Huffington Post blogger, Kathy Freston, is researching the most common devastating diseases in America.  The experts she has talked to say “a diet high in animal protein is disastrous to our health, while a plant-based (vegan) diet prevents disease and is restorative to our health.”

Freston interviewed Dr. Neal Barnard, associate professor of medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine, who answered questions on type 2 diabetes and how we can avoid it.  Dr. Barnard uses a key-and-lock analogy to explain insulin resistance.

“The resistance to insulin that leads to diabetes appears to be caused by a build-up of fat inside the muscle cells and also inside the liver. Let me draw an analogy: I arrive home from work one day, and put my key in my front door lock. But I notice the key does not turn properly, and the door does not open. Peering inside the lock, I see that someone has jammed chewing gum into the lock. Now, if the insulin “key” cannot open up the cell to glucose, there is something interfering with it. It’s not chewing gum, of course. The problem is fat. In the same way that chewing gum in a lock makes it hard to open your front door, fat particles inside muscle cells interfere with insulin’s efforts to open the cell to glucose. This fat comes from beef, chicken, fish, cooking oils, dairy products, etc. The answer is to avoid these fatty foods. People who avoid all animal products obviously get no animal fat at all, they appear to have much less fat build-up inside their cells, and their risk of diabetes is extremely low.”

Click here for the full interview