Paleo vs. Type 1 Diabetes

Morning all,

A very (as usual) interesting post on Robb Wolf's site/blog: http://robbwolf.com/?p=144 (work/family safe)

Robb Wolf said:

Paleo vs. Type 1 Diabetes

Posted on September 17, 2008

I received the following email today, pretty cool stuff:

Robb,

I emailed you about a month or so ago. I just want to give you an update on my situation: I've lost about 15-20lbs. I've taken no insulin for 5 weeks and I'm type 1 Diabetic!. Because of my strict paleo diet(gluten and dairy free) my a1c is not going to be much higher than when I was taking crap load of insulin. My glucose has really stabilized in the low 100s (100-125) and I haven't had a low at all during this time nor have I had extreme highs like when I was taking so much insulin. My blood pressure has dropped tremendously and my Internist thinks that my pancreas has jumped started again, because even when I have had a cheat meal my blood is responding in a completely different manner. We are going to do a c-peptide test again. I've also started to incorporate better sleeping patterns (trying to get 9-10 hours) and my fasting glucose is even better (lower) than before.

All that to say, I really appreciate your help and your blog. It's been incredibly resourceful and much more helpful than even my endocrinologist. Best of luck in the future! I'll try to keep you posted when the end results come.

It is well understood that Type 1 Diabetes is a failure of the beta cells of the pancreas to produce insulin. This is generally acknowledged to be the result of an autoimmune response, usually attributed to a viral infection or some kind of trauma. What is less known is the role of grain lectins in this process. Many people benefit not only from reducing the recommended American Diabetes Association 60% carb diet (higher even than the diet that causes most of the type 2 diabetes we see) because of a more fat fueled metabolism but also, occasionally, we see a return of normal pancreatic function with the removal of the neo-lithic foods. The inflammation and immune response that has been beating down the beta cells cease, some repair occurs and things come back to normal. This is not the norm unfortunately, but it does happen. Even without the full return of pancreatic function, the reduced carb, higher fat paleo diet greatly mitigates the accelerated aging and systemic inflammation inherent in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

That this is not the standard of care baffles me. As much as I hate spurious litigation the AMA should face a class action suit for it's role in obscuring the facts in this situation.

This example is also why I'm a hard-ass on the whole paleo thing. For many people the Zone simply does not cut it. Precise ratios are fantastic but potentially worthless if the food being consumed is in some way toxic to the individual.

Cheers,

George.

Great blog post. A good friend of mine is going through the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences and shared case of his classmate who went from hospitalization to complete control of his Type I diabetes in under two years solely from this sort of diet change. And yet paleo still is such a hard sell for people

I have been eating strict paleo and 100 grams of carbs or less a day.

A bout a week or so, and I'm already seeing improvements. Bodyfat wise, etc etc.

I'm gonna show this to my little brother. He got type 1 diabetes last Christmas.

Before we found out he had it, he was super skinny, we thought he was gonna die. :cry:

He's really smart and takes care of himself really good though, unlike some people.

wow, on type 1? hmm. still, that would be HC to many type 1 peeps who would rather take meds.

Sounds incredible... and incredible claims require incredible proof (doctors aren't deliberately being obtuse). For the record, I think it could be and really hope it is true... something like this could literally revolutionize healthcare and human life; diabetes is an INCREDIBLE burden on America (and other developed nations) in general and especially the afflicted individuals. If you want the medical establishment to pay attention, get the case studies, case-control studies, cohort studies, randomized controlled studies in the literature. We may notice slowly and grudgingly, but if the data is there we will eventually be forced to accept! Thanks for sharing the article!

Interestingly, if you research this type of diet, it was used as a treatment for diabetes as early as 150 years ago. The problems with implementing this type of treatment are threefold:

1) It requires discipline and effort on the part of the patient.

2) It is not profitable for the pharmacuetical companies and hence will receive little to no advertising.

3) It is important to understand that the business of western allopathic medicine is completely concerned with crisis care management and has little interest or expertise in day-to-day wellness. Physicians during the course of their medical school training receive only a few hours of nutritional training and that little bit is completely based around the outdated carb based pyramid.

