Defeat Diabetes recently went LIVE on Facebook with Yvonne Farquharson from Filter Your Future and Dr. Peter Brukner, our founder.
Our chat was interesting, and informative and to say we learned a few things would be a big understatement!
Here are five things everyone needs to know about the link between type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
1. Genetics are not fate
It is known that having a family history of type 2 diabetes increases your chances of developing the disease yourself. However, Dr. Peter Brukner said in our chat that your genetics are not your destiny.
You can do many things to reduce your risk of developing chronic kidney disease, but it all comes down to diet. Lowering your intake of sugar, and carbohydrates and getting back to real food (you know, how our grandparents used to eat) is the key.
A way of eating, such as the Defeat Diabetes way of eating, will significantly reduce your chances of developing type 2 diabetes and, consequently the risk of type 2 diabetes-related complications such as chronic kidney disease.
“It couldn’t be more simple than that,” he says.
2. Often there aren’t any symptoms
“You can lose up to 90% of kidney function without having any symptoms,” says Yvonne Farquharson, which means it’s even more important to get on top of your diet and lifestyle before it becomes a problem.
3. A can of soft drink everyday for a year equals 23kg of sugar!
Yvonne Farquharson gave us a very shocking comparison in our chat, and that is that a regular 600ml bottle of soft drink has 16 teaspoons of sugar.
If you have one of those sugary drinks every day for a year, that adds up to 23 kg (sugar that your kidneys need to filter from your bloodstream!).
Sugar, according to Dr Peter Brukner is one of the single biggest dietary problems of the 21st century. Read why he thinks it’s a men’s health problem more than anything.
4. Starch is a huge problem
Dr. Peter Bruker says, “There is one cause of damage to the kidneys – sugar and starch in our diet. That’s why Defeat Diabetes includes low carb Cooking Demos in the program. Avoid processed foods and get back to eating real food. The benefits are astronomical.”
Understanding how companies market food products to disguise words like sugar is important. We help you do that here.
5. Inflammation doesn’t help either
Dr. Peter Brukner says inflammation is causing more damage to our body than we think, and it doesn’t just relate to chronic kidney disease, but all conditions as a result of type 2 diabetes.
Read why this is, here.
In summary
In summary, we learned diet is the MAJOR factor when it comes to reducing your risk of developing chronic kidney disease.
Reducing carbs, sugars and processed foods, and getting back to healthy fats, full cream foods, protein rich meals, and living an active lifestyle are going to be key.
And as the Doc summed it up: “In future we’ll look back and wonder how we thought it was a good idea to replace a natural, healthy fat like butter with a chemical concoction like margarine.”
