Book Review – Decoding Diabetes

This is the first book that I have read this year. Its a small book and took about an hour to read. Its also a very motivating book on preventing and reversing Diabetes.

Krishnan and I have been looking for ways to prevent diabetes from occurring and also trying to reverse the “pre-diabetes” that Krishnan has. The allopathic system of dealing with it is to prescribe a pill to be taken daily. That doesn’t work for us ! The blood sugar levels being used to declare someone pre-diabetic or diabetic seem to have been reduced recently. The scariest part is the pharma companies seem to dictate these numbers ….. if half the world is diabetic, the biggest gainer is the pharma company making drugs for diabetes.

Our GP Dr. Taneja is absolutely fantastic because he refuses to prescribe pills for lifestyle diseases like high BP and diabetes. According to him, in most cases, these two can be reversed by exercising more and bringing weight under control.

I bought this book because Dr. Vishwanath also believes that diabetes is a lifestyle disease and can be reversed at any stage. Hugely encouraging !!

Some highlights from this book –

1. After mentioning some of the scary complications arising out of high blood sugar, Dr. Vishwanath says “… there is no need to panic. Start working on controlling blood sugar back down to a safer level soon. Most of this damage will heal up, kidney function can improve, nerves will recover and further deterioration may get halted.” The human body is truly a marvel.
2. An important excerpt – “Our food contains three macronutrients carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Carbohydrates increases blood sugars and insulin levels more than proteins and fats. Proteins increases blood sugars mildly. Fats are the least to increase blood sugars and least stimulants of insulin.” After several years of effective advertising, “fats” invoke a strong negative connotation, but fats are needed too ! Remember your mother or grandmother insisting on that dollop of ghee with your roti or rice ? Good natural fat.
3. “Among carbohydrates, refined carbohydrates like bread, white rice, maida, wheat, pasta etc are more likely to spike blood sugars and insulin.” And guess what …. these have become the mainstay of our food. No wonder, India is the diabetic capital of the world.
4. “Why exercise is a must for diabetics ? Muscles can use glucose without insulin when exercising. This is the biggest benefit of exercise for diabetics. So go on that walk/jog/swim NOW and do it everyday.

Dr. Viswanath suggests the LCHF diet – low carbs and moderately high fat diet and intermittent fasting to reverse diabetes and sustain good health. The LCHF diet is probably the closest to how our ancestors ate. Fasting is another thing that Ayurveda suggests and its an integral part of Hinduism. The Ekadasi fasting is excellent because it is in tune with nature and it gives the body a break from food for a day every 15 days !

Do visit Dr. Vishwanath’s website – Dr.Vishwanath.com. Read this book and ensure that you stay healthy.

An earlier blogpost of mine – Sugar – the new God