5 Steps To Reversing Type 2 Diabetes And Insulin Resistance
Breaking news! Some newly discovered compounds have just been found to turn off all of the genes that cause diabetes. Are these compounds found in a pill bottle? No! Instead, you’ll find them on your dinner plate — in rye bread and pasta. (As I recently wrote in one of my blogs, rye contains special phytonutrients that turn off all the genes responsible for diabetes — in just a few weeks.) Last week, I explained how to find out if you are pre-diabetic or diabetic. Half of the 24 million people with diabetes don’t know they have it and nearly all the 60 million people with pre-diabetes don’t know they have it. Today, I want to share with you more information about what you can do NOW to prevent and reverse diabetes and pre-diabetes. And rye bread isn’t the only answer — I’ve got a lot more good advice, too. But first I want to emphasize new research that should be headlines news but never saw the light of day. Do our current drugs treatments for diabetes actually work to prevent heart attacks and death? Surely lowering blood sugar in diabetics is an effective strategy for reducing the risk of death and heart disease. It would seem obvious that if diabetes is a disease of high blood sugar, then reducing blood sugar would be beneficial. However elevated sugar is only a symptom, not the cause of the problem. The real problem is elevated insulin unchecked over decades from a highly refined carbohydrate diet, a sedentary lifestyle and environmental toxins. Most medications and insulin therapy are aimed at lowering blood sugar through increasing insulin. In the randomized ACCORD trial of over 10,000 patients, this turns out to be a bad idea. In the intensive glucose-lowering group, there were no fewer heart attacks, and more patients died. Yet we continue to pa Continue reading >>
Ehe | How To Reverse Insulin Resistance And Prediabetes
How to Reverse Insulin Resistance and Prediabetes You may think that receiving a diagnosis of insulin resistance or prediabetes is a guarantee you will develop Type 2 diabetes , but that's not the case. Insulin resistance and prediabetes are very responsive to lifestyle and dietary adjustments . Things like weight loss, improved nutrition, and regular exercise can help your blood glucose levels considerably. Insulin is a hormone created by the pancreas. Insulin resistance occurs when cells in your muscles, liver, and body fat begin to resist (ignore) the signal that insulin sends out, alerting them to remove excess glucose from the bloodstream. These tissues depend upon insulin to stay properly nourished; they are limited in their ability to draw glucose from the bloodstream on their own. If all systems are working as they should, blood sugar stays in balance, and the bodys muscles and tissues are well fed by the excess glucose drawn from the bloodstream. Prediabetes occurs when glucose in the bloodstream is high, but not yet high enough to be classified as diabetes. Insulin resistance, prediabetes, and Type 2 diabetes can be managed, and in many cases reversed , by the right lifestyle changes. Medication may also be prescribed. Choose a Whole Foods Diet. Try to eat complex carbohydrates. Eliminate refined and processed starches, as well as industrially produced fats (trans fats) and processed foods, from your diet. Some good choices are vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. Complex carbohydrates are more complex on a molecular level, and take longer for the body to break down. This means they absorb more slowly, helping to keep blood glucose levels stable. Complex carbs will also help you feel fuller longer, and help with weight and appetite control. Aim to eat a who Continue reading >>
Study May Point To New Ways To Reverse Insulin Resistance
Study may point to new ways to reverse insulin resistance David Wasserman, PhD, left, and Ian Williams, a graduate student in Wassermans lab, have made an important discovery that could lead to new ways to reverse insulin resistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes. (photo by Susan Urmy) Researchers at Vanderbilt University have discovered how insulin crosses the capillary endothelium to exit blood vessels and stimulate skeletal muscle cells a major finding that may lead to new ways to reverse insulin resistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes. Their discovery, published earlier this month by the Journal of Clinical Investigation, was made possible by the development of a novel microscopy technique which allowed measurement of insulin movement across the endothelial wall of skeletal muscle capillaries in the mouse. The muscle capillary wall is a formidable barrier to insulins action on muscles, said David Wasserman , PhD, the Annie Mary Lyle Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. It is the rate-limiting step for muscle insulin action and a potential site of regulation, Wasserman said. Defining how insulin leaves the capillary is essential to understanding and treating insulin resistance. Wasserman directs the Vanderbilt-NIH Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Center . The papers lead author is Ian Williams, a graduate student in Wassermans lab who made the advancements necessary to measure aspects of microcirculatory function simultaneously with molecular transport in live mice. One of insulins key functions is to stimulate glucose uptake by muscle, where it is stored or used as fuel. To stimulate glucose uptake insulin must cross the endothelial barrier into muscle tissue. Impaired delivery of insulin into tissue is a key feature of insulin resistance and type 2 diabe Continue reading >>
