For blog and video in Tamil, click here
தமிழில் பதிவை படிக்கவும், வீடியோவை பார்க்கவும்: http://indianlchf.com/diabetes/conventional-diabetes-treatment-treating-symptoms-or-rootcause-tamil/
My learning from the above video by Dr. Jason Fung:
More and more medicines
When you are diagnosed with diabetes, you are prescribed a mild drug like metformin.
After some time, a stronger drug.
After some more time, a combination of drugs.
Then, a little insulin.
Then, more insulin.
Then, some more insulin.
Why do we take medicines? Answer: To become better.
More medicines should make a person’s health better, right? But in the case of diabetes, more medicines make the person’s health worse.
When a person says “I’m on metformin”, it means that he has mild diabetes.
When a person says “I’m on insulin”, it means that he has severe diabetes.
After all those medicines, the diabetes gets worse.
The blood sugar is normal, but the diabetes is worse.
Root cause vs Symptoms
The root cause of diabetes is Insulin Resistance.
The symptom of diabetes is Blood sugar levels.
To explain the relationship between symptoms and root cause, Dr. Fung gives 2 examples:
Infection and Fever
When you have a fever, the doctor investigates and finds out what infection you have. He gives you an antibiotic. So, the infection subsides and the fever goes away.
What happens if the doctor gives you paracetamol to treat only the fever? What if he never prescribes a medicine to treat the infection that’s causing the fever? You would have to take paracetamol all your life to keep the fever in check. But you would never be healed of the infection that’s causing the fever. And the doctor would say, “Your fever is fine. Continue the paracetamol.”
How long would you, as a patient, want to go to a doctor who treats you like this? You would stop consulting with this doctor, right? How come you’re fine with this approach in the case of diabetes but not with fever?
The doctor may say, “Your sugars are doing fine”. The sad thing is that even though your sugars are doing fine, you’re still under risk for the complications of diabetes – heart disease, eye disease, stroke, etc. That’s because instead of treating the disease, the doctors are treating the symptoms.
Alcohol & the Drunkard, Insulin & the Diabetic
Giving insulin to a diabetic is like giving alcohol to a drunkard.
Alcohol makes the drunkard* feel better, but it does not treat the alcoholism.
Insulin makes the diabetic feel better (by lowering his blood sugar levels), but it doesn’t treat the Insulin Resistance.
The drunkard needs more and more alcohol to make him feel good. Similarly, the diabetic needs more and more insulin to keep blood sugars in check.
This treatment of the symptoms of diabetes is making people worse.
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After explaining with the above examples of how mainstream diabetes treatment addresses merely the symptoms but not the root cause, Dr. Fung suggests the following treatment considerations:
Diabetes Treatment Considerations
1) The objective is to reduce insulin, not increase insulin.
2) Diabetes is a dietary disease, the treatment must be dietary.
Yet, mainstream diabetes treatment takes the dietary disease and treats it with drugs. Therefore, the disease progresses, while the symptoms are suppressed.
3) Diabetes is not chronically progressive, it is curable if treated in the right way.
A simple way to cure diabetes is by intermittent fasting. Fasting has been done by mankind for many thousand years by almost all religions. (Personally, I can tell you that it’s not just possible, but easy while on the LCHF lifestyle. Yes, Fasting is easy on LCHF!)
When you’re fasting, you’re not eating and therefore your insulin levels go down.
The vicious cycle is – insulin —> insulin resistance —> higher insulin —> insulin resistance.
When you fast, and your insulin levels go down, you break the vicious cycle.
High BP, high cholesterol, weight, hyper tension are all components of metabolic syndrome caused by high insulin levels.
Top ways to reduce insulin
- Intermittent Fasting
- Reduced dietary refined carbohydrates
- Eat a high-fat diet (of natural fats) – a protective factor from rising insulin
- Fibre
- Vinegar
- Spices and herbs
Dr. Jason Fung’s website: Intensive Dietary Management
