Raw Food Diet And Diabetes
There's no one "right" diet when it comes to diabetes, but raw food has recently come into focus as a way to improve metabolic health, increase energy and stabilize blood sugar levels. Before making any major dietary changes, it's important to talk to your physician. A 100-percent raw food diet may not be right for you; however, many people can still benefit from eating raw foods for the majority of their meals. The raw food diet is heavily based on raw vegetables, fruits and legumes. Less strict raw diets may also include some cooked foods, or foods cooked at low temperatures. Traditionally, raw food diets don't include any foods that are cooked above about 115 degrees Fahrenheit. They also don't include any processed or packaged foods (unless these foods are raw). The theory behind the raw food diet is that cooking destroys the valuable nutrients and enzymes that are available in fresh foods. Research has yet to conclude that raw eating is beneficial for diabetics, but many health professionals claim that it can reverse aging, prevent heart disease, cure cancer and help treat diabetes. The beneficial effects may be largely due to a reduced overall intake of processed carbohydrates, packaged foods with additives and chemicals or foods that require a lot of energy to digest ("problem" foods like dairy, gluten or meat). On a traditional raw food diet, you can eat fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, seaweed, sprouted grains and other unprocessed or natural foods like dates or coconut meat. Special kitchen equipment, like a dehydrator and juicer, can make eating and preparing raw foods easier. If you have diabetes, you may still need to be careful about carbohydrates on a raw food diet as it's easy to have too much sugar from fruits or grains. Additi Continue reading >>
Raw Food Diet: A Do Or A Don’t?
After writing about organic foods for the past two weeks, I decided to follow up with a somewhat related topic: the raw food diet. You may or may not be familiar with this type of eating plan. Perhaps you’ve come across it and wondered what it was all about. Maybe you’ve even wondered if it’s something you should try. It All Started in Switzerland… The raw food diet originated with a Swiss physician named Maximilian Bircher-Benner in the 1800’s. You can thank him for “inventing” muesli, by the way. Dr. Bircher-Benner ran a sanatorium in Zurich and believed that a diet of raw fruits and vegetables, as opposed to meat and potatoes, was the means for healing his patients. Apparently, the good doctor cured his jaundice by eating raw apples. What’s It All About? As the name implies, a raw food diet (also called raw foodism and rawism) means that one eats plant foods in their raw, or natural, state. So far, so good. But here’s what it “boils” down to: • No cooking • No microwaving • No processing • No irradiating • No genetically engineering • No using pesticides or herbicides Raw foodism proponents believe that heating or processing foods destroys much of the nutritional benefits, such as vitamins, phytonutrients, and enzymes. The uncooked, unprocessed forms of foods are supposed to be more wholesome for the body. What Does One Eat on a Raw Food Diet? In theory, a raw food follower would eat nothing cooked or processed, and essentially be a vegan (someone who does not eat any animal products). The reality, though, is that most raw foodies don’t follow the plan 100% of the time, because a) it’s hard and b) it takes a lot of time to prepare food. You don’t need a stove or oven if you’re a raw foodist because your foods are not to be he Continue reading >>
Doctor Cures Himself From Type 1 Diabetes With A Raw Food Diet
Dr. Kirt Tyson, a naturopathic doctor and professional model from Washington, DC, (1) has reversed his type 1 diabetes by changing his lifestyle to a plant based diet. He was a participant in the film: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days and was put on a strict 30-day raw food regime of vegetables, nuts and seeds. In less than three weeks, his blood sugar levels went from an average of 300 mg/dL to 76 mg/dL and he was not dependent on insulin anymore. (2,3) Type 1 diabetes is when the pancreas is unable to make insulin or only makes a small amount. Insulin is crucial as it helps turn glucose into energy. (4) Dr. Tyson Should Have Died but Raw Food Saved His Life Dr.Tyson’s blood sugar levels went as high as 1200 mg/dL before he started the raw food diet program. The normal levels are below 100 mg/dl. Tyson’s doctor expressed to him that he should have died with that kind of reading. Under the observation of Dr. Gabriel Cousens – a medical doctor, psychiatrist and family therapist – and his team at the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, Tyson was able to stop taking insulin by day 3 of being on the program and no longer needed to take his medications. (5) Raw Food Is a Great ‘Medicine’ for Curing Ailments of the Body Dr. Gabriel Cousens is an advocate of the raw food lifestyle stating that not only can it cure diabetes but other ailments… even mental … like depression. He realizes that not only does the mind affect the body, but an unhealthy body affects the mind as well. Cousens is so dedicated to helping people achieve a healthy lifestyle that he founded the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, which is the treatment center that Tyson attended to heal himself from his Type 1 diabetes. Cousins truly believes that people with diabetes can be completely cured follow Continue reading >>
How Can Raw Food Diet Help Type 2 Diabetes?
