Of the three main constituents of the food we eat, Carbohydrates (which includes sugar), Fats and Protein, only carbohydrates raise the blood sugar sharply and therefor raise the insulin levels in the body.

Side Note: Diabetes is not a disease of blood sugar. The blood sugar is just a marker. The real disease is insulin resistance. Many diabetics already have high insulin levels, yet the medical profession insists on giving them even more insulin instead of lowering resistance to the insulin they already have in their bodies. Metformin is the only diabetes drug to date that works by lowing insulin resistance.

For these reasons, a low-carbohydrate (Low-Carb) diet as recommended many years ago by Dr. Atkins is a better eating plan; however, Dr Atkins used too many processed and ultra-processed foods to achieve the Low-Carb status and these foods has been shown to be part of the problem. NOTE: Atkins had a problem when he introduces his diet because the medical was focuses on fats as the cause of heart disease so he was persecuted for the amount of fat he allowed in his diet. The company has now introduced the Atkins Keto diet which appears to allow more fat, but I have evaluated this addiiton.

https://www.atkins.com/how-it-works

There is now yet another diet plan that offers similar benefits. It is known as the Ketogenic diet or Keto diet for short. You can read about it here.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ketogenic-diet-101

While the above eating plans can help, I prefer the Weston A. Price method of whole foods, no soy, raw milk, grass fed beef, free range chicken, coconut oil and wild caught fish supplemented with a reasonable amount of fermented foods and bone broth. This style of eating is hard to accomplish in today’s world because it requires most meals to be prepared at home. There are very few restaurants that even come close. The best ones are know as Scratch Kitchens or Farm to Fork. You can search for these terms on the Internet.

When I was losing the most weight, I was carefully controlling my carbohydrates. I never paid much attention to the calorie count, nor the fat content. For example, I love the chocolate drops made with 1 table spoon of coconut oil, one teaspoon of non-alkali processed chocolate, and a small amount of honey or cane sugar to taste. Heat, mix, pour into molds and store in the freezer. (If it is not cane sugar it is likely made from genetically modified plants and I do not eat GMO anything if I can help it.) Eat one in the morning to stop morning cravings and any time you feel hungry, but you are not ready to eat a meal.

My mantra when eating out is “Pay More - Eat less.” I find this works at home as well. If I purchase and prepare a grass-fed fillet, a 3-4 oz portion is plenty while I need 6-8 ounces of regular steak to feel full. The cost is about the same so go with the best and Pay More - Eat less.

I find it is a good idea to get a method of keeping an honest food diary for the first two weeks before any change in diet and again for the first two weeks after the change. This is a real bother, but many people are like me do not realize what, nor how much they eat. When I was trying to follow the government approved low-fat diet, I would come home, watch TV and eat a quarter pound of soda crackers slathered with mayonnaise until my wife pointed out that was defeating my low-fat diet.

While your diary does not have to be perfect, it must be perfectly honest. If you stretch the truth on what you eat you are only fooling yourself. If you ever get concerned about your progress, start your diary again. You will likely find the problem within the first day or so.

Pay attention to the admonition to eat fermented foods hidden in an earlier paragraph. It comes as a surprise to most people that there are more bacterial cells in the human body than there are human cells. Because the bacterial cells are smaller, they only comprise about 2% of the body by weight, but they are vitally important part of the body. They are the first line of defense for our immune system. They keep the lining of the gut intact so stray molecules do not leak into the blood stream from the digestive track causing inflammation. They help digest some foods and they manufacture some vitamins the body needs. Clearly it is important to maintain these bacteria if we wish to remain healthy.

This is why I suggest avoiding antibiotics unless absolutely required and never use antibiotic wipes or hand cleaners. Soap and warm water work just fine.

While there is currently a lot of research in progress to determine what bacteria control which actions. The list of bacteria is long (over 1000 and counting) and the studies are years away from completion. In the meantime, one way to keep order is to eat naturally fermented foods. These foods include Yogurt (not the sugar laden kind), Kimchi, Sauerkraut, Kefir, some pickles, and Kombucha among other food items. The problem is you will likely need to make your own because fermented foods keep fermenting. This means their shelf life is limited and grocers do not like for food to spoil so they pasteurize (Read Cook) nearly all foods. This destroys the bacteria and reduces the benefits significantly. There are many good fermentation articles on the web and on the Weston A Price web site linked above. One book I like is Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz.

https://www.wildfermentation.com/wild-fermentation/

He also has a great website:

https://www.wildfermentation.com/

Another resource is the Weston A. Price web site:

https://www.westonaprice.org/

On the Weston A. Price web site, they offer the Ten Commandments for Avoiding Heart Disease. These are also a good way to achieve a healthy body. These are so important I have reproduced them here in addition to adding the link to the full article at the end.