Considered one of my sufferers — who had been combating weight problems, uncontrolled diabetes and the price of her medicines — agreed in June 2019 to undertake a extra whole-food plant-based food regimen.
Excited by the problem, she did a outstanding job. She elevated her recent fruit and vegetable consumption, stopped consuming sweet, cookies and desserts and minimize down on meals from animal sources. Over six months, she misplaced 19 kilos and her HbA1c — a measure of her average blood sugar — dropped from 11.5% to 7.6%.
She was doing so nicely, I anticipated that her HbA1c would proceed to drop and he or she can be one in every of our plant-based successes who had reversed diabetes.
Her three-month follow-up go to in March 2020 was canceled due to COVID-19 lockdowns. Once I finally noticed her once more in Might 2021, she’d regained among the weight and her HbA1c had climbed to 10.4%. She defined that her diabetes physician and a diabetes nurse educator had informed her that she was consuming an excessive amount of “sugar” on the plant-based food regimen.
She’d been suggested to restrict carbohydrates by reducing again on fruits and starchy greens and consuming extra fish and hen. Sugar-free sweet, desserts, cookies and synthetic sweeteners had been inspired. Within the face of conflicting medical recommendation, she fell again on typical knowledge that “sugar” is unhealthy and must be prevented at any time when potential, particularly in case you have diabetes.