One In Four Americans Has Insulin Resistance;
Return to the Nutrition main page ONE IN FOUR AMERICANS HAS INSULIN RESISTANCE; Hypoglycemia, Type II Diabetes, Heart Disease and Diet THE HIDDEN HEALTH PROBLEM * Do you have trouble losing weight when that didn’t used to be a problem? * Has your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood triglycerides started to creep up? * Has that tummy started to expand despite no changes in your lifestyle, or even with reducing fat in your diet? * Is there a growing tiredness and sluggishness? * Are you having hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) symptoms before meals like mood swings, sweet and food cravings, nervousness, faintness or confusion? * Did you suffer from gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy)? * Are you having increased problems with memory as you age? * Have you and your peers started saying that old refrain “I guess I’m just getting older?” It is true that these problems can all be associated with growing older but they are not the result of being older; they are the result of losing health. If you have a poor lifestyle, as most Americans do, the accumulation of the resulting damage begins to be more noticeable in middle age. But the story is way more interesting than that. These problems mentioned above are just the early to middle stages of the process. Stay on the same path and things are likely to only get worse – increasing your risk for serious heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, many other problems, and early death. What can be the common root of all these very different diseases? Contrary to what you might think it is not dietary fat, it is insulin resistance! But all is not doom and gloom. It is possible to reverse much of this. How, you ask? By changing your lifestyle. In some people’s cases it will be relatively minor changes. In others r Continue reading >>
Insulin Resistance
Diabetes & Related Conditions Insulin Resistance About one out of five American adults suffers from a preventable and reversible condition that puts them at significant risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Doctors call it insulin resistance or the metabolic syndrome. Many people live for years with no idea they have this problem. But that does not stop damage from occurring. Could you be one of them? Insulin resistance syndrome is one name for a condition that was first noted in the 1980s by Gerald Reaven, MD, at Stanford University. He coined the term Syndrome X. It refers to a clustering of metabolic risk factors for heart disease. Insulin resistance and obesity are hallmarks of the condition. There are grave consequences to being overweight, said Margo Denke, MD, professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Being overweight starts the clock on the metabolic syndrome, which then starts the clock on cardiac disease, diabetes, and stroke. As you gain weight, you have imperceptible increases in multiple risk factors. Overloaded fat cells especially in the abdomen so called visceral adiposity promote insulin resistance. The tissues become less sensitive to insulin, a hormone cells need to convert sugar to energy. The pancreas, which produces insulin, responds by secreting more of the hormone. This faulty metabolic function leads to other systemic problems, such as abnormal cholesterol and triglyceride levels and high blood pressure as well as inflammatory changes within the blood vessels. This in turn leads to development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. A Finnish study found a threefold increase in heart disease and stroke in patients with the metabolic syndrome. Just how quickly cardiovascular problems develo Continue reading >>
A Few Simple Changes Can Help Reverse Insulin Resistance Naturally
Reset Scientists have known that calorie restriction, when accompanied by optimum nutrition (also known as C.R.O.N.) can extend lifespan of animals 30 to 230 %, depending on the species. Primate studies are in process. It will be another 10 years before we known the final results, and no doubt, results will then lead to even more questions. What we do know, from major studies of centenarians already underway, is that the demographics have nothing much in common. Many centenarians are smokers, for example. They come from all over the world without favoring any geographic location in particular. However, there are 3 consistent blood metabolic indicators of all centenarians that are relatively consistent: low sugar, low triglyceride, and low insulin. All three are relatively low for age. Among these three variables insulin is the common denominator. The level of insulin sensitivity of the cell is one of the most important markers of lifespan. Many lifestyle factors can contribute to a resistance to insulin, so in this article, we will go into what exactly this means, what it affects, and how to reverse insulin resistance naturally. Insulin When we eat, the food we consume turns into sugar once inside the body. This is particularly true of carbohydrates such as potatoes or rice. This sugar circulates within us, and under the influence of insulin, is absorbed into the surrounding cells and tissue where it is metabolized into energy, or in the case of excessive sugar, stored for future use. Insulin is commonly known as a hormone secreted by the beta cells of the pancreas that lowers the blood sugar by promoting their transport from the blood stream to the cell. Cells, in turn, use sugar as fuel to generate ATP, the energy currency of the body. Insulin’s real purpose in our Continue reading >>
