Archive for the Diabetes

A long crawl from NYC back to the Hamptons yesterday on the Hampton Jitney allowed plenty of time to continue learning from Gary Taube, author of Good Calories, Bad Calories. I mentioned this scientific look at the history of current dietary recommendations and how most of them are not based on facts but rather on biased interpretations of the truth even in the face of new evidence, last month.

My point is not to slag anyone whose job it is to make health recommendations who chooses to stick with the status quo–people need their jobs after all and in this day and age it takes massive effort to effect change among the largest health organizations. Change is going to come though and I want to be a part of it. Speaking out about outdated science is my way of helping usher in the changes we so badly need in order to reverse the rates of heart disease and diabetes.

I’ve reported, as recently as yesterday, that there is no provable link between consumption of saturated fat and heart disease. A leading journal published the results of a meta-analysis supporting this claim. The same groups that advocate lowering saturated fat, increasing carbs and vegetable oils, claim that monounsaturated fat is the healthiest because they lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL.

Here’s a twist you would not have expected. As quoted from Taube’s book on page 168, “The majority of fat found in red meat, eggs and bacon is not saturated fat but the very same monounsaturated fat as in olive oil.” This information can be found by anyone at the USDA’s Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. (And you can get weekly audio emails with this kind of myth busting information by signing up for my Midlife Myth Busting Audio Postcards.)

Let’s stick with Taube as he dissects a porterhouse steak nutritionally–it’s compelling. “Consider a porterhouse steak with a quarter-inch layer of fat. After broiling, this steak will reduce to almost equal parts fat and protein. Fifty-one percent of the fat is monounsaturated, of which 90% is oleic acid. Saturated fat constitutes 45% of the total fat, but a third of that is stearic acid, which will increase HDL cholesterol while having no effect on LDL. The remaining 4% of the fat is polyunsaturated which lowers LDL but has no meaningful effect on HDL.” (HDL in case you’ve forgotten is the measure of total cholesterol we are encouraged to raise because it is health protective.)

“In sum,” Gary continues, “perhaps as much as 70% of the fat content of a porterhouse steak will improve the relative levels of LDL and HDL cholesterol, compared with what they would be if carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, or pasta were consumed.”

So what to do? Limit vegetable oils with the exception of olive oil, flax seed oil, coconut and avocado oils. Eat plenty of plants and include plenty of organic, farm raised meats, wild fish, cage free eggs high in Omega 3s, and limit sugar–including the foods that turn quickly into sugar in the digestive system. And keep an open mind to new discoveries and the possibility that there are mighty forces in place who rely on the status quo to please their share holders. I’ve said it before, I’m not a conspiracy theorist and the links are obvious once you start looking.

Speaking of sugar I’m going to do a series of posts on just how big a player this one, ubiquitous substance is in the creation of lifestyle diseases and how you can have a sweet life without deprivation.

One of my guilty pleasures a few times per week is to watch Oprah while I’m at the gym. Yesterday I got part of a show which I’ll assume was about prevention and reversal of diabetes. For those of you who are new here, part of my mission is to reverse the trend and rates of heart disease and diabetes in midlife women so I paid attention to what the guests–Dr. Oz, Bob Greene, (Oprah’s trainer), and Dr. Ian Smith–had to say. (Art, Oprah’s former chef made a guest appearance as proof that you can reverse diabetes. He’s lost something like 90 pounds and transformed his cooking in the process)

Bob Greene has a new book out, The Best Life Guide to Managing Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes. He is co-author along with Dr.Jack Melendrino and Janis Jilbrin MS, RD. I’ve yet to buy the book–I disagree with Bob on many aspects of his programs–but will pick it up. Whether Bob and I see eye to eye over butter vs margarine–he touts it and I say it’s plastic and dangerous–is unimportant if his program and celebrity gets the word out that people can reverse diabetes and/or prevent it. There is one thing he told a group of women, who all looked more than well fed and heading for or suffering from diabetes, and it was this:

Exercise is non negotiable!

Amen to that! Most of you reading this are already believers in the power of movement. If there are any of you who doubt that exercise is a life saving, life extending, cure-what-ails-you kind of thing, I invite you to change your thinking. Even daily walking can change your physiology and contribute to better health.

With diabetes and pre-diabetes it is even more important that you move your muscles, get your heart pumping, and blood flowing. Exercise moves blood sugar where it needs to be which gets it out of your bloodstream. While you are exercising insulin cannot be produced so you give your body a rest from the insulin storm produced by too much blood sugar. Your blood sugar levels go down naturally. If you need to, you will most likely lose weight.

This is not a plug for Bob’s book, as I said, I don’t own it yet. From the reviews I’ve read I know I’ll have other issues outside of some of the foods given the Best Life Seal. Rather, it is a plug, no, a plea, for all of the women reading this to move your parts! I don’t want to have to drag you all kicking and screaming into a long, happy life . And since that’s impractical how about I just beat this subject to a mind numbing pulp by repeating it–you’ve got to move it move it!

I also don’t want to see you too sick to kick and scream. Diabetes is not simply a sugar issue. It is a disease with debilitating and often horrible consequences. By the time a person is diagnosed with diabetes they have had the condition for years. High blood sugar and insulin resistance have been battering your heart, kidney’s, nerves in the eyes and feet. Shall I go on? Drugs come with their own set of complications and who wants to test their sugar 2 – 6 times per day?

Exercise is not the only lifestyle change that must become a regular part of your life to prevent or turn back the diagnosis of diabetes but it is an important one.

As Bob told the church ladies–many of whom were midlife–Exercise is Non-negotiable. Love you Bob, margarine and all, thanks for getting the word out.

