Carbohydrate Restriction as First Intervention in Diabetes
Leading physicians from prestigious medical universities across the would present the evidence supporting carbohydrate restriction as the first step in diabetes management here. I should point out this important fact. If you are on insulin or any other medication like glyburide that raises insulin levels, you should proceed with carbhydrate restriction carefully, because carbohydrate reduction may result in dangerous low sugar levels. If you are on medications like metformin or Jardiance, that is not a problem because they do not raise insulin levels. With those medications and carbohydrate restriction insulin levels should fall and that is a good thing. This article reviews the reasoning behind carbohydrate restriction in detail. It is a great resource for providers and patients.
There is one factor the authors did not review. Insulin is a growth factor. If you look at my other diagram, it sits in the same position as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) When you eat carbohydrate, you increase insulin levels in the blood. If you start eating carbohydrate when you get up and stop when you go to bed, insulin levels are high and mTOR is switched on and AMPK is switched off all day long. If you do that consistently enough, insulin resistance develops and insulin levels go even higher. In some patients, insulin levels are three times normal and mTOR is persistently switched on and AMPK is persistently switched off. Those factors speed up aging and chronic disease development.