Welcome admirable viewers to Healthy Living on Supreme Master Television. The World Health Organization reports that globally more than 220 million people have diabetes and more than one million die each year from the condition. In short diabetes is a global epidemic.

To raise awareness of how to prevent diabetes and ways those with the condition can live life to the fullest, the US-based non-profit organization the American Diabetes Association started American Diabetes Month which is observed each November in the USA. In honor of the Month, we feature a two-part program with highly respected doctors and nutritionists speaking about the causes of, and cure for, this chronic condition.

To start, what is diabetes? Key to understanding this disease is insulin, a necessary hormone produced in the pancreas. Insulin helps our bodies utilize glucose from the food we eat to generate energy. Diabetes occurs when insulin in the body is not used properly, is insufficient, or is not produced at all.

When the red blood cells cannot uptake nutrients and oxygen, the pancreatic function starts to be impaired and then the sugar starts to elevate. What blood sugar means is exactly what it says, you have sugar in the blood versus in the cell where it’s used as a fuel.

Diabetes is a condition where there’s too much sugar in the blood. The sugar is glucose and it’s there normally to go into the cells to provide energy, so that if I’m going to run a marathon all my muscle cells are using that glucose for energy. The problem in diabetes is the glucose can’t get into the cells. It stays in the blood, and in the blood it can be toxic. It can hurt the eyes, the tiny little blood vessels of the eyes or the kidneys or other parts of the body.

Type-1 diabetes used to be called “childhood onset.” And in this condition the pancreas, which normally makes the insulin that brings the sugar into the cell is no longer making insulin so the sugar can’t get into the cell. Type-2 diabetes used to be called “adult onset.” There’s still insulin there, but the cells resist its action.

If I had a patient who had diabetes, and I pulled out one muscle cell from their leg or their arm, and I looked at it, blew it up big with a microscope, we’d see the cause of diabetes. Keep in mind what this glucose that’s built up in the blood is there for. It’s supposed to power our cells; it’s supposed to keep our muscle cells moving. Well, if the insulin key arrives at the surface of the cell, and it can’t open the channels to let glucose in, why not?

Well if I look at this big muscle cell, I see that it looks different from a muscle cell from somebody who doesn’t have diabetes. It’s different because it’s full of little fat droplets. Imagine if I have a perfectly good key for my front door, and I go away and I come back and my key no longer opens the door.

Those with type 1 or 2 diabetes may experience blurred vision, fatigue, slow-healing infections, increased appetite, excessive thirst, or frequent urination. Diabetes is very dangerous as it can lead to serious complications.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the US government agency in charge of national health research, one who is diagnosed with diabetes has the same risk of a heart attack as someone who has previously had a heart attack. Kidney disease or failure is a possibility for diabetics as their kidneys are overworked by filtering the large amounts of sugar in their blood.

These individuals may have to undergo kidney dialysis or having their blood filtered of impurities by a machine for the rest of their lives. Various eye-related conditions may develop including glaucoma, cataracts, and even blindness. Nervous system disorders can arise including numbness or loss of sensation in the limbs, particularly in the feet and legs.

As a consequence, diabetics may not notice injuries to this part of the body. A cut on the foot could develop into a major infection because the body cannot heal itself in part due to poor blood circulation, a trait common in diabetics. If the infection progresses too far, a foot or leg amputation may become necessary.

Diabetes is an expensive disease. The number of diabetics who go blind, who need hemodialysis because their kidneys are no longer functioning, who are losing a toe, and then another toe, and then the lower leg, upper leg, amputations.

Those with diabetes face a shortened lifespan. In a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, it was found that in those over 50 with diabetes, there was an average reduced life expectancy of 7.5 years in men and 8.2 years in women as compared to men and women without diabetes. What is the primary cause of this condition which is becoming ever more common across the world?

I’ve been a physician for almost 40 years and my viewing of the whole disease process has undergone quite an evolution. And I see many diseases are the manifestation of putting the wrong fuel into our bodies.