As a personal aside, my wife developed gestational diabetes during her pregnancy with our second daughter. The doctor wanted her to go on a managed high carb diet. When she implemented the doctor's recommended diet (which came with managed diabetes monitoring provided by an outside company), her blood sugar levels constantly varied and on the average were extremely high. Her doctor consuled her to be more diligent in managing her meal portion sizes (in my opinion this is like managing the size of a fire by only pouring a little gasoline on it :shock:).

After some research, I discovered the paleo diet and took my wife off all grains, starches, breads, noodles, rice etc; much to the professional disapproval of her doctor. Her blood sugar dropped to a steady and constant 96 and remained there throughout the course of her pregnancy. Her doctor constantly commented that my wife was her most disciplined gestational diabetes patient she had ever had.

Despite these excellent results, her doctor continued to remain completely dismissive that the dietary change had had such an impact on the gestational diabetes.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I'm glad that worked for you, and I'm sorry your doctor was such a chump! It is interesting to me how inept my teachers are about diet and exercise... especially when contrasted with the detail they can go into about some inconsequential esoterica that piques their fancy! When we have diabetic case scenarios, they usually say "diet and exercise". When pressed, diet becomes "balanced diet", and exercise becomes "regular exercise". They know prevention is the most cost-effective way to confront our healthcare problems, but they just don't have the training Well, it is very interesting to hear people's stories, I am definitely going to give the modified paleo diet a try over the holidays!

So this diet in some cases can cure type 1 diabetes?

If so is it only as long as they stay on this diet?

If type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune response, typically to civilized foods ( starches ), then it sounds like the ability to break down starch is a mutation or adaptation that those type 1 people lack.

So they would have to stay on the diet, huh? My little brother would probably rather take his medicine. :?

And therein lies the problem.

I see.

I know I could never do that diet, no dairy, bread, salt or sugar? :shock:

I think I could do it if I knew my pancreas would restore itself eventually and then I could eat real food though.

sasquatch said:

I see.

I know I could never do that diet, no dairy, bread, salt or sugar? :shock:

I think I could do it if I knew my pancreas would restore itself eventually and then I could eat real food though.

Real food? Just need to know how to cook paleo. Check out Robb's dvd, that's a good start for ideas. I was extremely impressed with the meals and the breakfast has become a personal favorite.

Hey sasquatch,

The weird thing is, that after a short while most people don't really crave those foods any more :shock:

George.

By real food I meant bad food like burgers and pizza and stuff, sorry I wasn't trying disrespect paleo.

I told my litle brother about it, he said "Are you trying to give me false hope?" lol, but than he said maybe he could try it.

The best part of a burger is what's inside. And how about a pizza with a meat crust?? Yeah buddy!

sasquatch said:

By real food I meant bad food like burgers and pizza and stuff, sorry I wasn't trying disrespect paleo.

I told my litle brother about it, he said "Are you trying to give me false hope?" lol, but than he said maybe he could try it.

I don't think anyone took it as disrespecting paleo,and I understand what you are saying; however, it's important to make the paradigm shift and see that "media foods" are the foreigner rather than the native, real stuff. Once you stop thinking of paleo as odd or off the normal Western diet, it's much easier to eat those type of foods. Word choice sometimes seems like a minor thing, but it really does both reflect and affect how we think!

I know what you mean, the food isn't weird, it's just hard to imagine not being able to eat so many common things.

They must have super good self-controle. Do you feel alot better with the diet too? like more active and stuff?

I do believe pharmaceutical companies try to hide this stuff from people. my sisters knows someone who made a cream that you can rub on skin cancer and it removes it, you have to test this stuff before they can release it to the public though. I don't think the testers will ever let it out.

I wish I could be a strict nutritionist, but I'm not. Basically my problem is rooted with my social ways, I'm around meat heads(eat big, get big) type of people swamp on everything with protein and that leads over to me the smaller 'fit' , I put fit in quotes because I'm not fit to the standards I should be, but after this I have been thinking about a diet change and beginning to research some nutrition stuff on top of everything else I'm doing.

It's always great to see those who are getting help simply from a diet, and I'm glad to see it happening hopefully it happens to me, because I see problems in my future with my eat everything diet.