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The Diabetes Code

Prevent and Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally

Who is it for?
About the author
The Diabetes Code (2018) addresses one of the western world’s most alarming health
epidemics: the rise of type 2 diabetes – a disorder closely related to poor diet and obesity. But
as Jason Fung shows, it can be reversed. The important thing is to figure out what works and
what doesn’t. Drawing on his professional experience as well as the latest scientific data,
Fung makes a powerful case for a dietary strategy to prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes that
you can start implementing today.

 What’s in it for me? A practical plan for tackling type 2 diabetes.

 Diabetes is related to high blood sugar, but different forms of the disorder have
differing roots.

 Like obesity, type 2 diabetes can’t be treated by simply limiting calorie intake.

 Insulin resistance is caused by fat deposits in the liver, and it can develop very
rapidly.

 Rising fructose consumption is a contributor to widespread fatty liver disease.

 Insulin shots aren’t the answer to type 2 diabetes, because too much insulin is bad for
the body.

 Bariatric surgery can be an effective cure for type 2 diabetes, but it’s not the best
solution overall.
  You can prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes by avoiding fructose and refined
carbohydrates.

 Intermittent fasting is a much more effective cure for type 2 diabetes than daily
portion control.

 Final summary

What’s in it for me? A practical plan for

tackling type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is a modern epidemic. Nearly 400 million people have the disorder around
the world, with 28 million of them in the US alone – and it’s on the rise.

The cause? Carb- and sugar-heavy diets and a sedentary lifestyle our bodies just can’t keep
up with. That, in turn, leads to insulin resistance and all sorts of serious health issues.

Unfortunately, the standard treatment for type 1 diabetes just doesn’t work for type 2
diabetes. In fact, there’s plenty of evidence that insulin shots actually increase the risk of
cardiovascular diseases, strokes and heart attacks if you have type 2 diabetes.

But there’s a solution. As Jason Fung shows in The Diabetes Code, dietary changes and
intermittent fasting can help put type 2 diabetes patients on the road to health, while sparing
themselves expensive and invasive surgery.

In the following blinks, you’ll learn

 why drugs might not be the answer to type 2 diabetes;

 about the risks of weight loss surgery; and
 how to prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes by changing your diet.

Diabetes is related to high blood sugar, but

different forms of the disorder have
differing roots.
Diabetes – and type 2 diabetes in particular – is on the rise. The figures make for a worrying
read: one hospital in New York recently reported that it was treating ten times as many
diabetes patients in 2000 than it had been in 1990 and that the majority of new cases were
type 2.

Diabetes is a disorder related to high blood sugar and consists of four basic types. These
include types 1 and 2, as well as gestational diabetes caused by high blood sugar levels
during pregnancy. Other types of the disorder are related to genetic problems and a
dysfunctional pancreas.
Its symptoms include thirst and needing to urinate frequently. Both reflect the fact that the
kidney isn’t processing blood sugar or, to give it its proper name, glucose, in the patient’s
body. The body responds by trying to eliminate excess glucose through frequent urination.

Let’s take a look at the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

The former is an autoimmune disease. That means that the body’s immune system is
attacking insulin-producing cells. Insulin is the hormone responsible for regulating blood
sugar levels.

When the body stops creating enough insulin, blood sugar levels spike. That’s why type 1
diabetes patients need insulin shots to live safely.

Type 2 diabetes is different. It’s typically the result of a poor, sugar-rich diet. The body
responds by producing large amounts of insulin in an attempt to regulate all the ingested
sugar.

Eventually, the body’s cells become insulin-resistant. That means they no longer react to
insulin because there’s just too much of it the body.

As a result, Insulin shots aren’t particularly well suited to treating type 2 diabetes. The
problem, after all, isn’t a lack of insulin – as it is with type 1 diabetes – but too much insulin.

Like obesity, type 2 diabetes can’t be

treated by simply limiting calorie intake.
The way we describe the world changes all the time. We look for new words to describe new
phenomena. Just think of “bromance” – a popular term used to describe close, non-sexual
relationships between two men.

But have you ever heard of diabesity? It’s another recent coinage and is a useful way of
highlighting a novel trend in western society: the epidemic of people suffering from a
combination of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The close link between obesity and type 2 diabetes was conclusively demonstrated back in
1990 by Walter Willett, a nutritional expert at Harvard University.

