Diabetes Prevention

 

Diabetes is a life-threatening condition that is being treated as a pharmaceutical cash cow.

With more than SEVENTY [70] drugs regularly prescribed for diabetes in the US alone, guess how many address the root cause (or even stop the progression) of diabetes?

Zip. Zilch. Zero.

  • Billions of dollars are spent on pharmaceutical research.
  • Some studies indicate that nearly half of the US is either diabetic or pre-diabetic.
  • Not one single medication on the market is addressing the cause.

That’s a lot of money spent on band-aids.

Researchers have found evidence that insulin resistance may be the result of immune system cells attacking the body’s tissues. Yes, that means autoimmune disease.

Insulin Resistance Management – Insulin resistance, which may be a precursor to Type 2 diabetes, can be controlled with healthy lifestyle changes including good nutrition. A nutritionist will provide education about insulin resistance syndrome and diabetes and assesses your current dietary patterns. Receive personalized nutritional recommendations to help you manage blood sugar and reduce health risks. See Wellness IQ at www.academyofwellness.com 

Add a healthy fat, like extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
Add leafy greens or vegetables
Chill the potato or add lemon juice to slow digestion
As for portion size, stick to about 1/2 cup of mashed sweet potatoes or a computer mouse sized baked potato.

Avoid White rice

In the diabetes world, white flour is like sugars evil minion.

Combine this with all the frying and processing involved with cooking flour, and your bloodstream is about to become a war-zone.

In fact, regularly eating white rice significantly increases your risk for Type 2 Diabetes. The risk increases 11% for each additional daily serving.

Thankfully, there is another option: brown rice.

Whole grains have fiber, which slows the rush of glucose into the bloodstream. Two servings of brown rice per week can actually lower your risk of diabetes, and help keep your blood sugar in check.

Blood Glucose Management Can Thwart Diabetic Neuropathy, by Angela Dorris

Diabetics have to deal with many hard-to-manage and unpleasant symptoms of their condition. Anywhere from 60 to 70% have to additionally contend with neuropathy or nerve damage. The symptoms may range from a slight tingling or numbness experienced in limbs to organ death. For other people, neuropathy is to blame for life-limiting pain, issues with digesting food, accompanied by equally unpleasant vomiting and nausea, and even heart problems.

Diabetic neuropathy may at any point go from a twinge to a full-time tingling in the feet to much more serious problems. Unfortunately, there is no way to reverse neuropathic damage and there is no way to cure it. People may hope to stall its progression through better management. It turns out that having a better handle on blood sugar levels usually results in better control over diabetes and diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Monitoring starts with regular checks of blood sugar levels. Though, even more than that, blood-sugar-friendly diets and more life-affirming lifestyles improve life with diabetes.

Causes Of Neuropathy

Experiencing constantly elevated or even high blood sugar levels are thought to be the origin for neuropathy. Neural fibers, like all other cells in the body, require oxygen and nutrients from blood. The blood vessels that bring nutrients to the nerve cells may grow weaker because of a constant overabundance of glucose in the blood. Similarly, too much glucose in the blood may both interrupt nervous impulses and cause nerve damage.

To prevent that, sticking to a blood-sugar-friendly diet is considered one way to manage the disease. Particularly in Type II diabetes, the disease is much more responsive to lifestyle changes. Type I diabetes is more difficult as the individual’s body never created sufficient insulin. In addition to eating the right portions of lean protein, low carbohydrates, high fiber grains, and vegetables, natural supplements may prove effective in the management of blood sugar. It is one way to feed the body good nutrition while keeping some of the more difficult symptoms and co-morbid conditions at bay.

Neuropathy Symptoms

There are several different types of neuropathy. The symptoms may differ in location and effects depending on where the neuropathy is occurring. Most people think of peripheral neuropathy when they think of diabetes. It is the most commonly occurring type of nerve damage for diabetics and impacts the extremities – arms and legs down to the feet and hands. It can occur in just one limb, some part of one or in all. The numbness, pain, weakness, tingling, and inability to feel cold, heat, or touch are disconcerting. Other types of neuropathy cause vertigo, urinary problems, erectile dysfunction, diarrhea and constipation and even changes in sweating.

Nerve Damage Treatment

While managing blood sugar is the best way to control symptoms, ceasing smoking, incorporating more low-impact exercise and weight loss may help. Medicines such as antidepressants and anti-seizure medications are often prescribed to deal with the pain or nausea. The addition of more medications makes diabetes management more complex, though. Instead, it is best to try and regulate neuropathy with lifestyle improvements.

Lifestyle Food Changes

Eating is often a lifestyle choice. Seeing it that way puts the power to choose to make healthier choices at the hands of the individual suffering from diabetes. Start by bringing in water to replace soda or herbal tea. Conventional tea can cause kidney stones. If you are already dealing with organ issues from neuropathy, you may not want to further tax the organs because that can cause organ death. No one wants to add a kidney transplant to neuropathy and diabetes.

Choose lean protein to satiate hunger, while replacing simple carbs such as white bread with multi-grain and high-fiber options. Try out different styles of cooking that are healthier, such as roasting, broiling, grilling, baking, and even steaming. Avoid frying because of the fat content and the breading.

Focus on bringing more vegetables and whole fruits into the body. They have many different nutrients, minerals, and serve all types of functions that support the function of a healthy body. Many vegetables contain antioxidants, which are thought to bind to free radicals in the body that could otherwise mutate and turn into cancerous cells. The fiber cleanses the colon and digestive system, which increases the digestive tract strength, which may ease future organ neuropathy.

Wild-caught fish contain healthy omega-3 fatty acids to aid in lower triglycerides and apoproteins. Stamping out both of these prevents diabetic complications. Coconut oil, olive oil, avocado, nuts, and seeds are all excellent sources of good fat. Opt for these in moderation over other oils. Increasing lean proteins means opting for low-fat skinless chicken breast, 90% lean beef, and eggs. Some will use stevia if they cannot curb their sweet tooth.

Before neuropathy begins, manage diabetes. Monitor blood sugar levels, regulate insulin, improve eating habits, investigate supplements that can help and increase low-impact exercise. Become your own advocate when it comes to good health and habits.

Angela Dorris is a professional in the beauty industry and the owner and manufacturer of Enji Happy Care and Enji Prime effective callus removal systems for your feet. Learn more about these amazing products and discover effective tips for obtaining beautiful feet by visiting Enji-Prime.com.

www.freiburgstudy.com

In the last 5 years, the FDA has collected over $2.5 billion in direct payments from major drug companies including Bristol-Myers, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Eli Lilly.

In exchange for these payments, the FDA has hustled drugs through the approval process, flooding the market with poisons that were known to have dangerous and even deadly side effects.

Its despicable… a disgrace! Unfortunately, its not going to change anytime soon.

All you can do is protect yourself, and Im here to make sure you… your spouse… your children… and your grandchildren dont fall victims to these deadly drugs.

Metformin (tradename Glucophage) is a first-line therapy for Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and has been used for many years. It has the effect of making the body more sensitive to insulin and blocking the liver from putting out more sugar. The net effect of this is to lower blood sugar levels.

However, metformin specific action reaches deeper into your cells. It blocks the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cells of your body, from using sugar efficiently. When cells are unable to use sugar, they must switch to fat-burning mode. With the ability to burn fat, the body has lower sugar levels and can actually lose weight!

