ONE OF EVERY TWO of you have a deadly disease that’s making you fat sick and will kill you and 90% of you don’t even know you have it. What’s worse is your doctor’s not trained how to find it and they are not even looking for it.
This problem will cost us $3.5 trillion over the next 10 years. It is bankrupting our economy. In 30 years 100% of our federal budget will be needed to pay for Medicare and Medicaid leaving nothing for education, defense, agriculture, roads or even social security.
So what am I talking about?
I’m talking about diabesity—the number one cause of obesity, heart disease, cancer, dementia and of course type 2 diabetes.
You might hear many terms used to describe this one basic phenomenon—a new epidemic of disordered biology and disease. It is the continuum of abnormal biology that ranges from mild insulin resistance to full-blown diabetes. We call it by many names. See if you recognize any of them:
- Insulin resistance
- Prediabetes
- Metabolic syndrome
- Obesity
- Syndrome X
- Adult-onset diabetes
- Type 2 diabetes.
In truth, these are ALL essentially one problem with varying degrees of severity. The diagnosis and treatment of the underlying causes that drive all these conditions are actually the same.
That is why I use a more comprehensive term to describe these conditions—diabesity. Diabesity describes a continuum of disease from from optimal blood sugar balance to insulin sensitivity to full-blown diabetes. This biological imbalance is our modern plague. It affects 1 in 2 Americans and is the leading cause of most chronic disease in this country including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer, not to mention its leading role in weight gain and obesity.
Despite this fact, there are no national recommendations from the government or key organizations to advise screening and treatment of it, and most doctors don’t know how to properly diagnose it. The result is that 90 percent of the people who suffer from diabesity are left undiagnosed and untreated.
The instances of diabesity are increasing at an astonishing rate. 20 years ago when I started practicing medicine, not a single state in the nation had an obesity rate over 20 percent. Today, not a single state in the nation has an obesity rate under 20 percent. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes has tripled in since the 1980s. There are now 27 million diabetics in the country.
The question is, “Why?” Why are we facing a diabesity pandemic? Why are our current treatment approaches failing so miserably? And why is conventional medicine floundering when it comes to diagnosing the biggest health threat of our time?
Diabesity describes a continuum of disease from from optimal blood sugar balance to insulin sensitivity to full-blown diabetes. This biological imbalance is our modern plague. It affects 1 in 2 Americans and is the leading cause of most chronic disease in this country including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer, not to mention its leading role in weight gain and obesity.
Conventional Medicine Misunderstands the Fundamental Laws of Biology
Modern industrial medicine treats disease with medication or surgery. That’s what it is designed to do, and when it comes to emergency interventions it is still the best medicine in the world. When someone comes into the emergency room with a severed leg, conventional medicine treats the problem with incredible efficacy.
But when it comes to chronic illness, this approach simply doesn’t work.
Here’s why conventional medicine tends to break down in the face of chronic illnesses like diabesity …
Most medicine today is based on clear-cut, on-or-off, yes-or-no diagnoses that often miss the underlying causes and more subtle manifestations of illness. Most conventional doctors are taught that you have a disease or you don’t; you have diabetes or you don’t. There are no gray areas.
Practicing medicine this way is extremely misguided because it misses one of the most fundamental laws of physiology, biology, and disease: The continuum concept. There is a continuum from optimal health to hidden imbalance to serious dysfunction to disease. Anywhere along that continuum, we can intervene and reverse the process. The sooner we address it, the better.
For example, when it comes to diabesity most doctors just follow blood sugar, which actually rises very late in the disease process. If your blood sugar is 90 or 110, you don’t have diabetes. If it’s over 126, you do have diabetes. But these distinctions are completely arbitrary, and they do nothing to help treat impending problems. I remember one patient, Daren, who came to see me with mildly elevated blood sugar. I asked Daren if he had seen his doctor about this. He said yes. I then asked, “What did your doctor say?” Daren’s doctor had told him, “We are going to wait and watch until your blood sugar is more elevated, and then we are going to treat you with medication for diabetes.”
This attitude is absurd and harmful in the face of what we know about the problems that occur even in the absence of full-blown diabetes. Science is now showing us that many people with prediabetes never get diabetes, but they are at severe risk just the same. Prediabetes actually isn’t pre-anything, it’s a serious health condition and needs to be treated as early as possible.
More to the point, this approach of completely ignores more subtle clues from symptoms and signs of disease, which may highlight underlying metabolic imbalances (especially when complemented by further testing). These imbalances may be remedied by the appropriate treatment—treatment that is not focused on some disease, but instead works to remove those things that alter or damage our functioning, and provides those things that enhance, optimize, and normalize our functioning by balancing the system rather than treating the symptom. We need to treat the system, not the symptom; the patient, not the disease.
Consider the man in the emergency room with the severed leg again for a moment. For that person, identifying what severed the leg isn’t likely to make the difference between life and death. The symptom—the severed leg—must be treated if he is going to survive.
But that paradigm simply doesn’t hold true for health conditions like diabesity. This mechanistic model can be applied in some health crises, but it doesn’t work when it comes to chronic disease.
Navigating the Terrain of Disease: Identifying the Causes
To effectively treat diabesity we must shift our focus away from the symptoms or risk factors of the disease and begin taking a hard look at the causes. All of our attention is on treatments that lower blood sugar (diabetes drugs and insulin), lower high blood pressure (anti-hypertensive drugs), improve cholesterol (statins), and thin the blood (aspirin). But we never ever ask the most important question:
Why is your blood sugar, blood pressure, or blood cholesterol too high and why is your blood too sticky and likely to clot?
Put another way: What are the root causes of diabesity?
Answering that question must be the focus of our diagnosis and treatment of the disease if we are going to solve this global epidemic.
The good news is that the answer is shockingly simple.
In next week’s blog I will outline what really causes diabesity and provide 8 steps you can use to overcome it.
In the meantime, I’d like to hear from you …
Do you suffer from diabesity? What has your struggle been like?
Why do you think conventional medicine is so ineffective at treating this illness?
What do you think are the real underlying causes of this deadly disease?
Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
Yes, I was diagnosed 1 yr ago with type 2 diabetes. I have struggled with weigt all my life. I have all the symptoms of low thyroid but blood tests were done and my doctor says my thyroid is normal. But I am cold all the time, freezing arms legs, and have brain fog and no energy. My doctor wont prescribe thyroid hormone because he does not believe I am deficient in thyroid. Meanwhile I am suffering and ill and have no quality of life. I am only 53 yrs old.
Also, My fasiing blood glucose is 100 but my blood sugar spikes after eating carbs up to 250-280.
Just saw a different doctor in August 2011 and he says now I am not diabetic. He wants to take me off Metformin. It’s crazy. Two different opinions from 2 doctors a year apart.
If I cant get these health problems resolved, I will not be able to work. I feel too ill.
Hi Susan,
Thank you for writing in with your health concerns and issues with blood sugar. It sounds like you might indeed have an underactive thyroid but may have been misdiagnosed. Functional med practitioners look at lab results with a bit more specificity than conventional docs and see thyroid and all disease conditions on a continuum. This means that even if you do not fit into the box of lab scores to put you in the “has disease” category you may still indeed be clinically diagnosed. Most conventional docs miss thyroid issues because they only check to see if your TSH is above a certain value and if it is not they tell you that your thyroid is fine and that they dont know why you having the sympoms you are… So we recommend you see a functional medicine practiitioner trained to evaluate your symptoms in a way which honors their cause. Go to http://www.functionalmedicine.org and scroll down to locate a practitioner, enter your zip code and find a physician who suits your needs best. Also for the diabetes, check out this article for more info: http://drhyman.com/8-steps-to-reversing-diabesity-7941/ And stay tuned for Dr. Hyman’s upcomong release of his Blood Sugar Solution! It seems you are part of the intended audience and would benefit from the wealth of information he puts in it!
In good health!
Lizzy
I have not been diagnosed with any of the above mentioned diseases but I can honestly say I am obese and both my dad and brother have diabetes. I have an under active thyroid I have taken medicine to treat for about 2yrs. I have not gained more weight but cannot manage to lose the 45lbs I put on in the past 5 yrs. I think that diabesity stems from the food we eat. Now a days we have more food that is full of fat, sugar and over processed that triggers us to keep eating even when we are full. It makes us feel, warm, fat, and fuzzy and unfortunately it is killing us. I have been trying to gradually let go of these foods for a more natural way of life. It isn’t easy my brain wants sugar, really it does. I feel like if there were such a thing as a sugar addict I would be one. I recently kicked the diet soda habit though which is progress. I feel much better with doing that and taking a natural whole vitamin daily than I have felt in a long time. My head is clear and I am far less tired. I think all of the chemicals in diet soda really can affect a person depending on how much they consume in a day based on the difference I feel now. Anyway it is a slow road but I will keep trying everyday to add more natural food like vegetables in my diet and get rid of all of this processed, no vitamin or nutrient junk I have been living on.
As far as changing society and turning the bus around on diabesity I think it will take making healthy food more affordable for everyone along with education. If they required people on food stamps to buy natural foods or at least some portion of healthy food I think it would improve the obesity rate in children. Nothing against those with food stamps just that if you are on a government program most times you can get the most food to keep everyone full by buying the cheap processed food. If we changed school lunch programs, educated people, maybe even offered cooking classes to everyone, and really went after the companies that are making the food that makes us sick we could impact the epidemic. Until then we must try to raise awareness, fix ourselves and support those who can help.
If you have any suggestions or ideas for helping me get to the next step in leading a healthier life please email me. Thank you for what you are doing I have enjoyed your posts on Facebook and have tried to take tips and ideas from there.
Hi Kelly,
Thank you for your astute comments and interest in Dr. Hyman’s work. Unfortunately Dr. Hyman is unable to return personal emails right now as he is on the road and very busy! If you are interested in any of his programs or becoming a patient with him or the other docs at the center, go to http://www.drhyman.com Someone there will be glad to assist you.
In good health!
regarding why are doctors ineffective in treating this condition–we (physicians) aren’t trained in nutrition in medical school. when i was in medical school (in the 90s), we had 1 nutrition class, which we could either attend, or instead of attending, we were given the option of getting our body fat measured, which completely exempted us from the class. (i’m not making this up).
Hi Dr. Hyman!
Thank you for a straight-talking and thought provoking article. The business of Modern medicine is based on treating chronic disease not the root cause. Whether it’s stent implants or statins, treating the symptoms is over $300 billion a year industry. On a personal note, I was diagnosed with diabetes on December 28th 2010. At 37 years of age, in good physical health my wife convinced me to get my blood checked for the first time. I was shocked my fasting blood sugar was 126. My doctor wanted me to use a monitor, and consider medication. I told my doctor that I would reverse my diabetes by diet and exercise alone. I began a plant based diet on January 1 2011, and reversed the diabetes in 2 months. Fasting glucose was 90! Total cholesterol dropped from 185 to 145, and I lost 25 lbs! Feeling great is contagious, and I’m convinced that by removing the toxic saturated fat from my diet, I allowed my body to heal itself. Improved my 10k time from 58 minutes to 48 minutes at the Cleveland marathon 10k!! Saturated fat is a low dose toxin that alters brain chemistry promoting insulin resistance, lowers good HDL cholesterol while raising LDL bad cholesterol. It also causes pancreatic beta cell death, all leading to diabesity
My husband was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes just last spring. We have eliminated processed foods from our diets, increased fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains, and pretty much eliminated wheat, dairy and meat. We’ve included daily exercise and we’re hoping it’s making a difference. I think the problem is that people don’t want to change their diets and lifestyle and doctors recognize that compliance with dietary modifications won’t work unless their patients are committed, so they go with a modified approach that is full of processed foods, drugs, and chemicals that contributed to the body’s inflammatory response in the first place. I also think that stress and sedentary lifestyles contribute to the condition. When all of these things come together – poor diet, lack of exercise, and chronic stress this is often the result, and it takes dramatic changes in all areas to reverse these conditions. Thanks for addressing this, Mark. It is definitely a message that people need guidance with.
