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This
was a very interesting article Grace, our Herbalist found on a
website she visits regularly www.jonbarron.com. The article does not
go into food as much as explaining how Diabetes takes control of
your body which is fundamental in understanding how you can actually
make a difference to your health when you have diabetes.
If
you have Type 2 Diabetes, this article will give you a greater
insight to what your body is doing.
The
Diabetes Echo Effect
Type 2
Diabetes is not like any other disease. Most diseases such as cancer
& MS are linear. In other words, you get the disease & it
progresses in a straight line, from point A to point B. It may have
regressions & remissions in which it backs up on its linear path
for a bit, but then it picks up steam & once again proceeds on
down the same track to its ultimate conclusion. Diabetes does not do
that.
Diabetes
actually follows multiple, mutually reinforcing paths -- an echo
effect if you will, with each echo reinforcing & amplifying all
the other echoes, or "effects". This distinction is of vital
importance because it mandates multiple points of intervention if
you wish to reverse diabetes & not just slow its
progression.
Reversing
Diabetes Begins with Understanding Insulin
Despite
long intervals between meals & the erratic intake of high
glycaemic carbohydrates, blood sugar levels normally remain within a
narrow range. In most humans, this range is from about 70-110 mg per
dl. (Note: a blood sugar reading of 100 equates to about 1/5 of an
ounce of sugar (5 g) total in the bloodstream of an average 165 lb
(75 kg) male. That's it: 1/5 of an ounce.
The
body's mechanisms for restoring normal blood glucose levels when it
drops outside of its range (either low or high) are extremely
efficient & effective. High blood sugar levels are regulated by
the hormone insulin, which is produced by beta cells in the islets
of Langerhans in the pancreas. These cells are extremely sensitive
to variations in blood glucose levels & under normal
circumstances, respond with extraordinary speed to any
variation.
When
you eat high glycaemic foods, you suddenly increase the amount of
sugar in your blood. This increase triggers the beta cells in the
pancreas to release insulin, which travels in the blood to cells
throughout the body, where it facilitates the uptake of sugar in the
individual cells so that it can be quickly converted to energy. If
you eat too much sugar, insulin tells the body to store the excess
sugar as glycogen in the liver (& to a lesser degree, in muscle
tissue). When the glucose levels come down to acceptable levels,
this triggers the beta cells in the pancreas to stop the production
& release of insulin, which allows the process to stabilize.
When blood glucose levels drop too low, however, the hormone
glucagon is released from alpha cells (located in the pancreas),
which triggers the release of sugar stored in the liver as glycogen;
thus, once again bringing blood sugar levels back to normal. One
important note: release of insulin is strongly inhibited by the
stress hormone, noradrenaline, which is why blood sugar levels
increase so dramatically during stress.
The
Initial"Sound": Insulin Resistance
On the
surface of the cells of your body sit insulin receptors. These
little "lock & key" chemical gateways act like little doors that
open & close to regulate the inflow of blood sugar. After many
years of consuming a high-glycaemic diet, these cells become damaged
by exposure to so much insulin that their "doors" begin to
malfunction & shut down.
As a
result, the fat, muscle & liver cells of the body become
resistant to insulin so that normal amounts of insulin are no longer
adequate to produce a normal response. The cells require ever &
ever greater quantities of insulin to achieve even the most minimal
response. Insulin resistance in fat cells results in the breakdown
of stored triglycerides, which elevates free fatty acids in the
blood. Insulin resistance in muscle cells reduces glucose uptake
which keeps sugar levels high in the blood, & insulin resistance
in liver cells reduces glucose storage, which also raises blood
glucose levels.
The
First Diabetic Echo: Increased Production of Insulin
To
continue the "door analogy" we started above -- with fewer doors
open, as we mentioned, your body needs to produce ever more insulin
to "push" the glucose into the cells. More insulin causes even more
doors to close & as this vicious cycle continues, a condition
called "insulin resistance" sets in.
