By all means, improve access to medications for those already living with the disease. By all means, improve access to treatment for complications. By all means, make quality food available to those living on starch to quiet their hunger.
But if we don't address what exactly is at the heart of this epidemic, this is all just damage control. We will continue to spend billions while rates of diabetes go up.
Type 2 diabetes is a manifestation of metabolic syndrome associated with our modern government-recommended, high-carbohydrate, grain-based diet.
It is an almost completely unnecessary disease.
Sharply restricting carbohydrate intake can normalize insulin production and insulin resistance, and with a little persistence most often fully reverse metabolic syndrome and remove the need for medication in Type 2 diabetics.
The science on this is abundant; it's no secret. Despite that, officials continue to recommend the low-fat, low-protein, high-carbohydrate diets that keep metabolic syndrome going.
And sadly, even if we were to officially recommend the kind of diet that can reverse Type 2 diabetes, I'm fairly certain that many of us would still prefer a pill or an injection over saying goodbye to our pastas and muffins and breads and cereals.
They've become so much a part of what we expect to eat daily, so convenient and available and affordable -- and so satisfying and addictive -- that a switch to the diet of our ancestors is too much a stretch for most.
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