His research showed that post-puberty weight gain is the most significant factor in increasing
the risk of type 2 diabetes. Putting on 44-77 pounds of weight, for example, means that we’re
an astounding 11,300 percent more likely to develop the disorder.

Willett and his colleagues carried out follow-up studies in 1995. These showed that even
small weight gains dramatically increased the chance of type 2 diabetes. An extra 10 to 20
pounds increases the chance of type 2 diabetes by 90 percent.

Unfortunately, it took a while before these breakthroughs became widely accepted in the
general medical community. But today there’s no room for doubt: type 2 diabetes is
intimately connected to weight gain and obesity.
That said, neither obesity nor type 2 diabetes can be cured by simply consuming fewer
calories. When we consume fewer calories, our bodies reduce their metabolic rates – the
amount of energy needed to keep our hearts pumping and brains functioning.

Although this was the solution first proposed by doctors and nutritionists, a sharp reduction in
daily calorie intake just doesn’t work.

Ultimately, our sense of hunger and calorie intake depends on our hormones. More
specifically, it’s our insulin levels that are responsible. That means losing weight is all about
reducing our insulin levels.

Reducing overall food consumption doesn’t help achieve that. What we really need to do is
avoid specific types of food.

Insulin resistance is caused by fat deposits

in the liver, and it can develop very rapidly.
Most people know that excessive alcohol consumption is hard on the liver. But alcohol isn’t
the only culprit when it comes to liver damage.

Let’s start with glycogen: it’s a substance which stores carbohydrates in our bodies. Too
much of it creates fatty deposits in the liver, which over time leads to insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance is the first step on the road to type 2 diabetes. It’s the result of excessive
carbohydrate and protein consumption.

Unlike other dietary fats which can be stored throughout the body, glucose from protein and
carbs is transported straight to the liver. Once it arrives there, it’s converted into a reserve of
glycogen which can be used when blood sugar levels sink.

But once this reserve is fully stocked, the body starts converting new glycogens into fat,
which is then exported to other parts of the body.

The problems start when the liver can’t keep pace with our protein and carb intake. When
that happens, the fat is no longer exported but stays in the liver. And as the liver becomes
fattier, it stops accepting further glucose.

When our blood sugar levels rise, insulin is released. That, in turn, encourages the liver to
accept more glucose. Once the liver starts struggling to process that glucose, even more
insulin is released to fix the problem.

This creates a vicious cycle. The more insulin there is in our bodies, the less the liver reacts to
it. That’s what doctors mean when they talk about insulin resistance.

And it doesn’t take much to develop a fatty, insulin-resistant liver.

Take a study carried out in 2008 by neurosurgeon Suzanne De La Monte: she found that
people can develop insulin resistance in as little as three weeks just by eating 1000 calories of
sugary snacks a day.

During those three unhealthy weeks, the participant’s body weight only increased by two
percent, but the amount of fat stored in their liver increased by a massive 27 percent!

Luckily, this fatty liver effect can be reversed by returning to a normal diet with fewer carbs
and less fructose.

Rising fructose consumption is a

contributor to widespread fatty liver
disease.
In 2009, the endocrinologist Robert Lustig uploaded a video to YouTube that quickly went
viral. In it, he confirmed what many had long suspected: that sugar is toxic for the body.

One type of sugar is particularly bad for our health. It’s called fructose and is a major
contributor to the development of type 2 diabetes.

Like glucose, fructose is unhealthy and practically devoid of nutritional value, especially in
its refined forms. But it also has an added sting in its tail: the liver can’t break it down.

Around 80 percent of glucose is metabolized outside the liver, meaning the organ only has to
deal with a fifth of all ingested glucose. Fructose, on the other hand, goes straight to the liver
where it can quickly lead to fatty liver disease and, eventually, diabetes.

That’s because the liver simply can’t metabolize large quantities of fructose on top the all the
glucose it’s already getting from proteins and carbs.

The bad news is that fructose now plays a larger role in our diets than ever before.

And that’s the problem: fructose isn’t inherently bad for us – what really damages our health
is consuming too much of it.

In the nineteenth century, people ate around 15-20 grams of fructose a day, mostly in the
form of fresh fruits containing relatively small amounts of the sugar.

But people’s diets started changing after the Second World War. This was largely a result of
increased sugar cane and sugar beet production. By the 1970s, daily fructose consumption per
person had increased to 37 grams.