By analogy if you were driving a car and the gas tank indicator said empty and you pull into the gas station, but instead of going to the gas pump, you went to the diesel pump and filled your car up with diesel fuel, it’s kerosene and it’s too oily and you pull out of the station. There’s black smoke coming out of the exhaust and it shudders to a stop. What was the problem in the first place? Did the car have a disease, or was it the wrong fuel?

We’re meant to be plant-burning carbohydrate utilizing mammals. We’re not meant to run great bolts of fat and protein into our bloodstream. And when we do that it, it winds up clogging up the system, like the kerosene does in a car. So what is diabetes? As we now know people eat high-fat diets, that fat finds its way into the cells and clogs up the mitochondria.

And as societies become more and more affluent, they want to emulate other affluent societies and increase their meat and dairy consumption accordingly, and get sicker and sicker. And suddenly, we see how major societies which changed their position from being Asian and becoming European or American, suddenly they start having all these diseases that they never had before, cancer, diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, autoimmune disease.

Diabetes does not happen in all those countries in the world that eat lots of carbohydrates, they eat lots of sugar. They're not necessarily as healthy as they could be, but they don't develop these diseases that I mentioned earlier. But when they increase their animal protein, that's when they start getting all these cardiovascular diseases and diabetes and autoimmune disease and cancer.

Fish has become the most polluted meat in the world. Fish is a meat which has the tendency to diminish life expectancy, as it increases chances of type 2 diabetes.

There are proteins in milk, and these proteins for some people trigger diabetes. Researchers are showing that early exposure to those dairy proteins might be the cause, or at least a contributor to the kind of diabetes that starts in childhood.

No matter how you flavor it, color it, ferment it, whip it, whatever you do, cow’s milk is baby calf growth fluid. It is designed by nature to turn a 65-pound calf into a 400-pound cow in a year, that’s what the stuff is. And even if you take the fat out of it, it’s still full of hormones and growth promoters and proteins that turn you into a great big cow.

I’ve seen it again and again in my nutritional counseling and my medical practice, people love their cheese, I did too, and the ice cream and the yogurt. It’s sold to us as healthy food. So this veneer of health is plastered on it. But it’s still baby calf growth fluid and it makes people big and fat and sick. And in children, may well be a cause of juvenile diabetes. I just can’t see cow’s milk products as health foods.

The rates of type 1 diabetes are highest in Scandinavian countries where dairy product consumption is very high. And there have been several studies linking early introduction of cow’s milk into children’s diet with an increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

Obesity, often a consequence of consuming animal products, also puts one at high risk of becoming diabetic. In fact a new term has emerged in medicine – diabesity – to describe cases of diabetes caused by obesity.

Now diabetes mellitus is skyrocketing in the USA, because so many of us are gaining weight. There are two types of diabetes. One is the genetic form that you get in usually under 20 years or at least under 30, often in teenage, seven, eight (years of age). And then there is the acquired form after age 50. Now the acquired form is an obesity-related problem. So if we keep our weight down, we don’t develop diabetes later in life.

Diabetes is a frightening condition, but not only is it preventable; those with the disease can cure themselves and regain their health. Please join us next Monday on Healthy Living for part two of our program commemorating American Diabetes Month to find out how simply transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle can lead us to a diabetes-free world.

Trusted viewers, thank you for your presence on today’s show. Coming up next is Science and Spirituality, after Noteworthy News. May vitality and longevity always be yours.

Welcome beautiful viewers to Healthy Living on Supreme Master Television. The World Health Organization reports that globally more than 220 million people have diabetes and more than one million die each year from the condition. In short diabetes is a global epidemic.

To raise awareness of how to prevent diabetes and ways those with the condition can live life to the fullest, the US-based non-profit organization the American Diabetes Association started American Diabetes Month which is observed each November in the USA.

In honor of the Month, today we feature the concluding episode of a two-part program with highly respected doctors and nutritionists speaking about the causes of, and cure for, this chronic condition.

