Would we be better off with a severely restricted diet?

My husband came home from a routine checkup at the doctor in a state of shock. “My sugar reading was in the danger zone,” he said. “The doctor wants me to go onto medication right away to stabilize my blood sugar.

Having lost a brother to diabetes, it was only natural he should be petrified. His sugar had run high in the past, but he’d always managed to put things back in order by eating better and shedding a few pounds. Now we were a few years older and, after a couple of long and challenging Covid years, had let ourselves go. It was time to do penance for Chanukah donuts, Purim hamantaschen, and lotsa lotsa matzah.

A couple of days later, courtesy of our nephew Menachem, a book arrived in the mail entitled The End of Diabetes, by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Dr. Furhman is an advocate of a “nutrarian” diet, i.e., a mostly vegan diet that promotes whole foods which pack the most nutrition into the least calories. We’d heard about this diet because Menachem had done it himself, for different health reasons, a couple of years ago. We’d watched him melt away until he was half his size, happily downing huge bowls of salad, whole grains, and nuts. But we also remembered the basic guidelines: No sugar. No white flour (almost no flour at all). No oil. No salt. Almost no meat, fish, or dairy — just plant-based whole foods.

Dr. Fuhrman claims that even his insulin-dependent diabetic patients, simply by following this diet, can reduce or eliminate their need for medication and will quickly shed pounds. We were desperate to get my husband’s sugar levels out of the danger zone. We had the book. We were going to give it a try.

The Diet’s Purpose

Diabetes is no joke, and it’s only increasing in “well-fed” countries. The CDC says one in ten Americans has diabetes, with 90–95 percent of them having the type 2 version, which develops in adulthood. Our diet has much to do with it — we eat way too much of processed foods, which are full of sugar, salt, and fat.

Dietician and vegan guru Brenda Davis headed a study in the Marshall Islands, where the native population had never had diabetes until they began eating Western-style food. She put a portion of that population on a whole-food, plant-based diet, and their diabetes, obesity, and many other health complaints disappeared. Dr. Fuhrman claims this diet allows the body to heal itself by eliminating damaging foods, and it can heal many conditions — from hypertension to autoimmune diseases.

The goal is to consume foods that have a high nutritional value relative to the amount of calories they contain. Kale has very few calories and lots of vitamins and fiber. Candy has lots of calories and very little vitamins or fiber. The diet can contain plenty of carbs as long as they’re whole foods, not processed carbs (think wheat berries, quinoa, whole buckwheat, or unhulled barley instead of bread, Cheerios, and muffins).

Dr. Ronnie Herschmann, a cardiologist with a practice in Lake Success, NY, was won over to the diet through one of his patients, a 70-year-old woman with such severe hypertension and arthritis that it often took her an hour just to get out of bed in the morning. One day she came in for a checkup and her blood pressure reading was completely normal. “What did you do?” Dr. Herschmann marveled.

“My son is a health coach and he put me on this diet,” she replied. “I hate the food, but I love the way I feel!”

Dr. Herschmann got in touch with the son, who’d once suffered from asthma, hypertension, and diabetes. After adopting this diet, he was able to drop six medications and eventually ran triathlons. “My wife and I were convinced,” Dr. Herschmann says, continuing, “this is a very anti-inflammatory diet which eliminates the toxins and cholesterol in animal proteins. It’s not easy — so much of our social lives revolve around simchahs and barbecues and restaurants. But like kashrus, it’s a commitment.”

Jumping In

But — no sugar, salt, oil, or flour? No animal products? Eeeks! What were we supposed to eat?