The Paleo Diet for Diabetes

As many of us know, the Paleo diet is a great option for many people that suffer from various illnesses like Crohn’s or Celiac disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and more. There’s also been indication that following a Paleo lifestyle may make sense for diabetics as well, since the diet helps keep weight under control and tosses out sugars, dairy, and carbs.

Diabetes has become somewhat of an epidemic in the modern world lately, with three new diagnoses every minute in the United States (source). Diabetes affects about 25 million in the US and 79 million more Americans are pre-diabetic or have some sort of other diabetes-related metabolic conditions. Much of these statistics can be attributed to a poor diet and lack of exercise. However, the Paleo diet offers diabetics some ways to help lessen the severity of the disease, control the symptoms, and possibly get your body to a place where diabetes is no longer a part of your life (only if you have type II, that is).

How Diabetics can benefit from Paleo

In type II Diabetes, a person’s pancreas produces too much insulin, which causes insulin resistance, an inflammatory condition. In type I, alternatively, the body cannot produce insulin, triggering an autoimmune response in the pancreas. While both types of Diabetes certainly have a genetic basis, specific environmental factors must be present to ‘trigger’ the gene like dietary toxins, pollutants, and lack of exercise.

When you eat carbohydrates, your body converts it to glucose (sugar), and I think you can figure out where we’re going from here. By limiting your intake of sugar and carbs on the Paleo diet, you’re taking pressure off your pancreas, therefore alleviating some of the effects of Diabetes. When you are basing your diet in fat and protein, rather than carbs and sugar, no dramatic glucose spikes will occur that lead to insulin resistance. Additionally, the Paleo lifestyle insists upon organic, raw foods, therefore eliminating many toxins and hormones that you’ll find in some meats and produce, again giving your body exactly what it needs.

Let Evolve help you with Paleo for Diabetes

At Evolve Paleo Chef, we are here to be your resource for all things Paleo. Be sure to take advantage of the delicious Paleo snacks and foods in our online shop to help make Paleo as easy as possible for you!