Say no to diabetes

14 November is World Diabetes Day – so what can you do to reduce your risk? Here, Patrick Holford briefly explains why a poor diet is one of the major causes of this increasingly common disease and offers his advice.

World Diabetes Day was created by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization in response to concerns about the rapidly growing incidence of diabetes and its serious health repercussions. The campaign calls on national governments to implement policies to reduce sugar consumption, but of course everyone can do their bit to protect their own health.

What is diabetes?
Basically, diabetes is caused by having too much sugar in your blood. This happens when a person eats too much sugar or highly refined carbohydrates (which are turned into sugar, or glucose, by the body), and because their insulin isn’t working properly. As soon as our blood sugar goes too high, the body pumps insulin into the bloodstream, which gets the excess out as fast as possible, converting much of it into fat. If you don’t make enough insulin, or you are ‘insulin resistant’, your blood sugar (glucose) level stays too high. This is bad news because glucose is highly toxic in large amounts, damaging arteries, brain cells, kidneys and the eyes. Glucose also feeds infections, chronic inflammation and promotes the formation of blood clots.
There are two kinds of diabetes: insulin-dependent diabetes (Type 1) and non-insulin dependent diabetes (Type 2). Type-1 diabetes is rare and is an ‘auto-immune’ disease that requires the sufferer to inject insulin. By far the most common type of diabetes is type-2 diabetes, and it is mainly the rise in this type of diabetes that is fuelling the worldwide diabetes epidemic. So what causes type-2 diabetes? Genetic predisposition, poor diet high in carbs, physical inactivity, not enough sleep, chronic stress and obesity are the main contributors.

So what can you do?

In order to prevent type-2 diabetes, the most important step is to follow a low-glycemic load (low-GL) diet. A diet high in refined carbohydrates is one of the main factors behind weight gain and loss of blood sugar control. The body relies on a steady, even blood sugar level but high-GL foods release their glucose in a sudden rush and are a bit like rocket fuel, causing your blood sugar to rise rapidly. Your body doesn’t need so much sugar so it dumps the excess into storage as fat. The result, over the years, is that you are likely to become increasingly fat and lethargic. Conversely, a low-glycemic load (low-GL) diet doesn’t cause blood sugar spikes and will keep you blood sugar even. So, at a basic level, if you want to balance your blood sugar – and prevent diabetes – you need to eat fewer ‘fast-releasing’ foods (cakes, biscuits, sweets and anything made with white flour) and more ‘slow-releasing’ foods (wholegrain carbohydrates, fresh vegetables and fruit). Also, by eating carbs with protein you slow down their sugar release. To give you a better idea of the foods to eat and those to avoid here’s a brief list of some slow- and fast-releasing carbohydrates.

Sample slow-releasing carbs
Fruit: blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, grapefruit, pear, melon peach, apricot, plums, apples – eat your fruit don’t drink it.
Vegetables: asparagus, aubergine, beans sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, courgette, fennel, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, peas, spinach, tomatoes, watercress
Grains: oats, quinoa, pearly barley, bulgur, brown basmati rice, wholewheat pasta

Sample fast-releasing carbs
Fruit: dates, raisins, sultanas, dried fruit, tinned fruit in syrup, bananas and mangos
Cereals and grains: sweetened refined cereals, Weetabix, bran flakes, couscous, white rice, white pasta
Breads: white wheat flour bread, pitta, corn tortilla, baguette

In my book Say No to Diabetes I provide an in-depth guide to following a low-GL diet and share a number of other important strategies that help. For example the mineral chromium and the spice cinnamon make insulin work better which helps keep your blood sugar under control.