Glycemic Foods, Not Obesity, Behind US Diabetes Epidemic, Says Medical Author

Refined carbohydrates such as sugar, sweetened foods and beverages, plus baked goods made with white flour have the highest GI scores, meaning they break down into glucose most rapidly and spike blood sugar levels quickly.

Nov 3 2010 --- Contradicting the recent report from the Centers for Disease Prevention (CDC) citing that rising obesity rates in the US will be responsible for a tripling of Type 2 diabetes by 2050, Dr. Stefan Ripich, author of The 30-Day Diabetes Cure, argues that increased consumption of foods high on the Glycemic Index not obesity is the real culprit.

The Glycemic Index (GI) ranks foods according to the speed which they metabolize into blood sugar. Refined carbohydrates such as sugar, sweetened foods and beverages, plus baked goods made with white flour have the highest GI scores, meaning they break down into glucose most rapidly and spike blood sugar levels quickly.

“We’re a nation of carboholics, and that’s what’s really behind the scary rise in diabetes rates,” the Santa Fe naturopath and certified nurse practitioner says. “These high GI foods elevate blood sugar levels and trigger insulin, the hormone that converts glucose to fat and stores it. ‘Losing weight’ isn’t the ‘solution’ health officials should be pushing. Limiting consumption of these problem carbs is a faster, easier, and more direct remedy.”

Dr. Ripich continues: “The real and easily attainable solution is eliminating fast-action carbs such as sweetened food and beverages, plus refined carbohydrates while eating more slow-acting carbohydrates, such as greens, vegetables and whole grains, and other fiber-rich foods.”

“When my patients do this, their Type 2 diabetes is naturally reversed often rather quickly,” he explains. “The pounds come off as a by-product of eating correctly because insulin levels are properly maintained, and blood sugar levels are normalized. This is the message the CDC, the American Diabetes Association, and other health organizations should be popularizing.”

Studies dating back to 1982 show that when people overconsume high-GI foods, they tend to develop health problems such as diabetes, hardening of the arteries, heart problems, and obesity. But when they consume low-glycemic, low-carb diets, these diseases vanish.

More recently, UCLA researchers found that modest diet and lifestyle changes reversed Type 2 in diabetics in as little as three weeks without partcipants needing to lose weight.

Most people doctors included think that a diabetes-reversing diet is extreme and unsatisfying. To correct this mistaken belief, Dr. Ripich is providing free recipes for a complete Diabetes Healing Thanksgiving Feast on his website at in celebration of November as National Diabetes Awareness Month.

Every five seconds a new case of diabetes is identified globally, with official estimates pegged at 7 million new cases each year. Dr. Ripich’s highly successful book, The 30 Day Diabetes Cure, addresses that scourge. It is based on solid medical research and guides readers in revamping their diet and lifestyle in a simple, easy “one-day-at-a-time” process that leads to significant improvements in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. His approach has completely reversed Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes in every patient Dr. Ripich has treated, while dramatically reducing insulin and other medications for people with Type 1.