First thing's first: know that this blog is NOT intended to discourage you from following your physician's advice.
I just finished writing a follow-up column to my most recent column for SEE Magazine: A Diabetes Diet. Together, my columns are a mild reflection of how shocked I am, having discovered that conventional recommendations for diabetics include an astronomically high consumption of carbohydrates. I've obviously had my head in the sand up until this point because I had no idea that this was the case. In my investigations, I thoroughly perused the Canadian Diabetic Association's website. One of their printable documents, Just the Basics, Healthy Eating for Diabetes Management and Prevention, suggests eating more high fibre foods, their first two listed examples of high fibre foods being whole grain breads and cereals. What? This is a joke, right? Both bread and cereal are refined carbohydrates, meaning that the bran and hull of the grains have been removed. The bran and the hull are what provide fibre that contributes to keeping blood sugar levels lower. Moreover, both of these items convert to glucose in the body and, as a result, they function to raise blood sugar levels.
There's more! Here's an exact quote from the same document: "Choose starchy foods such as whole grain breads and cereals, rice, noodles, or potatoes at every meal. Starchy foods are broken down into glucose, which your body needs for energy." If that's not a direct contradiction, then I don't know what is. I am beyond flabbergasted that the point of this recommendation is that glucose is an energy source. Ok, sure, glucose is an energy source, but excessive consumption of glucose is the PRECISE problem with type II diabetes in the first place! Those with type II diabetes are not storing and using glucose properly. In my opinion, it's absolutely irresponsible to suggest that type II diabetics should be including starchy foods at EVERY MEAL!! This is like telling someone with cirrhosis of the liver to drink a glass of wine or a pint of beer with every meal!
To add insult to injury, it is suggested that coffee is permissible at EVERY meal - 3 times a day! What's next, cake as a midnight snack? Caffeine entices a stress response in the body that throws the endocrine system out of balance. The endocrine system needs to be as balanced as possible for anyone to experience optimal health, never mind those with type II diabetes whose hormones are already unbalanced. It seems impossible for it to get any worse, but it's also suggested on the Canadian Diabetes Association's website to use artificial sweeteners in the place of sugar. Artificial sweeteners, being lab-produced and chemical based, are absolutely toxic to the human body.
As if that wasn't enough, the Canadian Diabetes Association also recommends pursuing a low-fat diet to maintain healthy body weight, avoid clogged arteries (atherosclerosis) and heart disease. But fat is a necessary component of a healthy and well-rounded diet. Fat is an excellent source of energy, especially for endurance activity that all diabetics ought to be participating in. Fats
nourish the brain and connective tissues, cushion and protect organs and
glands, are the building blocks of hormones and are integral to the formation
and rebuilding of bones, cells, enzymes, hair, muscles, nails and
neurotransmitters. Furthermore, insulin is needed to deposit fat in the body, and insulin is only released with the ingestion of glucose. Therefore, eating fat does not mean that your body is going to deposit fat - fat is deposited in the presence of insulin. When the body's sugar stores are all full, it's extra glucose floating around in the blood that deposits itself as adipose tissue, NOT dietary fats. Finally, high insulin levels in the body have been shown to increase the incidence of plaque formation in the arteries. This means that it's quite possible that excessive glucose intake - NOT excessive fat intake - is more causative of atherosclerosis and heart disease. 
The body is designed to assimilate and efficiently use fats AND glucose, so long as everything is eaten in balance. It's when we throw our systems out of balance by poor diet including excessive intakes of any one thing, ingestion of processed and refined foods, high stress that is not being properly dealt with and poor lifestyle that our bodies begin being unable to effectively deal with their tasks.
If you are a type II diabetic interested in pursuing an alternative nutritional regime, please contact us. I would be happy to facilitate a nutritional consult for you.
Roberta Shepherd for Prana Holistic