Consuming a diet that has processed or overcooked foods, or food that are high in sugar is part of the causes of type 2 diabetes. Eating a raw food diet can help decrease the amount of sugar you put in your system and aid you to lose weight. There is evidence suggesting that losing just 5 to 10% of your body weight can have a great impact on overall blood sugar and type 2 diabetes. A raw food diet can also help you lose weight quickly and naturally. Type 2 diabetes has become extremely common. More than 20% of people under the age of 20 carry a diabetes mellitus diagnosis. One of the causes of type 2 diabetes is the epidemic of unhealthy eating habits and obesity. The high blood sugars from bad diet and obesity, reduce the insulin sensitivity of the body’s cells and as a result, glucose cannot enter the cells to be used as cellular fuel. This makes the cells starve for energy. By consuming a healthy diet that consists of raw food, your body can significantly alter the outcome of type 2 diabetes. This will slow the disease process and reverse the effects of diabetes. Therefore, we should aim to eliminate the standard American diet, which consists mostly of fast foods, processed foods, dairy products, meat, and sugar-containing foods. We should substitute this diet with raw vegetables and fruits. You also need to exercise to cut weight. How a Raw Food Diet can counteract Type 2 Diabetes In Switzerland in the mid-1800s, Maximilian Bircher-Benner a Swiss doctor, pioneered the raw food diet. He was the doctor who invented muesli, which consists of grains mixed with dried fruits. The raw food diet is mainly a plant-based diet which is meant to be eaten in its natural state. This means that the food is not: People who believe in the raw diet say that, when you process or hea Continue reading >>
Healing Diabetes Naturally Through Raw Plant-source Only Foods
By Sarah E. Brown Diabetes has become a seemingly unstoppable national epidemic, affecting more than 20 million Americans. According to the World Health Organization, deaths from diabetes will increase by 80 percent in the Americas, by 50 percent in the Western Pacific and the Eastern Mediterranean regions, and by more than 40 percent in Africa over the next ten years. Proponents of including natural treatment approaches draw direct connections between these statistics and an increasingly globalized, processed diet coupled with less active lifestyles. A raw foods diet eliminates processed sugars and starches, and substitutes these for organic, whole plant foods that have not been cooked. Dr. Gabriel Cousens, a leading natural healer, embraces the philosophy of including natural diabetes treatments. His approach through green juice fasting and a 100 percent organic, nutrient-dense, plant source-only, low-glycemic, low-insulin-scoring, and high-mineral diet of living foods during the first twenty-one days of healing. (citation: Cousens, Gabriel, and David Rainoshek. There Is a Cure for Diabetes: the Tree of Life 21-day Program. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic, 2008. Print.) According to Dr. Cousens research, it has been shown that this program renders insulin and related medicines unnecessary for most Type II patients within four days as the blood sugar drops to normal levels; and the diabetic shifts into a non-diabetic physiology within two weeks. (citation: Cousens, Gabriel, and David Rainoshek. There Is a Cure for Diabetes: the Tree of Life 21-day Program. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic, 2008. Print.) Gabriel Cousens, M.D. received his M.D. from Columbia Medical School and has more than 35 years experience in treating diabetes naturally. 57% of the varieties of Type Continue reading >>
Raw Food Diet Benefits And Guidelines
