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Thread: Diabetic vegans

  1. #1

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    Default Diabetic vegans

    So I know that a vegan diet is supposed to be good for diabetics, and can even reverse the disease and/or allow them to quit using their medications. Are any of you vegans out there diabetic?

    I guess I'm not quite clear on the mechanism, if there is one, or if people know what it is, that makes a vegan diet good for diabetics. If you're a vegan who eats vegan brownies and potato chips and drinks Coke all day, are you as likely to be a diabetic as an omni who behaves that way? Or is there something about animal products that makes your metabolism less responsive to insulin? more likely to develop diabetes?

    My mom is a diabetic--and a lifelong omni--and I want to know a little more about this before I really try to talk her into becoming vegan. She is respectful of my choices, but insists she could never do anything that "radical" herself. But if I could show her that it could really make a difference to her health, she might be more open to it.

    Also, since I share genes with her, I'm wondering what the chances are of me becoming diabetic even as a long-time vegan.

  2. #2
    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Diabetic vegans

    Hello. I'm not diabetic - I think there may be someone on the forum with type 1 diabetes but I guess you're asking about type 2 (adult onset) are you?

    From what I've read I don't think there's anything about animal products that makes the metabolism less responsive to insulin. I think it's more that vegetarian and vegan diets tend to be (though they aren't necessarily) "healthy", e.g. high in fibre and low in fat etc. ETA vegans are also less likely to be very overweight which increases your chances of type 2 diabetes I believe.

    http://www.diabetes.co.uk/vegetarian-diet.html is quite interesting though it does imply that all vegetarian diets are healthy which they obviously aren't.

    I guess the answer to your question "If you're a vegan who eats vegan brownies and potato chips and drinks Coke all day, are you as likely to be a diabetic as an omni who behaves that way?" is possibly yes, unfortunately.

    Perhaps even if she doesn't want to become vegan your mom would try eating more vegan meals (high fibre and low fat ones) to see if that makes her feel better?

  3. #3

    Default Re: Diabetic vegans

    One thing I liked about (healthy) vegan meals, is that at my school there's all-you-can-eat, so while I'm not diabetic I am a bit overweight (I used to be even more so), and so by choosing healthier vegan meals, I found that to lose weight I didn't have to restrict my portions so severely as I would have to in order dto lose weight as an omni (as long as I didn't pour on the vegan margarine and so forth). Now that I am at a healthier weight I find it's easier to keep stable, though soy ice cream and chocolate is a definite thing to watch out for, especially if they have really yummy varieties like chocolate brownie almond around.

    In a study I read being reported about, the group of diabetics who were on the vegan diet weren't very restricted calorically like those on the omni diet (as long as they ate well per the guidelines, high fiber low fat and keeping to a low glycemic load foods I believe), so it was a bit easier to sustain than the other reccomended diet.

    This interests me too, because while I have always tested as having a normal blood sugar that doctors have wondered if I was diabetic or hypoglycemic for a few years. My diet is much better now, not only for the non-human animals but now I see for this animal (myself) as well.

  4. #4

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    Default Re: Diabetic vegans

    Thanks for the input. My mom is the sort who wants a magic bullet or nothing, so unless I can say with conviction that a vegan diet is magic for blood sugar control, there's no point in getting into the whole discussion with her. I guess I'll wait for them to do more research on this; in the meantime, I know which side my bread is vegan margarined on.

  5. #5

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    Default Re: Diabetic vegans

    I am type 2 diabetic and I would be interested in more information on a Vegan diet for diabetics. I started my transition last August. I have successfully eliminated beef and lamb. I'm getting there!

  6. #6

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    Default Re: Diabetic vegans

    I'm type 1 and I find that in the most part diabetes control is more about making sensible choices than being Vegan (E.G, eating fruit instead of brownies, having complex carbs rather than simple ones), however there are some areas where being Vegan does help with Diabetes -

    Diabetics are more inclined to have increase cholesterol levels, but being Vegan tends to combat that (with dietary cholesterol only coming from Animal products we're kind of onto a winner with that one!) and as Harpy stated, with Vegans/Vegetarians less likely to be overweight, this *can* help with diabetes as fat around the middle of the body releases toxins which cause insulin resistance (therefore being thinner means needing less insulin)

    I think I have posted this before but when I first became Vegan my family were not happy about it and asked that I visit my GP to check that it was OK with him first. He was very positive about it and his response was "why would it be bad for diabetes, it generally means eating whole foods (such as lentils) which promote better blood sugar control?" and I have to admit that since going Vegan I do eat far better than I used to. The only caveat that he had was that I take a basic Vegan multivitamin "just in case".

    Personally I think the best thing for Diabetes control/prevention is a sensible/healthy diet (I tend to be very strict 6 days a week and relax 1 day) and regular exercise - I recently went for a annual poke and prod at the diabetes clinic and was told that I have the best blood sugar levels they have seen in 12 years, that my kidneys are functioning at over 110% and that I have the best activity levels they have seen (they do this blood test for activity -.8 is the national average, 1.2 is good, 1.5 is excellent and mine was 1.9). I put this down to 3 things - a sensible diet, swimming 3 times a week and being Vegan.

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