• Diabetes may be a gut problem
• Foods that contribute to diabetic gut
• Gut and metabolism friendly foods

Here’s something that will startle you.

Fifty years ago, only about three million people here in the U.S. had diabetes.

But today more than 29 million are afflicted with the disease. That’s almost a 900% increase! This doesn’t even include the 89 million people who are prediabetic.

This is a horrible epidemic. And it’s no coincidence diabetes rates continue to skyrocket as more and more chemicals, processed foods and altered ingredients end up in our food supply.

You see, diabetes isn’t just a sugar disease. It’s a tragic imbalance in your metabolism that’s affected by every single food choice you make.

And when push comes to shove, this disastrous cascade may actually start in your gut.

When the bacteria in your gut are out of whack, it gives unhealthy microbes the chance to attack your gut mucosa. They could even penetrate your gut barrier. This places them much closer to the cells and receptors associated with metabolism – including insulin receptor signaling.

In fact, just recently mucosal tissue was obtained from people undergoing colonoscopies. Then, the tissue samples were tested to find out how close or far away microbes were from the gut barrier.

Well, it turned out that the closer microbes were to the barrier, the more likely the patient was to have higher glucose and hemoglobin A1C levels. They were also more likely to have a higher body mass index.

Foods that Contribute to Diabetic Gut

Sugars, processed foods and refined carbs aren’t the only foods that play a role in diabetes. Other foods that you might eat every day can disrupt your microbiota and contribute to insulin problems.

Commercial meat products are loaded with antibiotics. In fact, about 70% of all antibiotic use occurs in healthy farm animals. So every time you eat a steak or roast from commercially raised animals, you’re getting a dose of these drugs.

The problem is that when antibiotics enter your system, they don’t just kill off bad bacteria. They also kill off the good bacteria. And the place where it affects you the most is your digestive tract.

Genetically altered foods grown with “Round-Up ready” seeds are found in all sorts of products today. These crops are drenched in glyphosate, the main chemical in the herbicide.

Well, when you regularly eat Round-Up ready foods, it stops your body from detoxifying itself. It destroys healthy strains of intestinal bacteria, and causes overgrowth of some very nasty and unhealthy bacteria, like e. coli and c. difficile.

Synthetic sweeteners like saccharin, sucralose or aspartame also alter the composition of your gut bacteria. They reduce the number of good microbes and increase the population of others that have a negative effect on your metabolism. This can lead to abnormally high blood sugar levels.

Emulsifiers found in ice cream, margarine, breads, cereals and soft drinks alter the gut microbiota. As a matter of fact, these detergent-like molecules may be a big contributor to gut barrier dysfunction and metabolic disorders.

Wheat and other grains (such as barley and rye) contain gluten, which is hyper-inflammatory and alters the healthy balance of flora in your digestive tract.

Gut and Metabolism Friendly Foods

Eating a healthy, Mediterranean style diet is associated with a healthy and well-balanced gut microbiome. This may explain why people who enjoy this way of eating tend to have better glycemic control and lower body weight.

In fact, it’s estimated that eating like a Mediterranean could slash your chances of getting diabetes by about 23%. Plus, there’s a good chance eating this way can even reverse metabolic syndrome – a precursor to diabetes.

In particular…

Eat a wide variety of high-fiber plant foods every day. This includes vegetables, beans, fruits and nuts. Folks who eat the most of these foods have a much healthier diversity of gut microbiota. Plus, these foods help protect the lining of your gut.

Cruciferous vegetables are especially beneficial for the gut microbiota. For example, when people added seven ounces of cooked broccoli and about an ounce of daikon radish to their regular diet for 17 days, it improved the ratio of good to bad gut bacteria by 37%.

Other cruciferous vegetables include arugula, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, radishes, rutabaga, turnips and watercress.

Fermented foods are also great for your gut. They’re basically a source of natural probiotics that feed your gut. Some of my favorites include kimchi, miso, natto, kefir, tempeh and sauerkraut.

Or you can simply add a probiotic to your daily regimen. Look for a formula that contains a prebiotic along with lactobacillus, bifidobacteria and other strains of healthy bacteria.

SOURCES:

Chassaing B, et al. Colonic Microbiota Encroachment Correlates With Dysglycemia in Humans. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017 Apr 13;4(2):205-221.

Samsel A, et al. “Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance.” Interdiscip Toxicol. 2013 Dec;6(4):159-184.

Suez J, et al. Non-caloric artificial sweeteners and the microbiome: findings and challenges. Gut Microbes. 2015; 6(2): 149–155.

Suez J, et al. Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota. Nature. 2014 Oct 9;514(7521):181-6.

Cani PD, et al. Keeping gut lining at bay: impact of emulsifiers. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2015 Jun;26(6):273-4.

Bonder MJ, et al. The influence of a short-term gluten-free diet on the human gut microbiome.Genome Med. 2016 Apr 21;8(1):45.

De Filippis F, et al. High-level adherence to a Mediterranean diet beneficially impacts the gut microbiota and associated metabolome. Gut. 2015 Sept;65(11):1812-1821.

Esposito K, et al. A journey into a Mediterranean diet and type 2 diabetes: a systematic review with meta-analyses. BMJ Open. 2015; 5(8): e008222.

Davis SC, et al. Understanding the Nutritional Needs of the Gut Microbiota. J Hum Nutr Food Sci. 2016;4(1):1079.