Author's Perspective: The good news is that a raw food diet can reverse your Type 2 diabetes faster and more effectively than most other diets. The bad news is that most people (including myself :-)) can't stick with a raw food diet for the rest of our lives. It would have been very easy for me to adopt the raw food diet as the primary diet for my Death to Diabetes program. However, I knew that it would be unrealistic to expect the majority of diabetics to want to transition to and stick with a raw food diet for the rest of their lives. That's one of the reasons why I designed my program to be flexible and customizable -- to address the needs of the many instead of the few. However, for those of you who are willing or have to transition to a raw food diet because of your health issues or other reasons, here are some of the benefits and guidelines from my Raw Food Diet book and Raw Food Diet & Meal Planning book. Health benefits of a raw food diet include the following: Increased energy Stabilized blood glucose levels Reduced risk of diabetes Reduced risk of heart disease Weight loss Better digestion Reduced risk of cancer Improved skin appearance Reversing diabetes in less time* *Note: The combination of eating mostly raw foods and drinking raw juices can help to accelerate your body's repair process and help to reverse your diabetes in less time. In fact, you should notice your blood glucose level starting to come down during the first week of the Death to Diabetes Program! -- as long as you are following the entire program, not just the juicing component. Note: If you need help to transition to a raw food diet, then, get the Power of Raw Juicing and Raw Food Diet ebooks to help you in that transition. The raw food diet represents Level 3 of the Death to Diabetes Diet. Continue reading >>
Raw Food For Diabetes
(The following is a blog originally published last year from writer Andrea Lewis) Note: While there have been several positive cases of the effect of a raw food diet on diabetes, you should always consult with your doctor before making an drastic dietary changes. The most amazing aspect of a raw food diet, when it’s done right, is its ability to heal and rejuvenate the human body. This seem to be especially true for chronic ailments. Diabetes is a great example. For those who don’t know, diabetes is an illness characterized by abnormally high sugar (glucose) levels. In some diabetes sufferers, switching to a wellstructured raw food diet has worked wonders. Though the degree of success varies, depending on whether the diabetes is type 1 or type 2, and the amount of expert supervision a diabetic receives also seems to play a critical role. Type 1 Diabetes Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as ‘juvenile diabetes’. In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. And insulin is a hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Only 5% of people with diabetes have this form of the disease. In the documentary Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days, Dr. Gabriel Cousens, MD, psychiatrist and family therapist, was able to help two men with type 1 diabetes. Kirt Tyson was one of those men. Kirt was first diagnosed in November of 2005 with type 2 diabetes, but later discovered that it had been type 1. Kirt became involved in Dr. Cousens’ diabetes study and documentary after responding to an ad on Craig’s List. There were going to be only five test subjects in the movie, but, after seeing his audition tape, they decided to include Kirt as the sixth member. Durin Continue reading >>
Robby Barbaro Takes On Diabetes
When I first met Robby Barbaro I was impressed. Here was a young guy who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, but instead of just surrendering to that, he made the effort to switch to a low-fat raw vegan diet, decrease his insulin use through good food choices, and start living a healthy life. Watching him measure all his food, I realized just how different his chosen path was from one followed by the average type 1 diabetic. What’s more impressive is that he’s doing it without a clear idea of where that path will lead him. Type 2 diabetics bring the disease on themselves through diet and lifestyle choices and can usually reverse it with a low-fat diet, as studies have demonstrated many times. Type 1 diabetes, however, is a different creature. Some researchers point to a possible connection with animal milk consumption or other reasons, but there's no definitive anwer for why type 1 diabetes occurs. Although there appear to be rare cases of people reversing type 1 diabetes through dietary changes, and Robby was inspired by those, there has never been a method proven to be regularly successful. Content with getting healthier, an improved carb-to-insulin ratio, and generally feeling great, Robby has set out to inspire type 2 diabetics to get rid of their disease forever, even if he still has to deal with his own. His nonprofit organization, Robby Barbaro, Inc., seeks to educate diabetics about their options. I decided that Robby would be a great addition to the raw food success stories on this site, and I’m pleased he agreed to an interview. For those looking for more information on a low-fat raw vegan diet (which involves lots of fruit, lots of vegetables, and not much overt fat), and some of the other concepts discussed in this interview, please see the bottom of t Continue reading >>