This
is a primary cause & effect response by your body. If normal
insulin levels are not enough to make the cells behave properly, the
beta cells in your pancreas continue to sense high levels of glucose
in the blood; they thus go into overdrive to pump out ever greater
quantities of insulin in an attempt to bring blood sugar levels back
to normal. In most cases, this extra insulin is enough to bring
things back under control -- for a time -- but with two significant
side effects:
It
puts undue stress on the beta cells in the pancreas. They can only
operate in overdrive for a limited period of time before they burn
out. At that point, not only can they no longer produce sufficient
levels of insulin even under prodding, they have effectively lost
all ability to produce insulin under any conditions. They are burnt
out.
The
increased insulin comes with a whole host of its own side effects.
See Echo Three below.
The
Second Diabetic Echo: High Sugar Damage
Too
much sugar in the blood leads to increased thirst in the body's
attempt to get rid of the extra sugar. This leads to increased
urination & starts putting an extra burden on your kidneys. Too
much sugar causes the small blood vessels throughout the body to
narrow as your body tries to abate the damage caused to organs by
minimizing the ability of the excess sugar to reach them. The higher
the blood sugar level, the more the small blood vessels narrow. The
blood vessels thus carry less blood & circulation is impaired.
Poor circulation in turn results in complications such as kidney
disease, poor wound healing & foot & eye problems. This
sugar imbalance also alters fat metabolism, increasing the risk that
cholesterol-laden plaque will build up in the large blood vessels.
Finally, sugar also sticks to proteins, in effect caramelising them, causing their structural &
functional properties to be changed. It is a primary reason that
wounds don't heal since they have trouble making quality collagen,
the connective tissue that is the major structural protein in the
body.
The
bottom line is that people who have diabetes are at considerable
risk of multiple "complications."
In
addition, as we mentioned earlier, stress results in the adrenal
glands pumping adrenaline into the bloodstream which increases free
fatty acids in the blood & shuts off the release of insulin. In
obesity, less & less insulin is able to reach the
insulin-responsive muscles. In the end, there is not enough insulin
to meet the demand.
Diabetic
neuropathy (damage to nerves caused by diabetes) affects the
peripheral nerves, such as those in the feet, hands & legs.
Symptoms include numbness, tingling & pain.
The
Third Diabetic Echo: Excess Insulin Damage
Excess
sugar is not the only problem associated with diabetes. Excess
insulin is also a killer. Insulin is the master hormone of your
metabolism. When it is out of balance & your insulin levels are
consistently elevated, a long list of deadly complications are
created:
- Heart
Disease
- Hardening
of the Arteries
- Damage
to Artery Walls (elevated insulin levels are directly implicated
in the damage done to arterial walls that leads to
atherosclerosis)
- Increased
Cholesterol Levels
- Increased
Triglycerides
- Elevated
Blood Pressure
- Vitamin
& Mineral Deficiencies
- Kidney
Disease
- Fat
Burning Mechanism Turned Off
- Accumulation
and Storage of Fat
- Weight
Gain -- Obesity
The
Fourth Diabetic Echo: Destruction of the Beta Cells
This
is the big echo in which all the other echoes get ramped up to
catastrophic levels. When blood sugar levels rise even slightly
above 100 for as little as two hours, beta cell failure is
detectable. People that maintain blood sugar levels of as little as
110 can lose as much as 40% of their beta cell capacity in as little as
two years.
In
other words, the very cells of your body responsible for keeping
blood sugar under control are destroyed by the excess blood sugar
that they are unable to control, which echoes back on the beta cells
in the pancreas, destroying them thus causing blood sugar levels to
rise even further. This then reverberates through the body once
again, echoing back once more on the pancreas, killing even more
beta cells -- on & on until there are no beta cells left to
destroy.
Echo
Five: Breakdown of the Body
At a
certain point in the process, when your body can no longer produce
any insulin & resists even the insulin you take through
injection, you begin to experience the ravages of diabetes. At that
point, you're looking at:
- Neuropathy
- Amputation
- Kidney
failure
- Dialysis
- Heart
disease
- Blindness
- Death
Summarizing
the Diabetic Echo Effect
Let's
say you start developing the early signs of diabetes & you
decide to clean up your diet. The problem is that you've already
started the echoes. So although your diet may now have lower amounts
of sugar, your pancreas is compromised so that it can't produce
enough insulin to handle even normal amounts of sugar & the
cells of your body are now resistant to insulin so that even if your
pancreas weren't damaged, it couldn't produce enough insulin. This
means that sugar levels remain high in your bloodstream even though
you've corrected your diet & the diabetic damage continues
apace.