The most devastating development, however, was the emergence of fructose-rich corn syrup.
It was a cheap source of the sugar, and soon enough was being added to all sorts of processed
foods. Eventually, it could be found in everything from sauces to ready meals, breads and
sweets.
By 2000, per capita fructose consumption in the US had climbed to 78 grams a day. There’s
no doubt that this is part of the problem.

The author’s own research shows that countries in which corn syrup is popular have 20
percent more cases of diabetes than countries in which less fructose is consumed.

Insulin shots aren’t the answer to type 2

diabetes, because too much insulin is bad
for the body.
There’s no question that the ability to produce insulin in laboratories and treat type 1 diabetes
was a major medical breakthrough. But insulin shots aren’t a silver bullet in the fight against
type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes and obesity aren’t just fitness issues. Left untreated, they can lead to
cardiovascular diseases, including heart attacks.

Insulin shots aren’t particularly effective in that context. While they can help type 2 diabetes
patients regulate their blood sugar levels in the short term, long-term use can actually damage
their health. In some cases, they can even cause death at a younger age.

That was shown by G.L. Duff and G.C. MacMillan back in 1949. Their studies on animals
revealed that high insulin levels can lead to atherosclerosis – a hardening of the arteries
linked to heart attacks and strokes.

Modern research also highlights the fact that insulin shots aren’t suited to the treatment of
type 2 diabetes. They regularly show that lowering blood sugar levels actually increases the
risk of heart disease.

Consider the American National Institute of Health’s massive ACCORD study from 1999:
the scientists behind it investigated whether insulin treatment could reduce cardiovascular
fatalities among type 2 diabetes patients.

One group of patients received normal doses of insulin as well as heart medication. The other
group received higher doses of both insulin and heart medication. The aim was to bring the
second group’s blood sugar levels down quicker.

The study was a spectacular failure. The patients receiving higher doses of insulin and
medication died 22 percent more quickly than those who’d been given normal dosages. In the
end, the whole study had to be called off.

The Canadian scientist J.M. Gamble carried out another study in 2010. He found that type 2
diabetes patients receiving insulin treatments were 279 percent more likely to develop
coronary disease than other patients.
Bariatric surgery can be an effective cure
for type 2 diabetes, but it’s not the best
solution overall.
Obesity is a serious problem. Take one of the author’s patients: Adrian weighs 208 kilograms
and lost his job because of his disastrous health issues.

Many patients in a similar situation consider resorting to a drastic solution: elective weight
loss surgery.

Doctors call it bariatric surgery, and it involves removing a large portion of the stomach.

It’s an effective cure for type 2 diabetes, and in most cases, the disorder simply disappears
after patients have the operation.

So how does it work?

Well, the operation dramatically reduces the number of calories that can be ingested. That
gives the liver a chance to use up its glycogen reserves and burn up the fatty deposits which
had made it insulin resistant.

Just how effective the surgery can be was shown by P.R. Schauer and his colleagues in a
study carried out at the Cleveland Clinic in 2012.

Type 2 diabetes patients who underwent bariatric surgery were in much better health than
their counterparts who received insulin treatments. After three months, the former patients
could be taken off their diabetes medication entirely – they were cured!

That applies to 95 percent of type 2 diabetes patients who have the operation. Additional
benefits of bariatric surgery include long-term weight loss as well as lower blood pressure for
more than 70 percent of all patients.

So that must be the cure all we were looking for, right?

Well, no. The problem is the procedure is incredibly expensive, highly invasive and can lead
to all sorts of complications further down the road. These include internal bleeding, infection
and reduced nutrient absorption.

But there is a silver lining. The good news is that the positive effects of bariatric surgery can
be achieved by much simpler means. In the next blink, we’ll take a look at them.

You can prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes

by avoiding fructose and refined
carbohydrates.
In 2015, a hospital in Texas was confronted with a three-year-old type 2 diabetes patient – the
youngest diabetes patient on record.

That’s a pretty good indicator that the disorder is out of control and that knowing how to
prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes is more important than ever before.

So, how can you reverse and prevent it? There are two highly effective strategies you can
adopt today.

The first is to avoid fructose.

The obvious place to start is banishing sugars from your kitchen and dining table. That goes
for sucrose – a sugar composed of one part glucose and one part fructose – as well as high-
fructose corn syrup.

Cutting fructose from your diet means being wary of the products in which it often hides.
These include sweet drinks like cocktails, smoothies and flavored waters.

Candy, cakes and pastries are also obviously off-limits. But remember, bread and pasta also
often contain added sugar. Your safest bet is to check the ingredients list and leave anything
containing sugar on the supermarket shelf.

