Can Paleo Diet help for Diabetes?

Why Paleo Diet helps treat Diabetes

When a person consumes carbohydrates, they get metabolized into glucose in the body. Given that type I diabetes patients do not produce enough insulin to lower glucose and transport it into the cells, glucose levels remain high.

The Paleo diet helps type I diabetes patients because it is a low-carb diet, and eliminating carbohydrates helps keep blood sugar levels stable.

The Paleo diet also helps type I diabetes because it eliminates cereal grains and legumes from a person’s diet. These two food types can trigger an overwhelming immune response that can cause the body to start attacking the cells in the pancreas and preventing the pancreas from producing insulin properly.

Therefore, by removing these foods, the Paleo diet lowers the chances of an aggressive immune response that kills the beta cells in the pancreas and causes inflammation, preventing the production of insulin.

Furthermore, the diet is beneficial for diabetes because it eliminates gluten-containing cereal grains. People with type I diabetes have a different flora in their gut microbiome than non-diabetic people, and gluten damages the gut.

By encouraging type I diabetes patients to eat gluten-free foods, the diet helps maintain their gut health so they will have a healthier immune system that can function properly. Restoring the gut microbiome also helps better regulate blood glucose levels. Even though the diet might not completely cure type I diabetes, it might help people better manage the condition. 

The Paleo diet can also help type II diabetes patients. The Paleo diet helps people with type II diabetes because it lowers carbohydrate intake which lowers blood sugar levels and improves the body’s sensitivity to insulin. The diet also improves gut health, which leads to less insulin resistance.

How Paleo Diet works for Diabetes

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Paleo Diet for Diabetes: Food List

- Lean meat: eat lean meats such as beef, lamb, chicken, turkey, and pork. Always go for the meats that are less processed. For example, grass-fed and organic meats are always a better choice.

- Fish and seafood: eat fish such as salmon, shrimp, trout, and shellfish. Always go for the wild-caught fish option if possible.

- Eggs: eat eggs. Always go for the organic option if available.

- Non-starchy vegetables: eat vegetables such as broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cucumbers, onions, carrots, and tomatoes.

- Fruits: eat fruits such as apples, bananas, pears, oranges, cherries, and berries.

- Nuts and seeds: eat nuts and seeds such as almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds.

- Healthy fats and oils: add oils such as extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil to your meals.

- Herbs and Spices: add spices such as garlic, turmeric, and rosemary to your dishes.

Paleo Diet program for Diabetes

The Paleo diet is an eating plan that can be followed permanently throughout people’s lives. Hence, this diet does not need to be discontinued or cycled.

There are many ways to follow the Paleo diet. The main idea behind the diet program is to avoid processed foods and focus on eating healthy, whole foods instead.

The diet program is not built around restricting calories or eating specific amounts of food. Rather, it focuses on cutting down on all the grains, dairy products, and processed foods while focusing on a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, healthy oils, and lean meats.

Paleo diet for Diabetes: recommendations to follow

- Exercise regularly: the diet recommends at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity activity each week because their hunter-gatherer ancestors were always moving around. People should also incorporate muscle-strengthening activities into their routine.

- Get enough sleep: the diet recommends that people try to get at least 7 hours of sleep because sleep-deprived people have high cortisol levels. Cortisol increases the blood sugar level in the body, so high cortisol levels lead to higher blood sugar levels. 

Lack of sleep also affects different hormones such as the thyroid hormone, which affects how the body responds to insulin. Therefore, sleep deprivation may increase insulin resistance which leads to diabetes.

Paleo Diet for Diabetes: what you should avoid

The Paleo diet restricts or limits some food types. These foods include:

- Grains: avoid grains such as oats, wheat, barley, and rice. 

- Starchy vegetables: avoid starchy vegetables such as potatoes and corn.

- Legumes: avoid legumes such as beans and lentils.

- Dairy products: avoid dairy products such as milk, yogurt, cheese, and ice cream.

- High-fat and processed meats: avoid high fat and processed meats such as salami, bologna, pepperoni, hot dogs, ground meat, and ribs avoid all processed foods such as canned or frozen foods. They are high in sugar, salt, fat, and additives.

- Trans-fats: avoid trans-fat foods such as doughnuts, fast foods, fruit snacks, and baked goods.

- Artificial sweeteners: avoid artificial sweeteners that are mainly found in diet products such as soft drinks and pastries.

- Salty foods: avoid high salt foods such as crackers, chips, pretzels, and soy sauce.

Additional Paleo Diet benefits

The Paleo diet helps improve certain medical conditions and is beneficial for overall health. Besides diabetes, the Paleo diet can treat several diseases like heart disease, cancer, celiac disease, gout, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s. It also helps with weight loss and benefits skin health.