The effect of metformin has been trumpeted for many years. Metformin:

Decreases blood glucose
Increases fat use
Prevents kidney problems
Improves PCOS in women
Prevents diabetes
Lowers cancer rates
Because of these effects metformin is now being considered and used for many conditions including:

Type 2 Diabetes
Type 1 Diabetes
Alzheimers Disease
Cancers of all types
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
Obesity
Metabolic Syndrome X
Indeed, as one of my professors stated, it seems that metformin should be included in the drinking water. Everyone would supposedly benefit. Many without diabetes, PCOS, or even pre-diabetes are taking it to prevent diabetes and cancer.

Beware of Treating Disease with Metformin

All of the symptoms and diseases treated by metformin have one thing in common: they are all diseases of metabolism, or energy production. These conditions actually result when energy is not properly made in the body. Adding metformin to those cells that need sugar makes them less efficient. They cant make energy!

A lack of energy for cells could mean dysfunction and even death!

This is why people with diabetes develop Alzheimers disease, kidney failure, amputations, and nerve damage. In spite of having lots of sugar, they are unable to metabolize it.

The problem with taking metformin is that it blocks the proper use of sugar. Some tissues need sugar to function. So when your body is already impaired, withholding cell energy can cause further damage to the liver, kidneys, brain, vision, and muscles.

The list of side-effects, or better said, toxic effects, of metformin include:

Stomach cramps, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, or constipation
Headaches
Vitamin B12 deficiency
Taste problems
Trouble breathing
Chills
Dizziness
Excessive sweating
Fingernail and/or toenail disease
Flu-like symptoms
Heart throbbing or pounding
Muscle pain
Redness of face and neck
Increased blood acidity due to high levels of lactic acid
Low blood sugar
Megaloblastic anemia
These are just the symptoms of the toxic effects of metformin; the underlying cause is the lack of energy production. Basically, cells treated with metformin become energetically inefficient. As a result, your mitochondria, which manage your cells energy, become poisoned. Lead, mercury, arsenic, and cyanide, are known to have similar disturbing side effects on your cells.

Not all who take metformin have this unique set of horrible toxic side effects. But it is important to know that there is a risk to taking it. Much of the time, patients with diabetes or other conditions are given the medication without being told about its toxicity.

Metformin and Type 2 Diabetes

The hallmark of T2D is an overload of sugar, which makes it toxic. Anything we get too much of can poison the systems of our body. Yes, we can get too much of a good thing. When we eat more than we need for the day, we store the extra as fat and glycogen. Eventually the energy production of the body gets sluggish. The systems designed to regulate and manage your body become inefficient. We feel weak, fatigued, tired and listless. Even though every cell stores millions of calories and many pounds of fat are reserved under the skin, metabolic energy is inaccessible due to overload of sugar.

Many blame their thyroid because low thyroid can cause similar symptoms. However, these symptoms almost always point to an overload of a sluggish energy system. This happens because the sugar system is inefficient, and extra insulin blocks the fat system. We call this insulin resistance.

When given metformin, it blocks the cells ability to use sugar and stimulates the use of fat. This allows more sugar into the already bloated cells. It also prevents the muscles from getting energy from their stored glycogen, which can cause them to die of starvation. It might seem to make sense to treat the overload of energy by starving the cells. It may work temporarily, but ultimately these cells die of starvation while swimming in energy. It would be like a person dying of thirst in a swimming pool because he was afraid of drowning.

Metformin and Type 1 Diabetes

A deficiency of insulin does not allow sugar into the cells and they starve of energy. Before the discovery of insulin, people died of starvation from T1D (type 1 diabetes). They couldnt use the sugar so they would switch to fat-burning. When they ran out of fat, they started burning protein, and when there was no more protein, they died.

Long ago, people with honey urine (type 1 diabetes) ate high fat diets to keep them alive. Now we can give them insulin and they can live an almost normal life. However, some are saying type 1 diabetics should take metformin to block the liver from making sugar and help keep their sugar down. While this sounds good, it would be a disaster on the cellular level! With the imminent threat of starving cells, it is unwise to use a chemical that can further disturb energy production.

Studies indicate that metformin side-effects, especially hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), are more likely in T1D, with hardly any blood sugar benefit.

Metformin and PCOS

Polycystic ovary syndrome is primarily a hormone abnormality that is commonly inherited. The adrenal and other glands have abnormal responses to stimuli that cause either too much or too little of certain hormones. Cortisol tends to be excessive, as is testosterone. High cortisol and testosterone hormones prohibit other hormones from being produced or used. The net effect on the metabolism is insulin resistance (because of excess cortisol) and even diabetes.

Metformin has been a first-line medication for this problem because it effectively blocks excess cortisol. However, it is important to note that it works only on the symptoms of cortisol excess, while allowing the disease to progress.

In women with PCOS, high insulin levels can cause the ovaries to make more androgen hormones such as testosterone. Metformin affects the way insulin controls blood glucose and lowers testosterone production. As a result, ovulation can return.

On a side note, the goal to reverse PCOS is to use nutrients to:

Decrease sugar cravings
Improve insulin sensitivity
Improve carbohydrate metabolism
Balance blood sugar levels
And balance hormones
Meditation, mindfulness, gratefulness, journaling, and any other mind-body techniques can be used to lower cortisol levels.

Metformin Worsens Alzheimers Disease

While laboratory studies indicate that making the brain more sensitive to insulin should help slow the progression of Alzheimers, clinical studies show the cognitive problems actually get worse.[4] It turns out that the ability to use fat actually helps the brain to function better and to repair. However, the toxic effects of metformin on the bodys ability to use sugar lessen this benefit. The brain needs a constant supply of energy from sugar even when the body is burning fat.

The Optimal Alternative to Metformin

Ideally, we would want all the good effects of metformin without any of the toxic side-effects. There is actually a way that we can do this. It has been tested for hundreds of years on millions of people with no toxic effects, but with all of the benefits. In fact, the University of Southern California recently published a study on its long lasting results. It can prevent cancer and it can even change other aging markers. People can actually get younger

Fasting has been a part of many cultures and religious worship for many centuries. Fasting has the most beneficial effects on the body, including all of those claimed by metformin. In fact, it induces the same effect of increasing cyclic-AMP causing the body to use fat for energy. But rather than block the mitochondria from using sugar, fasting makes them more efficient. With fasting you actually make more mitochondria and thus more energy. So, fasting reverses all of the toxic effects of metformin and the complications of diabetes including:

Heart disease
Cancer
Dementia
Neuropathy
Kidney failure
Fatigue/weakness
You Can Reverse Alzheimers Disease

The thought of losing your mind strikes fear into almost everyone. Some are taking metformin, or other drugs, vitamins, and supplements in an attempt to prevent this dreaded disease. However, UCLA conducted a study that, for the first time, showed that Alzheimers disease could be reversed with fasting.[6] The patients didnt have to starve for long periods of time, they just skipped one meal per day. The rest of the program included:

Eliminating all simple carbohydrates, gluten and processed food from your diet, and eating more vegetables, fruits and non-farmed fish.
Meditating twice a day and beginning yoga to reduce stress.
Sleeping seven to eight hours per night, up from four to five.
Taking melatonin, methylcobalamin, vitamin D3, fish oil and coenzyme Q10 each day.
Optimizing oral hygiene using an electric flosser and electric toothbrush.
Reinstating hormone replacement therapy, which had previously been discontinued.
Fasting for a minimum of 12 hours between dinner and breakfast, and for a minimum of three hours between dinner and bedtime.
Exercising for a minimum of 30 minutes, four to six days per week.
The fast was only about 12 hours per day, without eating any snacks between meals. Moreover, they didnt eat any simple sugars, gluten, or processed foods. This allows the cells to start using fat for energy between meals producing the same effect as metformin, but without the toxicity!

