How a Raw Food Diet has Helped My Diabetes
by Cyrus Khambatta
Monday, 13 June 2005
There are two things in life that aggravate me more than being attached to an insulin pump. The first is watching my body atrophy during periods of physical injury, and the second is listening to a doctor rattle tales of a future replete with diabetic health complications. For me these three are one in the same. They are all characteristics of a life that I don’t want to live. They represent a loss of freedom and place upon me mental and physical limitations.
Two years ago, I awoke one morning in a hospital bed to the sight of three doctors encircling me wide eyed as if they had been watching me sleep all night. Overnight, I had gone from being a “normal” person with seemingly great health to a type 1 insulin-dependent diabetic. For the first time in my life I felt like I had lost control of my health – a strange feeling for someone with a very active lifestyle. Furthermore, I simply couldn’t understand the rapid transformation, so I resorted to what I do best. I laughed. I laughed because the thought of being diabetic was ridiculous. I laughed because everyone around me was acting very serious. I laughed because I wanted out of the hospital. I laughed because I was scared.
About one year ago, I decided to admit to myself that I knew nothing about nutrition, and that perhaps by learning about it I could better my health. Having transitioned from insulin shots to an insulin pump, my life was slowly becoming more manageable. Deep down inside however, I knew that something was missing. The “low-carb” approach, while an improvement from eating anything in sight, still rendered me dependent on over 40 units of insulin daily. I had an inkling that I could reduce that number, so I set out to learn how.
Soon after embarking on a journey to understand nutrition, I stumbled upon the world of raw foods. It felt more like a grass-roots revolution with a slowly increasing population than a group of wierdos like I had originally expected. In only a few weeks of reading everything in sight, attending lectures, and meeting Dr. Doug Graham (a well respected raw foods nutritionist and athletic trainer), my outlook on food was forever changed for the better. “What a novel idea,” I thought to myself. “Eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds in the right proportions. It’s just that simple.”
Diabetes is a simple condition. When a person consumes food, it is broken down into its constituent caloronutrients – proteins, fats, carbohydrates and alcohol. Carbohydrates are the main player in this game, and are further broken down into simple and complex sugars. Cells in need of energy throughout the body use these carbohydrates as fuel, and call out to the carbohydrate molecules for nourishment. However, carbohydrates (glucose) can’t enter the cell membrane unless accompanied by the gatekeeper, known as insulin. Secreted by the pancreas in proportion to the amount of carbohydrate in the bloodstream, insulin attaches to the carbohydrate molecule and escorts it into the cell to be converted into glycogen or usable energy. Type 1 diabetics lose the ability to secrete insulin for a variety of both known and unknown reasons, and are forced to deliver it themselves via syringe injection or electronic insulin pump.
We all know that eating a low-fat diet is a successful approach to long-term health, and drastically reduces the progression of conditions like cardiovascular disease, obesity, and cancer. We also know that eating low-carb diets can have the effect of short-term weight loss. The inherent contradiction in this argument is that if we restrict our carbohydrate intake, by definition we must increase our consumption of fats and protein. Therefore, the low-carb approach is actually a high-fat, high-protein diet, which conclusively leads to chronic degenerative health conditions. Furthermore, since carbohydrates are the body’s preferred energy source, by restricting their intake, we rob our bodies of the fuel necessary to operate a sophisticated machine. It’s the equivalent of feeding your diesel truck unleaded gasoline.
I tell my friends that not only am I a raw-foodist, I’m a low-fat raw food frugivore (one who eats primarily fruit). I have chosen to eat this way because it makes me feel incredible, and has decreased my overall consumption of insulin. When sedentary, I consume between 24 and 28 units per day, and on very active days I can further reduce my intake to 18 units. While this may not seem like a drastic reduction from a cooked-food daily average of 34 units, realize that as a raw food frugivore I have also increased my daily caloric consumption from 2,600 to 3,200 calories. To put it plainly, I am now able to consume 75% more calories per unit insulin.
At the same time, my level of athletic activity has increased to the point where I can now cycle in excess of 9 hours continuously at a moderate to high level of intensity. Powered solely by fruit, I rarely struggle for energy. Instead, I enjoy athletic freedom like never before, recover from long bouts of physical activity overnight, and seldom suffer from tight limbs, muscles, and joints. If eating a raw food diet provided nothing else for me except these athletic benefits, I would be satisfied.
The most common question I field from friends and family pertains to how eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds decreases the need for insulin. The answer is simple, and the key to understanding this is understanding caloronutrients proportions in the diet. The Standard American Diet contains on average 42% carbohydrates, 42% fat and 16% protein. The 80/10/10 diet, by definition contains 80% carbohydrates, 10% fat and 10% protein. An 80/10/10 raw foodist therefore decreases fat consumption by over 75%. Under these conditions, the interaction between glucose and insulin is facilitated, allowing for a more effective use of insulin. When high levels of fat are present in the bloodstream, the lipids act much like they do in a pan of bacon. They are sticky by nature, coating red blood cells, white blood cells, glucose, insulin, and insulin receptors on cell membranes. Simply stated, fat blocks the action of insulin. This is why Type II diabetics are told to exercise and consume less dietary fat – to facilitate the interaction of glucose and insulin in the blood.
So why raw food as opposed to cooked food? Why not meet the 80/10/10 requirement on a cooked food diet? While decreasing fat consumption is one benefit of being a frugivore, raw food diets provide the body with essential nutrients and enzymes that are lost in the cooking process. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds are nutritionally perfect in their raw state, and can only be degraded by addition of heat. Proteins change shape (denature), enzymes are lost, fats become carcinogenic, and taste disappears.
If you prefer a non-scientific answer to the same questions, here are a few that I can think of. Raw food simply tastes better. Raw food makes me feel incredible. Raw food keeps me active. Raw food is more appetizing. Raw food prevents me from feeling sick. Raw food gives me freedom. Raw food decreases insulin consumption. Raw food keeps me hydrated. Raw food never disappoints.
