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PJ Madam: 'The modern silent killer'

PJ Madam: 'The modern silent killer'

Type 2 Diabetes is described by doctors as a modern silent killer. It sneaks up on us as a nasty consequence of our busy lifestyles. The cause is a combination of fatty, sugary foods and hardly any exercise.

“It’s common because this is how a majority of us live and eat,” MKR’s Pete Evans told me as we began investigating this epidemic.

“As a race, we are super intelligent, but we are also bloody stupid.”

I also learned that one Australian is diagnosed every five minutes with Type 2 and two million others are walking around as pre diabetics - which means they’re on the cusp of becoming Type 2 and will succumb to the disease unless they change their ways.

They face blindness, impotence, kidney failure, limb amputations, heart attack and stroke.
At the very least unless they get help their life expectancy will be cut short.

Which is how The Saving Australia Diet came about.

The conventional view is that Type 2 can’t be reversed and has to be treated with medication. But what if there was another way?

Several months ago we began investigating alternatives and cast a wide net to find a coalition of experts who are advocating a revolutionary approach.

They believe that because food got us into this mess, food may also be the way out.

Our project sees three different diets assigned to three average Australians who are battling this hideous disease.

Tony, a 65 year old public servant was diagnosed 8 years ago and can’t resist a good pizza. He’s applying the LCHF diet (Low Carbohydrates Healthy Fats) - a little like Paleo but with dairy added to the menu.

Our second volunteer is single mother of three and fast food junkie, Cassandra from Western Sydney; a hotbed of Type 2. She’s following a Low GI High Fibre mainstream diet recommended by the Dieticians Association of Australia.

And we go west to Perth to meet Jack who’s 50, a sugar addict and binge eater. He’s got the toughest diet of all - eating just 800 calories a day - based on the 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet by Michael Mosley – the same doctor who introduced the world to the highly successful 5:2 diet.

“Doctors have been told and taught for a zillion years that Type 2 diabetes is (an) irreversible condition best treated with medication,” Dr Mosley explained.

“There have been long term trials and with diet we have seen that if you keep the weight off that the Type 2 diabetes stays in remission, reverses, whatever word you’d like to use.”

Tony, Cassandra and Jack are hoping that’s true.