Mark,
I have been struggling with diabesity for several fustrating years. My new doctor wants me to take all kinds of medications which I keep avoiding. My last doctor fired me since I refused to take anymore medications he prescribed including insulin. I am due for a follow up with my current doctor and she will probably fire me as well.
I have been following a pretty close to 95% vegan diet for the past year. My blood sugar A1C was at 13.2 a few years ago six months ago I had it to 7.2 but last check up three months ago it was back to 8.2. I fear complications from the high blood sugar, which runs in my family and has caused several generations extreme complications. Born in the deep south on Southern Home Cooking turns out to be an unhealthy diet. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Please keep trying to get the word out to the Doctors on the proper way to treat this horrible deadly disease.
Hi Debra,
Thank you for sharing your health concerns. It sounds like you are doing so much but perhaps you might benefit from a practitioner trained like Dr. Hyman? To locate a practitioner of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation
Menawhile, check out this article for more info on how to take back your health: http://drhyman.com/8-steps-to-reversing-diabesity-7941/
In good health
http://drhyman.com/8-steps-to-reversing-diabesity-7941/
I have been suffering with this recently. I began putting peices together after having been feeling really bad for a long time and finally came to the conclusion that the cause of my dis ease was blood-sugar related. I was getting episodes of what seemed to be really low blood sugar. I have been going to a doctor, she just tells me to eat 6 times a day, which I have been doing anyway. But I researched on my own about low glycemic load foods and maintaining a steady level. But I get worried because I’m only 30 and I know that this also has to do with hormones and the pancreas and who knows what else and I haven’t been feeling so hot. Doctors haven’t been able to help. When I told my doctor that I thought I had hypoglycemia, she said, “how do you know?” Then gave me a monitor to take home to check my sugar levels. I got a CT scan to see if there was anything wrong with my intestines because I had been having pain around the area where the pancreas is, but nothing came back… Just that I have one ovary larger than the other… Anyway, I really hope that in my children’s generation, medicine will be a lot more comprehensive. Now it’s just frustrating.
I supposedly have “insulin resistance” tho I have never tested with high enough blood sugar levels to be called diabetic. Knowing there is a lot of diabetes in my family, I exercise and eat better than most as far as including lots of organic produce in my food. BUT! having said that, let me also say that I think the real underlying cause of this epidemic is HFCS that is hidden in virtually all the grocery store items we generally buy, from cereals to breads to snacks to you-name-it! That stuff is toxic…….poison to our systems, but there’s almost no escaping it, especially for the poor or cash strapped these days.
And here’s the toughest part…….it’s been included in almost all packaged foods and……..it’s highly addictive! I know that after I read the great book, “Sugar Blues” as I prepared to write a cover story on “Corn” for the local paper, I was committed to going completely off sugar. NOT an easy thing to do! For three days, I was miserable.
The public is never told that they are being intentionally addicted to this additive in most foods. They beat themselves up. Try everything to lose weight. Fail. And then, just have to add ‘depression’ to their ever-growing list of complaints!
If we can find a way back to wholeness it will be through eating whole foods, something that is almost impossible in this time of not only food additives, but pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and factory farming.
Thanks for the opportunity to express my views on this ever-growing problem! I really think this is intentional……keeps the pharmaceutical companies thriving!
I don’t know the cause of diabetes that is impacting me. I wish I knew. I t doesn’t follow the typical type 2 diabetes. I am skinny, active, eat no junk food, get enough rest, have no prolonged stress, was diagnosed in 1995 at the age of 45, control it with diet and life style for a while but the amount of medication I am taking in getting more and more every year. All the literatue I am reading tells me it cannot be reversed without drugs, but that is not my experience. Diabetes runs in the paternal side of my family, but I don’t believe that sentence me to get it. Can your diabesity prescription help my condition?
Hi Leroy,
Do you have DM I or II? If you have Type II than yes the Diabesity Prescription or actually Blood Sugar Solution (out this winter!) can help you for sure. However it it is Type I than this is a different approach. We would suggest you see a Functional Medicine physician to help you. To locate a practitioner of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation
In good health
Who knows if I have diabesity or not but I do have health issues…I have a hard time losing weight..there are often body pains that can’t be explained and I have a hard time walking when I get up from sitting. My hands go into pain spasms and paralyze for a few moments. My emotions are up and down..yes I am at the age of menopause, having had my last menstrual period last March and I am 57. But I crave sweets so much and eat them and don’t track the differences of when I don’t eat them…I lost 25 pounds in the summer when I had no stress and was exercising everyday to now gaining 9 pounds back, eating what I would never put in my mouth in the summer and have access only to a gym and not a pool in winter months. It happens every year…I can spend days in bed resting and my blood sugar has not been high but I do not want to be one in this statistic of diabesity. There is no history in my family of diabetes but there is definitely inflammation (Rheumatoid, Sarcoidosis)….
Conventional medicine does not treat the whole person and knows nothing about nutrition. They treat symptoms as you may have mentioned above. My dad, God rest his soul, said over 50 years ago that we, as a country, have to stop eating ‘white’ foods-sugar, potatoes, pasta, flour…and I think he was correct…with all of the allergies and inflammation..I imagine that is the problem…As Americans, we wait until we are sick to go to the doctor or to “treat” the problem, when we should be caring for ourselves so that we don’t get those symptoms…education is necessary..more people are aware these days of caring for their bodies but no enough..
I had a lapband at a time when I knew if I didn’t I would die..I was using a cane for a torn miniscus, in lots of pain all over my body, about 290 pounds, had sleep apnea, high cholesterol and could not go up and down stairs without my face turning red and my breathing being very labored. The first two months of lapband, I lost 50 pounds, went off the cane and the breathing machine, cholesterol went down 100 points and I was feeling great. I went on to lose 20 more but it has been a struggle to lose the other 60 or 70 that I still want to lose. I keep at it as I can but stress and work and lack of discipline all factor into why I am not losing the weight. I imagine that weight and food consumption have more to do with diabesity than anything else.
I
I have worked with functional medicine doctors who have diagnosed insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. As yet, there doesn’t seem to be a “cure”.
I believe my underlying causes that led to my condition were prolonged stress, too much fast food (bad food) and sugar. Now I understand why these things were bad for me. 10-15 years ago, I didn’t know.
Dr. Hyman: Interesting article on Diabesity. It is my opinion that we don’t address the true causes of “diabesity” because there’s no real money in it for the pharmaceutical industry and the average MD/DO in this country simply doesn’t have the time or take the time to ask what a patient is eating or if they’re exercising daily. The medical industry has placed food and the importance of it for preventing chronic disease at the low end of the priority scale. In my opinion, as a dietitian that works in long term care, the primary cause of diabesity is the changes in our food system over the last 30 years, ie high fructose corn syrup, margarine instead of butter, super sizing everything, highly processed convenience foods, encouraging people to buy cheap foods which are not really cheap at all when one thinks about the long term affect of chronic diseases.
Wow! This is a bad tease. I wish I knew the 8 right now! It would be very helpful for godparents for eldsters.
Thank you for the breathing advice in ‘Ultlrlamind’. It’s been very helpful for my blood pressure.
Chuck
I am a 67 yr old male, 6′ 2″ tall and weigh 185 lbs. I was diagnosed 8 yrs ago with type 2 diabetes. At that time I weighed 230 lbs. My doctor prescribed metformin and a drug for hypertension. The hypertension drug made me feel like I dare not attempt to do anything that physically challenging so with the help of my doctor I was able to get off the drug.
By pretty much eliminating all simple carbs from my diet I was able to drop the excess weight. I have not been overweight (much less obese) for quiet some time now. My metformin dosage has gradually been reduced from 1000 mg twice a day to 500 mg twice a day. My most recent A1c was at 5.8.
This has been pretty much the case for the past 2 yrs. I will look forward to your suggestions as to how to completely reverse my type 2 condition.
I am 73 and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes three years ago. My diet at the time was basically a good one but I did indulge in sweets which I love. I immediately started counting carbs and have been controlling my diabetes with diet ever since the diagnosis. My A1C has been 6.5 for the past three years. I see my doctor again in a few weeks and will know whether there has been any change then. If there is a way to reverse type 2 diabetes, I would love to know what it is.
Hi Brenda,
check out: http://drhyman.com/8-steps-to-reversing-diabesity-7941/
In good health
dear mark,
i am mother of 2, (one by caesarian)…..age .62, and have been overweight all my life, eating lots of sweets and puddings as a child, alcohol growing up….. smoking etc,gall bladder out age 21…..stone stuck in bile duct……..
health slowly deteriorated CFS starting after a hysterectomy age 35, but leaving my ovaries,
until recently, CFS now for about 20-25 years. blood sugar imbalance all this time, having to awake in the night and eat, same on waking in morning, had tests but told ok. put on loads weight,
5 years ago took control of my health, started epsom salts liver flushing, (andreas moritz /hulda clark protocol) colonics ……kidney cleansing……and became mostly vegetarian, gave up most animal products because andreas said meat in particular bad for blood sugar.(Andreas Moritz book”diabetes no more”)>>>>>
have had huge turn around in health, no longer wake with nauseous hunger, and dont have to take a snack wherever i go.
take loads homeopathy, self prescribed …….for blood sugar, restless legs, poor sleep etc…….
more recently read charlotte gerson and juice every morning,
now do not wake “,unrefreshed”….. have loads more energy, but still some allergic reaction, and still very overweight even tho lost 20 pound since cleansing.
also mercury toxicity (bioresonance testing)…….from vacs…….. operations, and many fillings removed without precautions so swallowed lots of “bits”
thanks to your site plus mercola and mike adams etc, i now feel confident that things can only get better,(99%of people i know do the doctor stuff), so you all give me the confidence and courage of my convictions, because i think we will look back at these times of drug, big pharma vaccinations, etc as the dark ages, why should we want to pump babies full of dangerous substances as soon as they are born, or ever, nature evolved perfectly for millions of years until we started polluting ourselves and the planet.
i completely agree, with you , and have seen lots of your video clips,
unfortunately i am married to a man who has 4 sisters all medical and all married to doctors, they have told me i should have counseling to get over my chronic fatigue, i think i have done magnificently but that is completely unrecognized.
i got ill by trusting doctors and dentists,
well done for your great work,
!…….conventional medicine is ineffective because, the patient need to do the work, chemicals dont help.
2……..illness is all about deficiency and toxicity.
3………underlying cause is of course diet and toxicity.
4………bottom line is gerson etc are turning around end stage cancers with diet and supplements,
my friend turned his type 1 (very bad and in the family )diabetes around with diet, type 2 is easy,
to YOUR good health,
yours sincerely, mrs sue budd……. cornwall UK.
This is so true & I believe I have it. I have no insurance so I have been doing research on all this so I know what tests to ask my Dr. for. Not sure if he will agree to go down this road with me concernimng my health but I am going to try. Looking forward to what you have to tell us next week.
My situation similar but different in some ways to the other two.
I was a normal weight before a horsebackriding accident
many years ago. That was TBI number 1. Then a few years
ago I was rear ended in a car accident and that was
TBI number 2. This made a rare spinal cord injury, Chiari
Malformation symptomatic.
As a result of the above, I have gained alot of weight despite
a healthy lifestyle. I find I need SOME carbs in my diet for
energy because of the above. Have had hypoglycemia
severe because of the first head injury.. HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Lynn,
Due to the nature of your health inquery we recommend you recieve care from a trained practitioner in Functional Med. To locate a practitioner of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation
In good health
I am a 63 yr. old female, weighing in at 143. I am not over-weight, but have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, high triglycerides and prediabetes. Diabetes runs in my family, and this scares me. My doctor has put me on 3 different blood pressure meds and fish oil–but not one word about diet. I have been researching diet, but I am totally confused as to what diet to follow. I am really looking forward to your eight points to regain my health. As Don states, I too, am sick & tired of being sick!
