Type 1 and type 2 diabetics all over the world are hearing about the work of Dr. Gabriel Cousens, a New York City psychiatrist who, when he discovered a “cure” for type 2 diabetes, gave up his practice to start a vegan commune in Arizona. Dr. Cousens’ diet really does reverse most cases of type 2 diabetes, that is for the people who manage to stay on it.
For type 2 diabetes, the process boasts a 90% to 95% cure rate… that sounds truly amazing. Conventional medicine never talks of curing type 2 diabetes… just controlling it.
How could a vegan diet reverse type 2 diabetes? Sprouts, spirulina, and leafy greens, emphasized in this raw foods diet, contain almost no fat. When there is very little fat circulating in your bloodstream, fat cells don’t compete with the rest of your body for insulin. In addition to transporting glucose, insulin transports fatty acids. The body’s remaining insulin supply can then be devoted to storing glucose and so blood sugar levels plummet.
Most Dr. Cousens’ patients are quickly taken off their prescribed oral anti-diabetic medications or insulin, in order to prevent hypoglycemia. In as little as two weeks on the vegan diet, one sees the beginning of lasting blood sugar control. As fat deposits in the pancreas itself break up, insulin production may normalize so that no further medication is needed.
However, unfortunately blood sugar control ends when diabetics stop the diet. Many diabetics who learn Dr. Cousens’ diet need frequent refresher courses in the isolated environment of his clinic 20 miles outside Patagonia, Arizona, and there is never a time to go back to eating meat or sweets. Those foods are banished from the diabetics eating plan for life.
Diabetes expert Robert Rister has been following type 2 diabetics who have been trained by Dr. Cousens since 2006. Surprisingly, he reports, all of Dr. Cousens’ patients remain in remission from diabetes and all mostly follow the diet, although two have been able to continue to control their blood sugars while eating small portions of lean meat or fish about once a week. Every person who has succeeded on the program, however, spent six months to a year on a very strict vegan, raw foods diet, only slowly introducing even cooked vegetables.
Could a vegan, raw foods diet work for you? Discipline is the key. If your living situation permits you to follow a strict vegan diet, you may be able to bring your diabetes into very good control or even reverse type 2 diabetes.