Preventing Cancer with Fasting

There is now good evidence that periodic fasting could prevent cancer. Since cancer cells require sugar, and cannot use fat or protein for energy, they will shrink and die in the face of starvation. The rest of your body uses fat, ketones, and protein while the cancer cells disappear.

It doesnt require many days to starve out cancer. In fact, the USC study indicated that a low-carbohydrate, limited-calorie diet for only 5 days per month could prevent the large majority of cancers.

There is no need to poison the mitochondria with metformin. The effectiveness of dietary changes is so much better and has only good side-effects.

Fasting Reverses Metabolic Diseases

Fasting reversed PCOS, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Since the body begins to burn fat during fasting, the use of sugar is slowed down and the whole energy system becomes more efficient. Fasting also reverses the problems associated with these diseases, such as:

Kidney failure
Heart disease
Cancer
Dementia (as described above)
Neuropathy
Peripheral vascular disease (poor circulation)
In short, the effect of fasting on the body includes:

Decreases blood glucose
Increases fat use
Prevents kidney problems
Improves PCOS in women
Prevents diabetes
Lowers cancer risk
Among many other benefits!
Though it seems easier to just pop a pill, the side-effects of the pill are not worth the benefits. You can get all of the benefits of metformin therapy without any risks by fasting.

How to Reverse Diabetes

Most people do not feel they are able to skip meals right off, or fast for days. It is important not to just jump into it any more than you would just get up and run a marathon race you need training.

The program described above is a really good start. Also, Barton Publishing provides a step-by-step outline of how you can reverse diabetes without medications and experience all the benefits without any risks.

To prevent Diabetes & weight problems and to reach your ideal weight, complete the Wellness IQ on the top of this website and the Assessment Form to identify the root cause of your obesity. Health Assessment Form

5 Great Tips To Lessen Your Risk of Developing Diabetes When You are Older

Summary

My article teaches people a few tricks they can use if they want to avoid suffering from diabetes later on in life.

A huge amount of people in the US suffer from prediabetes which means there is a big chance they will develop diabetes later on in life, but most of them are completely oblivious to the risks they’re facing. You might say that is a good thing because they won’t worry about it, but if they know they’ll be able to do something about it. Here are a few tips you should follow if you want to avoid diabetes when you’re older.

Consume more vinegar

If you look at western diets these days you will see they are full of pastas, pizzas, and burgers served on massive buns. That is a huge amount of carbohydrates and it’s not great for anyone who does not want diabetes, but there is a trick you can use to lower your blood sugar levels. Eat a salad with vinegar sprinkled over the top of it before every carb-rich meal and the dressing can be anything you like as long as it contains a decent amount of vinegar which contains acetic acid.

Any form of exercise

If you exercise for around 30 minutes per day your risk of suffering from diabetes later on in life will drop by an astonishing 80%. Everyone should be exercising anyway because it can prevent thousands of health problems, but could you walk for 30 minutes per day if it meant you would never have to deal with diabetes? We’re only talking about a little walking, so you don’t even need to bust your gut running down the street. Start exercising today and it will change your life in so many ways.

Drink your caffeine

A bunch of researchers at Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study that involved talking to over 100,000 men and women and do you know what they found? Those that drank a lot of caffeine per day were at less risk than those who did not guzzle it down by the barrel. I know the entire country loves coffee unlike anything else, but I bet we did not know how helpful it would be in reducing our chances of suffering from a horrible condition like diabetes.

Lean meat and veg

Red meat is not the devil everyone makes it out to be, but if you consume it on a daily basis you are still at much greater risk than those who stick to lean meat and vegetables. If you can’t resist red meat you should try to limit yourself to one or two portions per week. The same thing applies to processed food like hot dogs and bacon because they can increase your risk of diabetes as much as red meat. Stick to one or two times per week with those kinds of foods too.

Spice your life up

There are lots of different spices out there, but if you want to avoid dealing with diabetes you should think about eating a lot more cinnamon. You should not eat any if you hate the taste so much you can feel your skin tightening around your mouth as you try to hold your sickness in, but some people love the taste of cinnamon and they would sprinkle it on anything. It has been tested at 1g per day so I would not eat any less if you are taking it because of its anti-diabetes properties.

I recommend the the following natural herbal remedies to moderate Hypertension & Diabetes:

1. Turmeric: 100% Effective In Preventing Diabetes and hypertension.
2. Ginger: Lowers Fasting Blood Glucose by 10.5% as well as hypertension.
3. Cinnamon: Less Than Half a Teaspoon A Day Reduces Blood Sugar Levels and high blood pressure.
4. Olive Leaf Extract: Results Comparable to Metformin and drugs for hypertension.
5. Berries Lower After-Meal Insulin Spike and lowers blood pressure.
6. Black Seed (Nigella Sativa): Just 2 Grams Reduces Insulin Resistance and hypertension.
7. Spirulina helps with insulin resistance and hypertension. See the complete blog under Spirulina.
8. Berberine Just As Good as Three Different Diabetes Drugs and high blood pressure medications.

Feel your skin tightening around your mouth as you try to hold your sickness in, but some people love the taste of cinnamon and they would sprinkle it on anything. It hass been tested at 1g per day so I wouldn’t eat any less if you are taking it because of its anti-diabetes properties.

Karen Fernandes, is a fitness enthusiast who often writes on topics related to health and wellness online. She enjoys dancing and working out in her free time. You can follow her on Twitter for more information.

There is an epidemic of blood sugar problems in America and scientists now believe they have found out the reason why.

Scientists tested 2,016 Americans for the presence of six toxins known as POPs (persistent organic pollutants). The scientists then compared the levels of these 6 toxins in the participants bodies to their history of blood sugar problems.

And here is what they discovered. The people with the highest levels of these 6 toxins were 38 times more likely to have blood sugar problems compared to the people with the lowest levels!

That is because these toxins can destroy the beta cells in your pancreas that produce insulin, the hormone that regulates your blood sugar levels. These toxins can also interfere with the cell receptors that carry glucose (sugar) to your muscle and fat cells. And they can limit your cell receptors ability to use insulin. When your cells have a hard time accepting and using insulin, then your blood sugar rises.