I believe that the root causes are food additives. There are so many chemicals in our food that we have not evolved with and so they are alien to our bodies. The amount of advertising for junk “food” that we are bombarded with on TV and in the supermarkets is staggering (and so often aimed at the young of our species. It’s sometimes hard to resist a child who really believes that they need a bag of Cheezels or whatever! And if they can’t have them they feel like outcasts at school too.
In my own case, I am not massively overweight being a female between 147 and 154 lbs at 5′ 6″ tall but I am having problems with prediabesity. I also find it hard to locate a doctor who will work with me o get well. They all prescribe B P lowering medications and as I react badly to all the ones I’ve had, not to mention other drugs, I am now very fearful of taking any at all. What to do??
Hi Cedar,
Check out this article for how to get started: http://drhyman.com/8-steps-to-reversing-diabesity-7941/
We recommend you get the care of a functional medicine practitioner. To locate a practitioner of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation
In good health
I am a 53 year woman who has struggled with my weight for many years. My cholesterol is according to my doctor, enviably low for North American standard. My blood pressure very good and yet I have not been able to lose weight no matter what program I’ve used. Now that I am menopausal it has become even more difficult and my doctor keeps telling me I need to lose weight, I am prediabetic, 212 lbs on a 5’7″ frame and more than frustrated. Looking forward to next week’s blog.
Could not agree more with this. Unfortunate most doctors do not know how to help people. The American diet is the start of this and I personally think we should require a blood sugar test at any regular office visit just like the typical blood presure test. If we took more A1C test and this became routine and people knew what this test was it would be a good start. Most people with type 2 do not even know what this test is and don’t even check blood sugar levels so they have little hope to ever begin correcting this disease. The cost is killing health care to treat this proactive vs reactive. The problem is people have to be willing to make changes but most are not. This alone is the number one biggest problem we face with out of control health care cost. The FDA does not help much either with all the things they allow in our food. People have got to change their thinking that drugs are the answer.
I’m 52 years old and when I lived in Texas for the summer I walked and ate well.
Even got away with a pizza with spinach/artichoke once in awhile.
When I’m in Ohio; I’m not motivated to do much. I take my dog to the pet store
and we walk around; otherwise I just don’t feel like walking. I’m tired and
now my arthritis in my hips and bursitis in my elbows bother me.
I’m 250 lbs. I know that is my biggest problem. I try to donate blood; but
my blood pressure is too high. The doctor has me on metaformin and
next we wants me on a blood pressure medicine. I went to see a natural
doctor…his specialty is heart disease. He says all I need to do is lose the weight.
I’m trying. Its hard to lose. I gained 10 lbs. from taking the one medicine.
I lost that weight. I lost 20 lbs. when I was in Texas and put it back on.
I hate living in Cleveland. I want to get back to Texas. People here don’t
support me because its hard to get a job. I took care of my mother for
6 years. I like the elderly; but not sure that is what I want to do.
The medicines just cover up what is going on. I take a lot of supplements.
Would like to take the right ones and get my life back in control.
Harriet
Hi Harriet,
Thank you for sharing your health concerns. It sounds like you could benefit from a comprehensive care plan from a functional medicine provider. To locate a practitioner of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation
Also stay tuned for Dr. Hyman’s new book called The Blood Sugar Solution out this winter. I think it could help you and it has a lot of tips, tools and information to help you take back your health!
In the meantime, check out this article on a program called the Ultra Simple Diet. It might interest you: http://drhyman.com/blog/conditions/the-ultrasimple-diet-kick-start-your-metabolism-and-safely-lose-up-to-10-pounds-in-7-days/
In good health
In good health
Hi Dr.Hyman,
I’ve lost 73lbs and kept it off. I did it by eliminating all grains, processed foods and simple sugars (except some turbinado sugar in my jasmine green tea in the morning) from my diet. I have no history of diabetes in my family but I do have a history of heart disease which I just learned about 2 years ago when my birth family found me (I was adopted when I was a few days old.) When I found this out, I found a Primary Care MD who was also a cardiologist. I found out I have the beginnings of carotid artery disease. Since having a stroke is not on my agenda this life time, I did a huge amount of research into heart disease.
After researching, I decided to keep my blood sugars under 110 all day as my goal. I bought a glucometer and started checking my blood sugars 1 hour after I add any new food into my diet. If my blood sugar is above 130, I eliminate that food from my diet. I’ve found that many fruits are just plain too sweet for me. I can eat berries except cherries and red grapefruit, but a nectarine will put my blood sugar over 180! All grains even whole wheat and oatmeal increase my blood sugar and keep it high for awhile. I also don’t eat potatoes or corn.
I’m a vegetarian, so I combine beans with nuts and seeds for complete protein. The healthy fat in nuts keeps me full, so I’m never hungry. I limit nuts and seeds to 1/4 cup at a time. I do eat eggs as well, but I’m lactose intolerant so I don’t do milk products. I do occasionally have seafood if I go out for dinner. The main foods in my diet are vegetables of all kinds, beans, nuts and seeds, occasional berries/red grapefruit, and lots of water. I also buy organic, non-genetically modified food as much as possible. I also eat Natto every other day from a small American company in California.
Fun foods which do not increase my blood sugar are 70% dark bittersweet chocolate which also binds cortisol. I have a few pieces when I’m stressed and let them melt slowly in my mouth. Also, red wine does not increase my blood sugar.
I also believe in the overgrowth of intestinal yeast. When I got my first pimple when I was a teen, my Father trucked me off to the dermatologist and I was on antibiotics for the next 5-6 years. Well my skin is nice, but I started to gain huge amounts of weight and kept it on for the next 30 years. I believe my intestinal flora was completely screwed up. I addressed my outrageous sugar cravings by taking huge amounts of odorless garlic tabs to kill the yeast (Kryolic double strength cardiac formula 2 tabs in the am and pm) and huge amounts of probiotics to out compete the yeast in my gut (50 Billion count, multi-strain probiotics, 1 tab twice a day.) The first 2 weeks my sugar cravings increased dramatically while the yeast died off, then I lost all of my sugar cravings completely. I stayed on that dosing for 3 months. Now I can walk through a candy aisle in a store or past the ice cream and never notice it. I can’t tell you how much this has helped me. Losing my sugar cravings was the most important thing I have accomplished with my diet.
I’ve never felt healthier in my life. Thought I would share what has turned my life around.
Sincerely, Meredith
I have helped my 89 year old mother go from being on 9 medications to 3; one being a baby aspirin, one dose of metformin and a high blood pressure med. She had had a stroke which she recovered from. She had been taking up to 70 units of insulin for 30 years. She was out of control and such a mess that I thought she was going to die any minute which is why I had her move in with me. At that time she could barely walk as her legs were always swollen.
Within 3mos she started responding to the lifestyle changes. Her new eating plan consisted of high fiber foods, no dairy, no salt, no sugar, no chemicals in any foods. Lots of fresh greens lightly steam vegetables, only small amounts of fish (no other flesh foods.) Her day started with Calli tea, NuPlus, a concentrated herbal food shake, a high fiber bar with low carbs and a short walk to the end of the driveway.
It’s now been 2 1/2 years, she’s gone from 174 to 136lbs, she takes 2 back to back senior exercise classes, her heart doctor cannot believe the transformation. Her blood sugars are consistent, her blood pressure is now 120/74- most importantly she now lives her life rather than sitting around waiting to die.
With commitment and support anyone can take control of their health through diet.
I couldn`t agree more with Dr. Hyman. My challenge is to find a doctor who takes a similar approach to work with me. I`m doing everything to address my health concerns but don`t see the improvement thus I know I`m missing something important in my treatment approach. My dietary intake is limited to low glycemic carbs some fish and egg or two a day yet I still weigh 212 lbs. on a 6 foot frame and have a waist size of 38/39 inches. I too am looking forward to your eight points re how to regain my health. I`m tired of being sick !!!!!
I had a heart attack at 42 with the ramus vessel 95% blocked. Was put on accupril, zocor and aspirin. I then developed diabetes and was put on metformin. I have taken myself off of the zocor after nine years due to leg cramps then took myself off of the aspirin. My new cardio dr has changed my heart meds because my pressure is always 140/90. My triglycerides are extremely high and now wants to put me on more meds for that saying it is hereditary. I am a little overweight but eating healthy has not helped in the fight to lose weight. I keep telling the drs I want to get off meds and they look at me like I have 3 heads. I am now taking a Kai Chi Do class and doing reflexology and that seems to be helping.
I write about aging and couldn’t agree more with Dr. Hyman. Once you got it – diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke etc. – you got it! It then becomes a whole new game of treatment regimes that are far more complex and unpredictable than prevention. We have become gluttons and are paying the price that shall soon see rationing of treatment and a fall in our longevity.
Dr. Hyman’s accurate description of most physician’s approach to treatment is unsettling but true. As a dietitian, i have struggled with this method of “sick” care instead of true health care for years, always waiting beyond the threshold of prevention and then curing one aspect of disease only while adding untoward effects of medicine or other treatments that continue to make our patients sick (ie: causing weight gain, vitamin and mineral deficiencies or more). Thank you, Dr. Hyman, for bringing awareness to holistic and integrative medicine. This is the first time i have heard the term “diabesity” but i will be sure to use it from this point on where it makes sense.
Thanks for focusing our attention on Cause; we hear only about symptoms when we had the means of preventing the disease from escalating!
My condition is similar to Daren in your article. Age 64, 5′ 6″ 215# male on minimal HTZ (137/86) and low dose statin, hovering around 103 serum glucose and 173 mg/dL with 98 LDL. Trying not to be sedentary, but pretty desk-bound with light exercise periodically. My diet however includes mostly whole grains, vegetables, juices, fish or chicken, and very little sugar. I aim for natural bold color foods to avoid starches and anything processed.
What should I be doing differently?
Hi David,
It sounds like you are on the right track! Glad to hear about all the wonderful dietary habits you maintain. This surely will help you. Supplements such as alpha lipoic acid, gluccomannan, bitter melon, cinnamon and a bunch of others will certainly help as will interval exercise. This quite frankly is the saving grace of insulin resistance. Read more on ways to improve your blood sugars and insulin here: http://drhyman.com/8-steps-to-reversing-diabesity-7941/
In good health!
Lizzy
I’ve read recently that most of the bread and other wheat products we Americans eat now are from reconstituted wheat, genetically-modified to resist many of the growing conditions that would minimize production loss for the big farmers. The article goes on to say the resulting crops are not healthy for our bodies and that is the reason our digestion systems are breaking down and allowing all these illnesses to occur. We are the least healthy and most overweight of all the developed nations, it was stated and this, along with all the medications people take nowadays for their various illnesses, make us unfit for our busy lifestyle.. It also stated that today many of the young people joining our military are too overweight to meet the requirements. (remember the photos of our WWII enlistees, slim as gazelles? Alas!)
I have been a Type I diabetic for 25 years. I struggle constantly with up and down blood sugars, inability to lose weight. I’ve tried a multitude of different things hoping to get good control and lose weight, but I have not been successful. I look forward to hearing what information you might have to help me.
Hi Tina!
There is so much you can do! We really like this article: http://drhyman.com/8-steps-to-reversing-diabesity-7941/ You will find so many great tips which you can implement right now to get better control of your blood sugar. And stay tuned because this winter Dr. Hyman will be revealing his Blood Sugar Solution- an interactive guide to reversing diabetes and balancing blood sugars for a lifetime.
In good health!
I have been on various statins and Carloc 24 for 20 years. Three years ago I was diagnosed with type 2. at 1.65m and 71 odd kilos i’ve never been overweight, ate or drank sweet things.My intake of metformin is cut to 500mg a day and takeing various natural substances to assist seems to be working as my blood sugar levels seldom go over 8. I eat wisely for both heart and Dia- ‘ugly’ but would like to beat both by getting off drugs completely.I believe the statins and stress to be the cause of the latter.
