The other day as I was coming out of my local supermarket I bumped into a lady from the next road to mine, who follows my posts ever since she lost over 50lbs through an  LCHF diet and fasting, which I had told her about, and now she  looks a good ten years younger. She made two comments about my last article, firstly she said if Diabetes is caused by Insulin wouldn’t it be called Insulin Diabetes, and secondly how can anyone think they can catch Diabetes?

I am going to take the second part of her question first, how can anyone think they can catch Diabetes This is relating to the husband and wife couple who both have T2D Type 2 Diabetes, and the husband said his wife caught it first and then he obviously caught it from her. Today we tend to live in a blame culture, if something goes wrong, or doesn’t work out quite as expected, it can’t be down to us it has to be an outside influence that has caused the problem, Now please don’t take this the wrong way, as I know plenty of people who take full responsibility for all their actions and would never dream of having it any other way, but there also seems to be an ever growing number who can’t. With this particular couple telling themselves that their Diabetes was NOT their doing, to them means they don’t need to change their lifestyle, with at least four pints of cola for her, and four energy drinks for him in about three hours, how could their Diabetes possibly be their fault?

Let’s look at her first question; if Diabetes is caused by Insulin wouldn’t it be called Insulin Diabetes, well for T2D it might describe it better if it was called Insulin Resistant Diabetes. From what I have learned so far in my own research is that although T1 and T2 are both called Diabetes Mellitus they are totally different, almost a complete opposite. In T1D the pancreas is not producing insulin, and with T2D your body is generating too much insulin. Insulin is the body’s fat storing hormone, and the key for getting glucose from the blood into the muscles and tissue where it is needed. T1Ds will always need to inject insulin to survive, even if they choose a ketogenic style diet, which lowers the amount of insulin needed to regulate blood glucose, but without it they can’t get the glucose from the blood into the muscles, but also they can’t store any fat.

T2D this is something I can talk about from my personal experiences, and they have not all been good. Some still consider T2D to be a chronic and progressive disease, and it is with the recognised standard treatment, but that is because what is being treated is the high blood sugar, not the insulin resistance which is a major cause. I can’t say every case of T2D is self-induced but with the modern western diet the majority of cases probably are. I know now that mine was, when you start your day with cereal followed by a couple of slices of toast and marmalade and a coffee, you get a blood sugar spike which plummets by midmorning, so a quick sandwich and a can of drink to keep you going until lunch. Some fast food for lunch then an afternoon snack a carbohydrate rich evening meal, late evening snack then bed. Your insulin levels are going to be high all day, and this high insulin every day over the years causes the insulin resistance.

Insulin is the same as alcohol, tobacco or any drug; the more you have the more you need to get the same effect, as your body builds a natural resistance. I can remember back in those crazy days when it was common for people to smoke, if you had a cold or sore throat and you didn’t have a cigarette for a few days that first one gave you such a hit, but it didn’t last. With insulin there is a quick way to cure insulin resistance and increase insulin sensitivity, and that is fasting, for me it took a five day fast and a week later a fourteen day fast. A real bonus in fasting is reducing the amount of fat stored in your liver, as this fat is a major contributor to insulin resistance. If you are almost your perfect weight and don’t have any problems with your blood sugar, there are still plenty of health benefits from doing a 24 hour fast once a week, and you only have to skip breakfast and lunch, and have your evening meal one hour later than the night before…