In the fall of 2013, I began to seriously search for something on the internet about “Reversing Diabetes,” the name of the three-day seminar I attended in 2004 presented by Weimar Institute. There was nothing other than the Weimar website itself which didn’t seem to have the strong emphasis on its diabetes program as it had had 10 years earlier.
On October 3, 2013, while I was perusing the “Forks Over Knives” website, looking for valid reversed diabetes stories, I found a “success story” written by a man who claimed to have reversed his Type 2 diabetes in six months’ time by “being on a plant-based diet” and an “extreme exercise regimen.” I made the following comment:
“A plant-based diet is great–but no one has mentioned anything about high-carbohydrate content foods, like bread, potatoes, cereals–even whole grain. What ELSE did you drop from your diet besides meat?”
No one answered my question directly but referred me to other pages where I could obtain (by purchase) books and videos about this miracle “plant-based diet.” Someone did give a brief description as the “whole-food, plant-based diet [which] is based on whole or minimally processed plants, primarily fruits, vegetables, whole grains, tubers, and legumes. It excludes or minimizes animal-based foods such as meat (including poultry and fish), dairy, and eggs, as well as refined foods like bleached flour, refined sugar, and oil.”
Then amidst all the affirmations of Mark‘s story and others relating “success story” hype of their own, a desperate woman named Ann wrote, “I read so many stories like this. Why can’t my 64-year-old husband have the same results? Not enough exercise because he has had multiple strokes and neuropathy, triglycerides (without meds) in the 1400’s? Could he be a special case? What?”
Karen answered, “whatever is driving your hubby’s hypertriglyceridemia is also keeping him insulin resistant. Once the cause of that is identified and resolved, then his insulin resistance should decrease significantly and blood sugars and blood pressure improve. The doctors seem to have no real answer to the hypertriglyceridemia except Tricor which brings it down to 333 (last lab result). His cholesterol looks good at 149 but that is with taking statins. Mine is 150 with no medication at all. I am trying my best to get as much fat out of his diet as possible. I wish he could lose weight, but I read that taking insulin makes it even harder to lose. In the meantime, I cook vegetables, use whole grains, etc.”
Then Kim answered Ann, “Remove all the grains from your husband’s diet. That will help! For more information, check out the book and website Wheat Belly or go to marianutrition.com. I’m not affiliated with either, but keep reading about the fantastic results people have with eliminating grain from their diets. Good luck!”
Theresa, in talking about how long it takes for the Forks Over Knives diet to start working for diabetics, added, “It takes three weeks, but you have to also give up high-glucose foods like bread and cereals.”
Fast forward two and half years. On May 2, 2016, Ann goes back to the October 3, 2013, post and writes, “Until my husband cut out all the high-carb foods you mentioned, he was taking 4 shots of insulin a day and never lost a pound even though we were strict vegans (Plant Strong) from October 2009 to July 2015. When the VA doctors and nutritionists suggested he try the Atkins JumpStart induction plan of only 20 carbs a day, 12 carbs from vegetables, he was desperate to try something different. All I can say is, it worked.
“Charlie got into an Atkins Jump Start program with the VA which limited his carbs to 20 a day, 12 carbs from vegetables. That worked better than the Plant Strong Engine 2 diet. He lost 28 pounds, got off all his insulin, and his blood sugar is normal. His cholesterol is 152, in spite of eating meat and cheese. He still has to take a metformin pill and statins, but he feels so much better and is in much better health. Of course, he does not eat any bread or grains to maintain a low-carb regimen. We eat lots of low glycemic vegetables along with cheese and meat which is the exact opposite of what I was doing under Fork Over Knives. And I was a fanatic, had all the books and followed the recipes very carefully. Plant Strong probably works great for some people; but in my husband’s case, all the rice, beans, and whole wheat bread was not good for his diabetes.”
Adventist Vegetarian Diabetics 