Raw Family Newsletter, April 2006
We dedicated this issue to the research of diabetes
In this issue:
1. Raw Family’s new
recipe: Dried Green Patties
2. Statistics on diabetes in the
3. Personal Note
from Victoria
4. Testimonials and Links from People with Type 1 Diabetes
Who Were Able to Greatly Reduce their Insulin Intake.
5. How to Beat The 2 Deadliest Causes of Type 2 Diabetes:
Bad Food & Bad Medicine! by Patrick
Lecky
6. Cartoon by
Jason Love
7. Diabetics Need Intense Greens! by Patrick Lecky
8.
Further Bibliography.
Please note: Previous issues of the Raw Family Newsletter are now
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Available at our
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Raw
Family Dried Green Patties
Without
any oil, salt or sweetener, yet delicious!
Grind 1 pound of flaxseed in a Vita-Mix
without adding water.
Grind 1 pound of your favorite nuts in a food processor.
Combine the following ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands well.
2
pounds carrot pulp (from juice or grated
and squeezed)
1 bunch celery, grated
6 bunches green kale, thinly chopped in
processor
2 bunches cilantro or parsley, thinly chopped
in processor
8 medium lemons juiced
3-4
jalapenos, minced
Mix well. You have to experiment to get
the desired consistency.
Shape into patties approximately ¾
inches thick and put on dehydrator sheets.
Dehydrate at 105-115 degrees for 24al
hours or until completely dried.
Makes approximately 140
burgers (fills one 9-tray Excalibur dehydrator)
============================================================
STATISTICS
ON DIABETES IN THE UNITED STATES
Total prevalence of diabetes in the
Total: 20.8 million
people—7.0% of the population—have diabetes.
Deaths among people with diabetes,
•
Diabetes was the sixth leading cause of death listed
on
•
Diabetes is likely to be
underreported as a cause of death.
Studies have found that only about 35%
to 40% of decedents
with diabetes had it listed on the
death certificate and
only about 10% to 15% had it listed as
the underlying
cause of death.
Complications of diabetes in the
Heart disease and stroke
•
Heart disease and stroke account for about 65% of deaths
in
people with diabetes.
High blood pressure
•
About 73% of adults with diabetes have blood pressure
greater
than 130/80
Blindness
•
Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness among adults
aged
20–74 years.
•
Diabetic retinopathy causes 12,000 to 24,000 new cases of
blindness
each year.
Kidney disease
•
Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, accounting
for
44% of new cases in 2002.
•
In 2002, 44,400 people with diabetes began treatment
for end-stage kidney disease in the
Nervous system disease
•
About 60% to 70% of people with diabetes have mild to
severe
forms of nervous system damage.
•
Severe forms of diabetic nerve disease are a major
contributing
cause of lower-extremity amputations.
Amputations
•
More than 60% of nontraumatic lower-limb amputations
occur
in people with diabetes.
•
In 2002, about 82,000 nontraumatic lower-limb
amputations
were performed in people with diabetes.
Estimated diabetes costs in the
Total (direct and indirect): $132
billion
Direct medical costs: $92
billion
Indirect costs: $40
billion (disability, work loss, premature mortality)
Sourse:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
National
diabetes fact sheet: general information and national
estimates
on diabetes in the
Disease
Control and Prevention, 2005.
=======================================
©2006 Copyrighted material!
Please reference this source
when sharing this information:
www.rawfamily.com
PERSONAL
NOTE FROM VICTORIA
According to official statistics, estimated diabetes costs in the
United
States
in a year of 2002 alone was $132 billion[1]. Researchers have documented
a dramatic upsurge in diabetes-related deaths and illnesses
in
City[2]
-- including a sharp increase in diabetic patients hospitalized with heart
attacks. During the decade (1991-2001) mortality rate due
to diabetes increased
by 61 percent. The Total number of people
who have diabetes in
today
is 20.8 million.
To
me, these numbers suggest an uprising epidemic. For this reason I
have decided to dedicate this entire
newsletter to diabetes. This brutal illness
is responsible for almost half the
questions and comments I receive by mail.
I would like to
share with you the information I have collected throughout
the years I
have researched diabetes. I first began gathering books, articles
and testimonials about this disease when
my youngest son was diagnosed
with diabetes in 1993. The following is
an overview of the facts, thoughts
and experiences I consider most
valuable.
At
the time my son was diagnosed, I was told that he had symptoms
of type 1 diabetes. The doctor insisted
that he had to go on insulin immediately.
