Let me explain why I suggest that our modern diet high in grains and grain flour products is the most likely trigger for the development of prediabetes and eventually Type 2 diabetes. It is because the typical diet – composed of more than 50% of the daily caloric intake being in the form of complex carbohydrates – produces a voluminous amount of glucose that the body’s cells cannot use on an immediate basis. Some of the excess glucose is stored in the liver, to be released between meals for the body’s energy needs until the next meal.
But here is the key: most of the unused glucose is transformed into fatty acids that get stored in one’s fat cells. The problem is that each individual has only a certain capacity for fat storage, based on their body type and genetic inheritance. At some point, one’s fat cells can literally become full. That leaves nowhere for the fatty acids produced from the unused glucose after each meal to be stored. So what happens to them?
The fatty acid burn switch
The result is that fatty acids remain circulating in the bloodstream. What diabetes specialists seldom admit, however, is that muscle cells—the largest energy consumers in the body—are like a hybrid car. They can burn either glucose or fatty acids. That means that all those fatty acids in the bloodstream enter into muscle cells (even faster than glucose) to be used for their fuel, leaving the unused glucose in the bloodstream and, thus high blood sugar.
In this way, a long-term diet high in grains and grain-flour products is actually the trigger for chronic high blood sugar—which eventually leads to Type 2 diabetes.
As you might imagine, a diet high in grains and grain flour products also leads to weight gain and obesity due to the amount of fatty acids that must be stored in your fat cells. This explains why the majority of people with Type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese as they enter their 40s, 50s, and 60s. But this same diet also explains why children as young as 12 and teens can become overweight, obese, and even Type 2 diabetic.
Why thin people and pregnant women develop diabetes
The fatty acid burn switch also explains why thin people can develop diabetes. They simply have a small amount of fat cells, which leaves them no room to store excess fatty acids. They too then undergo the fatty acid burn switch.
The fatty acid burn switch also explains why a pregnant woman with no previous history of diabetes can develop gestational diabetes. Simply put, when a pregnant woman fills up her fat storage capacity, her muscles switch to burning fatty acids, leaving glucose in the bloodstream. This explanation makes sense, whereas endocrinologists have no hypothesis to explain the development of “insulin resistance” in lean or pregnant diabetics.
Diet —Not Medication—Is the Key to Mitigating Type 2 Diabetes
Endocrinologists still largely count on medications to control blood sugar, and they still endorse the insulin resistance theory that they learned in medical school. They are unable to admit that this theory is wrong, yet they tell patients to eat a low-carbohydrate diet to lower their blood sugar.
I am not suggesting that you cannot achieve a low blood sugar level using medications. You can, at least for a while. However, the medication/insulin injection approach has two serious flaws. First, it is difficult to maintain a desired blood glucose level using medications such as insulin. Your blood sugar level is actually a moving target. It swings upwards for about two hours after you eat a meal, depending on what you ate, and then it slowly descends. This is why diabetics who inject insulin must decide how much insulin to inject before and after each meal, or even throughout the day.
The second flaw is that, despite taking diabetes medications or injecting insulin, a large percentage of diabetics still end up with one or more of the serious consequences of diabetes: loss of kidney function (which leads to permanent dialysis), loss of vision, and/or nerve damage to limbs (which results in amputation of toes or legs). Yet endocrinologists still prefer to treat diabetes using medications or insulin injections rather than emphasizing to their patients that they must alter their diet. This is tragic.
I suggest that it is far better to control your blood sugar level by regulating what you eat. Reduce your consumption of bread, rice, corn, pizza, pasta, bagels, donuts, muffins, and other grains and grain flour products to less than 20% of your daily caloric intake.
If you want to learn more about the biology of what this article has explained, I invite you to view an animation video titled “Challenging Your Assumptions About Type 2 Diabetes” that illustrates the concept of the fatty acid burn switch. I also explain this in more detail in my book, DIABETES: The Real Cause & The Right Cure.
As a best-selling author and Nationally Syndicated Columnist, Dr. John Poothullil, advocates for patients struggling with the effects of adverse lifestyle conditions.
Dr. John’s books, available on Amazon, have educated and inspired readers to take charge of their own health. There are many steps you can take to make changes in your own health, but Dr. John also empowers us that we must demand certain changes in our healthcare system as well.
His latest book, “The Diabetes-Free Cookbook and Exercise Guide” presents over 80 delicious recipes. A must-have for anyone looking to take control of their health and transform their relationship with food.
Follow or contact Dr. John at drjohnonhealth.com.
John Poothullill practiced medicine as a pediatrician and allergist for more than 30 years, with 27 of those years in the state of Texas. He received his medical degree from the University of Kerala, India in 1968, after which he did two years of medical residency in Washington, DC and Phoenix, AZ and two years of fellowship, one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the other in Ontario, Canada. He began his practice in 1974 and retired in 2008. He holds certifications from the American Board of Pediatrics, The American Board of Allergy & Immunology, and the Canadian Board of Pediatrics.During his medical practice, John became interested in understanding the causes of and interconnections between hunger, satiation, and weight gain. His interest turned into a passion and a multi-decade personal study and research project that led him to read many medical journal articles, medical textbooks, and other scholarly works in biology, biochemistry, physiology, endocrinology, and cellular metabolic functions. This eventually guided Dr. Poothullil to investigate the theory of insulin resistance as it relates to diabetes. Recognizing that this theory was illogical, he spent a few years rethinking the biology behind high blood sugar and finally developed the fatty acid burn switch as the real cause of diabetes.Dr. Poothullil has written articles on hunger and satiation, weight loss, diabetes, and the senses of taste and smell. His articles have been published in medical journals such as Physiology and Behavior, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Journal of Women’s Health, Journal of Applied Research, Nutrition, and Nutritional Neuroscience. His work has been quoted in Woman’s Day, Fitness, Red Book and Woman’s World.Dr. Poothullil resides in Portland, OR and is available for phone and live interviews.
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