Have you ever walked down the corridor of a rehabilitation ward in a hospital and noticed all the people in wheelchairs who are minus one leg, or two legs, or perhaps a half a leg? Or, have you walked down a city street and almost bumped into someone in a motorized wheelchair with the same condition?

Such has been my experience, and further inquiry into the matter revealed that these amputations were the result of a very serious disease called Diabetes. This picture is somewhat different than one seen just 10 years ago. Why the alarming increase?

Type 2 Diabetes is on a very scary uphill climb and has actually become an epidemic, especially in affluent societies. While formerly known to be a disease of middle age, and formerly called “adult-onset diabetes,” we now see it being diagnosed in children. Hence this type of diabetes is now simply called Type 2. What’s the cause?

A biochemist who once worked as a food scientist and biochemist for two of North America’s largest corporations was told to alter foods so that the consumer would be left unsatisfied and therefore in need of continuing to eat more and more.

Have you ever had just one Oreo cookie? What you should know is that the producing company spent millions of dollars developing a formula that contains 23 different appetite stimulants and 11 artificial colors to make certain you “can’t eat just one.” When the naturally occurring fiber in whole food is removed and appetite stimulants are added, people almost automatically overeat. Some of the commonly known appetite stimulants are sugar, aspartame (NutraSweet), MSG, and fat (especially deep-fried). Most people do not realize that appetite stimulants in foods are covered under the category of “artificial and natural flavorings.”

Foods found on shelves of stores should sustain the good health of the consumer—only “live” foods should be consumed. The heart of the matter, however, is that high profits can only be made with long shelf life foods. Children’s “cereals” have an indefinite shelf life. So do potato chips, soft drinks, and pancake mixes.

Companies are more concerned about the shelf life of their products than about the shelf life of those who eat those products. Children, not to mention most adults, are very vulnerable to all the trickery of advertising and are thus beckoned into indulging in empty calories that do not provide proper nourishment, only a wider girth.

Type 2 Diabetes is not the result of a lack of insulin. It is the product of diet and lifestyle choices that cause the body to become resistant to insulin. As North America continues to gain weight, its rate of diabetes is spiraling out of control and therefore diabetes is often associated with obesity. Type 2 diabetics can produce insulin, but the insulin doesn’t do its job. This is called insulin resistance, which means that once the insulin starts “giving orders” to dispatch the blood sugar, the body doesn’t pay attention. The insulin is rendered ineffective and the blood sugar is not metabolized properly.

Researchers have found that high-fat (animal fat), low-carbohydrate diets, and the consumption of animal protein are associated with the onset of Type 2 diabetes. In dietary studies involving Seventh-day Adventist lacto-ovo vegetarians, as compared to Adventist “moderate” meat eaters, the vegetarians had about one-half the rate of diabetes and almost half the rate of obesity. The rate of diabetes decreased even more dramatically when the studies compared Adventist “vegan” vegetarians as compared to the first two groups. These and many other findings show that both across and within populations, high-fiber, whole, plant-based foods protect against diabetes, and high-fat, high-protein, animal-based foods promote diabetes.

What are the complications of diabetes? Heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney disease, nervous system disease, amputation, dental diseases, pregnancy complications, impotence, increased susceptibility to other illnesses, and death, to name a few.

Beating Diabetes

Diabetes can be prevented and it can also be beaten!

A low-fat, plant-based diet and exercise can reverse diabetes and allow persons to discontinue their insulin medication. This has been proven time and time again. It’s time to eat “foods-as-grown”, prepared with as little fat, sugar, and salt as possible.

The Master Designer knows what is best for us—He made the food for us which is different from what corporations do with food. Let us not have our taste buds and health manipulated by greedy food industries.

Ellen White says this in Ministry of Healing, 310:

Our bodies are Christ’s purchased possession, and we are not at liberty to do with them as we please. All who understand the laws of health should realize their obligation to obey these laws which God has established in their being. Obedience to the laws of health is to be made a matter of personal duty. We ourselves must suffer the results of violated law. We must individually answer to God for our habits and practices. Therefore the question with us is not, ‘What is the world’s practice?’ but, ‘How shall I as an individual treat the habitation that God has given me?”

Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness (Ecclesiastes 10:17)!

Watch this video on diabetes from Dr. Joel Fuhrman:

Learn more about the dangers of refined sugars