 

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/turmerics-smart-kill-properties-put-chemo-radiation-shame

In the October 2014 IHN a novel dietary approach was discussed which successfully reversed
type 2 diabetes in 8 weeks. The research group headed by Dr. Roy Taylor of the University of
Newcastle in the UK has just published a second clinical trial.17 This trial addresses the question
of the efficacy of the diet for individuals with long-term duration of diabetes (> 8 years) as
compared to those with short-term duration < 4 years), the latter group being similar to those the original study published in 2011.18 The report was prefaced by the statement: The inevitably progressive nature of type 2 diabetes has been widely accepted since the UK Prospective Diabetes Study was carried out, which showed that glucose control steadily worsened towards requirement for insulin treatment despite best possible therapy. There were 15 subjects in the short-duration and 14 in the long-duration groups. The protocol was similar to the earlier study with subjects taken off anti-diabetic medications prior to the start and then all put on a diet of approximately 700 calories for 8 weeks. The diet consisted of 600 calories from a meal replacement product and the balance from vegetables. Using fasting blood glucose (FBG) as the criterion, all the subjects in the short-duration group regressed to normal glycemia and could be considered at least temporarily cured. As is indicated in the table presented below, those with > 8 years with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes did not do as well.

Previous research has shown that fat tissue secretes an inflammatory factor called CXCL5 that is linked to insulin resistance and participates in the development of type 2 diabetes.

When you are insulin resistant, your cells have become seriously impaired in their ability to respond to the insulin your body makes. At the heart of this problem is a diet too high in sugar (especially processed fructose).

While you can be insulin resistant and lean, obesity places far greater stress on your cells, which makes insulin resistance more probable. Insulin resistance is at the core of nearly every chronic degenerative disease and is typically what needs to be addressed first to turn around any disease.

Research shows that chronic overeating places stress on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)the membranous network found inside the mitochondria of your cells. And when the ER receives more nutrients than it can process, it signals the cell to dampen the sensitivity of the insulin receptors on the surface of the cell.

Thus continuously eating more than your body really needs promotes insulin resistance by the mere fact that your cells are stressed by the work placed on them by the excess nutrients. This also helps explain why intermittent fasting (as well as other forms of calorie restriction) is so effective for reversing insulin resistance and increasing longevity.

Once your insulin resistance worsens, the concentration of glucose in your blood begins to rise, and elevated glucose contributes to the development of diabetes.

A Spice That’s Nice for Blood Sugar
Some people are predisposed to blood sugar problems, while others may be at increased risk due to lifestyle. The good news (that Big Pharma wants to keep under wraps) is that in most cases, it’s easy to correct a blood sugar imbalance with a natural extract that I consider a true gift from the earth.

Cinnamon has been used as both a culinary spice and medicinal herb for thousands of years. Recently however, groundbreaking research on cinnamon has led to some exciting discoveries in the areas of blood sugar control, weight loss, cardiovascular health and more.
The Science Behind Cinnamon Is Impressive
The positive effects of cinnamon on glucose metabolism were actually discovered by USDA scientists who were shocked to discover that cinnamon significantly increases insulin production and has a fantastic balancing effect on both blood sugar and cholesterol.[3,4]

More recently, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that people who consume cinnamon daily have improved insulin function and increased levels of a peptide that help prevent overeating, which can lead to spikes in blood sugar.[5] Another amazing study showed that supplementing with 500 mg of a water-soluble cinnamon extract regulates blood sugar levels in people with insulin resistance.[6]
Cinnamon Supports Optimal Heart Health Too!
In addition to its blood sugar benefits, research has also shown that cinnamon contains powerful antioxidant substances that promote optimal heart health[7] , tame inflammation and support strong heart function. Scientists believe that cinnamon’s antioxidant properties may be the reason that cinnamon has effectively balanced both blood pressure and cholesterol levels in numerous clinical studies.[8]
Do You Have an Addiction You Don’t Know About?
Food cravings are one of the primary challenges people face when attempting to stick to a weight loss plan. Oftentimes these seemingly uncontrollable cravings are the result of a physical addiction to sugar. Breakthrough research has actually shown that refined sugar may be more addictive than cocaine! You may be familiar with sugar addiction if you’ve ever struggled with intense, overpowering cravings for baked goods, desserts or other sweet or starchy foods. This is where cinnamon can really help!
Cinnamon to the Rescue – AGAIN!
According my friend Dr. Harry Preuss, MD, a professor at Georgetown Medical Center and the world’s foremost expert on glucose metabolism, cinnamon’s ability to help control blood sugar makes it a valuable tool for weight loss. The fat cells in your abdomen are particularly sensitive to high insulin levels, and are very effective at storing excess calories that become fat. Research shows that cinnamon may actually mimic insulin, which can translate into fat loss.[9]
WARNING: Make Sure You Take the Right Cinnamon
Most people don’t know that cinnamon contains volatile oils, and when used frequently in high doses, it can be toxic to the liver.[10] Your best bet is to take a cinnamon extract supplement, but make sure it says “water-soluble” on the label which insures that the toxic constituents have been removed while leaving the important active compounds intact. Currently, most experts recommend taking 500 mg a day of a standardized, water-soluble cinnamon extract.

Studies dating back nearly a century noted a striking finding: If you take young, healthy people and split them up into two groupshalf on a fat-rich diet and half on a carbohydrate-rich dietwe find that within just two days, glucose intolerance skyrockets in the fat group. The group that had been shoveling fat in ended up with twice the blood sugar. As the amount of fat in the diet goes up, so does ones blood sugar. Why would eating fat lead to higher blood sugar levels? It would take scientists nearly seven decades to unravel this mystery, but it would end up holding the key to our current understanding of the cause of type 2 diabetes.

The reason athletes carb-load before a race is to build up the fuel supply within their muscles. We break down the starch into glucose in our digestive tract, it circulates as blood glucose (blood sugar) and is taken up by our muscles to be stored and burnt for energy.

Blood sugar, though, is like a vampire. It needs an invitation to come into our cells. That invitation is insulin. Insulin is the key that unlocks the door that lets glucose in the blood enter muscle cells. When insulin attaches to the insulin receptor on the cell, it activates an enzyme, which activates another enzyme, which activates two more enzymes, which finally activates glucose transport (as diagrammed in my video What Causes Insulin Resistance?).

What if there was no insulin? Blood sugar would be stuck in the bloodstream banging on the door to our muscles, unable to get inside. With nowhere to go, sugar levels in the blood would rise and rise. Thats what happens in type 1 diabetes: the cells in the pancreas that make insulin get destroyed, and without insulin, sugar in the blood cant get out of the blood into the muscles, and so blood sugar rises. But theres a second way we could end up with high blood sugar.

What if theres enough insulin, but the insulin doesnt work? The key is there, but somethings gummed up the lock. This is insulin resistance. Our muscle cells become resistant to the effect of insulin. Whats gumming up the locks on our muscle cells? Whats preventing insulin from letting glucose in? Tiny droplets of fat inside our muscle cells, so-called intramyocellular lipid.

Fat in the bloodstream can build up inside the muscle cell, creating toxic fatty breakdown products and free radicals that block the insulin signaling process. No matter how much insulin we have in our blood, its not able to sufficiently open the glucose gates and blood sugar levels build up in the blood. And this can happen within three hours. One hit of fat can start causing insulin resistance, inhibiting blood sugar uptake after just 160 minutes.

This mechanism by which fat induces insulin resistance wasnt known until fancy MRI techniques were developed to see what was happening inside peoples muscles as fat was infused into their bloodstream. Thats how we found that elevation of fat levels in the blood causes insulin resistance by inhibition of glucose transport into the muscles.