Stop Fighting Blood Sugar, Start Fixing Insulin Resistance
Insulin resistance is the underlying condition that is present in all forms of diabetes. Most people believe that insulin resistance is only present in prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, however ample research shows that insulin resistance is also present in type 1 diabetes (1-3). It is a common misconception that people with type 1 diabetes do not experience insulin resistance. Even many doctors believe that insulin resistance only affects people with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, and that by nature of being “skinny” or “normoweight,” people with type 1 diabetes are insulin sensitive. This information cannot be farther from the truth. In my practice, more than 95% of my clients with type 1 diabetes are insulin resistant, and 100% of my clients with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are insulin resistant. If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably have picked up on the fact that I’m a huge fan of maximizing insulin effectiveness over managing blood glucose. The reason for this is actually quite simple: Trying to control blood glucose without addressing insulin resistance is akin to frequently washing your car and never fixing problems under the hood. Addressing the root cause of blood glucose variability – insulin resistance – is the most successful method of controlling blood glucose. Period. The Blood Sugar Rollercoaster Perhaps you’ve been in this situation before: you wake up in the morning, your blood glucose is 50 points over the normal range. You don’t know why. You eat a standard breakfast, bolus the same amount of insulin that you always give yourself for breakfast, and then continue on with your day. Two hours later, when you check your blood glucose, and it is still high. This time it is 150 points above the norma Continue reading >>
5 Healthy Steps To Reverse Type 2 Diabetes And Insulin Resistance
Author: Mark Hyman, M.D. Breaking news! Some newly discovered compounds have just been found to turn off all of the genes that cause diabetes. Are these compounds found in a pill bottle? No! Diabetes and insulin resistance are completely preventable and often reversible through aggressive lifestyle changes, including diet, supplements, exercise and stress management. In my last blog, I explained how to find out if you are pre-diabetic or diabetic. Half of the 24 million people with diabetes don’t know they have it, and nearly all the 60 million people with pre-diabetes don’t know they have it. Today, I want to share with you more information about what you can do NOW to prevent and reverse diabetes and pre-diabetes. 1. Change your diet Eating in a way that balances your blood sugar, reduces inflammation andoxidative stress, and improves your liver detoxification is the key to preventing and reversing insulin resistance and diabetes. This is a way of eating that’s based on a whole foods diet that’s high in fiber, rich in colorful fruits and vegetables, and low in sugars and flours, with a low glycemic load. It is a way of eating that includes anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and detoxifying foods. It includes plenty of omega-3 fats and olive oil, soy products, beans, nuts and seeds. All these foods help prevent and reverse diabetes and insulin resistance. This is the way of eating that turns on all the right gene messages, promotes a healthy metabolism, and prevents aging and age-related diseases like diabetes andheart disease. 2. Exercise Exercise is critical for the improvement of insulin sensitivity. It helps reduce central body fat, improving sugar metabolism. Regular exercise will help prevent diabetes, reduce your risk of complications, and even help reverse Continue reading >>
Diet Tips To Improve Insulin Resistance
Insulin is a hormone that helps the body absorb glucose, keeping blood sugar levels in balance. Insulin resistance makes it harder for glucose to be absorbed. This causes problems for muscles, fat, and the liver, as they need glucose (sugar). Over time, insulin resistance can cause high blood sugar levels and damage cells. Insulin resistance can lead to type 2 diabetes. People with insulin resistance are often diagnosed with prediabetes. They may need extra checks to make sure they don't develop diabetes. Diet and other lifestyle choices can increase the risks related to insulin resistance. Making diet changes can reduce insulin insensitivity. This reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and the health problems that go with it. Contents of this article: Understanding insulin resistance Glucose is a vital source of energy for the body. However, many of the body's cells can't absorb glucose on their own. The pancreas secretes insulin into the bloodstream. It joins up with glucose, and travels to the body's cells, where it attaches to insulin receptors. Insulin allows the cells to absorb glucose, making sure that: blood sugar levels remain at a safe level muscle, fat, liver, and other cells are able to get energy Insulin resistance makes cells less sensitive to insulin. This means the body has to produce more insulin to keep blood sugar levels healthy. If the pancreas is unable to keep up with the increased demand for insulin, blood sugar levels go up. When this happens, cells can't use all of the excess glucose in the blood. This leads to type 2 diabetes. Diet tips Following a healthful diet plan, such as the Mediterranean Diet, can improve insulin sensitivity. This diet recommends eating lots of seasonal plant-based foods, having fruit as a dessert, and olive oil as the main Continue reading >>
