In this week’s podcast, we continue our conversation on diabetes and how a low carb diet can help put diabetes in remission. 

I first wanted to clarify the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. A type 1 diabetic no longer produces insulin but a type 2 diabetic continues to produce insulin but their body no longer properly responds to insulin.

Someone with type 1 diabetes will always have to take some insulin but it can be better managed on a ketogenic diet. However, someone with type 2 diabetes has a great chance of getting off insulin and completely reversing their diabetes if they follow a ketogenic diet long enough. 

The current standard of care for diabetes is to give diabetics insulin, which is extremely stupid! Type 2 diabetes is a disease of too much insulin, therefore, you will never cure this disease by giving someone more insulin. Years of eating too many carbohydrates paired with fat will cause a person’s pancreas to become dysfunctional, leading to diabetes. The alpha cells in the pancreas that produce glucagon no longer listen to the normal suppressive effects insulin has on endogenous glucose production.

Normally, when you eat carbohydrates, your body breaks down the carbohydrates into glucose, elevating blood sugar levels. This is normal, and occurs for everyone. However, in a diabetic, their livers will produce glucose via gluconeogenesis, on top of the ingested carbohydrates. This is the vicious cycle of diabetes and results in chronically elevated blood sugars. 

To learn more about diabetes and how a low carb diet can help reverse it, listen to this week’s podcast.

Links To Studies Mentioned

Glucagons Role In Diabetes 

Insulin: understanding its action in health and disease