We can also do the opposite experiment. Lower the level of fat in peoples blood and the insulin resistance comes right down. If we clear the fat out of the blood, we also clear the sugar out. That explains the finding that on the high fat, ketogenic diet, insulin doesnt work very well. Our bodies become insulin resistant. But as the amount of fat in our diet gets lower and lower, insulin works better and bettera clear demonstration that the sugar tolerance of even healthy individuals can be impaired by administering a low-carb, high-fat diet. We can decrease insulin resistance, however, by decreasing fat intake.

The effect is really dramaticcheck out at least the end of my video What Causes Insulin Resistance? to see what happens as dietary fat intake drops.

The most concerning downside of low-carb diets, though, is heart health: Low Carb Diets and Coronary Blood Flow

This is the first of a 3-part series on the cause of type 2 diabetes, so as to better understand dietary interventions to prevent and treat the epidemic. In The Spillover Effect Links Obesity to Diabetes, I talk about how that fat can come either from our diet or excess fat stores, and then in Lipotoxicity: How Saturated Fat Raises Blood Sugar, I show how not all fats are equally to blame.

Here are some of my recent diabetes videos:

How Not to Die from Diabetes
Plant-Based Diets and Diabetes
What Causes Diabetes?
Why is Meat a Risk Factor for Diabetes?
Lifestyle Medicine Is the Standard of Care for Prediabetes
Diabetics Should Take Their Pulses

Sugar is a drug and theres a dealer on every corner!

You get a box of scrumptious cookies, and two hours later, youre sitting alone in a pile of crumbs. Did your willpower fail you? Have you done something wrong? Are you a bad person? No, no and no. Sugar is complex. It interacts with the brain in ways similar to highly addictive drugs. It plays on emotions and tastes so darn good. However, excessive consumption leads to a decrease in overall health and is linked with many chronic lifestyle diseases. Learning to stop sugar cravings starts with an understanding of where they come from. Lets explore the root cause of sugar addiction and how you can decrease your reliance on it.

What causes sugar cravings?

While a relationship with sugar is complex, there are the four areas that lead to the root cause of a sugar addiction.

1. Imbalanced Diet

The Standard American Diet (SAD) is rich in carbohydrates. Unhealthy foods, like chips, French fries, pizza, hamburgers, cookies, barbeque sauce, and soda, are staples of the SAD and are quickly turned into sugar in the body. Large amounts of quickly digested carbohydrates increase sugar in the bloodstream, causing a release of insulin. This is generally good news because insulin pulls sugar into the cells to create energy. However, high levels of sugar provide too much energy, so the excess sugar is stored as fat. Once sugar is quickly pulled into cells, the body feels the need for more energy and starts to signal the brain to crave fast-digesting carbohydrates. This is one part of the sugar addiction pathway.

Its also important to consider the quality of our food. With conventional farming methods, the nutrient content of the soil is not what it used to be. There are many key minerals in vegetables, whole grains and fruit, but if theyre not present in the soil, they will not be present in these foods. Chromium is an important mineral in insulin pathways, and research shows that it may help people with insulin resistance process carbohydrates more efficiently.

Solution: Eat a balanced diet. Aim to fill of your plate with veggies, plate with a clean source of lean protein, cup of complex carbohydrates and 1 to 2 tablespoons of high quality fat. If you experience cravings immediately after you eat, that usually means youve consumed insufficient protein or fat and had too much carbohydrates or salt. If your cravings hit in the afternoon time frame, this could indicate insufficient protein. In addition to a balanced diet, some people may benefit from a multivitamin that can help fill in any nutritional gaps in their diets. I work with clients to assess personalized needs for individual nutrients. In some cases, clients who are experiencing insulin sensitivity will be recommended certain products that contain beneficial trace minerals.

2. Fast-Paced Lifestyle

Everything we could ever want or imagine is at our fingertips, which is both exciting and overwhelming. Constant connection means higher expectations of what we can accomplish in work, in our relationships and on social media. With so much going on, it can be hard to make the time to prepare balanced meals or find the right foods to eat. Leaning on convenience foods, like chips, candy and pre-packaged meals, is an easy solution when hunger hits, but its not fueling health in the long run. Convenience foods are filled with empty calories calories that dont nourish our bodies, but rather keep us feeling satiated for a short period of time.

Solution: Arm yourself with quality snacks. While you wont always have time to whip up a snack in your kitchen, having something healthy on hand can ensure that you keep your blood sugar balanced, while avoiding foods that spike insulin levels. These are some of my favorites: ​Epic Bars, Dang Unsweetened Toasted Coconut Chips, Brick Bars, Epic Jerky, and an apple or pear with almond butter.

3. Bacterial Imbalance

If you follow me on social media, read my blog ​or have met me in person, then you know my obsession with gut health. I dont think a day goes by where I dont enthusiastically talk about the gut microbiota and the benefit of healthy bacteria. Well, guess what? An imbalance in good bacteria and bad bacteria, much like an imbalanced diet, can lead to a cycle of sugar cravings. We all have bad bacteria, or yeast, in our bodies. They live there synergistically with the good bacteria. However, bad bacteria are opportunistic and will flourish in response to stress, medications (antibiotics and contraceptives), and an imbalanced diet. Signs that you can have imbalance in bacteria include sugar cravings, digestive irregularity, reflux, thrush, skin rashes, psoriasis, rosacea, brain fog, fatigue and detoxification problems.

Solution: The most effective way to treat this overgrowth is through diet modification and supplements. Following a balanced diet, eliminating all processed sugar and decreasing fruit intake to two times per day is the best place to start. A functional medicine practitioner can help get you on the right balance of botanicals and enzymes to break down the yeast and bad bacteria and clear them out of your body. When the removal is complete, its important to repopulate the gut with healthy bacteria. I like to focus on increasing fermented foods in the diet by including foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, miso and yogurt. Its also extremely important to examine levels of stress in your life. Stress releases cortisol, a hormone that directly impacts digestion. Taking time to breathe deeply, meditate, take a bath, get a massage, sit with your legs up against the wall or color are all simple methods to decrease daily stress.

4. Emotional and Behavioral Attachment

This is probably one of the harder areas of sugar addiction to address. Its very personal and can manifest in different ways. From an emotional perspective, its important to understand that sugar acts in a similar manner as a drug. Neurons in the brain fire in response to sweet, salt and fat intake. When sugar is ingested, it stimulates the release of opioids and dopamine, which creates a fleeting high. The body builds a tolerance and continually needs a larger hit to feel the high, hence a dependency on sugar. We often need that hit when stress levels are high, boredom sets in, or an overall feeling of sadness or depression takes over. Sugar can provide a quick change in our emotions based on the chemical reactions that take place in the brain.

MRI scans show pleasure centers of the brain lighting up more so when theyre given sugar than when given cocaine! Behavior attachments get a little more complex. Some cravings are related to habits that create an expectation for sugar at a certain time. For example, eating sugar after a meal can become more habitual than craving-centered. Sometimes, the anticipation of completing the habit is more powerful than the actual sugar consumed. Social settings or parties are centered on the need to let loose and celebrate, and using sugar as a reward is very common.