However, the recent death of my dear
grandmother was still fresh in my memory.
She was killed by an overdose of
insulin. My grandmother Katherine had always
been a tremendous source of inspiration
for me. Born in 1909, she was
adventurous enough to jump with a
parachute at the age of 18 in 1927, when
airplane flights had just begun, and
parachutes were rather bulky and unsafe.
She was an educated and well-mannered
lady who managed to marry Count
Bulgakov, the cousin of the world-famous
classical Russian writer, Michael Bulgakov.
My grandmother was one of the central
figures in my family and her early death
was a big shock to us all. She had given
herself the usual dose of insulin, but for
some reason, her body responded to it
with a strong hypoglycemic reaction that
resulted in death. So of course, when
the doctor pronounced that my son was
diabetic, the biggest threat to me was
the idea of giving my child insulin shots.
I am aware that I am a very protective
mother, and the motherly instincts
are strong in me. While considering the
treatment proposed for my son, I began
collecting and scrutinizing all the
information I could get my hands on in order to
choose the optimal treatment for him. At
first I could find nothing that even
suggested an alternative way of treating
diabetes. I spent many hours in the
library, reading medical journals both new and
old, with a stack of post-its and
a medical dictionary by my side marking
everything that could help shed some
light on my understanding of my
son’s disease. The very first book that brought
me hope and relief was the book, Reversing
Diabetes, by Dr. Julian Whitaker. In
this book, Dr. Whitaker said,
“Most diabetic patients can reasonably expect to
lower their insulin dose or eliminate
oral diabetic medications. Some patients
may be able to stop injecting insulin
altogether.”
Even though
my doctor explained to me that my son’s pancreas was
incapable of producing insulin, and he
therefore had to immediately take insulin,
I strongly felt that if I didn’t
try to correct his condition with diet first, I would be
devastated should unwanted complications
from insulin occur later. It was a very
difficult decision to make. I never
described in any of my books or conversations
what I had to go through during those
first months, because I was afraid. I love
my children more than anything in the
world, and I was afraid to lose my son
either to disease or to misunderstanding
authorities. Even now, when my son
is 21 years old and vibrantly healthy, I
still have some of those fears. I just want
to explain that my heart goes out to all
the mothers and fathers of diabetic children
who have to go through the same
torturous decisions. Very often I hear accusations
that I placed my son’s life at
stake. Honestly I didn’t feel that way, because I was
always very close to him. I placed his
bed my own bedroom so that I could hear
his breathing day and night. I monitored
his blood sugar several times a day, and
closely watched his symptoms.
I
subscribed to most of the existing magazines that had to do with diabetes,
Diabetic Living, Diabetes Health,
Diabetes Self-Management, and Diabetes Forecast.
I was seeking cures for my son
everywhere.
I changed
my son’s diet dramatically several times. At first, I put him on the
diet that was at that time recommended
for diabetics, a low carbohydrate, high protein,
and high fat diet. This didn’t
help at all. On the contrary, it made his symptoms worse.
I was puzzled by the fact that the
recommended diet for diabetics visibly worsened his
condition. I stumbled at such results.
These consequences didn’t make any sense to me!
Consuming
sugar raises the blood sugar. One would think, okay let me cut out sugars
(carbohydrates).
However, when one cuts out carbohydrates, the blood sugar goes even
higher!
This is probably the biggest paradox associated with diabetes, and is
responsible
for
much of the confusion both among diabetics and the medical profession.
Driven
by the quest to find what I should feed my child, I began searching for
more information and found many research
documents that proved that the diabetic
diet
itself could cause diabetes. As early as 1927, a comprehensive
study conducted
by Dr. J. Shirley Sweeney,[3]
demonstrated that the high fat, low carbohydrate diet used in
treating diabetic patients would cause diabetes in normal people. Dr. Sweeney also found
that when those who had blood sugar
levels indicative of diabetes changed their diets from
a high fat or high protein diet to a
high carbohydrate diet, their diabetes disappeared!
Dr. Sweeney concluded that, “If
you want a quick case of diabetes, just eliminate the
carbohydrates from your diet for a
couple of days and then take the test. It will demonstrate
diabetes.”
In
the early 1930s, another researcher, Dr. H.P. Himsworth[4]
published several
articles that contained information
similar to Sweeney. Like Sweeney, he
demonstrated
that in a normal individual, a fat-rich
or protein-rich diet could bring on diabetes, which
could be eliminated by a
carbohydrate-rich diet. He revealed that diabetes could be
induced to various degrees depending on
the fat content of an individuals diet.