Key to understanding this disease is insulin, a necessary hormone produced in the pancreas. Insulin helps our bodies utilize glucose from the food we eat to generate energy. Diabetes occurs when insulin in the body is not used properly, is insufficient, or is not produced at all.

Diabetes is a condition where there’s too much sugar in the blood. The sugar is glucose and it’s there normally to go into the cells to provide energy, so that if I’m going to run a marathon all my muscle cells are using that glucose for energy.

The problem in diabetes is the glucose can’t get into the cells. It stays in the blood, and in the blood it can be toxic. It can hurt the eyes, the tiny little blood vessels of the eyes or the kidneys or other parts of the body.

Type-1 diabetes used to be called “childhood onset.” And in this condition the pancreas, which normally makes the insulin that brings the sugar into the cell is no longer making insulin so the sugar can’t get into the cell. Type-2 diabetes used to be called “adult onset.” There’s still insulin there, but the cells resist its action.

How would one know if they have diabetes? The test is quite simple.

First you should always get checked by your doctor for type 1 or type 2 diabetes which is a very easy finger prick blood test and something that should be done on an annual basis. But the warning signs and symptoms are going to the bathroom frequently, extreme thirst, fatigue, and things of that nature.

The conventional treatment for those with type 1 diabetes is injecting insulin several times over the course of a day or using an insulin pump. Similarly, those with type 2 diabetes are typically directed to take drugs or inject insulin.

There is a simple solution at hand to the diabetes crisis. This disease can be prevented and also reversed without the need of drugs or insulin injections. With lifestyle modifications, specifically dietary changes, lives can be profoundly altered.

If a person eats a plant-based diet, with lots of fruits and vegetables and no salt, their blood pressure will drop. Of course exercise is important too.

I have thousands of patients all over the world who become non-diabetic, their diabetes goes away, their high blood pressure goes away, their chest pains go away, their heart disease goes away, they don’t need medicines and they don’t need medical interventions. They stay in control of their health destiny as opposed to just taking a medication.

In your diet, focus on legumes compared to cereals because legumes have a lower glycemic index. The glycemic index is the ability of a food to raise the blood sugar in the blood. If there is a diabetes epidemic of type 2 in Western countries it’s because we eat foods that are much too sweet, food that have a sweetness that is much too strong.

In scientific terms, we say that these foods have a glycemic index that is too high. Legumes have a good supply of proteins, and can have a good intake of complex carbohydrates that have a low glycemic index, and a diet high in legumes is the secret to not getting type 2 diabetes.

Stay away from taking drugs, don’t take soda, don’t eat fast foods. Make healthy foods at home, that’s going to be your avenue to live a long life and protect yourself. We’ve been literally brainwashed to think that we can purchase our health by going to doctors and going to hospitals and taking drugs. We think that our health is going to come from taking pills. It’s not true.

There is really rock solid evidence now from scientific literature that a diet based on unrefined plant foods helps to prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Neal Barnard is president of the US-based non-profit public health organization Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). PCRM has published several studies about using the vegan diet to control and reverse type 2 diabetes.

Our research shows several benefits of a vegan diet for people with diabetes. Number one, you lose weight, and you lose about a pound per week and add that up, 52 weeks per year, you’re talking serious weight loss. Cholesterol levels fall and blood sugars fall. The need for medication drops, many people get off their medications completely and blood pressure comes down as well.

We have a 21-day program. In one to four days, really one day, practically we get people off all their insulin, and all their other diabetic medications. In two to three weeks, even if their blood sugar started with 500 or 400, returning their blood sugars to normal which is less than 100.

I’ve never seen a type 2 diabetic not be able to recover. Again, it’s a lifestyle choice. Do I want to be diabetic and be out of control and eat and live like everyone else? Or do I not want to be, and become a vegan, exercise, get rid of the sugar in my life, even the natural sugars in my life?

These diseases are all correctable. All you have to do is to live properly; starting with your mind, starting with the food, starting with the movement and strengthening of the anatomy of the body.