But it
doesn't stop there. Remember, an entirely separate echo has also
been set in motion. As a result of the higher than normal levels of
sugar & insulin in your blood, you've damaged your kidneys so
that they can no longer fully cleanse your blood of waste. That
means that even if you are able to re-establish normal blood sugar
levels, the toxins not cleared by your kidneys continue to damage
the organs of your body -- including the pancreas & the kidneys,
which means the damage continues apace & eventually your
pancreas and kidneys will fail.
Don't
worry. Although the situation may sound grim, it's not hopeless. It
does, however, present the limitations of the medical approach,
& it does show why the Baseline of Health program, which deals
with the whole body all at once, is likely to produce significantly
better results than the medical approach.
So
What Can You Do About Diabetes?
Standard
medical treatment offers several flawed approaches:
Drugs
like metformin seek to inhibit the absorption of high glycaemic
carbohydrates in the intestinal tract & enhance insulin
sensitivity in the body, thereby reducing the need for extra
insulin.
The
major problem with metformin is its effect on the gastrointestinal
system, ranging from a mild loss of appetite to nausea, vomiting,
abdominal discomfort, cramps, flatulence & diarrhea. Many
patients find these symptoms impossible to cope with &
discontinue the tablets within days.
Lactic
acidosis is a rare but dangerous side effect of metformin. This is a
serious condition where the cells of the body do not get enough
oxygen to survive. It is caused by a build up of lactic acid in the
blood. Most of the cases described have been in people whose kidneys
were not working well (as we've already seen, an inevitable problem
with diabetes).
Drugs
like glyburide work by stimulating the pancreas to release more
insulin.
Glyburide
is so effective that you need to carry glucose pills with you in
case you produce so much insulin that your blood sugar drops too low
& you fall into a diabetic coma. Although this rarely happens,
it is indicative of the larger problems with glyburide:
- it
raises insulin levels so high that your body faces all of the
problems of high insulin levels discussed above.
- it
doesn't repair beta cells; it just forces them to work harder --
thus speeding up the day when they break down and become
dysfunctional.
- extra
insulin in the form of pills or injections cover you when the beta
cells in your pancreas have burned out & can no longer produce
sufficient insulin by themselves or even when stimulated by drugs
such as glyburide -- until, that is, your body's insulin
resistance is so high that no amount of insulin is adequate for
the task at hand. At that point, your body goes into rapid
decay.
A
Diabetic Alternative: Stopping the Echoes
Obviously,
any viable alternative needs to address the problems that medicines
do not. They also need to work "with" the body so that they can work
long term -- not squeeze your body dry until it eventually breaks
down. And finally, any viable alternative needs to stop all of the
echoes -- all of them without exception -- so that nothing bounces
back to retrigger the problems.
With
that in mind, in addition to changing your diet (no more sodas &
high glycaemic snack food), you will want to explore the following
options:
- Inhibit
absorption of high glycaemic foods, without creating unwelcome
responses in the intestinal tract, such as those experienced using
metformin. This can be accomplished with the following
herbs:
-
- Naturally
reverse insulin resistance so less insulin is required
through:
-
- Repair
beta cells in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas to optimize
insulin production reserves as opposed to forcing the cells to
dramatically overproduce as with glyburide, which leads to
inevitable burn out.
-
- Lower
blood sugar levels through proper diet & herbal
supplementation:
-
- Protect
organs & proteins from damage caused by higher than normal
levels of sugar through a mixture of antioxidants &
nutraceuticals such as:
-
- Protect
organs from damage caused by higher than normal insulin levels by
cleaning the blood & by using:
-
The
bottom line to preventing & reversing diabetes is to do
everything, & do it all at once. Since diabetes is not a single
straight line progression disease, you need to stop every single
"echo" so that no aspect of the disease can reverberate & start
the whole process moving downhill again. You need to stop it all or
it will all start again.
Article
in full from Baseline of Health Foundation - Jon Barron
www.jonbarron.org |