Prevent or Even Reverse Diabetes (Part 3)

Fiber is defined as that portion of the food that is indigestible. It is found in plants in two broad categories – soluble and insoluble. The soluble fiber soaks up moisture and makes a kind of gelatinous slurry (a little bit like Jell-O) in the small intestine. This slows the movement of nutrients so that the meal is “delivered” to the bloodstream in five to six hours rather than in a much shorter time. This long-lasting, smooth delivery of nutrients (including sugar) allows the body to control blood sugar levels. If refined carbs are in our food, there are blood sugar spikes followed by dramatic lows as the body struggles to control the unexpected surges of nutrient delivery.

Imagine a group of people standing in a swimming pool filled with shoulder-deep molasses. Let’s say they are instructed to get out of the pool as fast as possible. They struggle through the thick goo to the pool edge and climb out. Obviously it would take much longer to get out than it the pool had water in it. Let’s let the pool represent the small intestine and the people represent the nutrients that are being sorbed into the bloodstream (leaving the pool). The fiber turns the water in pool into molasses. A refined diet would result in a more “waterlike” environment in the small intestines! A slower delivery of nutrients to the bloodstream is critical for good health.

Another benefit from fiber, though not such an immediate issue in diabetes, is that the insoluble fiber binds itself to the bile our bodies make (almost pure cholesterol) and other forms of cholesterol that came from our diet. These “hooked-together” molecules of cholesterol and fiber are too large to be absorbed into the bloodstream and so are excreted – which means this bound cholesterol is not absorbed into the blood. The obvious effect is a lowering of our (blood serum) cholesterol.

The physicians we work with in the Reversing Diabetes program believe that approximately 65 to 70 percent of a diabetic’s recovery is from exercise. They have found that diabetics aren’t likely to get well unless they exercise at a level equivalent to walking four miles each day.