Health & Nutrition

Mastering Diabetes: Cyrus Khambatta and Robby Barbaro on Reversing Insulin Resistance with High-Carb, Low-Fat Vegan Eating

Cyrus Khambatta, Ph.D., and Robby Barbaro of Mastering Diabetes, both living with type 1 diabetes, explain how a high-carbohydrate, low-fat whole-food plant-based diet dramatically improved their insulin sensitivity, and why the same principles can reverse prediabetes and type 2 diabetes for the vast majority of the 110 million Americans affected.

SoFlo Vegans Podcast

Episode 30 · Feb 13, 2020 · 68 min

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Topics Covered

Cyrus's diagnosis with three autoimmune conditions at 22, and how switching from a low-carb diet to a plant-based diet cut his insulin needs by 40% while eating five times more carbohydrate
Robby's own diagnosis at 12, his experimentation with the Weston A. Price diet and a plant-based ketogenic diet, and how a whole-food plant-based, fruit-forward diet finally resolved his symptoms
The different types of diabetes explained: type 1, type 1.5 (adult-onset autoimmune), prediabetes, type 2, and gestational diabetes
How insulin resistance actually develops: saturated fat accumulation in the liver and muscle blocking insulin signaling, not carbohydrate intake itself
Why low-carb/keto diets can mask insulin resistance with better blood glucose numbers while the underlying condition worsens
Key diagnostic tests to know: fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, A1C, and C-peptide
The four components of the Mastering Diabetes Method: low-fat whole-food plant-based nutrition, intermittent fasting, daily movement, and daily documentation
Complications of unmanaged insulin resistance, including heart disease, kidney failure, neuropathy, retinopathy, amputations, and cognitive decline

About the Guest

Cyrus Khambatta, Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry, and Robby Barbaro, MPH, are the co-founders of Mastering Diabetes and co-authors of the book Mastering Diabetes: The Revolutionary Method to Reverse Insulin Resistance Permanently. Both have lived with type 1 diabetes since their youth and coach clients worldwide on reversing insulin resistance through whole-food, plant-based nutrition.