Who knew such a thing even existed? Thanks to one of the daily nutrition digests I get online, I now do. Unsure what to do with this information I went to the International Diabetes Foundation website to learn something. I was happy to find out that their mission is “Promoting diabetes care, prevention and a cure worldwide.” My personal mission aligns with theirs, (To reverse the rates of heart disease and diabetes in midlife women)  so I did some research on their site. What I found makes me sad but even more dedicated to my mission than ever.

Consider these facts: “In virtually every high-income country, diabetes is ranked among the leading causes of blindness, renal failure and lower limb amputation. Diabetes is also now one of the leading causes of death, largely because of a markedly increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke (cardiovascular disease).”

One of the reasons I’m so hot on people knowing their numbers–fasting blood sugar, waist size, and other markers of predicting health challenges–is that aging increases our risk for these non-communicable diseases. Aging in addition to what you eat and don’t, lack of exercise, weight gain, chronic stress, and family medical history set many midlife women up for a diagnosis. Knowing your numbers can give you a heads up early enough to make the reversal process easier.

BUT–there is hope and help. Please read on.

Anyone reading this who has diabetes, has been diagnosed as pre-diabetic, has had a high sugar reading, is way overweight or just worries that they might become diabetic; there are things you can do. If you have the disease, it’s reversible, if you are heading there you can stop the process and regain your health.  

Eating and exercise are the weapons of choice–to keep the popular “war” on diabetes metaphor going. 

If that sounds simplistic it’s not. I have worked with women who have done it, books are written on the subject, doctors around the world who have the time to learn about lifestyle influences on the diseases of affluence agree–modifying your day to day lifestyle habits can improve your health and reverse this set of symptoms.

The World Health Organization–regardless of your position on them–has adopted the idea that physical exercise and proper nutrition is key to disease prevention and reversal of ill health. That’s saying a lot as they are a very conservative organization with a global responsibility.

Dr. Julian Whitaker’s book, Reversing Diabetes: Reduce or Even Eliminate Your Dependence on Insulin or Oral Drugs is a must have paperback for anyone who wants to learn more about what it takes. His cookbook, Reversing Diabetes Cookbook: More Than 200 Delicious, Healthy Recipes  has delicious recipes that a friend cooks out of daily and loves. (I recommended this book to her when she was diagnosed. Along with a few other tweaks to her lifestyle she lost 25 pounds-and counting- in 6 weeks and her numbers are now normal.)

There are plenty of other programs by doctors out there if you start to look. The bottom line is this, diabetes does not have to be your experience. If you don’t want to go on meds, ask your doctor for 6 weeks before starting them. During that time find a coach who specializes in helping people do what they need to do safely and successfully. Or grab a book and give the process a try. 

Even if you are on insulin or other medications and you don’t want to do that for the rest of your life, don’t give up. Changing what you eat and how much you move can begin with small steps. Over time you’ll get the result you are looking for and boy will you feel good. 

You will not be facing the more life threatening aspects of a disease like diabetes, you’ll have more energy, and you’ll just plain feel better. If there is anything I can do to help you get help, drop me an email.

Ok I’m like so bummed out man. Over the past year I’ve made a considerable effort to clean up my eating–especially eliminating some sugar. I’m not a big candy or dessert eater but sugar lurks everywhere. On top of that I do like it in my coffee, and I like something sweet in my plain yogurt some days.
I can’t do those artificial sweeteners on a regular basis so I went in search of what my choices are.

I’ve blogged and done whole audio postcards singing the praises of the sweet syrups honey, molasses and agave nectar as sugar alternatives. Once I discovered I like the taste of agave, and that it was a low glycemic index sweetener, I was thrilled. (The glycemic index and load of foods indicates how much and how fast a carbohydrate food raises blood sugar. The lower and slower the better.)

If you aren’t familiar with agave syrup it’s amber like honey but thinner and has a sweeter taste than sugar so you can use very little for a lot of yumm.

Like a good love affair gone bad when the real person starts to emerge, agave had me fooled. In truth the marketers for this popular sweetener did it.

Agave–from the Greek for noble–has been around for centuries. Mexico proudly harvests 100 different species. According to Bottom Line Health, “extracts from the agave plant have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.” Sounds like a winner right? From plant to commercially produced syrup is a long journey and there are none of those compounds found in the stuff in the squeeze bottle.

That’s not all. Although low on the glycemic index, agave is comprised of, depending on the manufacturer, between 70% and 95% frustose. Why is this a cause for concern? Fructose, when used as a sweetener, as opposed to when found naturally in fruit, has been linked to high trigylcerides, and weight gain. And it puts you at risk of all sorts of nasty lifestyle diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

We talk about avoiding high fructose corn syrup but that’s only 55/45 fructose to glucose, table sugar is about 50/50. Agave is much higher. You might hear that agave syrup gets its sweetness from inulin, a kind of fiber that does have some redeeming aspects. How much is left after processing this plant down and concentrating it to form a syrup is debatable.

I do want to be clear here about the fructose found in fruits. It comes packaged conveniently with nutrients, fiber, and a very low % of the total for many fruits. Apples have about 7% for instance. If you want to learn about fructose in fruits and look up your favorite you can at this website.

That said, too much fruit is still a form of too much sugar.

So does this mean we can never use agave syrup? Not on your life. For most of us life is sweet because we make the best choices we can and include some sweets, a little adult beverage, the occasional bagel with a schmear. 

As long as you know the truth about the myriad foods out there that vie for our attention you have choices.

Stop back often for your dose of the facts on staying healthy, fit, sassy and sane for the second half.