My husband (type 2 diabetic 10 years) has normal blood sugar now after eating a caveman diet for 6 weeks which I’m on for Candida I got from antibiotics. He’s lost some weight but could lose more, and his blood pressure is lower. If he cheats, his sugar goes right up, so I know he can’t handle sugars and hasn’t regained enough insulin sensitivity to get off medication. I think sugar is the root of all evil and the cause of disease.
I just want to Thank you Dr. Hyman on sharing life saving information on this subject! So many people lives will be totally changed for the better and healing for most. Keep up the GREAT work and thanks again for sharing all you know, with those who want to know and help share with others who need to know!
I am 58 years old and have struggled with weight all my life. I am currently about 20 pounds overweight after having lost 30 this year. My sugars run between 105-115 and no matter what I do, they won’t come down. I have eliminated all grains, dairy, all processed food, soy and corn from my diet. I exercise at least 4, sometimes 5 times a week. I take supplements for blood sugar control and am attempting to keep my systemic pH above 7. I eat a lot of organic green vegetables and put a high quality green powder in my morning shakes. Still – 112 this morning. I wouldn’t even consider seeking advice from a doctor, with rare exceptions, such as yourself, I think most of them are simply idiots (I have been a registered nurse for over 30 years, I know of what I speak!).
Hi, I am a 47 year old woman with 26 year old boys who now live on their own and a 9 year old daughter. I work weekends and homeschool my daughter on weekdays. I have had a history of hypogycemia since childhood and had horrible gestational diabetes with my daughter. Presently, I do not have diabetes but am over weight at 146 lbs ht. 5-1.. I have high cholesterol and have tried all statins. I feel like i am dying when on them so now I refuse to try them anymore. I have inflammatory arthritis which I take methotrexate for as well as leukovorin for. I also have hoshimotos and am on levoxyl for that. With my last pregnancy I went into Congestive heart failure after delivery and dr. later found I had bicuspid aortic valve. I take atenolol to reduce my heart rate. I went from being very active pre-pregnancy 9 yrs ago to feeling like I am old some days and have a hard time going. My family has hx of high cholest, hypoglycemia,and various autoimmune illnesses. I have looked high and low trying to find connections with some of these illnesses to see if I am missing the root cause. I am an R.N. and feel conflict within the medical community in which I have worked for the last 30 years. I am tired of bandaids……..Would love to read your next article to see if I could gain any insight……..Thanks
I am 89 years old and have type II diabetes. My fastring blood sugar runs around 135 and my A1C is 6.8. I am carrying about thirty pounds of weight that I have studiously tried to lose for four years without success. I am not an athlete and I know I do not get enough exercise but I have tried periods of exercise and when nothing happens to my weight I get disenchanted with the effort and quit. Any suggestions?????
Hi William,
Thank you for sharing your concerns with your diabetes. We know how difficult it can be to stay motivated when you dont “see” the results. You should be proud you have made it this far and are still willing to go a few steps more! Please read this article: http://drhyman.com/8-steps-to-reversing-diabesity-7941/ It has a lot of tips you can start immediately. The best type of exercise for blood sugar balance is interval training and also any relaxation exercises to negate any asscociated stress. Stress play a huge role in blood sugar stability and so we hope you feel more empowered now so you feel less stressed about your sugars! Best of luck.
In good health!
I am 61, 6 foot tall and 271. I’ve tried diet and exercise and still have not mastered my diaobesity. I agree that this a bigger problem and I need answers to help me.
Hi Doctor,
I was diagnosed with diabetes 4 weeks ago. I am 62, female and over weight.
5’9″ and was 240 pounds when diagnosed.
The dietician at the hospital told me to go on a 60% carb diet. I gained 3 pounds in 3 days and my glucose shot up to 200 fasting.
I started reading online and decided to do the Atkins diet. I am in my 15th day, in Induction Pase I, and have lost 9-10 pounds. My glucose has continuously gone down each morning at fasting test: Now is at 120 this morning. I AM taking 500 mg Metformin a day and colestipol (statins made me have muscle damage a few years ago so I quit them).
I hate when doctors and specialists are NOT up to date with info and methods and rely solely on meds to help people.
Thank you!!!!! I have a son that found he had diabetes at age 17. The doctor thought type2 but tests showed antibodies that changed the diagnosis to type1. I have auto immune issues myself and felt medicating him without searching for the triggers was the worst thing to do. I explained to him the long list of autoimmune diseases that could develop without finding possible reasons to why his system was weakened. I could write a book on this last year. I called an alternative MD who was highly regarded in the area and begged for an appointment sooner than he was booking. He got me right in. The caveman diet was what we started on until he got test results back. I had already researched and had taken him off dairy. His counts dropped 100 points. When also taking him off gluten, his counts dropped another 100 points. His food allergy tests showed extreme allergies to both of these. We eventually had hime off insulin. His Endocrinologist did not support this. The group felt it was too restrictive. Let him eat what he wants and just take insulin. Spring came along with his allergies. His numbers started going up. It was a battle for several months and he was back on insulin. The mold seemed to be the major issue. His A1C had started at 10.5. We had it down to 6.5. It went back up to 8. I was told my way wasn’t working and his next appointment they would be starting him on the pump. It was discouraging. I then decided to try to fight the mold problem. I asked his alternative Dr. about an anifungal. He also started on large doses of probiotics. His counts went back down! I know he is a diabetic. It’s been a year though and instead of being completely dependant on insulin, he takes 10 – 15 units of the Levemir pen a day. We will get his next A1C in December. He has more variety in his diet than any of his friends. He goes out with them and makes minor adjustments to his orders. It is more work to stay on top of meals, but very worthwhile. He doesn’t have to fight the highs and lows of bloodsugar. I do feel I’m in it alone and very much appreciate your article. Please keep battling for this disease. People are not given options.
i had pancreatitis in 1993 and worked with a great homeopathic to fully recover so no lingering attacks. But I was left with a smaller pancreas and over the years of continued high levels of stress i am now insulin dependent using Lantus and watching my diet, I’ve done cleanses of liver and gal bladder and worked to strengthen immune system with more veggies, low glycemic carbs. What i am clearly experiencing is something I cannot get to the root of. i know exercise works to lower blood sugars, that diet helps, but what seems to be more of a concern is the swings in blood sugar from high to too low – i’ve added full range of vitamins of C, Bs with extra B6 and Panothenic. I’m committed to getting off the insulin and finding a way to protect my health from this condition. Thanks for any insights and as a researcher with Autognomics, looking at the fundamentals of living organism processes, i find what you’ve said here in this article most important to report as health is a “becoming” process on-going and constantly involved with all levels of requirements for healthful functioning. I’m interested in exploring what you know with what we are finding to see more relatedness in what and how “value dynamics” play a role in health and well being. Thanks for this work you are doing.
Good Morning Dr. Hyman,
One of the important points conventional medicine fails to deliver to it’s diabetic patients is the raw reality that if you simply “control” your blood sugar levels by drugs, the long term outcome remains essentially the same. Your life expectancy will decline by about 10 years while the loss of limbs, eyesight, strokes, heart attacks, etc, will continue unabated. Simply controlling your blood sugar does not stop the degenerative damage underway.
I can’t just describe my problem in a few words. The weak and shaky feeling started a little over 20 yrs ago. I was so hungry when coming home from work that I ate everything in sight and almost the refrigertor. Did not know the cause. I gained much weight after the menopause. Did not have HRT .. only for a few weeks I ingested the medication my OB doctor gave. It made me nauseous and I gained more weight. 12 yrs hence my doctor took blood tests. I was pre-diabetic .. Metformin was the answer. (*Now Diabetic 2) It did not sit well with me. She changed to Avandia .. that made room for JANUVIA (still on it) LOVAZA (omega 3 fortified) CRESTOR to reduce colesterol. I test my blood every morning and it measures all over the place. From 144 to 1166 to 121 to 134 and so on. I don’t know what to eat any more. Frustration is great. I am 80 years. (Most people think I am much younger. No agingin the face. Good mind and active. Weigh 175 pound .. overweight by 30 pound. Can’t shake it. Exercise limited due to ostearthitis. Had one hip joint replacement. I am concerned what my pancreas and liver are discussing, the swing in glucose the up and down and the elevated triglyceride .. pills and more pills .. what can I do to kick this ?
Hi Isabella,
Thank you for sharing your health concerns re: diabetes. You are not alone. Many people are tsruggling to find healthy blood sugar balance that sustains them day in and day out. Well, we surely have some answers for you and hope you can find a few ideas here to adopt. Remember, be kind and gentle with yourself and take it one step at a time! http://drhyman.com/8-steps-to-reversing-diabesity-7941/
In good health!
I agree with Diane…. it’s sugar, bottom line! And a sedentary lifestyle!
So many people today who are working 2 or 3 jobs a day to make ends meet after losing their high paying job or out of work do to the economy crisis are reaching out for fast food places, buffets or eating high carbs at home to get full.
I am 58 years old & was diagnosed about 2 years ago with Type 1.5 diabetes & a A1C of 10.5 I tried the diet, excercise, lost 50 lbs , took Metformin with no success of controlling my BS. I was told that I got a virus in my pancreas that damaged my islet cells and that I would need insulin, so I have been on insulin for 1.5 years. I have my A1C down to 7.5 which is still to high. I would like to know how to repair my islet cells. I have read that the stem cell treatment would be helpful but it isn’t legal yet in out Country. Any helpful information you can give would be appreciated.
Thank You
Craig
Hi Craig,
You might do best speaking with a functional med practitioner in more detail about your case. Go to http://www.functionalmedicine.org and scroll down to locate a practitioner. Enter your zip and select a professional who best fits your needs.
In good health!
Lizzy
Ah such a name for such a hideous condition. Diabesity, I love it. My battles with diabesity started 2 1/2 years ago. I was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes when my A1C and went up to 7.2. At that time also my total cholesterol was 245 and my triglycerides shot up to 440 and blood pressure was 142/90. So of course my doctor decided to put me on a anti-hypertensive drug for my blood pressure and a statin for the cholesterol. He then told me to diet and not eat fats and excersise more. Hmmm, such a typical response from todays doctors. I battled with that for the next 6 months. went on a low-fat diet and gained 10 more lbs in 6 months and at 270lbs the blood stats were even worse. So I started studying and researching on the Internet to find out what was going on.
Then I made my decision, low-fat was not the wat to go, I needed something that fit so I started working on my own life style change (the word DIET is no longer in my vocabulary, they just DON’T work) and I found my own program that worked. I joined the local gym and started out on a nutritional plan that actually increased the amount of calories I was eating in a day, but I was also doing intense workouts at the gym and building muscle that I severly lacked in the begining of my journey. Thirty years behind a desk 8-12 hours a day just doesnt bode well for muscle.
Well anyway after 1 year of simply eating right and excersising I was happy to go in and find my weight had dropped to 227, total cholesterol had dropped to 175, my TRIGS dropped to 150 and my A1C was down to 6.0. I was off all of my medications and I thought I had beaten the beast and life was going to be great. Then 3 months ago my work got in my way and I was thrown into a highly stressfull and toxic environment. At the end of the 3 months I had shot up to 248lbs and the beast was back with a vengeance, cholesterol up to 237, triglycerides back up to 305.
So here I am starting all over again. I am writting this to douse hopes and make someone feel like it is impossible to do. I WILL be back to the normal and will be healthy and happy. I am just saying it is not just our bodies changing with age and our diets being full of sugar. It seems that the press is quick at blaming sugars or fats or just plain being sedentary for this epedemic and all of our problems. But in reality I beleive it is all of these (sugars,fats,lack of exersise) and the toxic environment we live in. Toxic being the air we breathe, the chemicals we eat in our foods, the stress and lifestyles we live are all toxic contributors to this problem.
WOW!!! I said more that i had intended too, but It did fell good to get it off my chest. To EVERYONE take control of your life and live happy and healthy. By doing that we will put this beast in its place.
