Don't go low-cal to fight diabetes

I can't think of any good reason to ever starve yourself on purpose -- but researchers keep pushing ultra-low calorie diets for everything from longevity to disease prevention.

The latest: A new push to brand these extreme and dangerous diets as a "cure" for
diabetes.

Over the summer, researchers claimed that three months of 600 calories a day -- mostly in the form of diet shakes -- "cured" the disease in seven out of 11 patients.

And now, in a dangerous game of "how low can you go," a different group of researchers claimed they were able to cure the disease on a diet of just 500 calories a day.

This time, it took four months as researchers put 15 patients with type 2 diabetes onto the strict lifestyle, again based on meal replacement shakes. After the very first day, none of the patients needed insulin -- and after 16 weeks, they all lost weight, gained blood sugar control, and had improvements in their overall cardiovascular health.

By some miracle, all 15 dieters managed to stay with the study -- and even 14 months after the four months of pure hell, most of the improvements remained (although many of the dieters regained at least some of their weight, of course).

So is there something to all this? Maybe -- but why bother with it when there's a much better way?

After all, you can beat and even cure your diabetes, starting today, and not have to count a single calorie or even surrender all hope of ever eating anything delicious again.

Diets extremely low in carbohydrates have been shown to prevent, slow, stop and even reverse both diabetes and pre-diabetes to the point where even people who were once completely reliant on drugs and insulin no longer need their meds.

And instead of hearing their stomachs growl all day, they get to enjoy grilled steaks, pork chops, chicken wings, real butter and more.

Just last month, I told you how one version of the low-carb diet -- an all-natural diet called the "paleo" or "caveman" diet because it's based on what our ancient ancestors ate -- reversed pre-diabetes.

So forget counting calories, diet shakes and any other gimmick that comes along. If you want to "cure" your diabetes -- or simply want to slash your risk of getting it in the first place -- cut down on the carbs instead.

On a mission for your health,
Ed Martin
Editor, House Calls