A list of the Paleo diet benefits for each of the following conditions is listed below:

- Heart disease: the Paleo diet reduces the risk of heart disease because it incorporates healthy foods that could reduce blood pressure and lipid profiles, such as triglycerides and cholesterol.

- Cancer: the Paleo diet is beneficial for cancer because it is a low-carb diet. Tumors need glucose from carbohydrates to grow, so a low-carb diet stops tumors from growing. It increases fiber and fruit and vegetable intake, which is important in maintaining gut health as it protects against certain types of cancer.

- Gout: the Paleo diet is beneficial for gout because it eliminates carbs and sugars. This causes the liver to produce normal levels of uric acid. The lack of carbs and sugars also helps kidneys excrete uric acid properly.

-Osteoporosis: the Paleo diet is beneficial for osteoporosis because it reduces inflammation in the body by incorporating a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy oils, and fish that have anti-inflammatory properties. The diet also eliminates gluten because it causes inflammation in the body.

- Alzheimer’s: the Paleo diet is beneficial for Alzheimer’s because it reduces inflammation in the body by incorporating a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy oils, and fish that have anti-inflammatory properties.

- Lupus: the Paleo diet is beneficial for lupus patients because it eliminates foods that increase intestinal permeability, which may trigger an unwanted immune response. The diet also restricts gluten because it causes leaky gut, and eliminates dairy, legumes, processed foods, refined sugars, and vegetable oils that negatively affect gut health.

- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): the Paleo diet is beneficial for IBD disease because it reduces inflammation in the body by incorporating a variety of anti-inflammatory foods, such as fruits and vegetables, healthy oils, and fish that can help heal the gut.

- Skin health: the Paleo diet is beneficial for the skin because it restricts foods that cause inflammation. It also incorporates a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy oils, and fish that have anti-inflammatory properties and help prevent aging and protect the skin. 

- Weight loss: the Paleo diet contributes to weight loss because it eliminates high-fat, high sugar, and processed foods. People on a Paleo diet might also notice an increase in satiety due to the higher intake of proteins and fats. Hence, they will consume smaller portions of food.

Paleo Diet for Diabetes: precautions

Everyone can try the Paleo diet. However, there are some precautions you should take before trying it, especially if you have diabetes. Consult your doctor before following the Paleo diet if you have:

- Kidney problems: the Paleo diet increases the consumption of protein. People with kidney problems need to eat protein in moderation because eating large amounts of proteins can further damage the kidneys.

- Liver and pancreatic problems: the Paleo diet increases the consumption of fats. People with liver and kidney problems need to eat fats in moderation because eating large amounts of fats can further damage both the liver and the pancreas.

- Heart disease: the Paleo diet increases the consumption of meat, which can increase the levels of saturated fats, possibly leading to heart disease. Hence, red meat should be consumed in moderation. The diet recommends that people consume lean meat.

- Type I diabetes: the Paleo diet decreases the carbohydrate intake that is normally consumed on a daily basis. To prevent hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, people with type I diabetes should consult their doctors to adjust the doses of their medication.

- Low blood pressure: the Paleo lowers blood pressure because it lowers the levels of cortisol in the body and reduces salt intake. People with low blood pressure should drink lots of water and eat foods with electrolytes to regulate their blood pressure. They should use natural sea salt if they need to add salt to their meals.

Paleo Diet for Diabetes: side effects

The Paleo diet is recommended for all individuals. However, it can cause some side effects.

Always consult a medical or healthcare expert before starting a diet or treatment.

The following section contains a list of side effects you may experience while on the diet.

- Nutritional deficiencies: the Paleo diet eliminates some food groups from one’s diet. This can lead to nutritional deficiencies. For example, the diet does not incorporate dairy into meals, and this can lead to calcium and vitamin D deficiencies. 

- Hypoglycemia: the Paleo diet decreases carbohydrate intake. This can lead to hypoglycemia or low blood sugar because the diet decreases the amount of glucose in the body. 

- Low-carb flu: following the Paleo diet decreases carbohydrate intake, and many people report experiencing low-carb flu. The symptoms include headaches, fatigue, weakness, and irritability, but these will go away on their own within a couple of days to several weeks at most. 

- Halitosis or bad breath: The Paleo diet increases the consumption of protein. This may cause bad breath because increased protein intake causes the gut to produce hydrogen sulfide to digest foods properly but can also cause bad breath.

You can also have bad breath on the Paleo diet if your body has gone into ketosis. While ketones are a great source of energy, they can also contribute to bad breath.