My 70 year old neighbor completely eliminated his type 2 diabetes over the course of a few months. He followed Dr Mercola’s website suggestion to completely eliminate all grain products from his diet. He had been on diabetes medication. Over these months, his doctor slowly reduced his medications until he no longer needed them. He also lost about 20 lbs of excess weight. He feels and looks much healthier.
Bad gramatical error in my post above. I had wrote “I am writting this to douse hopes and make someone feel like it is impossible to do.”
It should have read: “I am NOT writting this to douse hopes and make someone feel like it is impossible to do.”
I’m 49. 200lbs. I’ve been going to the gym 3 times a week since March 31/11. I’ve only lost 13lbs. I am working out hard. 35 minutes= 2.39 miles on the eliptical
machine. 1.5 miles on the bike. Plus weights. I am getting smaller but I thought I would lose weight much faster.
I started taking Metformin ER500mg once at dinner. Maybe another 1lb off.
What should I do? I don’t have insurance, so I have to pay for everything. I need
to be specific when I go to a DR.
Veronica
Hi Veronica,
Thank you for sharing your health concerns. The weight will come off so keep up your exercise. How intensely you work out is actually more important that how much time you log on the elliptical. You want to make every minute of your 35 count! Dr. Hyman recommends you try interval training. Essentially you workout in spurts of high intensity and then cool it down for a brief time before kicking it up to high intensity again. Doing these intervals keeps your heart rate up and the body’s use of insulin becomes very functional and efficicient. The less insulin circulating. the more able you are to lose that weight! You can do this by controlling your glycemic intake in your diet as well. When you eat carbohydrates, you want to make the quality count- just like exercise it always comes back to QUALITY! Choose low glycemic carbohydrates- those which have a lot of fiber and little quick , refined sugar. Think apple with skin vs. apple juice. Think whole brown rice vs. white rice Think mixed whole grains in a salad vs. whole grain bread or flour products… You get the idea. The more attention you give to where these carbohydrates are coming from in your diet the more apt you are to lose weight!
In good health
Lizzy
I deeply appreciate the valuable work Dr. Hyman has been doing by educating us as patients, caretakers and health keepers. My wife has a chronic diabetes. Sadly, doctors go for medicine and insulin rather than helping them to change their diet. I wish I was educated about the importance of taking prediabetic conditions seriously. My wife has been to manage her diabetes better by changing her diet. I am also looking for the ways to reverse her diabetes.
I fight weight gain everyday and am lousing the battle. I am pre diabetic and need to stop the process but my Dr. can not seam to stop it but continues to use drugs. Need help so will look forwand to your 8 suggestions next week.
I am overweight and my fasting blood sugar is 87. All my other stats are good. But i want to lose the weight and shut the door to diabesity. I think that the challenge is so much conflicting information. Eat grains-don’t eat grains, artificial sweetners can help/they can kill you. Some sugar is OK/No sugar is good.. Eat grains, avoid gluten and so on.
It’s hard to know what to eat. And if you do know what to eat, its hard to eat out or enjoy dinners at someone else’s house.Socially you’re always the “special” one.
So, IMO a lack of information, Lack of Strategy and Lack of Support are what make it so challenging. Most dietary approaches support a middle of the road attitude. Others, Paleo style eating. Books too often offer loosy goosy guideines. People that are overweight or obesse need a plan they can follow today…they don’t have time to try this and that and tweak this and that.
It’s very frustrating.
Something changed drastically for me nearly 20 years ago after a difficult pregnancy and a complicated c section staph infection that nearly took my life. Prior to that my health was excellent as was my weight and vitality. Since that time I have not been able to lose the extra 60 pounds, no matter what try. I have had chronic migraines and epstein barr syndrome. My blood sugar at last check was in the mid 90′s. I know there is something deeper than these symptoms that switched on or off that many years ago that has never been fixed. I want to get to the root of the problem and heal my body so I can feel better and look better. I look forward to reading your follow up article for the hope that it will bring to my situation and others who struggle with similar issues.
Dr. Hyman’s comments apply to all chronic illness. I’m a 44 year old woman who began experiencing epilepsy 10 years ago. The mechanistic and simplistic responses I received from doctors were astounding. Their dehumanizing approach that applied a simple black and white perspective to EVERYTHING only increased my fear and anxiety. I literally had doctors telling me that they “knew nothing about epilepsy,” yet I could go out and find a whole book written on the subject. Epilepsy too will not fit inside the paradigm of medicine practiced by conventional, western medicine. It actually hurts people to the point of killing them. I now wear a medical bracelet out in public that directs people “not to call an ambulance or doctor” if they should find me seizing. It gives them the right to go into my wallet for further instructions. It is true that now the people I fear the most when I’m out in public world of this country are doctors! That’s a tragedy that we live in a country where sick people fear doctors.
good article – thanks a lot for the informations.
in 2006 i was diagnosed insuline resistance, only a glucose test was made 3 years later and i was told we need to do that test once a year…
many times i feel like something is wrong with my system but doctors tell me i am a hypochondric…
i am also overweight (obese) having a very hard time loosing weight, am also suffering from HASHIMOTO since 1997 & GLUTENSENSITIV diagnosed 11 month ago…
bloodtests for liver funktion looking bad to since 1985…
looking very much forward to read the next blog!
I am a 79 yr old male, 6′ 1/2″ tall and weigh 202+- lbs. I was diagnosed 4 yrs ago with type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes some years before that. My A1c was at 6.3 back then, and I weighed 238+- lbs, caused by mostly belly fat. My (and my Wife’s) Family Doctor prescribed metformin for the Diabetes. My Wife (age 78) was diagnosed with pre-diabetes several years ago.
We stopped eating all simple sugars as much as possible, e.g. glucose, fructose, sucrose, and lactose and most all simple carb (white) foods from our diet, ate more “higher” fiber foods, and I got rid of most of the excess belly fat weight. I should lose another 10 pounds or so of mostly belly fat but that is proving to be much more difficult.
Our metformin medication has been eliminated. Both of our recent A1c test results were at 5.8+- and the main reason for it is that we both used a supplement to get our insulin resistant bodies back to being insulin receptive again and then stay receptive to insulin.
Our Cardiologist (my Wife developed atrial fibrulation problems back in 1985 and has had a pacemaker since 1994) prescribed a beta blocker drug (lisinopril) for my/our hypertension. I also have 7 stents for athrosclerosis blockages in a few arteries.
The lisinopril dose made me feel tired all of the time because my blood pressure was going too low which also made my legs ache quite a bit. So with dayly/hourly home monitoring of my blood pressure and the help of our Cardiologist, I was able to reduce the drug dose and get my blood pressure down to the 110-130 range depending on my activity level at the time of taking it.
I know people who have reversed their diabetes completely by changing to a plant-based diet, such as the ones purported by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, T. Colin Powell and Dr. John McDougall.
Too drastic you say? What actually is drastic is having your limbs amputated, losing your eyesight, suffering a heart attack or stroke, and all of the other associated complications of diabesity.
We need to think more along the lines of personal responsibility and not leave it up to a doctor to “fix” us with drugs.
Excercise keep pyhisicaly active lower carbs, it worked for me, Lost 40 lbs A1C is 55 71 yrs old off all meds!!!
I find what you are saying to be the truth! My husband was in Vietnam, and he is being told he is a diabetic, yes his sugar level do run high then it can run low, we tryl not to eat sugar, he is 6 ft @ 193 & 61 yrs of age, he continues to take a statin is what I think it is for cholesterol, the doc say we wil watch him, so I watch every bite he eats, not good for our relationship mind you, and also he has low blood platlets counts for 3 yrs now or more his blood pressure is of a teenager, they are telling us at the VA clinic this problems are from Agent orange, and from what I have read this is true, but …….. what about me?……good blood presure, no sugar problems, but I am only 54 and cannot loose weight, would love to loose 20 lbs. hubby needs to loose 20 lbs, doc tell us watch what you eat and exercise more, well I guess we will just exercise and starve. Help!!!! we need what is the Doctor not telling us.
Hi Susan,
Perhaps you might both benefit from going on a comprehensive elimination protocol. This can help demystify if food is a contributing factor to inflammation, weight, etc. and it also acts a healthy detoxification program. Sounds like your hubby might benefit from that! ost importantly it outlines a healthy way to eat- all whole foods. Nothing processed or refined. There is a lot of great info you can learn from this program so I highly recommend it!
http://store.ultrasimplediet.com/
In good health!
Lizzy
This has nothing to do with diabesity, but I just have to get my story out and reach out to others that may be going through a similar situation. I have several health issues probably caused by one condition. I’ve been seeing several types of doctors within the past 3 1/2 years. I have just recently started seeing a NAET practitioner and he has told me that I have an adrenal gland infection. Which I think is very true. My lab work shows several slightly low numbers, but the doctors say that I’m OK. But if I’m OK. Why do I still feel like crap? And I’ve noticed these past two years that the seasonal change between summer and fall, really affects my body (fatigue, body aches). NAET, may be the only thing that can help me out, because conventional medicine has failed me. NAET – http://www.naet.com/
You have so much good information and I use it in my role of patient education nurse for a cardiologist.
But I find statements like, What’s worse is your doctor’s not trained how to find it and they are not even looking for it. to be unfair
We have been preaching the effects of (I think first we called it syndrome X) for years. This is not new to us nor probably to most physicians. One big change is now we know Pre diabetes or diabetes it doesn’t matter both are almost equally devastating to the body.
In our office we spend hours trying to get patients to do the things you suggest so for you to repeatedly make blanket statements about how useless mainstream office based doctors are is maddening.
This all from junc food and stres. People got to change to eat right and not to worry as much as possible. Thank you dr. Mark Hyman. Have a wonderful health everyone!
In my opion, conventional medicine pushes medication, that does not cure the problem. Functional medicine provides a plethora of information about the cause. But, most people cannot afford the diagnostic tests offered by non-traditional physicians. So, the people are getting all of this information about why they are sick, but no means to properly deal with it.
The conventional doctors offer medications that make us more sick, or addicted. The functional medicine doctors offer the so called, “answer” but most people cannot afford their services and most insurance companies will not cover them either.
What solution is going to actually help? Both sides are making a profit while many people suffer in agony.
Hello Desiree, thank yo for your comment. The answer is that you can make an educated decision about your health at whatever level you can afford. The more information you have, the better decisions you can make. This website offers a lot of great information, you are welcome to join Dr. Hyman’s Facebook community as well for additional resources.
Best of health!
I actually have high cholesterol, but I do not believe it is necessary for me to be concerned about it because last Lipid Profile: HDL = 78, Triglycerides = 83, Cholesterol = 285, LDL = 190. All results of Comprehensive Metabolic Profile (Glucose = 84), CBC, and much more testing are all normal range including hs CRP 0.9. Also, I am 74 yrs old. My main health concern relates to kidney stone/s (staghorn) which I developed during a UTI. I was first diagnosed over 6 yrs ago; decided against many intervention advised by urologists. I have sucessfully passed two stones: one 1.5 cm and the last 2. cm without any problem. I do everything the doctors tell me not to to do: Vitamin C: 3 G daily spread out; Vitamin D, etc. However, I continue to avoid getting any additional UTIs and remain completely healthy otherwise. Lately, after reading how high cholesterol prevents infections, I believe I now understand why I remain free from UTIs: thanks to high cholesterol. I also read where older people benefit from high cholesterol by living longer, etc. What do you think? P.S. I feel healthy all the time, no aches or pains, etc.
Hi Katie, thank you for your email. You sound like a healthy and vibrant 74 year young person! We can’t offer medical advice over the internet but your question is a very thought provoking one that we will post and see if others have input to share.
Best of health!
I’m 66 yrs old, 5’10″ and 170 lbs. My fasting blood sugar at last measurement was 88, and it’s always been “normal.” Yet I have what’s been diagnosed as peripheral neuropathy in both feet, worse on the side that I broke a toe several years ago. All I’ve been offered is a drug whose side effects are worse than the discomfort of the neuropathy. I also have GERD, and am taking medicine for that. I fear that malabsorbtion from lowered stomach acid is contributing to the neuropathy, but so far the physician has not taken that idea seriously, nor offered any suggestions.
