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Diabetes
Hi Taylor,
I've been away for awhile - sorry took so long to respond.
Diabetes is an auto-immune disease where the immune system attacks the pancreas. A pancreas's ability to keep sugar levels stable is impaired. The pancreas is part of the hormonal system which is responsible for dictating body weight as well as sugar metabolism. I am not a doctor, but have studied the mechanisms of the the immune system, diabetes, hypoglycemia and sugar metabolism in general. Starving the body will only make weight problems worse as the body goes into starvation/hold onto everything it can mode and if the hormonal system is even more debilitated by a pancreas under attack a low calorie diet and extreme exercise will only exasperate the problem. Blood sugars can lower quickly and drastically with exercise.
As great as raw organic foods are, when it comes to diabetes the healing factors have more to do with consistency and balance of a different grouping of food types. You can be raw and organic and address diabetes properly, but you can also be raw and organic and make yourself much worse. The food groups that need to be balanced with diabetes are 1. carbohydrates (which includes veggies and fruits) 2. protein (which includes soaked nuts and seeds, raw eggs and raw fish) 3. fat (balancing omega 3and omega 6 fatty acids).
You see, the point is to give the poor pancreas a break. If you keep a steady stream (4-5 meals a day) of these in proper balance and cut out all high glycemic foods (processed pasta, coffee, caffeinated teas, breads, fruit smoothies, anything at all with sugar (including fructose, honey, agave etc.) then the pancreas is given the time to heal. It is under attack and if it has to work too hard because of lack of food or the wrong foods or the wrong combination of foods it never gets time to heal itself and can't deal with much of anything.
The right combining of these types of foods provides for the pancreas's more immediate needs with the carbos (but can't be an instant onslaught like a smoothies with an amount of fruit you could never eat if it weren't mashed up and too much fructose all at once that goes too quickly into the blood stream); and then you have protein and fat which take much longer to process and provide for longer term energy needs. It's vitally important to provide fat and protein in the case of diabetes. That's the key. And do it in the right amounts!
The zone diet books are a great place to learn more about this. The information inside can easily be adapted to accomodate an organic vegan or a live food diet.
Your friend needs to get more informed about her condition and think more clearly about what she is doing to herself. Both fasting and extreme exercise without diligent awareness of blood sugar levels could put her into a diabetic coma. You have reason to be concerned about her. She might come out ok, but why on earth would someone want to take that kind of chance? I wonder if she is trying to hurt herself for some reason or if she is just a product of the American media.
You might want to tell her that she has a much better chance of losing weight if she is nice to her pancreas and gives it what it needs. If she can keep her blood sugars stable and doesn't eat processed sugars or carbs she will heal and lose weight. Fat is a way of the body telling us that it is not getting what it needs.
I wish you and your friend all the best,
Greenbunny
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