Women in general are still the primary cooks in the family. So what we eat affects what our children eat, what our partners eat, even our extended family members when we have family gatherings, and our friends and loved ones. So we are the ones who can take control over our family’s health. You can be the one that makes the difference if you eat more plant-based foods.

My mother became a vegan more than 20 years ago when she was in her fifties. Of her siblings who are surviving in their senior years, she is the only one who is healthy and free of chronic disease – so no arthritis, no overweight, no diabetes, no high blood pressure/ cholesterol, no cancer.

Dr. Baxter Montgomery, a cardiologist from Houston, Texas, USA is founder of the Houston Cardiac Association. The Association offers a wellness program that heals patients with a variety of chronic conditions, including diabetes, through a plant-based diet. Here are two of his patients speaking about reversing diabetes with a vegan lifestyle.

My name is Gene Flores. I had diabetes. I'm cured now. I was scheduled for amputation of my left leg due to an infection in the bone. And for that reason I came to Dr. Baxter and I was cured.

So when you say you're cured, you mean you don't take any insulin or anything anymore?

Right. The first day Dr. Baxter asked me if I was ready to get off my medication, and I said, “Well, yes!” I said, “But, are you sure it's going to work?" He said, “If you do what I tell you.” And I stuck to it, and I'm off all my medication except for one pill. I was on 12, twice a day, and now just one pill twice a day.

I’ve lost 50 pounds since I started. It's been not quite five months, and I’m more active. Just so many things have changed. I'm involved now; I'm up and around; I’m excited, no longer depressed. A lot of good things are happening.

And every morning I was taking about 11 pills and now I only take two (pills) and (vitamin) B12. And it's just amazing and it's better; it's almost three months and it's like my life has changed. I feel so good about what's happened that any time anyone asks me, they get a mini seminar from me. I mean, I'm doing this every day, everywhere I go. Because I'm excited and I want to see other people have the same type of experiences.

Did you have a certain condition when you came in?

Oh yes, I was diabetic. I no longer take any medication for diabetes. And I had been taking diabetic medication for around 12 years.

During a July 2008 climate change videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai in West Hollywood, USA, Luke Crosby, great grandson of legendary American singer and actor Bing Crosby and son of vegan Hollywood actress and stuntwoman Spice Williams-Crosby asked a question related to managing diabetes with a plant-based diet.

I have been a vegan for my entire life. When I was 18 months old, I got the Coxsackie virus from a newly vaccinated child and from that I got type 1 diabetes. But my question is, since being a vegan keeps all diabetics’ blood sugar regulated, how come doctors don’t tell people about being vegan, like diabetics for instance, about vegan diets to keep their blood sugar regulated?

Now, you’re right, Luke, I think the doctors should inform all their patients about the helpful factor of being a vegan to cure diabetes, as well as to prevent it to further development. Maybe they don’t know it, Luke. Maybe they don’t know about vegan diet that helps diabetic people.

So, what we do is, we can put this in our website, on the for people to look up to. And you, yourself, or anyone here or anyone out there, please put it on your website as information for the diabetic people, so that they know they can cure themselves by turning into vegan. Thank you, Luke, for the beautiful information and you look beautiful yourself. Your mother must be proud.

To close, diabetes need not be a global epidemic any longer. If we take charge of our lives and remember that plant-based nourishment is the answer, this serious health condition, along with many others such as heart disease, can be made history. We look forward to a time soon in coming where the entire world has adopted the healthy and humane vegan diet.

For more information on diabetes, please visit the following websites:
Dr. Joel Fuhrman www.DrFuhrman.com
Dr. John McDougall www.DrMcdougall.com
Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine www.PCRM.org/health/diabetes
Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center www.TreeofLife.nu

Thank you for joining us today on Healthy Living. Coming up next is Science and Spirituality, following Noteworthy News. May everyone always enjoy vitality and vibrancy in their daily lives.