Solution:​ Define your WHY. When you embark on a lifestyle change, its very important to identify WHY you want to make this change. Think about this from an internal point of view. How do you want to feel? Why is it time to make this change? How do you want to transform your life? When your answer reflects a deeper emotion (i.e. to feel happy, to feel empowered, to feel whole), theres a better chance of sticking to the change when the going gets tough. Reminding yourself that youre making this change because you want to shift your feelings can help you stay on the right path. Retrain your habits. Habits are not something we were born with, they are something we were trained to do. Just like we were taught to ride a bike, we can train ourselves to use something other than sugar as a reward.

Sugar is complex. In order to stop sugar cravings, you must examine your diet, your bacterial balance and your habits. Its not easy to make lifestyle changes, but awareness is the best place to start. Now that youre empowered to make these changes, think about the easiest place in your life to get started. Remember that change is slow and can be uncomfortable. Surround yourself with a supportive community, define your WHY and start your journey to stop sugar cravings today!

What is HB A1C [Hemoglobin A1C?

Your HB A1C number

Consider your HB A1C number (also known as HbA1c or glycated hemoglobin) as a snapshot of your blood glucose levels over two to three months. Over time, glucose naturally attaches itself to your blood cells. When this happens, the cell is considered glycated. The more glucose in your blood, the more glycated A1C cells you have.

Whats an optimal A1C number?

The recommended A1C target for a person with diabetes is 7% or lowersome people remember this figure as lucky number 7. However, while your A1C number gives you and your doctor an idea of how your diabetes is being managed over time, it does not tell you about drastic drops and elevations in your day-to-day blood glucose levels during that period.

How do fluctuations in my blood glucose levels affect my overall health?

While drops (hypoglycemia) and peaks (hyperglycemia) in your blood glucose levels outside of your target zone can have an immediate impact on your sense of well-being, research shows that the long-term consequences of such fluctuations can be dangerous. Studies show that hyperglycemia can increase your risk of developing heart, eye and kidney disease. Your A1C is an important part of your diabetes management, but it cannot replace daily self-monitoring, which highlights how your body and blood glucose respond to meals, physical activity, medications, illness and stress over short periods of time.

How often should I test my A1C?

Generally, you should test your A1C no fewer than twice a year, and most medical professionals suggest testing every three months, which is the approximate lifespan of blood cells. Speak with your healthcare professional to determine where and how frequently you should test your A1C level.

Reducing your A1C value to a healthier level can decrease your risk of many diabetes-related complications, so you can live a fuller, healthier life.

References
1 American Diabetes Association. A1C test. Available at: http://www.diabetesarchive.net/type-2-diabetes/a1c-test.jsp.

2 American Diabetes Association. A1C. Available at: http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/blood-glucose-control/a1c/.

Why Your Fingers and Toes Tingle

Nerves work like telephone cables : They transport messages from one area of your body to another.

The problem is… as you get older, your nerves transport messages less effectively. They slow down for various reasons, including diet, lack of exercise, and environmental toxins like second hand smoke.

Peripheral nerves slow down the worst. These nerves – located in your fingers, toes, hands and feet – have a thinner cable. So any damage slows them down dramatically.

So what can you do about it?

Well, doctors have long known that high doses of vitamin B1 – called “Thiamine” – help healthy nerve signals travel from your brain to your toes. And vice versa.

Unfortunately, thiamine is water-soluble. So it’s quickly excreted through your urine. As a result, it’s hard for your body to build up any reserve.

Fortunately, Japanese scientists found a way to solve this problem: They created a fat-soluble form of thiamine that stays in the body much longer.

This fat-soluble form of thiamine is called benfotiamine (ben-foe-TIE-uh-men). And it has been shown safe and effective in dozens of studies around the world.

In one study, doctors tested people’s ability to sense vibrations. First, they placed a tuning fork next to a person’s foot. Next, they vibrated the fork until the patient could feel the vibration. This is the standard test that measures how well a person can feel things in their limbs.

Many of the patients started this study with little or no sensitivity to vibrations in their feet.

Then the doctors separated the patients into two groups and gave them either benfotiamine or a placebo. Neither the doctors nor the patients knew which group received the benfotiamine treatment. Nine weeks later, the doctors conducted the same vibration test. And they were amazed by the results:

Patients who weren’t able to feel any vibration just 9 weeks earlier were now able to feel their feet. They were able to feel in toes which were numb just weeks before.

But it doesn’t stop there:

Nine months later, benfotiamine treatment continued to increase vibration sensitivity! And it did so with zero adverse side effects.

But that’s not all..

Meet Dr. Janet Zand
Dr. Janet Zand is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, a Board Certified Acupuncturist and has practiced natural medicine for over 25 years . In! Magazine describes Dr. Zand as “Hollywood’s Best Kept Health Secret,” because of her “A”-list clientele of movie stars, rock stars and professional athletes. With over 25 years of experience in natural medicine, she was the co-founder of McZand Herbal and the formulator of ZAND Herbal Formulas. Dr. Zand is also the co-author of three books on natural health and healing, including Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child, Smart Medicine for Healthier Living and the Nitric Oxide Solution. She has been featured in Ellen, Allure, The Los Angeles Times, Life Time TV, and the BBC.

Addresses the Root Cause of Tingling

A second study found that benfotiamine gets down to the root cause of what causes tingling, numbness and pain: Blood sugar.

You see, when your blood sugar gets too high, your organs are toast. Literally.

The toasting occurs during a process called glycation. Quite simply, glycation is a process where sugar chemically combines with protein or fat.

You’ve seen the effects of glycation in the kitchen. For example, when you put bread in the toaster, the sugars and proteins in the bread combine and cause the bread to turn brown. This same browning occurs any other time you combine a protein or fat with sugar. For example, it occurs when you glaze a chicken… when you barbecue ribs… or when you caramelize onions.

Well, glycation doesn’t just occur in the kitchen. It also occurs when you have too much blood sugar.

When you have too much blood sugar, your body can’t metabolize it fast enough. As a result, the excess sugar reacts with the proteins in your cells and the proteins become “toasted.” This leads to the creation of nasty substances called Advanced Glycation End Products, or AGEs for short. And it is the AGEs that cause your nerves to be tingly, numb or painful.

To see how benfotiamine relieves tingling, numbness and pain, researchers gave people a meal high in AGEs-producing food. Then they measured how the AGEs affected the patient’s bodies. Once they had these measurements, they split the patients into two groups:

One group was given a benfotiamine treatment. The other group was given a placebo.

28 days passed and they measured the blood again. The result: The level of AGEs in the blood of the benfotiamine group dropped by an incredible 40%! Which is amazing, because normally the effects of AGEs are permanent.

So if you suffer from tingling or numbness in your hands and feet, I recommend taking benfotiamine.

I think benfotiamine is one of the most important nerve health breakthroughs of the last 50 years. And that’s why I called our friends at Advanced Bionutritionals and told them to make it available to you.

The result is a product called Advanced Nerve Support. And it has the right amount of benfotiamine that was used in the studies at the quality these studies recommend.

“bitter melon,” is a favorite of the Japanese population of Okinawa, where people live longer (and have less cancer) than anywhere else on the planet. Many people believe bitter melon is one of the reasons.

Its Juice Is Deadly to Cancer Cells

Even diluted, the juice of bitter melon is able to kill nearly 100% of the cancer cells it comes in contact with. This means it is more lethal than most chemo drugs!

