Dr. Fuhrman claims to be able to reverse Type 2 with foods like rice and fruit. sounds bogus, but i wanted to ask anyway. i searched, but didn't come up with anything.
I prefer Dr. Bernstein.
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It's working really well at our house, from both T1 & T2 perspectives. I'm a T1 and my levels are less roller-coaster-ish since we started and I'm not anemic anymore. My husband, whose idea it was to start the nutritarian stuff, was pre diabetic. He lost 100 lbs and his labs are all really good now.
I do think it's a misconception that you can eat lots of fruit and rice using Fuhrman's principles. If anything, it's much more about on loading up on veggies. The fruits and whole-grain carbs are just small sides. You've filled up so much on high-nutrition, high-fiber foods that there's not as much room in your belly to eat the junkier stuff. No matter what "diet" people are on, I think most of us would agree that adding lots of salad and cutting out sweets and processed food is good for you.
I hope that people don't pile based only on their own personal food biases. I know that Bernstein and low-carb work for many, and I don't have a problem with that. But for a healthy way of doing moderate carb, I think Fuhrman is great. You'd have to try and see what works for you.
Everyone needs to make their own choices about diet. And it is certainly true that everyone is different and responds differently to the foods they eat. And while I have strong personal negative opinions of Fuhrman and similar diets I would encourage you to do your own homework. Generally his diet, along with most strict vegan, vegetarian diets are considered by many to be based on pseudoscience rather than science. Few high quality studies have shown good results for management of diabetes with vegetarian/vegan diets.
I also have serious concerns that Fuhrman has ties to PCRM and PETA and this is more about animal rights than human health. So read the book "The End of Diabetes," you can get it from many public libraries. And as you read it ask yourself, does his theory make any sense? Does it make any sense to have a theory based on the human needs for "micronutrients" that cannot be measured and whose effect is not understood. And ask yourself if it is backed up by any science. Read his papers (there are four on pubmed). Consider whether they provide any evidence. And ask yourself how much sense it is to have an entire book which doesn't clearly relate how carbs raise your blood sugar. And in the end, I've never seen any convincing evidence that any diet can reverse diabetes, let alone Fuhrman's diet.
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Well at least he says "reverse" and not "cure" as many others do.
But it's still science woo, IMHOP. As Brian points out, I have yet to see one single peer-reviewed study or other substantive evidence that supports his thesis, and there is an abundance of good reasons for skepticism.
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Just to provide a bit of a counter to blanket statements on either side: Some of us utilize various types of diets (vegetarian for me) for reasons which have little to do with science and more to do with either moral/philosophical beliefs or plain old personal preference. I am a committed vegetarian but never try and push it on others and when someone asks if I think "becoming a vegetarian will help manage diabetes" I respond, "no, it actually makes it harder, but if you are committed to vegetarianism for other reasons you can make it work". Just because people are vegetarian or vegan (or whatever)doesn't mean they believe it will reverse their diabetes. Quite the opposite, I make sure and distance myself from such claims as I think they are, as Brian says based on pseudoscience and more sadly, give false hope or even prevent people from doing the work they need to do to manage their D.
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I don't even like the word 'reverse' or even 'remission'. All of these words are just marketing and should serve as red warning flags. The best we can do with diet is to get normal blood glucose (and even that usually requires some medications). The diabetes is still there and if we fall off the wagon it will be right back.
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And just to support what roodgirl and Zoe have said, a vegetarian/vegan diet is a perfectly valid choice. My daughter is a vegetarian. And only one aspect of choice is whether it helps your health but that isn't the only aspect. We can debate the studies or science on whether dietary choices are healthy but we should always respect the other aspects of personal choice.
Nice of you to acknowledge my diet as "a perfectly valid choice", Brian..lol. A "typical" vegetarian diet such as I ate before D is not great for blood sugar control as it usually includes a lot of carb heavy choices such as rice, pasta, grains and fruit. However a vegetarian diet modified for reduced carbs, where low carb vegies are a significant part, is as good as or better than that of an omnivore.
