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.
If you or someone you know is diabetic and using insulin and overweight and can’t lose or is gaining more, this is important information.
Insulin does lower blood sugar but no more than lifestyle change. In Dr. Julian Whitaker’s newsletter of June 2009 her talks about a government sponsored study from the ’70’s which “demonstrated–contrary to expectations–that insulin use conferred no advantages for type 2 diabetics.” It did lower blood sugar levels but compared to study participants who changed their diet and other lifestyle habits “there were no significant differences in fatal and non-fatal complications of diabetes. And, the participants who were given insulin gained an average of 14 pounds!
According to Dr. Asqual Getaneh, a diabetes and obesity expert at Columbia University, “Insulin is a potent hormone that regulates glucose, fat, and protein metabolism. Insulin improves your cells ability to take in and use glucose. If you are taking in more than you are using it gets stored as fat.
In many cases, people with type 2 diabetes start insulin therapy when oral medicines cannot or no longer control their glucose levels. This means that blood glucose levels in the body have been elevated for an extended period of time. In this state, the body does not metabolize glucose, fat, or protein in a well-regulated or efficient way. Cells that require glucose to function properly begin starving because of inadequate amounts of circulating insulin. Fat metabolism becomes abnormal, which can lead to high triglyceride levels. The body’s metabolic rate then increases as it tries to convert this fat into a source of energy.
These abnormalities are usually corrected when you begin insulin therapy. The body begins using glucose better, and the metabolic rate declines by about five percent. Insulin also helps the body gain fat-free mass, but on the flip side, it also helps it store fat more efficiently. голы тёлки
If your doctor is not aware of this connection what will likely happen is this, your weight will increase, your blood sugar levels will then increase, your doc will increase the amount of insulin you take. Increased insulin resistance is a marker for heart disease. So begins a sad and unnecessary spiral of more ill health and feelings of frustration and helplessness for the patient. It may also lead your doctor to prescribe yet another medication in the form of Glucophage (metaformin) or the like to make the body more insulin sensitive. In an upcoming post I’ll share what I’ve read about the risks associated with these diabetes drugs to a heart already suffering from the system-wide effects of high blood glucose and why lifestyle change should be the very first thing a pre-diabetic or newly diagnosed diabetic patient tries.
Have you had a diagnosis of pre-diabetes, high blood sugar, or diabetes? Does it feel like a death sentence? Do you feel like your free wheeling, fun loving life is over? Do you have visions of insulin pills, blood sugar monitors, and no more cosmos or chocolate?
Settle your shorts sister, this condition is reversible, life as you know it is not over, and no matter what your “number” right now, you can bring it down naturally and easily if you are willing to make a few changes. I understand how scary it would be to hear that news and I want to give you some resources so you can arm yourself–before you agree to medication–to make the choices that will return you to health and allow you to continue to enjoy your life.
Now, I’m not ignoring the fact that by the time you are diagnosed with diabetes your body has been under attack usually for years, like 10 or more years. Serious consequences can follow if you do not respond to this diagnosis with either lifestyle change or, well, lifestyle change. I will write a post on the ineffectiveness of diabetes drugs and how insulin causes weight gain–just the thing you don’t want to have happen!
First things first. If you haven’t had your vitamin D levels tested lately, do. It’s proven that optimal levels of vitamin D help with insulin regulation and blood sugar level maintenance.
If you eat white bread, white pasta, sugary foods and or beverages on a regular basis, start here to make some changes. Buy whole grain versions. Skip sugary bevs entirely, if you must have juice dilute it with water or club soda. These small changes will begin to reverse your blood sugar spikes.
If you don’t eat breakfast, go long periods of time without eating, workout to exhaustion and drink only water afterwards–you must change these habits. Diabetes is a condition of imbalance caused by our habits.
One of the best websites with products for those who want not only information but dessert type products made with natural ingredients that don’t raise blood sugar is Healing Gourmet. If you want to skip the info and get right to the desserts head over to Wellness Bakeries. Lots of yummy products there.
There are plenty of books out there on the subject of diabetes but you’ll get some unconventional but scientifically researched information by reading either of these two: Dr. Whitaker’s Reversing Diabetes.
Or Dr. Steven Joyal’s What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Diabetes.
I’m going to continue to post on this all too common problem that midlife women are more frequently faced with. Please let me know what you need more information on regarding this condition and or if you’ve reversed your numbers naturally I’d love to feature you in a future post. фото порно би
Quite frankly, I was shocked. Yesterday on my call with Patti Milligan, MS. RD. nutrition and supplement expert I mentioned that exercise and healthy eating are not enough, most of us should include some supplements depending on our bodies needs, the environment around us, our levels of stress. Patti jumped in there and said, “I don’t want to be an alarmist but that’s the worst toxin we have.” What is? “Stress” she answered emphatically.
The worst one? Like so many women I tend to down play stress as it shows up day to day. Granted I also don’t have anything chronically eating at me–or at least I’m not awake to it. Toxic stress includes, never getting a good night’s sleep, a long frustrating commute, a disruptive colleague or unreasonable boss, an abusive relationship with anyone you interact with, chronic illness or pain, and so on.
Here’s what Patti shared. First off picture some rock salt or even Kosher salt, it’s course and jagged right? This is the shape of a stress hormone. As it floats through the bloodstream, it nicks at the edges of the arteries. These nicks require patching up, think small band aid on a paper cut. The band aid in this case is cholesterol, the cholesterol builds up due to more and more nicks and you get clogged arteries. You can also get a heart attack, a stroke, or that final disco dance.
But wait, there’s more. Stress aggravates the immune system which means we are more susceptible to illness and bugs. It’s also extremely fatiguing when the immune system is always on high alert. A clinician told Patti that after a stressful event or after chronic stress the body is like a post hurricane event on land. There is a disaster with lots of clean up and relief help needed.
Our B vitamins are the sacrificial lamb in the body’s stress management program. Why care? B vitamins are important for brain function, neurotransmitters firing, nourishing the adrenal glads and modulating stress.
What else can we do to help manage stress in the body? Maintain an even blood sugar level throughout the day. This requires you to eat 4 – 6 times per day. Hydration is #2 but not just water, cellular hydration which includes making sure you have the right electrolyte balance which will in part come from eating plenty of vegetables and some fruit, not drinking sugary bevs or eating too much salt.
#3 is take care of yourself. Look around when you start to feel squeezed–and I’m not talking about getting into your high school jeans. If you feel pressure from life look around and see what the cause is. What can you do to relief some of the pressure? Exercise is great, a long soak in the tub helps some, talking to a friend is also helpful. Do these things get to the root of the problem tho? No. It’s important at this age to get that stuff handled and out of your life. How to do it? Get yourself a coach, a support system, do some research on how others have done what you need or want to do.
Some stress is ok but clearly the stress that’s chronic is something we’ve got to pay attention to.