Healing With Raw Food
Healing with raw food, losing weight, and detoxing. Read the stories below of four people who were diagnosed with Diabetes Type II. They were told by their doctors that this horrible disease is not curable. In November 2007, thebestofrawfood interviewed them at the Tree Of Life in Israel. In this retreat, Gabriel Cousens - one of the most respected living raw food diet gurus - runs a pilot for diabetes. The results are ridiculous! It proofs that healing with raw food is possible! Within a week! A man with 20 years history of diabetes and a woman with blood sugar levels as high as 700 could throw away their medication within ONE week of green juice fasting... And as a bonus, they also lost weigh and detoxed... Nissim's story 20 years ago, Nissim was diagnosed with diabetes. He tried all the medication to get rid of it. He always looked for the best professors, and newest medication. His fasting blood sugar was always around 300. Since nothing else helped and he decided to give Tree of Life Juice Fasting Program a chance. He was quite sceptic when he started, but the two detox weeks were a miracle. On the first day he got rid of his medication. After 4 days his blood sugar values where in the 70. After 2 weeks their stable and hasn't gone up more than 80! But now he knows he cured his so called "incurable disease" and can't stop talking about what a miracle it is. He has maintained normal blood sugar levels! So much about healing with raw food.... Meira's story Meira found out she had diabetes 7 years ago. First she took homeopathic medicine. That helped for a while, but then, her blood sugar went up, and up, and up. She said, she made the mistake of starting to use drugs. But then, it only got higher, and higher and higher. Eventually her blood sugar levels reached 700. Continue reading >>
From Weight Loss To Preventing Diabetes, Is The Raw Food Diet The Answer You're Looking For?
From weight loss to preventing diabetes, is the raw food diet the answer you're looking for? Share @Whatsapp Share @Facebook Share @twitter Share @Email Share @google+ Share @reddit Among the core ideas behind the raw food diet, which practitioners prefer to call the raw food lifestyle, is the belief that other than a few genetically inherited abnormalities, there is only one illness: toxemia. The theory is that toxemia, an uncleanness of the blood and tissues, is caused mainly because of poor diet and lifestyle. According to Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram, founder of the US-based non-profit cooperative Rawfully Organic, it is toxemia that manifests into all other disease conditions that arise in the body. And so what the raw food lifestyle aims to do is not load the body with toxic residue, allowing the body instead, to clean its blood, tissue and organs and thus eliminate the need for most medicines. In fact, a glimpse into raw food websites will tell you that the human body reacts to cooked food or food heated above 47 degrees Celsius the same way that it reacts to foreign pathogens. The only way to overcome this, say experts, is by including more raw food into the diet as a lifestyle choice. According to fullyraw.com , a raw food diet is made up of fresh, whole, unrefined, living, plant-based foods: fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, nuts, and seeds, which are consumed in their natural state, without cooking or steaming. People who adopt this diet are often referred to as raw fooders or raw vegans. Image courtesy: Anjali Sanghi; Multipurpose dip and dressing with green lettuce or kale salad. It is very easy to incorporate fresh raw foods into any kind of lifestyle you presently lead. You can start by making a list of fresh, ripe fruits, vegetables, greens, sprouts you li Continue reading >>
Can You Really Reverse Type 2 Diabetes With A Raw Food Diet?