Caution is also advisable when it comes to sauces, condiments and even meats. Sugar is an
easy way to make all kinds of food tastier. That’s something vendors and producers know,
which is why they add it to their products.

Eating out, especially if it’s something you do often, can also be a minefield. Don’t be shy
about asking your waiter about the fructose content of various dishes before placing your
order.

The second strategy you can adopt to prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes is to avoid refined
carbohydrates.

Refined carbs belong to the worst food group of all because of their role in sending your
insulin levels through the roof. So steer clear of refined wheat-based products like bread,
pasta, corn-based tortillas, popcorn, fries, chips and white rice.

That doesn’t mean you have to give up on old favorites. Not all carbohydrates are unhealthy
– switch to unrefined carbs like brown rice and whole-wheat pasta and you can still enjoy
some of your favorite dishes.

These alternatives don’t stimulate insulin production nearly as much as their refined
counterparts and can be part of a healthy diet.

Turfing out refined carbohydrates means there’s a vacancy in your nutritional plan. Fill it
with nourishing fatty foods like high-quality oils, fish, avocados and nuts.
Intermittent fasting is a much more
effective cure for type 2 diabetes than daily
portion control.
Fasting has long been a known cure for diabetes. Elliott Joslin, an early American diabetes
specialist, advocated it as a treatment more than a century ago in 1916.

However, a lot has changed in the medical profession since then. Today, the focus has
increasingly shifted to using drugs to treat diabetes. But it’s time to rediscover more
traditional cures.

So what exactly does fasting involve?

One possibility is daily portion control, but that’s probably not the best answer. Curing
diabetes and encouraging weight loss aren’t easy things to achieve.

Consider a British study carried out in 2015: it analyzed the effectiveness of normal
nutritional counseling that focused on portion control and concluded that this approach failed
for 99.5 percent of all participants. They just didn’t lose very much weight.

The reason it doesn’t work is that lowering daily calorie intake merely slows down your
metabolic rate while increasing your sensation of hunger. That’s tough to endure and sooner
or later most dieters cave in and are quickly back to their original weight.

A much bettser approach is intermittent fasting.

That’s basically about abstaining from all foods for a set amount of time, and could be
anything from a day to a week. After that, people can return to their normal diets.

The effort required to follow this kind of plan is much more concentrated, which makes it
easier to implement than the daily grind of portion control.

And, most importantly, it works! Fasting causes a dip in the body’s insulin production,
meaning it stays insulin-sensitive rather than developing a resistance to the hormone.

Another British study conducted in 2011 by N.M. Harvie underscores the effectiveness of
this approach. Harvie compared two groups of dieters. The first ate a Mediterranean diet with
a restricted calorie intake, while the second ate normally for five days a week and fasted for
the other two.

Both groups experienced some weight loss after six months, but the second group also had
much lower insulin levels than the first.

This suggests that intermittent fasting might be the best cure for type 2 diabetes. After all, it’s
high insulin levels and insulin resistance which are responsible for the disorder and fasting
helps reduce these.
Final summary
The key message in these blinks:

Type 2 diabetes differs significantly from type 1 diabetes. Whereas the latter is
characterized by low insulin levels, the former is a product of dangerously high insulin
levels which, in turn, leads to insulin resistance and a range of serious health issues. The
good news is that type 2 diabetes can be reversed. Combine carb avoidance and a
change in diet with intermittent fasting and you’ll be well on your way to recovery.

Actionable advice

Fasting is effective, but you need to find a regimen that works for you.

Intermittent fasting is a great way of lowering your insulin levels, but it takes a bit of fine-
tuning to get it right. If you’re new to the idea, start by consulting a medical or nutritional
expert. The next step is to find a regimen that suits your metabolism. Some people prefer to
fast for longer periods less frequently, while others find more frequent but shorter fasts more
effective. The key is experimenting. Try fasting for 3-4 days every two months, or simply
skipping dinner and fasting for eighteen hours before breakfast. And remember to keep
yourself well hydrated during whatever regimen you go with and stop if you feel sick!

Suggested further reading: Super Immunity by Joel Fuhrmann, MD

Super Immunity (2011) reveals the secret to a better, stronger immune system and healthier
body: superfoods. These blinks shed light on the shortcomings of modern medicine and teach
you how to take advantage of the healing powers of plant foods rich in nutrients and
phytochemicals.