In
1932, yet another doctor, I.M. Rabinowitch[5], put
the high carbohydrate diet
to work in patients with great success
and was baffled that his observations and results
were so different from the commonly
accepted beliefs.
In
1935, 24% of Rabinowitch’s
patients who had been on the high carbohydrate –
low
calorie diet for five years were successfully withdrawn from insulin. Insulin
requirements
were reduced in almost all the
participants who still required it. The patients felt better, had
more energy, and lived more comfortably.
He concluded: “I believe that in the data
presented here there is incontestable
evidence that the high carbohydrate – low calorie diet
is more effective in controlling
diabetes than all other methods of treatment reported hitherto.”
In 1976,
still another doctor, James W.
diet composition for a diabetic patient.
He compared the
a high-carbohydrate, high- fiber diet on
13 diabetic men. These patients were all receiving
medication to control their blood
glucose: eight were on insulin for a number of years, and
five were taking oral drugs. At the
hospital, these patients were first stabilized for one week
on the
about 4.7 grams of crude fiber. They
were then shifted to a diet containing 75% carbohydrate
calories, only 9% fat calories, and 14.2
grams of crude fiber.
The results were almost unbelievable. A
simple dietary shift rendered nearly 70% of
the
patients drug fee, and 50% insulin free! This suggests that of
the 20.8 million diabetics
in
possibly become drug free if they were
placed on a high-carbohydrate, high-fiber diet!
Once
I read these studies, I completely eliminated animal fat and almost all animal
protein from my son’s diet. As
soon as I made this change, both my son and I quickly saw
positive results. My son’s
symptoms noticeably reduced, but his blood sugar remained
higher than normal, and he was still
beleaguered by an un-quenchable thirst. Other
symptoms of diabetes were also present
even though their form was much milder.
Approximately
at this time, I learned about the raw food diet, and after several
weeks of extensive reading and research
about benefits of this lifestyle, my family switched
to an all-raw diet on January 21st,
1994. This dietetic change immediately improved my son’s
condition still further.
Soon
thereafter, I learned about the necessity of aerobic exercise for every
diabetic,
regardless of type. As Dr. Whitaker
described in his book[8], “Aerobic
exercise enhances the
body’s sensitivity to insulin and is recommended because it
significantly lowers the insulin
requirement. An exercise program should
be prescribed for the diabetic patient in the same
way that medication or diet is
prescribed.”
Indeed
exercise proved to be instrumental in helping my son keep his blood sugar
under control. On many nights when my son
would have a glucose level of 350 or more
and was unable to fall asleep, I would
go for a two mile run with him, sometimes after
midnight, to bring his sugar level back
down to 120. All of this took a great deal of effort.
I had to quit working outside the house
and create a business at home, so that I could
closely monitor my son’s
condition. To my great relief, he began doing better and
better each day.
I
continued my studies on nutrition. One day, I came upon an article that
discussed
the benefits of adequate sunlight. In an
experiment with 1200 children who were exposed
to various degrees of sunlight, exposure
to adequate amounts of sunshine lead to an 80%
reduction in developing diabetes in
comparison with the control group[9]. Since
then,
everyone in my family started a regular
practice of sunbathing. I believe that sufficient
exposure to sunlight has also
contributed to my son’s healing.
We checked my son’s blood sugar level frequently. Naturally we were curious to
know what levels of blood sugar other people had too. For a while, we began checking
the blood sugar of every person who entered our house. I still cannot find any reasonable
explanation for the fact that so many of our friends often had very high readings of blood
sugar.
monitors in our house and they all showed similar measurements.
In my
search for information on improving diabetes, my collection of odd bits of
helpful information began to expand. I
read about pasteurized milk, and how it increased
the chances of developing diabetes[10], and
that aloe barbadensis leaf can help prevent and
improve diabetes[11], and
how cinnamon and cloves can improve insulin function [12], and
that
by increasing the fiber content of a
diabetic’s diet, the insulin requirement is reduced[13], and
countless other facts. It has become my
habit to hunt for new information on diabetes.
Nowadays there is a worldwide on-line
access to the newest scientific discoveries about
diabetes. You can choose from an
abundant assortment of research articles at:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/diabetes
.. This link has almost a thousand articles.