It does this by literally starving cancer cells of the blood sugar (glucose) they need to survive. (Glucose, you see, is like fertilizer to tumors.)

Because of its ability to lower blood sugar, bitter melon also is excellent for people with diabetes, pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

The Benefits of PQQ
PQQ stands for pyrroloquinoline quinone. This compound was identified as an essential nutritional component in 1994. Eventually, it will be classified as a vitamin. It’s particularly important for the health of the mitochondria. “It appears that PQQ is really the spark of life,” Murray says. “Our mitochondria definitely require this compound to produce energy. It’s also critical in protecting the mitochondria from damage.”

Mitochondrial DNA is quite prone to damage from free radicals and pro-oxidants. Most of the free radicals in the body are produced within the mitochondria themselves, which is why they’re so susceptible. The free radicals are an unavoidable artifact of burning food for fuel, and your food is ultimately metabolized in your mitochondria.

PQQ has been shown to protect against this kind of damage. PQQ is found in minute quantities in food, but research shows that when taken in supplement form, you can dramatically boost your PQQ level and really see remarkable effects. While your mitochondria are susceptible to damage, they also have built-in repair and replication mechanisms. The key is to activate those mechanisms, which is what PQQ allows you to do. Murray explains:

“Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced during energy production. There are mechanisms that the mitochondria use to protect itself. One of those mechanisms is PQQ. I know your audience is very familiar with the term “antioxidant.” The thing is everybody thinks all antioxidants are the same. They’re really not. You have to look at the type of pro-oxidant and free radical that is involved.

You have to look at how many times an antioxidant can be used to really get a sense of how profound it is in protecting our cells. PQQ is really a profoundly effective antioxidant. Every time an antioxidant neutralizes a free radical, that’s called a catalytic conversion. Some antioxidants just aren’t used very often.

For example, vitamin C is only capable of going through four catalytic conversions. That means after it’s used four times, it’s no longer effective as an antioxidant. The number of catalytic conversions that PQQ can be utilized for is in the realm of over 20,000 times It also plays a huge role in a process called mitochondrial biogenesis (regeneration of new mitochondria).

It does a great job in killing off mitochondria that are not functioning properly and then stimulating the replication of the healthy mitochondria. It’s really a cellular regenerator. It does this through its action on mitochondria. This is really exemplified in studies that have looked at the influence of PQQ in enhancing brain function and brain connections, and forming new brain cells. That translates to just having your brain function at a much higher level.”

The Role of Polyphenols for Health
Before we go further, I want to remind you that indiscriminately suppressing free radicals with general antioxidants is typically not a good idea. Yes, free radicals are often considered damaging, but the same can be said for exercise. It too causes damage if done excessively without enough recovery. The key is moderation and balanced recovery.

ROS are actually important biological signaling molecules. If you indiscriminately suppress their formation, you can interrupt profoundly important biologic pathways. So, there’s a fine balance to prevent damage. This is one of the reasons why I recommend focusing on your diet. When you eat a diet high in healthy fats, low in net carbs, with moderate amounts of protein, you naturally limit the production of ROS in the first place, which means you typically don’t need to worry about excessive damage taking place.

Additionally, an alternative to using a potent antioxidant like PQQ is to use hormetic agents such as molecular hydrogen, CBD oil both of which activate the Nrf2 pathway and resveratrol (found in grape skins, for example). Hormetic agents are not antioxidants by themselves, rather, they induce oxidative stress on the system that causes your body to produce its own antioxidants. This helps ensure a more ideal balance of free radicals and antioxidants.

As a quick side note, increasing Nrf2 a biological hormetic that upregulates superoxide dismutase, catalase and all the other beneficial intercellular antioxidants is helpful mainly because it lowers inflammation, improves your mitochondrial function and stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis. Both PQQ and berberine (discussed below) have a positive effect on Nrf2 expression. Murray weighs in on this subject, saying:

“Flavonoids, polyphenols, are quite interesting to mitochondrial function. There’s wisdom in the body. There’s wisdom in nature. If we look at the way flavonoids are transported in the body, they are not transported in a free form. They are bound to either sulfur or glucuronic acid. In this bound form, they become inactive.

This is really important because we want to make sure that when we take something that is getting delivered not only to the tissues but also to the cell and to the parts of the cell that really needs the greatest support. The latest science shows that when we ingest these polyphenols whether they come from grapes, berries, raw cacao or any of the other rich sources they are bound to glucuronic acid and they are inactive.

But at sites of inflammation, sites of infection, or when cells aren’t functioning properly, the cells release an enzyme called glucuronidase. This liberates the flavonoid or polyphenol and allows that polyphenol to enter the cell, enter the mitochondria and affect change. This has been demonstrated with mitochondria. It causes mitochondria to experience stress.

When the mitochondria experience that stress, it causes release of glucuronidase, and that ultimately leads to flavonoids entering in the mitochondria, protecting the mitochondria from free radical damage, and actually activating certain genomes that will allow the mitochondria to function much more efficiently and to reduce the inflammation and the stress.”

PQQ Boosts Brain Health
So, it’s important to get the right type of antioxidants and not just use a shotgun approach where you’re loading your body up with them. For health, you really need targeted support for key cellular compartments, especially your mitochondria. As for PQQ, Murray notes that PQQ is stored in your mitochondria, where it is used appropriately. “When you supplement with PQQ, it increases the number and the health of your mitochondria, which in turn increases the need for PQQ,” he says.

Both animal and human studies using doses between 10 and 20 milligrams (mg) of PQQ shows significant improvement in mental processing and memory.

One study using the Stroop test found PQQ in combination with Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) produced better results than either of these nutrients alone, so there appears to be some synergistic effects with CoQ10. (The Stroop test is where you’re looking at words spelling out various colors while the word itself is also colored. You’re supposed to name the color you see. The test is timed, which gives you an indication of your brain’s processing speed.)

“A lot of times the energy production [in the brain] is turned down like a dimmer switch. What PQQ, CoQ10 and other mitochondrial enhancers do is they basically just brighten up the brain. They turn up that dimmer switch. They increase the energy production in the brain cells, so that they function more efficiently.

That leads to better memory, better cognitive function and feeling better as well,” Murray says. “That’s what they’re showing with these clinical studies with PQQ. In regards to brain health, these studies have used a combination of [a daily dose of] 20 mg of PQQ with 300 mg of CoQ10.”

I recommend using the reduced form of CoQ10, called ubiquinol, as it is more readily available for your body. It’s fat-soluble, so it’s best taken with a small amount of fat in your meal rather on an empty stomach. In addition to being a powerful antioxidant in its own right, CoQ10/ubiquinol also facilitates the recycling (catalytic conversion) of other antioxidants.

PQQ Lowers Inflammation and Improves Blood Lipids
Research looking at PQQs influence on energy metabolism and markers of inflammation showed a single dose was able to dramatically lower C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation. Other studies have shown it lowers low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol on par with statins, but without any side effects. “I think the list of potential applications for PQQ is extremely long,” Murray says.

“If you look at some of the metabolic effects of PQQ, they go well beyond improving mitochondrial function. PQQ can lead to activation of an enzyme called adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK). This enzyme, I think, is really a molecular target for modern humans.