The Insulin Resistance Diet Protocol
Understanding the cellular mechanisms of insulin resistance helps us choose more effective therapeutic interventions for the treatment and prevention of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance is present in individuals who are obese and those with diabetes mellitus. Several studies have found that an insulin resistance diet protocol and exercise can alter insulin signaling pathways and delay the onset of insulin resistance. It’s estimated that the number of diabetes sufferers in the world will double from about 190 million to 325 million during the next 25 years. (1) It’s obvious that we need to pay more attention to our lifestyle habits and make some changes. An insulin resistance diet, similar to a diabetic diet plan, helps you lose excess weight and regulate your insulin and blood glucose levels in order to reduce your risk of developing prediabetes and diabetes. Insulin Resistance Diet Research suggests that the primary cause of insulin resistance is excess weight, especially excess fat around the waist. Fortunately, weight loss can help the body respond better to insulin. The Diabetes Prevention Program and other large studies indicate that people with insulin resistance and prediabetes can often prevent or delay developing diabetes by changing their diets to follow an insulin resistance diet, along with losing weight. Here are seven ways to start eating an insulin resistance diet. 1. Limit Carbohydrates Research published in Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity suggests that monitoring carbohydrate intake, whether by carbohydrate counting or experience-based estimation, remains a key strategy in achieving glycemic control. Although all carbohydrates can be incorporated into carbohydrate counting, for good health, carbohydrates from vegetables, Continue reading >>
Prediabetes & Insulin Resistance
What is insulin? Insulin is a hormone made in the pancreas, an organ located behind the stomach. The pancreas contains clusters of cells called islets. Beta cells within the islets make insulin and release it into the blood. Insulin plays a major role in metabolism—the way the body uses digested food for energy. The digestive tract breaks down carbohydrates—sugars and starches found in many foods—into glucose. Glucose is a form of sugar that enters the bloodstream. With the help of insulin, cells throughout the body absorb glucose and use it for energy. Insulin's Role in Blood Glucose Control When blood glucose levels rise after a meal, the pancreas releases insulin into the blood. Insulin and glucose then travel in the blood to cells throughout the body. Insulin helps muscle, fat, and liver cells absorb glucose from the bloodstream, lowering blood glucose levels. Insulin stimulates the liver and muscle tissue to store excess glucose. The stored form of glucose is called glycogen. Insulin also lowers blood glucose levels by reducing glucose production in the liver. In a healthy person, these functions allow blood glucose and insulin levels to remain in the normal range. What happens with insulin resistance? In insulin resistance, muscle, fat, and liver cells do not respond properly to insulin and thus cannot easily absorb glucose from the bloodstream. As a result, the body needs higher levels of insulin to help glucose enter cells. The beta cells in the pancreas try to keep up with this increased demand for insulin by producing more. As long as the beta cells are able to produce enough insulin to overcome the insulin resistance, blood glucose levels stay in the healthy range. Over time, insulin resistance can lead to type 2 diabetes and prediabetes because the bet Continue reading >>
Insulin Resistance
What medical conditions are associated with insulin resistance? While the metabolic syndrome links insulin resistance with abdominal obesity, elevated cholesterol, and high blood pressure; several other medical other conditions are specifically associated with insulin resistance. Insulin resistance may contribute to the following conditions: Type 2 Diabetes: Overt diabetes may be the first sign insulin resistance is present. Insulin resistance can be noted long before type 2 diabetes develops. Individuals reluctant or unable to see a health-care professional often seek medical attention when they have already developed type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. Fatty liver: Fatty liver is strongly associated with insulin resistance. Accumulation of fat in the liver is a manifestation of the disordered control of lipids that occurs with insulin resistance. Fatty liver associated with insulin resistance may be mild or severe. Newer evidence suggests fatty liver may even lead to cirrhosis of the liver and, possibly, liver cancer. Arteriosclerosis: Arteriosclerosis (also known as atherosclerosis) is a process of progressive thickening and hardening of the walls of medium-sized and large arteries. Arteriosclerosis is responsible for: Other risk factors for arteriosclerosis include: High levels of "bad" (LDL) cholesterol Diabetes mellitus from any cause Family history of arteriosclerosis Skin Lesions: Skin lesions include increased skin tags and a condition called acanthosis nigerians (AN). Acanthosis nigricans is a darkening and thickening of the skin, especially in folds such as the neck, under the arms, and in the groin. This condition is directly related to the insulin resistance, though the exact mechanism is not clear. Acanthosis nigricans is a cosmetic condition strongly Continue reading >>
Insulin Resistance Diet: Meal Planning & Exercise Tips
