat creator, and extra pounds usually accompany late-onset diabetes.
Pre-diabetic conditions, if not treated effectively, will lead to diabetes indefinitely.
However, there are easily identifiable warning signs of diabetes that appear early.
Your family doctor can perform insulin level tests that will let you know if you are at risk for pre-diabetic conditions, and studies show that low-carb diets like keto can help.
More than studies (which are usually unreliable anyway) are the thousands of personal stories you can find online.
No, I'm not talking about the stories of people trying to sell the latest book or some magic low-carb pill.
I'm telling real stories like mine, my family's, and our readers.
Controlling your blood sugar is one of the most efficient methods of controlling pre-diabetic conditions.
Keto Diet and Diabetes: How Does The Keto Diet Help Diabetes?
The Keto diet helps effectively control blood sugar, and if you don't want to take my word for it (which you really shouldn't anyway), you can try it out for yourself.
You can test your blood sugar, you know.
What I love seeing is when someone goes to the doctor and gets a full workup before starting keto.
I love to see how real people see drops in blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, hormone levels, and normalization of blood sugar levels.
Nothing can prove it to you better than your body can.
Weight loss is excellent, but those tests mentioned above are where you see results that mean you're truly healthy.
You can lose weight and still be unhealthy.
The combination of fats, protein, and limited healthy carbohydrates (like those found in fruits and veggies) will satisfy your body without the roller coaster effects you've experienced on other diets.
Controlling carbs in quantity (we recommend less than 50g a day ) and type will help limit the insulin spikes.
Mindful eating allows your pancreas to work in the way that it was meant to, and it will decrease the likelihood of your developing pre-diabetic conditions.
It's a vicious cycle that, if left unchecked, can lead to diabetes later in life.
When the Ketogenic Diet is followed, it produces stable blood sugar throughout the day and helps you stay off the road to diabetes and other damaging health conditions.
Want to try the diet for yourself? Check out our Keto For Beginners Guide
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and I do not play one on TV. I am just a random person; you probably don't know who cares about your health and the health of your children.
I share what I've learned and my personal experiences, but I can never replace the advice of your doctor.
So as always, my friends, Merica wants you to know you have to talk to your doctor when you start any weight loss diet; that way, you can't sue me.
Do you know what the saddest part is? You should be using your doctor if they tell you to follow the American diet and you keep getting sicker, but you can't do that either.
Weird how that works.
Jen says
Hi, thank you for this post I found it very informative. I love Keto eating. However I think it would be wonderful if you clarified that you are speaking of Type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease with no known cause or cure. The people with this disease have autoantibodies which have destroyed the insulin producing cells in their bodies. When we don't differentiate between the two diseases we place a stigma on those children and adults with Type 1 diabetes that perhaps they should have been able to prevent their disease or may be able to cure it with diet which is simply not the case.
ketosizeme says
Jen, thank you! I see what you mean and I wasn't even considering that when I wrote this post. I will add a note to the bottom of the post to clarify!