In addition, there are many aspects of "health" and a "healthy diet" other than blood sugar control, as we all have other physical needs and issues aside from D. I won't even get into what is healthy for the planet.
My niece who was a vegetarian from a young age and my inspiration to return to vegetarianism after many years away from it is now an environmentalist and has returned to omnivore eating in the belief that it is a part of the natural order (which she could explain better than that). At first I felt a bit betrayed by this, but then sought to understand it, which is a step beyond "always respecting personal choice". Hence my caution to PWD's who ask me if they should "become vegetarians". It also helps to be understanding of others' choices when you get old enough to have made some of those choices at different times in life.
Of course one's diet choices are one's own, may be directed toward many different objectives that may (or may not) have anything to do with diabetes, and are entitled to respect. I don't see any comment in this thread that argues otherwise.
BUT
The question was specifically about "reversing" diabetes, and that's what I was responding to.
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I wasn't responding to anything you said, David.Another twisting, winding thread! (The most interesting kind imho)
LOL. Just making sure. Just my single-minded, tunnel-vision, OCD nature. :)
I found this link below for a study on plant based diets. There are benefits, maybe not for everyone because of other issues, and being vegan or vegetarian doesn't guarantee you won't get one of the major diseases nor will it cure/reverse diabetes. I have heard many people say they have kept pre-diabetes at bay with various diets.
I heard someone talking about this topic on a radio show a few months ago, a study was mentioned(I'm not sure which one) that demonstrated much lower percentages of the major diseases in people who eat a vegan diet as opposed to a vegetarian or an ominvore diet.
I think it has been known for a while that people who eat vegan diets typically have much lower rates of cvd and some well known people who have serious cvd have switched to vegan diets with success.
The only way to tell is to try it and see if it works for you, which is what we all have to do in managing D.
I love Vegans…especially sautéed with a little olive oil and garlic. 
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"Everyone needs to make their own choices about diet." This comment of Brian's made me snicker. I have very little choice in my diet, my body decides what will work and what won't. I am generally in disagreement, but the meter agrees with the body. And so we eat lots of spinach, and very few of the tomatoes I love, and no more than 2 oz. of meat at a time. Sometimes being diabetic is like being trapped inside a tyrant,
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My diet consists of foods that my meter has approved, almost 30 years of food success a failure has taught me what foods or going to give poor BG results. I will spend the rest of my life researching my diet...Most PWD's will....
I still eat foods that spike my BG sometimes it's not a sin...;-), it's just my choice....
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rude and unnecessary
the guy's page looks like he just wants to sell you things, that's the first thing to put me off.
but anyway, there are lots of people saying they do well on vegeterian/vegan diets (although not necessarily high carb). maybe this is just one of the things that depends on a person.
after failing with vegan diet (mostly because of the cost, but other reasons, too), I'm trying to stay vegeteriam (mostly due to ethical reasons) while not going overboard with carbs, and, as someoene mentioned (sorry, it's page 1) eating more veggies and less starchy food (and fruits).
Same here Cosumne Jan. I have a laundry list of foods that I can no longer eat due to allergies. Foods I grew up eating as a child that one day my immune system turned a switch and said "no longer you shall eat"--tomatoes, beans, peas, apples, oranges, grapefruit, shellfish, the list goes on and on.
So depressing.
Thanksfully those foods I didn't like as a kid, I can eat--spinach, cauliflower, etc. Go figure.
In addition to WHAT I eat, my body sets constraints on how much I eat. Over 1200 calories a day is going to result in weight gain. Doesn't matter if it's low carb. My maintenance diet is 1000 calories a day. I could really enjoy a Paleo diet, and my blood sugar does well on it, but high fat adds up to too many calories very quickly. It would be nice if there were foods that were really free. Celery comes close to that for me, I can grab a stick of it when I'm hungry. As long as there's no peanut butter in the house.
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