How the Raw Food Diet Reversed My Diabetes

REVERSING DIABETES IN TWO SIMPLE STEPS

Some Background First.

It was in March of 2006, way before I ever thought of a raw vegan diet, that I finished the last of a grueling 6 month chemotherapy protocol for my bout with lymphoma. I had noticed that when my monthly blood test was done prior to my body scans, the tech asked me if I was diabetic. I said not that I am aware. So after the chemo I scheduled an appointment with a D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathy) to see what was up. After more blood test he confirmed that I had type 2 diabetes. Ughh. I just got through one serious disease and now had another.

I was prescribed an oral medication and told that to "control" diabetes (there was no cure) was a three pronged approach. Daily medication, diet, and exercise. Since I only liked the last one, and only when I was in the mood, I continued eating as I had been and taking the medicine, with occasional exercise here and there. As you might have guessed, things did not improve. After about a year, I went to see the doctor again. He said my diabetes had progressed. He upped the strength of my daily medication, told me to go see the hospital's nutritionist, and reminded me to eat well and exercise. The nutritionist only made matters confusing in my opinion. There were carbohydrate and protein levels assigned to each type of food, and the totals had to come in at a certain amount or each for 3 meals and 2 snacks each day. But worse, there was no emphasis on true nutrition. The main thing to be counted were carbohydrates. But it did not matter if they came from a banana or a can of soda. In theory, and often in reality, I could meet the numbers by eating processed junk food. This did not make sense.

I was kind of in a holding pattern for a while. Day to day things kept my mind off diabetes and I kind of loosely followed the rules laid out by the nutritionist. I occasionally kept a food journal and tallied my carbs, etc. All the while I was taking the medicine everyday and testing my fasting blood glucose each morning. It was always pretty much the same, between 130 and 140. After a while it seemed pointless to even test. Who wants to prick your finger everyday and pay good money in testing strips for the privilege?

It was not until surfing the net one day that I stumbled across Dr. Joel Fuhrman on YouTube discussing that diabetes could be reversed by proper nutrition. I wondered why the nutritionist didn't tell me this. She just wanted me to prevent the disease from getting worse, not reverses it, I guess. I ordered Dr. Fuhrman's book "Eating for Health". He was very much into eating more nutrient dense foods and superfoods. Something inside me told me this was the correct way to eat. As I was watching some more of his videos, I ran across some videos regarding the raw food challenge. People were eating only raw fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds and telling of tremendous health and energy benefits. I had to learn more. In the meantime I started making green smoothies. Because greens (spinach, lettuce, kale etc.) are kind of a staple in the raw food diet, and because I was not particularly a salad person, this was a way for me to get enough greens!