As we age, the level of this enzyme drops. Certain dietary practices too much of the wrong types of fats, not enough of the good types of fats, not enough of the flavonoids, not enough of the metabolic enhancers and mitochondrial enhancers lead to a reduction in AMPK activity.

Insulin resistance is probably the major cause of reduction in AMPK activity. This enzyme plays a huge role in body fat composition. In your body, it plays a huge role in inflammation [and] blood lipids. It’s not surprising with PQQ activating this enzyme that we see improved blood sugar control, we see excess body fat, particularly visceral fat, decline, and we see drops in LDL cholesterol.”

How PQQ Helps Lower Risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s
AMPK also stimulates mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy) and mitochondrial biogenesis, as well as five other critically important pathways: insulin, leptin, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator 1-alpha (PGC-1α). According to Murray, it also increases nerve growth factor and helps protect against the type of oxidative stress that leads to Parkinson’s disease.

One of the mechanisms by which it does this is by protecting against the self-oxidation of a gene called DJ-1, which is damaged by various compounds. When damaged, it leads to Parkinson’s disease. According to Murray, PQQ has been shown to be protective against every known inducer of damage to DJ-1, including mercury and other heavy metals, as well as a variety of neurotoxins.

“[PQQ] protects against the development of alpha-synuclein, a protein associated with Parkinson’s,” Murray says. “It also protects the brain from the development of Alzheimer’s disease [via] multiple mechanisms, including protecting the formation of beta-amyloid [and] the damage that beta-amyloid can cause in the brain.

It’s really far reaching. I think that PQQ is going to be a real superstar in the dietary supplement field. It’s really going to revolutionize natural therapies for many different health conditions.

We highlighted its synergy with CoQ10. I think we’re going to learn that various cocktails of PQQ in combination with other compounds are going to produce better results than PQQ on its own. It makes a lot of sense when you start digging in and looking at how PQQ works, and how it’s synergistic with all these other wonderful compounds that we have available to us now.”

The Benefits of Berberine
Another beneficial and vastly underappreciated supplement is berberine. It has many of the same benefits as the diabetic drug metformin, but without the drawbacks and side effects. Historically, berberine-containing plants such goldenseal, goldthread, Oregon grape root and barberry have been used in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, gastrointestinal infections, liver problems and a number of other health conditions.

Berberine is an alkaloid, which tend to be stronger in their effect than the flavonoids. Flavonoids are neutralized fairly quickly in the body by binding to glucaronic acid or sulfur. Alkaloids circulate in two to three forms and therefore tend to be stronger. Like PQQ, berberine benefits mitochondrial function and is a powerful AMPK activator.

“The research on berberine right now is really focusing on its ability to improve blood sugar control, to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. If this were a drug, it’ll hit big numbers, because it’s kind of a holy grail. The drug companies would love to have a drug that would hit that triad of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes.

There were 27 double-blind, placebo-controlled trials with berberine for those conditions. The results were on par with the individual drug for those three conditions (metformin, statins and blood pressure-lowering drugs) You’re looking at clinical trials involving thousands of patients now. The results show [berberine is] very safe [and] a very effective natural alternative to drugs used for these common conditions.”

The typical dose is 500 mg of berberine two or three times daily. It’s best taken right before meals as it also helps improve digestion and will address parasitic infections in the gastrointestinal tract.

Berberine is actually poorly absorbed by your body, and many of its benefits appear to be related to its beneficial impact on the gut microbiome, which we now know plays an important role in metabolism and even insulin sensitivity. In addition to its beneficial effects on blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, berberine is also a powerful neuroprotector, in part by improving mitochondrial health and function.

The Benefits of Mulberry Leaves and Grape Seed Extract
Another plant that can help improve blood sugar control is mulberry leaves. Murray cites a study in which mulberry leaves were compared to glyburide, a Type 2 diabetes medication, and mulberry performed far better than the drug. In addition to improving blood sugar control, lowering A1C levels and improving fasting blood sugar levels, mulberry also increases the level of antioxidants in your blood and lowers both LDL and total cholesterol.

“It just seems to work much better than the drug,” Murray says. “It’s just that there’s no money to advertise mulberry or mulberry extract. It’s really a very important approach I think. [Berberine and mulberry] are good answers for these epidemic conditions that people are suffering from out there, whether it’s high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.”

Murray also cites research demonstrating the effects of grape seed extract on high blood pressure. Two double-blind studies found 300 mg of grape seed extract per day lowered blood pressure in people with mild to moderate hypertension, bringing them back into the normal range. “We’re not talking about a few points that we typically see with some of the natural approaches. We see dramatic clinically relevant reductions just by taking a simple dietary supplement,” he says.

“My key message is that there are safe and effective alternatives [to drugs],” Murray says. “We use those safe and effective alternatives until the diet and lifestyle and attitude adjustments have a chance to take hold. But we don’t lose focus. We focus on those real key areas that really lead to the condition arising in the first place diet, lifestyle and attitude.”

Early diagnosis of (pre)diabetes mellitus is essential for oral health and prevention of diabetes complications. It has been suggested that xerostomia may be an early indication of diabetes screening.
Materials and Methods: The present study was carried out on 90 subjects, 34 (37.8 (% males and 56 (62.2 %) females. The mean age was 36.37 + 7.9 years, ranged from (20 – 60) years old with no history of diabetes and suffering from xerostomia. To diagnose xerostomia, a questionnaire was applied to the patients to be answered by yes or no illustrating presence of xerostomia. The selected patients divided into three groups according to their complain of xerostomia, Group I: Control, Group II: Xerostomia and Group III: Hypo-salivation patients. unstimulated whole saliva flow rates (UWSFRs) and HbA1c values were determined. Statistical analysis of the collected data was carried out.
Results: UWSFRs is markedly decreased in groups II& III in comparison to its corresponding value in group I. There is statistically significant difference between the studied groups (F value was 98.242, P value < 0.0001*). Conclusion: a dental office could be a good location for (pre)diabetes screening in patients with xerostomia. Keywords: Salivary flow rate, pre-diabetes, HbA1c, xerostomia.

81% of diabetics able to get off much of
their medication…

And 7 of them were able to stop taking medication completely.

Not only that, everyone in the study lost an average of 19 pounds!

Again, this special eating method requires NO CALORIE RESTRICTION

Your body simply fights back against your diabetes… naturally and easily

One leading doctor, Eric Westman M.D., has now started using the “eating trick” for his own diabetic patients… with astonishing results.

He reports that he’s able to reduce insulin as much as 150 units per day for diabetics using this technique… in just 8 days.

What’s more… it’s so incredibly effective he reduces his patients’ insulin by 50% on the very first day!

In Dr. Westman’s own words “As the weeks pass, most patients achieve normoglycemia (normal blood sugar) without medication, obese patients lose weight, and patients save money because they are not paying for medications.”

It’s an astonishing therapy… but still almost completely unknown in America.

In fact, if you go to the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) website, you won’t find anything on this solution that might actually reverse diabetes.

But how can this be? Surely the ADA is the authority on diabetes in this country?

Once again… Just follow the money. The corporations win… and hard-working Americans like you and me LOSE.

But, finally, YOU can do better. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG00AoKAK3A


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