Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane

the good news: chronic disease is preventable and reversible

What about Type 1 Diabetes?

Please don’t misinterpret my focus on type 2 diabetes by think-
ing that I am not concerned about the tragedy of type 1 diabetes,
which is more prevalent in children, because it deeply saddens me.
Type 1 diabetes is less prevalent than type 2 diabetes, and once
it occurs it is not reversible. It accounts for 5 to 15 percent of the
total diabetics, depending on what population you study.^31
The plant-strong diet approach I have been recommending
will not cure type 1 diabetes, but it can help control it, many times
reducing the level of insulin requirements. Most importantly, the
plant-based approach mentioned previously that can dramatically
prevent and even reverse type 2 diabetes, helps protect against the
consequences of lifelong high blood sugar and insulin levels, such
as eye, kidney, nerve, and cardiovascular damage.
While researching new ways to create insulin in the body are
important, studying why type 1 diabetes occurs in the first place is
equally if not more important. Three areas that I would like to see
studied urgently are as follows:

• The role of vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy, lactation,
  and early childhood, setting the stage for an autoimmune or
  infectious insult that might damage the pancreas in the first
  place, leading to lack of insulin production.^32


• The role of early cow’s milk and wheat (gluten) introduction
  in children, triggering an autoimmune reaction resulting in
  damage to the same insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.^33


• The role of altered microflora and intestinal immune dys-
  function in setting the stage for antigen uptake that results
  in autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing cells in
  the pancreas.^34

The bottom line is that these three potential causes of type
1 diabetes are so easy to correct if implicated. They can do no
harm and may result in lifelong benefit. Take vitamin D during
pregnancy and start it immediately after birth in the child; avoid
cow’s milk products in childhood; and possibly supplement with