Throughout
the years, I have received a great number of accusations and bitter letters,
mostly from parents of diabetic
children. Sometimes people tell me that my son could not have
been a type 1 diabetic. For example, the
following letter read, “I'm more than concerned at
your continued insistence that you cured
your son of insulin-dependent Juvenile Diabetes and
saved him from a lifetime of insulin
use. It's impossible… “ or, “I suggest you try to find
out
more information about your son's
diagnosis before you attempt to convince others that they
can be cured of type 1 diabetes by diet
only…”
Today,
there is no way to find out for sure weather my son had been a type 1, or
type 2 diabetic. Whether his diabetes
was type 1 or 2, the important truth is that he was
recommended insulin treatment, and we
were able to monitor him without it. My son is
very grateful to us for this.
Hypothetically, if he was misdiagnosed, then it only means
that there are probably others who are
also misdiagnosed, and have been placed on
insulin treatment unnecessarily.
Even
if, in the imaginary past, I had been absolutely forced to put my son on
insulin,
I would have tried to keep the insulin
intake to the lowest level possible. I have researched
this subject and I know that it is
possible to radically reduce the insulin intake for both
type 1 and type 2 diabetics. I always
feel sad when I meet diabetics who are taking huge
doses of insulin, some 190 units per
day!
According
to the research of Dr. Michael. Somogyi,
“No diabetic patient is
adequately “regulated” with
insulin until his daily requirement is 20 units or less, or in
exceptional cases, between 20 and 30
units. Large doses that are generally used in insulin
therapy result from an unawareness of
the diabetogenic effect of hypoglycemia.
Excess
insulin, which causes hypoglycemia, aggravates diabetes, and the
damage
done by too much insulin is then
combated with still more insulin. This leads to a
vicious circle, with unmanageable
diabetes as its product[14].”
Dr. Somogyi
concluded further that, “insulin therapy in its present way of
application may superimpose the new
adreno-pituitary diabetes, by the effects of
insulin doses that caused hypoglycemia
in the course of the treatment[15].
“
Dr.
Charles[16] agrees,
“Insulin’s effectiveness is strongly modified by diet.
The nutritional therapy in diabetes is
imperative. Understanding the toxicity of insulin
is important for all insulin using
diabetic patients and health care providers.”
In a different section of this Newsletter please find several testimonials from
people with type 1 diabetes who were able to greatly reduce their insulin intake.
A
former diabetic patient named, Patrick Lecky, has now become famous
for his internationally popular
newsletter, Diabetic Warrior. When he was diagnosed
with diabetes in 1998, he tried many
different alternative approaches until he found
the best way to monitor his diabetes. I
will let him speak for himself in the two
articles he has contributed to this
issue.
I
would also like to mention Dr. Gabriel Cousens, M.D., Director of the Tree
of
The Rainbow Diet, for his
invaluable contribution to the study of diabetes. Dr. Cousens
invited six Americans suffering from Diabetes, to come to the Tree of Life Rejuvenation
Center in
change in the hope of reversing or
reducing their insulin dependence. The entire
experiment was filmed by a professional
crew. This documentary was named,
“Raw for 30-Days” and is presently going through the final stages of
creation. It will become
available in May, 2006. Please see a preview at: http://www.rawfor30days.com/view.html
Clearly,
diabetes is very difficult to monitor. However, the prevention of diabetes
is very promising. I strongly believe
that along with searching for a cure for existing
diabetics, we can stop the diabetes
epidemic by embracing healthier living habits and
strengthening our immune systems.
=========================================
Testimonials and Links from People with Type
1 Diabetes
Who Were Able to Greatly Reduce their Insulin
Intake.
“At the age of 16 Aimee became ill and was diagnosed
with type 1 diabetes.
She went on a standard medical treatment of
insulin injections and measured food
intake. Not long after this, Aimee began
reading, researching and experimenting
with medicinal herbs with marginal success. Coupled
with a whole foods diet,
Aimee brought the 36 units of insulin she was
taking down to 24 units. Aimee
has now succeeded in lowering her insulin dose
to a total of 7-12 units daily and is,
of course, hoping to lower it to ZERO! She
aspires to share what she is learning
with those interested in improving their health
through the raw/living food diet,
exercise, positive thinking and other lifestyle
changes. Please
read Aimee’s full
story at: http://www.livingandhealingraw.com
Article:
“How a Raw Food Diet has Helped My Diabetes” by Cyrus Khambatta,
Monday,
13 June 2005 can be found at:
http://www.organicathlete.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=249&Itemid=63