24/08/2024
I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and I regularly consulted endocrinologist - Dr RM, who then had a practice in Umhlanga. He had a medical aid approved Centre for Diabetes and Endocrinology that required three monthly visits to the doctor, diabetic nurse, podiatrist and dietician.
I did that for close to ten years and found that their combined approach (diet & increasing doses of medication) resulted in my gaining weight, despite my blood markers appearing within the normal range and an HBAIC below 6.
I did extensive research, and read close to 3000 published papers in medical / scientific journals and discovered that the approach followed by the Society for Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes South Africa (I have copy of their treatment protocol) which Dr RM and most doctors in South Africa followed - is seriously flawed. I’ve extracted a table from their journal in the picture above.
The diet that they suggested comprised of eating six small meals a day of a low fat, high complex carbohydrate, high intake of fruit and vegetables & legumes, moderate protein, “vegetable fats” - the same diet was also recommended by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of SA and Diabetes South Africa and that will always result in worsening symptoms in people with insulin resistance, fatty liver, obesity, PCOS and type 2 diabetes, resulting in those that follow the diet requiring increasing doses of medication to keep blood glucose under control. A high complex carbohydrate diet always raises blood glucose and raises triglycerides above the normal range in those with insulin resistance. It defies the evidence-based medical standard and logic to recommend foods (complex carbohydrates, fruit and root vegetables) that raise blood glucose in people with insulin resistance.
It is a serious indictment on how doctors and endocrinologists are trained in South Africa, and in my considered opinion, less than 5% of doctors actually understand how to manage the health of people with Type 2 Diabetes, hypertension, hepatic steatosis (fatty liver). Regrettably, the curriculum training of undergraduate doctors and the current official treatment guidelines actually contributes to increasing rates of diabetic complications, cardio-vascular disease and cancer. I have come across a very small number of doctors and dieticians that have realised the serious shortcomings of their recommended diet, but some of them are ridiculed, ostracised and prosecuted by the Health Professional Council of South Africa. As a result rates of Diabetes and Cardio-vascular disease increase geometrically every year.
This is a serious indictment of malfeasance on the part of doctors who either knowingly or unknowingly keep people on a failed treatment protocol.
I realised this more than 12 years ago, and switched to a low carbohydrate, high fat and high protein diet and certain vegetables. I exercise daily and recently reached exercise milestones / targets that appears to be beyond the reach of most +60 year olds now, but is our birthright thta our ancestors achieved without effort. I also meditate daily.
I have consistently maintained an HBA1C less than 6.0 without medication since December 2012. I’ve been off hypertensive medication and have normal blood pressure since June 2010. I am in remission (not cured) without any symptoms for all these chronic disease conditions, that was mistakenly told by doctors would be a condition I would require medication for life. If I had to follow medical guidelines as promoted by doctors, endocrinologists and dieticians today, I am certain that I will be back on medication within six months.
I am the author of a widely read book on diabetes that documents the research, with scientific evidence that led me to free myself of the symptoms for these metabolic disorders.
I chose this path not to be defiant of the seriously flawed opinion of medical professionals, but to take charge of my own health based on real medical evidence, scientific analysis, critical thinking and logic.
