PAGE 18
MARCH 2012
Are you wishing for a cure that is already available?
By Dr. Wes Youngberg In 2004, the President of a regional Medical Society called
and invited me to lecture at an upcoming medical conference. I agreed and asked him what he would like me to speak about. “Well, I’d love for you to talk about reversing diabetes with nutrition,” he said.
I wanted to be sure the he knew what to expect: “Are you
sure you want me to talk about that, it’s a pretty controversial topic.” “Oh sure, I’m sure they will love it.” he replied. The weekend of the conference arrived. About 500 physicians
and health professionals had gathered from all over the Pacific. As I stood up to address them, I started out with this disclaimer: “I just want to go on record for saying that I didn’t choose the title of this lecture, ‘Reversing Diabetes.’ It was actually the president of the medical society that chose it.” Not knowing how people would react to the information, I hoped I was off the hook. I went on to present the latest research and rationale as to
how diabetes can be reversed through nutritional strategies. I told the stories of several of my patients, who had come to me suffering with type 2 diabetes, but after following specialized nutrition and ex- ercise plans, no longer fit the criteria for diabetes. I also showed a clip of the recently-released film, Supersize Me. In this entertaining documentary, Morgan Spurlock eats nothing but McDonalds food for 30 days. Over the course of just one month, Spurlock gains twenty- five pounds and his cholesterol in- creases from 165 to 230. He also begins experiencing mood-swings and depression, sexual dysfunction, and fat accumulation in his liver. Throughout the film, Spurlock
interviews different health profes- sionals. The clip I showed during my lecture was of Spurlock interview- ing Dr. Adam Naaman and Dr. Carl Geisler, two well-known bariatric surgeons. They make an interest- ing claim about the effect of bariat- ric surgery on diabetes: “We have established now that the only pro- cedure that really cures diabetes is obesity [gastric bypass] surgery.” I clarified to my audience that
I was not recommending bariatric surgery for diabetes treatment, but simply sharing this information to make them aware that there were studies showing that diabetes was curable. While I believe that lifestyle strategies like nutrition and exercise are the optimal way to reverse dia- betes, this research at least helps demonstrate that a cure is possible. I finished my ninety minute
lecture, feeling that it had gone well. As I was preparing to take some questions from the audi- ence, the chairman of the confer- ence’s scientific committee stood up to speak. “As the chairman of
Continued on page 19
Health & Wellness
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