In this video, Dr. John McDougall explains that there are two basic types of diabetes mellitus (sugar diabetes):
- People with type 1 do not make enough insulin to stay alive. As a result, they need to take insulin by injection.
- People with type 2 are generally making more insulin than a healthy person, but their body is resisting the effects of insulin, to keep them from gaining more weight. A change to a high-carbohydrate diet is enough to cure type 2. For this reason, he stops the blood sugar pills on day 1. Even so, the patients generally have better blood sugar control within a week of starting a good diet, as we explained in this article.
There are a few people who have rare forms of diabetes that are sometimes called “type 1.5.” These relatively mild forms of diabetes result from the fact that the pancreas can make enough insulin to keep the person alive but not enough to keep the blood sugar within normal limits. These rare forms of diabetes are genetic. If you think you have one of these rare forms of diabetes, you may wish to contact the Kovler Diabetes Center for genetic testing.