Can You Really Reverse Type 2 Diabetes With A Raw Food Diet? 5min read Posted by Posted on 7th May 2014 Can it really be possible to reverse or cure type 2 diabetes naturally just by changing your diet to a healthier vegan diet? According to many studies, it is entirely possible and we actually promote and follow natural diabetes reversal here at Amchara. A really interesting watch is the Raw for 30 documentary in which 6 people with a combination of type 1 and type 2 diabetes each joined a program to go raw for 30 days. During the 30 day period, each stuck to a strictly raw vegan diet and ate only raw vegetables, pulses, nuts and seeds for 30 days and the results were astonishing. Some members of the group were able to completely come off all diabetic medications and were effectively cured of their illness. Others saw a huge reduction in the amount of insulin and other diabetic medications that they were taking with two members reducing their insulin intake down to just one sixth of what they were taking when the joined the program. It just goes to show how fascinating the body is when given the right fuel and when all bad foods are cut out of the diet. Another interesting story is that of Naturopath Dr Kirt Tyson in Arizona who ate a raw food diet to lower blood sugar levels and cure his type 1 diabetes. Within just 3 weeks of eating a raw food diet, Dr Tyson was able to completely come off insulin altogether and today he still only ever requires insulin if he becomes sick. As you can see, there is evidence that diabetes can be reversed, and at Amchara we have a program to help people attempt to reverse type 2 diabetes using raw foods and by cutting out certain types of unhealthy and addictive foods. Type 2 diabetes is thought to be brought on by an unhealthy lifesty Continue reading >>
Dr. Gabriel Cousens On Curing Diabetes With Raw Food And On Why Going Vegan Makes Sense
Over the past months, stories on animal cruelty and the downsides of eating animal products have put the subject of going vegan on the table perhaps like never before. Whether you've already quit meat or not, this is perhaps the perfect time to listen to American doctor Gabriel Cousens. A medical doctor, psychiatrist and family therapist, he has become a household name in the subject of raw vegan food, and even sustains this diet can cure diabetes and depression.Dr. Cousens was trained traditionally but soon realized something very simple yet essential: curing disease is not only about medications, but also about changing habits and looking at the broader picture. "As a third-year medical student at Columbia Medical School I solved five incurable cases of people who had emotional difficulties that were showing psychosomatically, which made me realize that the mind affects the body", he explains. "Then I went into psychiatry and family therapy, and realized that an unhealthy body affects the mind too. It works in both directions." Cousens went on to found the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, a retreat center located in Arizona. His seventh book, There Is A Cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21-Day+ Program, comes from the work at the center with one particular disease: diabetes, which he sustains can be cured with a three week detox program. The doctor was recently in Buenos Aires participating in courses and activities, and TreeHugger had a chance to meet with him to speak about these subjects. TH: You moved from traditional medicine to a holistic approach. But how did the issue of raw food come into the equation specifically? Gabriel Cousens (GC): On a medical level, research by doctor Stephen Spindler in 2001 (on mice) showed that a caloric restriction of 40% in die Continue reading >>
Raw Food Diet
Tweet As the name suggest, the raw food diet is a diet based around food that can be eaten raw. The diet is therefore predominantly based on vegetables, fruit and legumes. The diet is believed to help people find health when they are struggling to get healthy by eating a normal Western diet. Raw food diets by their nature include less trans fats and additives, will be lower in saturated fat and will often be less calorific than Western diets. How does a raw food diet help? The following health benefits have been reported by people using a raw food diet. Higher energy levels Stabilised blood glucose levels Improved skin appearance Better digestion Reduced risk of heart disease Reduced risk of diabetes Reduced risk of cancer What is in a raw food diet? The diet is largely based on raw vegetables, fruit and legumes. Depending on how strictly the diet is followed, the diet may