Hi There,
We understand your confusion and hope you get an opinion with a doc trained in functional medicine. They will be better able to assess your symptoms and give you an accurate and useful plan tailored to your individual needs. Go to http://www.functionalmedicine.org and scroll down to locate a practitioner. Enter your zip code and choose the best option for your needs. Best of luck!
In good health!
I’m told that my blood sugar is slightly elevated, so I am prediabetic.
Just like one writer above, I get the same answer from my doctor: We’ll have to watch it, and if it gets worse, we’ll give you medication.
Diabetes is rampant in my family, so I am very concerned and don’t know what to do to help myself reverse this. If this condition can be reversed, then by all means, if I have to travel to where you are to be helped, I am willing to do so.
I am 63 years old, I do have controlled high blood pressure. Currently on Lisinopril-HCTZ 20/12.5 mg.
Please advise on how you can help me. And please send me the information you talked about in your email. Thank you.
Hi Claudette,
Thank you for sharing your health concerns. We can start you off by pointing you in the direction of this useful article:http://drhyman.com/new-research-finds-diabetes-can-be-reversed-6187/
And then, we recommend you first have a conversation with a Functional Medicine practitioner to begin a new protocol regarding your trend towards Diabetes. To locate a practitioner of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation
In good health
I appreciate that Dr. Hyman is spearheading a cause that needs leadership. I am a 67 year old female in excellent health. I am concerned that all my attempts to maintain that health are becoming increasingly challenged. The food, chemical, and pharmaceudecal industries are slowly killing the goose. The uphill battle for consumers is to find food sources that nourish rather than destroy the body. I am unable to purchase “organic” foods in many of the local markets in the central PA. The “organic” foods that are available are often aged to the point that very little nutrition remains. I use the word organic loosely, because the bastardization of the term due to allowances of definition made by the Dept of Agriculture or the FDA have rendered the term almost meaningless.
Each day I continue to observe with consternation the number of obese, crippled, and otherwise unhealthy individuals, many are younger than I. Before we can fix our health care system, we need to manage the wellness of the population, and that cannot be done while we are forced to consume processed and genetically modified foods. The body has the capacity to heal itself, and often the mutiple drugs prescribed only exacerbate a problem that could be resolved with a healthy diet.
For the millions who suffer from the numerous diseases that are the result of poor diets, we need to educate and encourage wise purchases and support farms that are using environmentally sound production methods without the use of pesticides and herbicides. We need to make our food choices understood by choosing not to buy overly processed foods, but rather choosing foods with high nutritional value.
I am a 71 yr old male with high cholesterol and high blood glucose. I am overweight (243 lbs). I have been told by my doctor I need to eat less than 1500 calories a day so I can lose. I track what I eat each day. I am between 800 and 1100 calories per day. I also walk at least 2 miles per day. My doctor tells me it is impossible. I am eating too much and don’t know what I am doing. My diet is better than most people because I do not eat processed foods, fried foods, etc. I am primarily a vegetarian with occasional light meat. I am at a loss as to what to say to my doctor. He is a good person, but does not understand diet and nutrition as well as I do, yet he insists I am lying to him and doing everything wrong. Now what, coach?
Thank you for this article. I would like to request something of you. I have a 34 year old daughter who, before she went off to college, was a healthy weight. Shortly into college, and work afterwards, she’s gained 30-40 pounds. Weight is such a touchy subject with her, as other parents have found with their own children. Would you write a “letter” to our children telling them of the horrible consequences of this condition, how immediate self gratification leads to a future of so many life threatening disease, and how simple making a different choice can change their future forever? I work in a hospital/clinic and went to the endocrinology floor, to see 4 people waiting for appointments, 4 people out of about 10, without limbs! I hope you will write this in such a way that we can present to those young people who are becoming overweight long before their time!
Dr Hyman, you could not be more correct. However, I don’t hold much hope for widespread success for your program. Sugar is absolutely addictive, and there is too much money and precedent involved. You are up against huge odds.
As an individual, I definitely “get it” and couldn’t be happier with my results so far. Friends and family, though, think it’s nice for me but worry about what will happen when I go off the program. I will never go off this program! For themselves, the statements vary from “I’ve been eating this way all my life and am too old to change” to “Maybe I should try that, but it’s terribly restrictive and I do have a sweet tooth”
or “Moderation in all things, you know.”
Apropo of the Penn State affair, we had a child molester in our neighborhood who used candy to attract children for his evil purposes. Parents who were trying to make candy a special treat for Halloween or birthdays lost their little ones to someone who would supply the “drug” and threaten the children with killing their pets and parents if they told.
Hi Dr. Hyman,
I had 5 children, all big babies but the 5th one took the cake at 10lb.10oz. I had gestational diabetes. I went on a journey to make sure I took back control of my life. I became a group leader for Weight Watchers and was proud to lead a very successful group at Harvard University for 7 years. I studied at the Kushi Institute here in MA. and will be graduating from IIN in May. I have been a follower of yours for a very long time.
I am focusing my career in weight loss and in the prevention and reversal of type 2 diabetes -from gestational to generational! I help my clients to “clean up” their diets & lifestyle and navigate their way through confusing information.
My biggest obstacles are that many clients think it is cheaper to follow their Dr.’s advice and let insurance pay treatment costs. I lose many clients to traditional, insured treatments. Many people do not want to spend time in the kitchen and are choosing to stay in denial and hide behind the American Diabetic recommendations. As you know, this will keep them on medication, with all the side effects, and a shorten life span. It would actually costs the gov. less money to pay for my prevention program than to pay later for full blown diabetes. Insurance does pay for some nationally recognized weight loss programs like Weight Watchers, but their diets do not go far enough to prevent this deadly disease you call diabesity. I want to become more proactive in fixing a system that is broken to say the least. Love all your advice! Eat Better, Live Smarter, Be Happier! Jane
I have been on Dr Hyman’s program for about a month now and can see big changes in how I feel. I have gone from being a person who would have coffee and two chocolate donuts at Dunkin Donuts, followed in an hour by a chocolate shake at McDonalds, and two hours later by brownies and coffee at Starbucks. Sometimes I would feel guilty and nauseated but that did not stop me! I now know that sugar, yeast, wheat, chocolate, and caffeine are the source of my addictions.
My sugar level varies from 96-117 as I wake up and my A1C is 6.5-6.9. I take 2.5mg of Glipizide/day for Diabetes. I take 300mg Allupurinol/day which has completely kept my Gout painless. I cannot take Statins they give me all the symptoms of a heart attack, as I understand it they not only prevent Cholesterol but also the essential COQ10 neccessary for your heart to work. I tried Dr. Whittaker’s and Dr.Douglas’s pills for Diabetes, they don’t work and Douglas’s pills caused weight gain and higher sugar levels. Do I really have Type 2 Diabetes? Also I understand that all diabetic drugs cause your Pancreas to overwork producing Insulin until it quits then you have Type 1 and have to take Insulin?? My sugar level gets up to 170 if I eat badly but not any higher. I went to an Endochronologist and still don’t know any more than I did.
Hi Paul,
Sorry to hear you still dont feel informed even after the doctors visit. Read this article for starters: http://drhyman.com/blog/conditions/new-research-finds-diabetes-can-be-reversed/
Next, we recommend you first have a conversation with your Functional Medicine practitioner to get the proper care and attention you need. To locate a practitioner of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation
In good health
I am a 75-yr-old woman and have had problems with low blood sugar since my late twenties. I was told then that it would eventually evolve into diabetes. Right now I am in the overweight phase — I cannot seem to lose weight.
My household is large: 7 people in age from 3 to 66 years. One of us is diabetic, and only a different one of us desires to eat carb free. Many diabetics do not live alone, and the lifestyle changes required (meals, activities, proper rest schedules, etc.) are hampered by preferences expressed by residency partners. I am in agreement that much information presented to “maintain” our conditions is junk. Recipes and general eating guidelines presented by physicians and dieticians seek to e-a-s-e patients into eating less sugar and starch, but they still offer sugar- and starch-laden foods, or artificial substitute chemicals. My particular household will argue any subject’s pros and cons and grey areas until the end of the world. What might be needed is a well-defined rule of diet and activity. As when children were told NO, and knew it meant NO, so adults need exacting guidelines to follow as absolutes. Once the absolutes become habit, then expand into the grey areas. Otherwise, our society is grey-area burdened, and wishy-washy willed when given any freedoms or choices.
eat greens (asparagus,broccili,spinach etc.) no white flour, white sugar, no starches for 2-3 years. lean meats no pork, grapefruit juice no orange juice on reg basis,no soft drinks, alcohol. exercise, stretch, and take supplements.
when you feel bad, backtrack on what u ate and learn.
I’m certain the man-made food we eat has a lot to do with it. There are few real ingredients in packaged food. We have preservative-laden, genetically-modified, radiated, pesticide-sprayed, artificially fertilized, long-distance shipped stuff. Is this really good for us?
All the above comments apply to me! The more Drs. I go to the more sicker I get! Don’t they teach anything in Med. school beside BAND-AID MEDICINE? You and a few other Drs. that write newsletters are RIGHT the target, but what happened to all the others? I thought Drs. were supposed to be intelligent other then just memorizing info. from books. My last Dr. fired me with a registered letter and gave me 30 days to find a new Dr. with no reason explained in the letter. I was labeled a difficult patient when my wife had to pick something up at the office a few months back. It would seem they don’t like to have difficult questions asked of them and would rather let you die in the street then find out what’s wrong with you. I found another young Dr. who is happy to read the info. from you and other Dr.s with the fortitude to buck the system. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE GOOD INFO. YOU WRITE.!!
Let me share a different problem. Not only do I have type 2 diabetes, but I also have GAD, which is a general anxiety disorder, basicall y I suffer from depression. I can go along days, sometimes weeks and stick right to what I need to do as a diabetic. The Wham, my depression or anxiety creeps in and now I can barely function, but I’m still suppose to be the good diabetic. I can’t deal with it now, I skip testing, sometimes forget to take my meds(am doing better with some simple tricks), half the time, I’m not hungrey, others, I can’t stop eating. During these episodes, I could care less about much of anything, let alone my diabetes. Yes, I am on antidepressants, been on most of them at one time or antother. My doctor and diabetes counselor have passed me onto an endocrinologist, for my diabetes. How do I tell him that diabetes is really secondary in my life, as it takes most of my willpower to deal with the depression. I’ve had blood sugar readings of 87, but only by not eating. I seem to look at food and my blood glucose goes up. I am on metformin, glyuride, victoza, and levemir. I was taken off Byetta, and put on 30 lbs, which sent me into a depressed state, that I haven’t been able to pull myself out of completely. Truthfully, I’m about ready to give up.
Dear Nancy,
Don’t give up! You dont have to and we can help you. For starters, you need to get the right medical attention from practitioners who understand how to assess you accurately! To locate a practitioner of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation
This winter Dr. Hyman is releasing an amazingly written and well organized book called The Blood Sugar Solution. It sounds like you could benefit from it immensely. In the meantime, you can get started by going here and implementing some of these ideas: http://drhyman.com/5-steps-to-reversing-type-2-diabetes-and-insulin-resistance-591/
Dr. Hyman offers a nutrition coaching program you can learn more about here if you are interested in more personalized attention: http://store.drhyman.com/Store/List/Coaching-Programs
In good health
Please review the above article on the internet.
It explains a major mechanism of many chronic diseases by revealing the major cause of chronic over-activatiion of the healing mechanisms which includes the chronic activation of the inflammatory response and chronic thickening of basement membranes (which ultimately greatly alters intracellur metabolism),
Since the lacrimal excretory pump is ten to twenty times too active (Doane), greater than two-thirds OS humanity has chronic dryer and irritation of the ocular surfaces–possibly the most sensitive tissue of the body.
