How To Reverse Diabetes

How To Reverse Diabetes Rebecca Brayton: Within estimated 23 million people suffering from this illness in the U.S. alone, this lifestyle related disorder is reaching epidemic proportions. Hi, I’m Rebecca Brayton and welcome to WatchMojo.com and today, we’re learning more about how diabetes and obesity can be controlled through diet. What has contributed to the rise in diabetes in recent years? Rick Gallop: Very simple answers obesity. There is a direct correlation between the increase of obesity over the last 25 years and the increase in diabetes, type 2 diabetes which about 95% of diabetes. Rebecca Brayton: Your previous book The G.I. Diet became wildly popular, what led to the success of this diet over let’s say Atkins or the South Beach Diet. Rick Gallop: Now, I try to address the reasons why people don’t stay on a diet, that’s why it’s been successful. There are usually three reasons. This first one is you don’t go hungry on this program because there’s a real diet killer if you want to go off with that. Secondly, it’s simple to follow because everything, all the fruits are color coded into traffic light colors, so there’s no counting calories or points or weighing and measuring things. If you understand the traffic lights, you could follow this diet. And thirdly, you don’t feel nostalgic, your health is a balanced diet, it’s nutritious and lots of energy. So, those are the three things that are addressed and those are the three reasons why people often can’t stay on their diet. So, that I think is the simple answer. Rebecca Brayton: Could you explain the premise of this diet to us? Rick Gallop: The glycemic index measures the speed of which foods digest on our digestive system. It’s glucose, which of course is our source of energy. High GI on the index digests very quickly. Unfortunately, leave you hungry a few minutes later. Sugar is 100 by the way, it’s indexed sugar. Low GI foods essentially are more—they stay with you longer therefore, because you’re feeling fuller for longer, you eat less and of course, that’s why you lose weight. Rebecca Brayton: Could you give us a few examples of high GI foods? Rick Gallop: Cassava rice cakes. There’s no—feeling to them. So, the high GI is really a waste of time and wasted calories. Those cold cereals are high GI’s. New ones are coming in like Kashi which in fact are more complex and have more protein and fiber. Fibers key to keeping a low GI. So, anything really made from white flour where they stripped out all the fiber and all the grain from it is usually high GI. Whole wheat breads however are lower GI because they retain lot of the fiber. So, always look for at least three grams of fiber per slice in your breads for instance. Rebecca Brayton: Your book offers a week by week guide to reversing diabetes. Now, if it’s that easy, why are not more people doing it? Rick Gallop: What I think it definitely will have is how I know which foods and how do I remember to do what I’m supposed to do. I think a lot of you have just ignorance about this. They haven’t been taught at school. I don’t think the medical profession has enough time perhaps on to deal with these issues. So, what I’ve done is to color code all the right foods in the book. All the mass has been done for you. There’s nothing to count, no calories, no points or GI ratings; all that is done for you. Rebecca Brayton: How important is exercise in terms of your guide? Rick Gallop: Probably losing weight is 90% diet, 10 % exercise. I’m not downplaying exercise, it’s essential for good health and it’s essential for maintaining your new weight. So, my suggestion is worry about your diet first and exercise will follow part naturally. Rebecca Brayton: What are some of the most common misconceptions about diabetes, about your diet? Rick Gallop: A lot of people rely upon medication to bail them out and what I’m trying to suggest the people is you don’t have to go the medication route if you can change you lifestyle. By the way, this isn’t just a diet which you’re going to do for 30 days or 30 weeks. This is a complete lifestyle change. This is the weight for the rest of life. And I think if people have to realize that is this lifestyle change that’s called being successful. Once you do it, once you get use to this, this becomes totally second nature. Rebecca Brayton: Thank you very much. Rick Gallop: My pleasure.