also be supplemented by a smaller proportion of cooked food. The diet is low in sodium, but it is high in potassium, magnesium, folate, fibre as well as health-promoting plant chemicals called phytochemicals. Phytochemicals are naturally occurring micro-nutrients in food. There are a large number of phytonutrients and the list includes carotenes, flavonoids and plant sterols. So a raw food diet helps to reduce diabetes risk? Whilst, research has yet to conclusively prove it, a raw food diet is thought to be helpful in lowering risk of diseases including heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The ideas behind a raw food diet are that cooking and processing may remove a number of the helpful phytonutrients and that the diet helps to largely avoid man made food additives. What foods are typically included in a raw food diet? Fresh fruits and vegetables Nuts Seeds Beans Grains Legumes Dried fruit Seaweed Unp Continue reading >>
Raw Food Does Not Cure Diabetes
The month of November, Diabetes Awareness Month, brings out tons of information on diabetes management. Pharmacies open their doors to testing people for diabetes and communities around the world show solidarity for the cause. This is all for the good, right? As with any good and worthy cause, there are a few individuals who also take advantage and promote inaccurate information about diabetes. What wrinkles my nose is the concept that nature has a cure for diabetes. Why is this a myth? Let me explain. First, which diabetes are they talking about that has a natural cure? Type 1 diabetes does not have a cure, nor a natural cure! Type 1 is an autoimmune disease, which attacks the insulin forming cells, called beta cells, leaving as little as 10% of the total amount needed to keep the body alive. The only way to treat type 1 is injected insulin; you can’t eat better, take supplements, or drink medicinal teas to “reverse” it. The digestive system of someone with type 1 can take a pounding from the nature of the disease, so eating well, taking antioxidants and adding acupuncture can help tremendously, in beefing up the weakened immune system and aid in better digestion. Additionally, cutting down carbohydrates helps to manage blood sugar levels and because of the way type 1 diabetes affects the metabolism, lower carb intake also helps the stomach and small intestine digest food and absorb nutrients better. For type 2 diabetes natural is better, because learning to eat well and living a healthier life will decrease the risk for complications. But type 2 diabetes has a definition problem. For years, type 2 was categorized as a form of metabolic syndrome, primarily insulin resistance. But in recent years, type 2 is being studied to determine if it really belongs in the au Continue reading >>
Reverse Type 1 Diabetes With A Raw Food Diet
(NaturalNews) Is it possible to reverse type 1 diabetes (T1D, previously known as insulin-dependent diabetes or IDDM) simply by enjoying a raw food diet? According to Dr. Kirt Tyson, a naturopathic doctor who practices in Arizona, eating a diet that primarily consists of raw foods can dramatically reduce blood sugar levels in type 1 diabetics, perhaps even stopping their insulin dependency. How one doctor stopped his insulin dependence Dr. Tyson speaks from experience. A former self-proclaimed fast food junkie and a type 1 diabetic himself, he now believes in the amazing power of eating raw. During an interview with Robyn Openshaw, also known as Green Smoothie Girl and author of "12 Steps to Whole Foods," he revealed that, prior to starting a raw food diet, his blood sugar level was extremely high (diabetic ketoacidosis) at around 300 mg/dL. Anything above 240 mg/dL is cause for concern. However, within 2-3 weeks of eating raw foods - nuts, seeds and vegetables with no dairy, meat or fruits - he checked his blood sugar again. The unbelievable result? His blood sugar level dropped to an acceptable, safe range: 76 mg/dL. Today, he says he only needs insulin if he becomes sick (which causes blood sugar levels to rise). Raw foods: what's best for diabetics? The American Diabetes Association's website lists top super foods for diabetics. Among them are nuts and seeds such as walnuts and flax, as well as vegetables - the darker and leafier, the better. These suggestions align with the raw food diet lifestyle that worked for Dr. Tyson. Other diabetics following a raw food diet often share their food suggestions in forums. Some of their preferences include: - Chia Seeds - Hemp Seeds - Almonds - Pecans - Fenugreek leaves - Dandelion leaves According to the World Health Organizat Continue reading >>
