Dr. Lance Miller
Diabetes is the fastest growing epidemic facing the United States today. 1 in 4 people will develop it. 1 in 2 have diabetes but do know they have it. But what if I told you can stop it before it starts.
First a brief history of diabetes. The term diabetes is the shortened version of the full name diabetes mellitus, or adult-onset diabetes, from the Greek word diabetes meaning siphon and the Latin word Mellitus sweet. The ancient Indians tested for diabetes by looking at whether ants were attracted to a person’s urine. Then in 1675 Thomas Willis added the word “’Mellitus’” to the word diabetes. This was because of the sweet taste of the urine. (I don’t know why he tasted someone’s urine?)
It was in 1936 that Sir Harold Percival (Harry) Himsworth in his published work differentiated type 1 and 2 diabetes as different entities. Type 1 diabetes is where the pancreas 9the organ that produces insulin for the body) does not function.
Diabetes Mellitus is currently called type 2 diabetes, because of the increased rates of diabetes in children and young adults, in the late 1980s.
Glucose is your problem…………… glucose is the sugar that fuels your cells. Again, put this in the back of you mind and we will talk about this later
Most patients go to their doctor and he tells you that you have metabolic syndrome and that you have elevated blood sugars. The doctor will then start you on metformin. Although metformin is a good drug for putting glucose into the cell, the doctor, unfortunately, doesn’t have enough time to spend with their patients and look into the underlining causes of the high blood sugar. Not eating correctly and lack of exercise can trigger long term health conditions in the body with can result in diabetes and even death. Other problems include Heart disease, stroke, Retinopathy, high blood pressure, kidney disease and Alzheimer’s. You see it’s not diabetes that harms you, it’s everything it causes.
Heathy lifestyles can prevent and help reverse diabetes.
Fiber
It helps with digestion in the body, and we do not get enough in our diet today. Fiber helps to increase digestion. It can prevent constipation and help with body weight. It also decreases the absorption of sugars in the digestive tract. You can increase your diet of fiber by eating more vegetables and greens. Also adding psyllium fiber to a glass of water at night before you go to bed.
High Fat foods.
I know this sounds strange, but I’m talking about good fats, such as, avocados, coconut oil, and raw nuts. These are not just high fat, but high fiber too.
Hydration
Keeping hydrated is also important for blood sugar levels, when the body becomes dehydrated it will tell the liver to secrete hormones to increase your blood sugar. When I say hydrated, I mean water! 6-8 glasses a day.
Exercise
Exercise builds muscle mass. Muscle feed on sugar in the blood, which lowers blood sugar levels.
Stress
When the body becomes stressed it produces cortisol. Cortisol is a flight or fight reflex of the body. Exercise, relaxation techniques help reduce stress.
Sleep,
Quality sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your health. The last few things I talked about, help with the quality of sleep. Exercise, stress reduction and hydration all help you get good quality sleep at night.
Next month I will go into supplements that are important for helping diabetes. As always I want to stress to you the readers that you should never go off any medications that your doctor has prescribed to you, until you discuss it with him or her first.