Written by: Melissa Herrmann Dierks , RDN, LDN, CDE Every day your body uses a hormone called insulin to turn your meals into energy. Sometimes this process can be interrupted and cause insulin resistance, leading to elevated glucose levels and potentially prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Below is an overview of insulin resistance, how certain lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, and weight can affect your health, and healthy meal plan tips for an insulin resistance diet. Insulin resistance, also known as impaired insulin sensitivity, occurs when your cells have difficulty responding to insulin. If your cells develop an impaired response to insulin, your body may try to compensate by making more insulin. If your pancreas is able to make enough extra insulin to help glucose enter your cells, glucose levels may stay in check. However, if your pancreas is unable to make enough insulin to keep up with demand, then it can lead to prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Check out our post on insulin resistance to learn more about the causes and symptoms. How does exercise and weight affect insulin resistance? The good news is that even when diagnosed with insulin resistance, you can take steps to prevent or delay the development of type 2 diabetes. Research from the Diabetes Prevention Program showed that intensive lifestyle intervention that led to weight loss reduced the incidence of type 2 diabetes for overweight and obese adults with impaired glucose tolerance by 58% over three years. Many other studies found that people who continued with the lifestyle changes were able to delay a type 2 diabetes diagnosis even longer if they continued following their new lifestyle. Energy balance is not only about calories (or energy in), it also includes exercise (or energy out). Regular exe Continue reading >>
Reverse Insulin Resistance
Can you reverse insulin resistance or pre-diabetes? Much like type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance symptoms are caused purely by years of a refined-carbohydrate diet. It is estimated that 60 million Americans suffer from insulin resistance and most of them are undiagnosed: it is considered the most pervasive health problem in the US and almost nobody knows what it is. Through the combination of an insulin resistance diet and other lifestyle changes, a person can reverse his/her insulin resistance symptoms if they are caught in time. My patients speed up the unwinding process with the help of very specific insulin resistance supplements. Insulin Resistance Symptoms Are you sleepy after you eat? Do you feel like your brain works slower than it used to? Are you becoming more forgetful? Are you always cold even in warm weather? Are you still gaining weight no matter how much you exercise? Do diets no longer work? Are you female but growing a faint beard while starting to go bald? Are you a man who gains weight in the hips and are growing male breasts? Do you have very strong cravings for sweets even after eating? Does eating not relieve your hunger? Trying to reverse insulin resistance can get very complicated because it causes so many secondary conditions in the body. Metabolic Syndrome (Insulin Resistance) Symptoms And Other Complications: Stubborn weight gain Plaquing of the arteries Adrenal gland burnout Fatty liver Kidney damage Thyroid hormone disruption, causing thyroid issues Chronic whole-body inflammation, sometimes causing joint pains Circulation problems, including increased coagulability Sexual dysfunction and loss of sex drive in both sexes Skin tags or darkening of moles Official Diagnosis Of Metabolic Syndrome (Insulin Resistance) An official diagnosis of met Continue reading >>
Are Diabetes And Insulin Resistance Reversible? The Facts.
Are Diabetes and Insulin Resistance Reversible? The Facts. Are Diabetes and Insulin Resistance Reversible? The Facts. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION WOULD have you believe that diabetes is not reversible and only controlling your blood sugar with drugs or insulin will protect you from organ damage and death. But medication and insulin can actually increase your risk of getting a heart attack or dying. The diabetes epidemic is accelerating along with the obesity epidemic, and what you are not hearing about is another way to treat it. Type 2 diabetes, or what was once called adult onset diabetes, is increasing worldwide and now affects nearly 100 million people and over 20 million Americans. We are seeing increasing rates of Type 2 diabetes, especially in children, which has increased over 1,000 percent in the last decade and was unknown before this generation. One in three children born today will have diabetes in their lifetime. Yet this is an entirely preventable lifestyle disease. In a report in The New England Journal of Medicine, Walter Willett, MD, PhD, and his colleagues from the Harvard School of Public Health demonstrated that 91 percent of all Type 2 diabetes cases could be prevented through improvements lifestyle and diet. Here, I want to review in detail this new way of thinking about diabetes and outline the tests I recommend to identify problems with blood sugar. Next Ill tell you exactly how to prevent, treat, and reverse Type 2 diabetes . Diabetes is often undiagnosed until its later stages. Insulin resistance, when the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin, is primarily what causes diabetes. When your diet is full of empty calories, an abundance of quickly absorbed sugars and carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc.), the body slowly becomes Continue reading >>
