Diabetes is one of the nation’s biggest problems. Not only are numbers rising but even more concerning is the age in which we are seeing people classified as diabetics. The fact that it is no longer called adult-onset diabetes should have been the first sign we were trending in teh wrong direction. (Click here to see latest trends). Diabetes is a dietary and lifestyle disease where the hallmark finding is chronically elevated blood sugar (click here for blood sugar ranges.) But elevated blood sugar is just a symptom of Diabetes. The “disease” of diabetes is actually insulin resistance (IR). IR is when the tissues in the body are no longer responding to the signal insulin is supposed to be sending. Which in the case of insulin, is to clear the sugar from the blood and store it for later use. But we can only store so much sugar in our bodies until our proverbial cup runneth over. Once the system is full that extra energy has to be stored as fat.
We have an unlimited ability to store fat. It's an amazing system… 2000 years ago, when our next meal wasn’t guaranteed. But that system is also not fool proof. In order to get sugar into the cells to be stored, the cells have to respond to the signal of insulin. In someone who is insulin resistant, the cells are no longer responding. They are “resistant” to that signal due to the years of elevated blood sugar and the subsequent exhaustion of the system trying to clear the blood of sugar. So our sugar is high yet we cannot store it in the muscles and liver because they're “full”, and we cannot store it as fat because it won’t listen to the signal. So what happens? Well it simply stays in circulation in the bloodstream wreaking all kinds of havoc on our system in the form of increased blood pressure, increased cholesterol levels, increased systemic inflammation, which then results in increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, and dementia.
Due to the body's inability to clear the sugar, and risks of leaving it elevated, medical intervention has to occur. And it usually works… at first. Yes it works for half a year or so but the lifestyle is never changed so the problem persists and the medicine becomes ineffective. So what do we do? Add more medicine of course. So a dose of metformin gets upped, then another medicine is added, then we start taking shots of insulin. All this in an attempt to lower blood sugar. But, as mentioned earlier, sugar isn’t the problem. It’s the insulin resistance. The elevated sugar is just a symptom. So why are we not addressing insulin resistance? The answer, I believe, is because doctors do not trust their patient to make the necessary changes.
They HAVE to know the current method of treating diabetes is failing. If it wasn't, then numbers wouldn’t be rising and our 10-20 year olds wouldn't be suffering from a disease that used to be known as adult-onset.. So what’s the answer then? The answer is the cold hard truth. IF YOU DO NOT CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE YOU WILL DIE YOUNGER THAN YOU SHOULD AND YOUR LIFESTYLE WILL BE THE ROOT CAUSE OF IT. The medical interventions DO NOT WORK TO REVERSE DIABETES. They simply give you the ability to live with it a bit longer. Which for some may be fine. But if that’s not you then hear this. YOU CAN REVERSE DIABETES AND WE ARE HERE TO HELP. Shoot us a message or comment if you’re interested in learning more about how to get started.
Until then…
Keep it moving,
AC