The resulis chronic high levels of afferent impulses resulting in chronic parasympathetic dominance and chronic overactivation of the inflammatory response(“chronic inflammation”)
And, at the same time, the irreversible devastating effects of the thickening of basement membranes (and possibly cell walls).
Fortunately, lacrimal system dysfunction is fairly easy to eliminate in office setting.
Studies need to be done involving positive lowering changes in infLammatory biomarkers (Creactiveprotein, interluken 6, etc.), when the chronic ocular surface irritation is eliminated Other biomarkers such as bloodoxyger satura
tion and elimination of cardiac dysrrhythmias have been studied with amazing results.
All of the above amazing findings may be involved in the major breakthrough we have been looking for regarding “chronic inflammation”—and the related non-communicable diseases studied at the UN Conference in September 2011:
Cancer
Cardio-vascular diseases
Diabetes Mellitus
Chronic Respiratory Diseasese
I notice that many people are quite confused of what is good for you and what is not good for you and I don’t blame them one bit howerver, I do think that the best way to start to become healthy even if one does not know what is good for you and what is not is to do the specific things that most all the alternative and conventional doctors do agree with or at least would not argue with which are some starting fundimentals: 1. Cut out all processed sugars which include soft drinks and diet drinks. 2. For the first two weeks, cut out all pasta, breads, rice and similar foods that have lots of carbs which consist of mainly complex and simple sugars. 3. After the two weeks, just go very easy on even the multi grain breads or just avoid everything like this if you can. 4. Eat more greens and vegetables and if you can, eat plenty of garlic, onions and apples. My addtional advice in which many conventional MDs would question but I think are just as important and helped me in a huge way: 5. Eat more protein based foods with some fat. I also believe in the concepts provided by the Weston Price foundation as well which emphasizes eating animal fats with the protein to provide a means of activation of nutrient and vitamin delivery to your cells. It’s the fat that acts as an activator or vehicle for especially the fat soluble vitamins and nutrients such as vit D, A, K, caratenes, and so on. 6. Take two different forms of iodine which is would be iodide and iodine both having two different physiological functions that are highly important. Take up to about 5 mg per day each unless an iodine loading test would indicate you need more. Shoot for a 25-hydroxy-D to be between 70 and 90 ng/ml in your blood serum…if you can get it by sunlight or appropriate tanning booths, that would be the best way but supplementation of vit D3 would vary depending upon the individual where some need only about 2000 IU per day and some need more than 10,000 IU per day or by shots which depend upon various factors. Check your amount of hydrochloric acid in your stomach which also is as important because this condition is probably the most upstream problem that you can easily be corrected which causes most of the other problems and diseased conditions that we get which are all down stream to this condition of hypochloridia or apochloridia. Anyway, I can go on and on but this is a good start.
I have RA. My dr diagnosed it as depression and gave me Cymbalta! I have been around the circle of drs trying to find relief. Loooooooong story! I was given a Hep b or c vaccination and I suspect that as being the cause. I had no choice since it was required to go to lab school. I am now disabled and am trying to find a natural means of treating it. Can you give any advise? I spent $12 grand getting the root canals and amalgums out. I was a 29 on a scale of 1-30 for mercury content. I have been given so many different protocols to try. I am discouraged after 6 yrs.
Hi Cheryl,
What a run around of docs you have experienced. im sure it is very tiring. Have you read this yet?: http://drhyman.com/blog/conditions/is-there-a-cure-for-autoimmune-disease/
Read it and pay attention to the part towards the end re: elimination diet. from a nutrition perspective this could really help serve you. We would like you to get the proper care of a functional med practitoner so you can get to the root of your inflammation. To locate a practitioner of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation
In good health
I am a 68 year old woman diagnosed with type 2 diabetes earlier this year. I was prescribed Metforman 3X500mg day and told to loose more weight (I had just lost 30 lbs literally overnight at a stressful time and that should have been my first clue), exercise and watch my diet. Since then, on my own and with the help of my Naturopathic physician I’ve started monitoring my glucose lots – up to 8 times a day and i’m grateful for Dr Bernstein`s Diabetes Solution, Gretchen Becker`s Type 2 Diabetes as well as The Four Corners Diet. These books give me great direction. The distressing thing is the more research i do, I realize I have lots of symptoms that point to diabetes long before my A1c score said I had the disease. These symptoms are not ones you generally associate with diabetes like a problem i started having with my hand – not quite trigger finger or Dupuytren`s contracture, but thankfully seemed to just go away and now i realize it went away when i started Metforman. Other things like my difficulty remembering words which has greatly improved since i have been keeping my glucose readings in check and the neuropathy in my feet seems to be resoulving too. I agree this is a very serious chronic condition that requires a much more encompassing approach.
With all the availability to a better range of food, especially fruits and vegetables as well as protein sources, the obesity growth rates are off the chart in the USA as well as in a growing number of other parts of the world. Could and a growing number of thyroid (hypo thyroid) issues be the silent cause behind the growing obesity and the resulting chronic issues: obesity, high blood pressure, etc.? Are the correct treatments being applied? Do people know they are hypo-thyroid? If the gowing obisity issue is connected to hypo-thyroid issues, what is causing the explosion of cases?
These are great questions we all should be wondering. How do you think our current Standard American Diet (SAD!) effects this?
I have difficulty++ losing weight. I have hypothyroidism, primary lymphedema, and auto immune problems (20 years suffering from alopecia areata coming and going). I weigh 140 pounds but am only 4’11″. Sometimes I wonder if the insulin resistance is a problem. I’ve tried losing weight by cutting out wheat. I don’t eat processed food because of the lymphedema. Maybe your article this next week will bring me something to use so I could lost weight.
My fasting blood glucose just came in at 119 so I am creeping up towards diabetes. Previously it had been 98. I am very motivated to reverse this and look forward to your suggestions next week. Wish I had them today. I have cut out pretty much all sugar. But I still eat fruit. Mostly apples. Is this ok. Plus after not drinking alcohol for years, I have added in a glass of red wine a day for stroke prevention. Should I stop this due to my high blood glucose levels?
Please hurry with your valuable information.
Hi Renee,
There is a lot you can do. Enjoy those apples- a few of them a week is great and try to include some protein with them. Perhaps a small handful of almonds with your apple as a snack would be helpful for your blood sugar. The alcohol would actually not be recommended with the elevated sugar levels as it interferes with normal metabolism and lowers your overall blood sugar which potentially causes an imbalance. So, instead drink herbal tea, lemon water or green tea. You can learn a lot more by going here : http://drhyman.com/blog/conditions/new-research-finds-diabetes-can-be-reversed/
In good health
The problem? Junk food, processed food, fried food, fast food, soda pop, artificial sweeteners, GMO “food”, food additives, preservatives, colorings, herbicides, insecticides, diseased feed lot animals, drugs for symptoms, poorly tested vaccines, fast tracked drug approvals, flourinated water, etc., etc., etc. You get the point. We have created a society that is based on profit, not quality of life and this includes medicine and food, the basics of health. I totally agree with Dr. Hyman with regard to emergency surgery and medicine. Been there, done that and we have the best.
However, when it comes to disease and chronic illness, boy, do we fall on our faces. Six years ago I had Type Two Diabetes, high blood pressure, a piece of hanging plaque in a coronary artery which required a stent and other assorted so called “age related” ailements. Of course, as per Western medicine I was put on a regimine of statins, aspirin, Nexium, beta blockers and others.
I then realized that I was on a downward spiral and if I didn’t do something about it my quality of life and life span would both be greatly reduced. I won’t bore you with the details, suffice it to say that I did my research and changed my ways and my doctor. I gave up anything that came in a box or can, or was processed in any way. I went to raw fruits and vegetables, organic if possible, grass fed meats, free range chicken & eggs, organic dairy, spring water, nuts, stevia, cinnamon, wild caught pacific Salmon, and supplements such as all natural vitamins, Krill oil and others as necessary for good health. I live at 6000 ft. in ColoradoI and ride my bicycle most days during the summer and go for a brisk two mile walk every evening with my dog, year round.
I lost 40 lbs. in 45 days after changing my lifestyle and I will be 67 years old this December and no longer have Type Two Diabetes, high blood pressure or any other chronic ailment. I recently had my regular eye exam. and my eyes are in excellent health. I am quite regular and have not had a cold, flu or other disease in the past five years and have never had a flu shot. Keeping your immune system up to par, losing weight, eating a healthy diet and staying away from sugar works wonders.
In a modern society It is impossible to control everything, but the things you can control, if done in a positive manner, will make a major difference with regard to your health and well being.
Always question your doctor and take nothing for granted when it comes to your health. It’s your life, take control !
Do you know how many letters and emails I recieve that tell me the doctors are all wrong but they know what the problem is and they will tell me,sell me. I have a bookshelf and drawers full of them. So I’m more than a little sceptical and more than a little sick.
Dr.
I’ve had type II for 10 years now . I’m Losing the “Battle” all trhe way around .
I am obese ..I’ve changed some , but not enough . I hit 270 & am now at 220 (5’6″. At a wall …A few times got to 205 . Then back up . B/S #s spike during Spring ,Fall(growing Season) & Illness(flu/poison ivy) . After 5 years of meds , I stopped using them . Did fairly well . A1c droped from 6.8 to 6.2 . Food & vitamin adjustments . This year my B/S #s are steadly climbing . Waking up with a 210
is not unusual now…The tough part is I no longer “FEEL” the high #’s that I use to . There’s times my emotional self explodes . I understand it’s part of the package that goes with Diabetes . I do Meditate , especially when the stress is level up . Totally unhappy with my lack of control . Quiet times work best . (I AM MEDICATION FREE for the last six years ! However , My vitamin dependancy has increased ten fold ….I’m ready for isolation from everything . Since I use a lot , I believe the withdrawal should be gradual . Very bad Knees pain & stiffness . (Both knees worked on ,) Those vitamins a must ! 54 years of headaches(injury)
Portions-5 small meals hasn’t worked . Maybe a slight downward for a while , but then up again !
Also,the changes in B/S #’s each eatng cycle & fasting period is changing . UP! Unpredictable ! I could gage within 20 points 3 years ago . Not any more ! I don’t even walk any more which is agrivating my condition . Of course , just plain tired all the time with no blood moving . I had an active life . Not anymore ..
What’s the first recomendation ….Fasting for a period ????I was eating 1/2 portions for a while(year) , Back to whole diners . I eat one major meal . Mid-day .
Smaller ones 4-6 hours apart . I haven’t slept longer than 31/2 hours . Since I was a teenager . Of course I do a couple of threes most days now .(76 years old)
Always worked two or three jobs .(Sound familiar!) I’ve worked all shifts . Never had a vacation after 25 . When I do go somewhere I sleep ! Some nights I’m up all night . Reading , computer . Hobbies I’ve just don’t do many anymore . Had many …Many still scattered all around me . I’ve babbled a “while”.
Hopefully , there’s something …My thanks for “listening” . george
Dear George,
We appreciate you writing in and sharing your story. You certainly have been going through a lot and have had such a journey with your health. We want you to stabalize your health and feel well again. After reading your words, the main insight that I have from a nutrition perspective in getting you into a rhythm. We see you eating nutritionally balanced meals with a focus on high fiber, low glycemic index carbohydrates. You would not go longer than 2-4 hours without food. And no, please do not do more fasting. With unbalanced blood sugar and insulin this actually has the potential to cause more harm than good. As Dr. Hyman says, 1.Eat a low glycemic load, high fiber, plant-based diet of vegetables, beans, nuts, limited whole grains, fruit and lean animal protein and 2. 3.Take a good multivitamin, fish oil, vitamin D and blood sugar and insulin balancing nutrients (including chromium and alpha lipoic acid)
This winter Dr. Hyman’s new book will be released which has a complete plan for someone like you needing some structure, rhythm and nutrition essentials to guide you back to a state of balanced health. The book is called the Blood Sugar Solution so look out for it! In the meantime, read this over and see how you can incorporate into your life: http://drhyman.com/5-steps-to-reversing-type-2-diabetes-and-insulin-resistance-591/
In good health
I have a family member who has Type 2 Diabetes and is quite far advanced in the disease process. I would be interested in knowing if the 8 points can help turn around such an advanced condition (extremely obese, has a donated kidney, eye problems, possible congestive heart failure, etc.). Looking forward to reading more about this.
