Is Paleo Safe for Type 2 Diabetics?

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In a word, absolutely!

Screen-Shot-2012-08-17-at-3.03.28-PM-300x216.pngType 2 diabetics can really benefit from this diet! Eating Paleo removes the foods that mess with your blood glucose the most, and it helps people lose weight, often effortlessly. The Paleo diet consists only of foods that are very satisfying and blood sugar balancing, so it usually leaves people feeling less hungry and having fewer cravings.

Type 2 diabetes is what happens when you eat too much sugar/carbs and your body’s cells become desensitized to insulin, the hormone that allows glucose to be taken out of your blood stream and released into your cells. In other words, the sugar just sits there in your blood stream, toxic, unable to get into storage or be used by your cells.

Why Does Eating Paleo Work?

Since eating Paleo eliminates refined sugars and grains (the foods that spike your blood sugar the most) it’s very effective for diabetics. It means you won’t have to use much insulin at all and your cells will start using it efficiently again. It’s like if you worked in a daycare and you had 25 babies crying and screaming all day long. I bet you’d get a little desensitized to all that crying after a week on the job and you’d think to yourself, ‘That baby can wait.’ And I bet some of those babies wouldn’t ever get the attention they needed. But if you send 22 or 23 of those 25 babies home, you’ll be much more sensitive to the needs of those 2 or 3 babies, right? The same goes for insulin. When you flood your body with sugar and/or other carbs every day, your cells get overwhelmed and stop caring so much whether your cells get that sugar. If you reduce the amount of sugar and carbs in your diet, you reduce the need for insulin and your body can then take care of its screaming babies. Does that make sense?

A lot of diabetics actually get off of their medications completely with this diet. In fact, it works so well that one blogger who got rid of his type 2 diabetes by eating Paleo is being threatened by dietitians for telling people to go Paleo. Yes, he reversed his diabetes. No more diabetes.

It’s a common misconception that when you are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, you’re doomed to then forever be “a diabetic” and take more and more pills and insulin injections as the years pass. Not true. Here’s a study that was done in the 80’s on how the Paleo diet reversed type 2 diabetes in Aboriginal men. Here’s another study done in 2009 that showed how Paleo worked better for diabetics than the normally prescribed diabetes diet.

A Little Warning

Eating good fats and lots of protein is one of the best things you can do for your blood sugar control. If you are diabetic and you do decide to make this change in your diet, you’ll want to make sure you watch your blood glucose levels very closely in the beginning, especially if you take insulin or medications for it. Do not take too much insulin or your blood sugar may get very low. There are far fewer carbohydrates on this diet, which are what make your blood sugar spike. Consult with your doctor if necessary. A lot of people are surprised by how quickly their blood glucose levels decrease and normalize after starting this way of eating. In fact, my own dad started cutting out breads and common carbs as a type 2 diabetic taking insulin and noticed a difference within one day. Yes, one day.

So if you have type 2 diabetes, the Paleo diet is safe for you. In fact this is the safest diet you possibly could be eating. Take the plunge!