Look forward to your article next week
F
I believe there are many factors that contribute to diabetes, but perhaps only one that “causes” it. It seems that a diet of imbalance is at the root of this epidemic. The primary contributing factor is lack of exercise. Technology, though wonderful, encourages less activity, our schools don’t make regular PE part of their curriculum, and parents are so busy working that they do not fix healthy home cooked meals but opt for dining out, with unhealthily prepared foods. Everyone, especially children and young adults, walk around attached to their cell phones, their computer games, and rarely get exercise. Stress is a killer and it also plays a part here. It really is quite simple, for most humans, in that what we put into our mouths and how much or how little we exercise, determines whether we will live a life free of diabesity or not. Though my diet has changed over the last 60 years, I have always been quite health conscious, once I reached my late 20′s. First, for vanity reasons, I watched what I ate to look a particular way (you can achieve that when young, even eating the wrong foods). Then I wanted to “feel” a specific way, and finally, wanted to “be” a specific way, that is, healthy from the inside out. The meals I prepared for my family usually consisted of 3 things, portions of a protein, a vegetable, and a starch (early on, vermicelli, potato, or rice). The portion of starch never exceeded the other two portions. We even had 2-3 slices of small loaf french bread, brushed with butter and broiled. We ate like this for perhaps 15 years, none of us overweight by any means. We all felt quite well. Then my husband read “The Zone” by Barry Sears and it was I who changed some things to eat in that fashion, as I was intrigued by his philosphy. So breakfast went from cereals with milk and a piece of toast to a protein, fruit, and perhaps a piece of Ezekial bread. The former starch was replaced by more vegetables so that my plate was about 1/3 protein and 2/3 vegetables and some small bit of fat (macadamia nuts or olive oil or butter). Though I didn’t need to lose weight, I started losing weight ,although I was quite satisfied. I had to add a sweet potato to avoid getting too thin. During this time I always walked or ran 3 miles 3 times per week, or rode our Schwinn AirDyne and incorporated an at-home 20 minute weight routine into my activity; I never really overdid exercise but certainly did something 5 times/week for about 30 minutes. Something amazing happened 1-2 months into this Zone way of eating. I became quite focused, with acute mental clarity, energy that surpassed anything I’d experienced before, and rid myself of headaches I had several times a week. Any small amount of “cellulite/fat” changed into muscle; I was “ripped” for being about 40 years old. I had kept Sinutab in business prior to the Zone; haven’t needed meds for headaches but perhaps 10 times in the last 10-15 years. For my daughter, her food choices changed, once out of the household, to pizza, starches, coke, fried chicken pieces, rice and she’s never lost the 30-40 pounds she gained that way, except once when following Ann Gittleman’s Fat Flush Plan, which I think is a wonderful way to become Insulin Sensitive and lose weight, detox gently. If one did that, then changed their way of eating, allowing some “bad” foods once in a while, you could live a healthy life. The key seems to be going from Insulin Resistance to Insulin Sensitivity; the Paleo Diet seems quite successful in that regard. But I still wonder if we must be that strict or can we just use the “moderation is the key to life” pathway. I’ve believed in that adage in all aspects of my life: home life, work life, exercise, food, spiritual life. I’ve also allowed for special treats such as massage, rolfing, meditation. So therefore, as I preached way before I read about it, use the outer aisles of the grocery store from which to make your meals. Those things in boxes and jars and cans aren’t whole foods; meat, fish, chicken, eggs, vegetables, fruit, rare starchy carbohydrates are whole foods. The increased consumption of foods high in sugar (diet drinks encouraging that addiction) is addictive. Unfortunately, many people live for today, without giving any thought to their health of tomorrow. From the age of 18 months, I was exposed to a mother who was quite ill, first with polio and then numerous health issues for the rest of her life. I know this deeply affected me. But the one good way it did, is that I take my health and future life very seriously. I don’t want to live a life of pain (which she did) nor live an unhealthy one which would lead to an earlier demise for myself. We lost our home and much more to Hurricane Katrina, as did 3 other members of our immediate family. Our family still is dispersed in other areas of the U.S. The stress has been overwhelming and still goes on in some respects. These last 6 years were most challenging to maintain a lifestyle of health, with a commute 130 miles/day to/from work. My healthy diet suffered during that time, as it was most difficult to prepare healthy meals. Or should I say I was just too lazy to put forth the effort? We ate out a lot, ate unhealthy foods for the first 3 or so years afterwards. Then I basically self diagnosed myself with hyperparathyroidism (due to the astute observation of a functional medicine RN practioner who suspected it from simply a BP going up). I, a medical technologist, very in tune to my body, knew something was very wrong and finally got what I knew I needed: surgery and the removal of a benign tumor. They thought I’d had this for 5 or so years from the size of the tumor. I am quite certain this developed from stress and an unhealthy diet after Katrina. I am sorry to have written so much but feel I could go on and on but, Dr. Hyman, you are quite adept at writing concisely for us all. I cannot wait to read your further articles on this topic. I think it is so sad to see so many people, including my daughter, face a future riddled by the complications of diabetes. I, for one, would like to see on billboards, as they’ve done with smoking, pictures of the devastating effects of the SAD! Maybe it would reach some people and some would be better than none. As far as our medical community, it is a huge disappointment today.
I’ve had blood sugar crashes since high school. I’m now 56. I carefully control my addiction to refined sugar, avoiding virtually all forms of sugar except for what’s in the fruit I eat. I have borderline low thyroid function, have a lot of trouble controlling my weight (5’4.5″ and now down to 167lbs), chronic overgrowth of candida, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue. I take a handful of supplements each day and rarely get a cold or flu. I follow a diet similar to Atkins but find that without some fruit and/or starchy stuff I feel an attack of hypoglycemia coming on. Any suggestions you have, doc, I’m all ears!
Hi Rebecca,
It seems you are doing so much to nourish yourself in a healthy way! It is important that you provide yourself with the appropriate quality and quantity of nourishing carbohydrates. We recommend including whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, millet and teff into the diet in responsible portions- about 1/3 cup is 1 serving. Have at least 1-2 servings of whole grains in this complete form (whole grain bread or pasta does not count!0 These grains are necessary for complete wellness and without them cravings are sure to follow. While we suggest eliminating certain carbohydrates, we do advocate for low glycemic carbohydrates so you have energy and sound nourishment from healthy food and not binge on the unhealthy sugars! Also, this time of year is great for swete potato and squash. A little can go a long way in controlling cravings. Try half a sweet potato and see how you feel. Ultimately the timing and amount of carbohydrate will become clear to you as you listen to how your body responds.
In good health
hypothyroid may be the missing link to all this suger in the blood…
Though diabesity describes a specific set of biological maladies within the human body, its inharmonious progenitor , like so many other distortions of our cultural paradigm, is rooted in a simple but immutable Law of Nature- “Out of many, one”. And despite the fact that this mostly ignored principle is on the back of all our coinage, its roots go back thousands of years before the Greco-Roman civilization. Thus, if one understands this principle, one knows that all illnesses are a result of not only individual misapplications, but also culturally systemic misapplications of Cosmic Energy! However, the unfortunate occlusion to this understanding is that we’ve obtained so much utility from our misapplications that we refuse to truly reexamine our ontological understanding.
Unitarity (physics) states (in its simplist expression) that the sum total of all possibilites and probabilities is One!
Dr. Hyman,
I was diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes 15 years ago. I took glucotrol and glucophage and metformin for 12 years and finally my doctor said I needed to go to injecting novolog and Lantus. During the first month, my blood sugar readings went down to normal, but after that it started to rise. Then I was taking more insulin and also gained a lot of weight and I felt horrible. I stopped the insulin, changed my diet, exercised and lost 35 pounds. I feel better but my blood sugar is not in the normal range although it did go down. I told my doctor that he just increased my meds and I gained weight-totally opposite of what should be happening and he just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders.
Hi Rosemary!
Thank you so much for sharing your health story. It seems you are doing so many wise action steps to improve your health. We are happy to hear you are feeling better. There is a lot you can do with your nutrition and supplement regimen to benefit your blood sugar. Check this out first and see what strikes you: http://drhyman.com/blog/conditions/new-research-finds-diabetes-can-be-reversed/
If you are interested in our nutrition coaching program you can learn more about it here: http://store.drhyman.com/Store/List/Coaching-Programs
In good health
I had to take over my health knowledge and ask for the tests myself, instead of relyiing on doctors to do the right thing, even if it was basic testing. It showed I had hyper thyroid, which they then said was alledgedly Graves disease. They pushed one of two choices, radiation (more radiation), or dangerous antithyroid drugs they didn’t tell me were dangerous. So, I chose the drugs thinking safer.
They FDA has since banned their use in children because it destroys a childs liver, and miraculously stops destroying livers at the age of 18. A legal issue to them only, I’m sure, since they can blame adults .
When I complained that my urine was darker, the doctors dumped me after taking me off the meds. I had to ask for hormone tests which revealed my cortisol levels to be twice as high as normal and the weight began packing on my once in shape body. No one explained anything, or offered solutions. They blamed me for ‘eating too much’, which I wasn’t.
The next doctor tried to put me on statins, which immediately increased my blood sugar levels along with the ever increasing levels in direct response to the thyroid meds. No one wanted to believe it was the meds.
I got off the statins , and two doctors said not to worry about the fatty liver. It was common and normal.
Three years to get my thyroid meds at the right levels (?) and a new test revealed fatty liver worse with hardening edges. Doctors are blaming me for this too. Finally someone started me on metformin, instead of the other dangerous drugs.
My endo is blaming me for not wanting to take the drug he pushes that the FDA warns about causing bladder cancer. I am waiting for him to dump me.
The doctor who put me on metformin, dumped me as non compliant because I refused to take a double dose of thyroid meds ( I had just found the right amout to treat my thyoid ) in order to lose weight. Not only is that a complete protocol violation, but it could have triggered a recourance of Graves disease (hyperthyroid). The doctor still does’t know what she did wrong, is not being confronted , but I am prejudiced in the enitre community now. Everyone blames me. She is acting all arrogant, and no one will even tell her what she did wrong, or that I was right to refuse to take the prescription.
I am almost 59. My life experience has lead me to HATE doctors. The only ones I can even remotely stand are the few on the internet who are actually trying , and telling people more of the truth than others. They are just getting rich.
I have been thinking about whether or not I will kill myself if my liver tests show cancer, or I develope pancreatic cancer. I probably will. I have had enough.
I was the most optomistic , giving , confident person, and now all I think about is wondering what kind of evil thing a doctor will cause me next, or how I will die some horrible death.
I could go on , but the simple facts are that all of this was preventable, even the graves disease, which traditional chinese medicine has been curing for many years.
I now don’t have enough money, a knowledgable doctor to treat me right, or anyone who actually cares if this ‘obese ‘ patient even lives, since it is somehow my fault.
I truly hate doctors, I don’t want to , I just do now. I don’t know how I am going to deal with them, or if I will even have one to help continue to kill me and not heal me.
They go to bed thinking they are actually healers, which I cringe every time I hear some arrogant *** say.
I don’t know what to do anymore to deal with them. They are killing people.
And enjoying doing that. Delusion. They are delusional.
A good doctor , partner, support. Where is it? I wish them all their karma.
To those having trouble losing weight. Insulin resistance causes fatty liver. Fattly liver prevents weight loss.
Read Sandra Cabots Fatty Liver, you can reverse it. Doctors wont’ tell you it is reversable.
She says people can’t lose weight and keep it off unless they fix their liver.
liverdoctor.com
I am a 41 year old woman with elevated fasting glucose. A year and a half ago my fasting glucose was 100, and my liver enzymes were also elevated. My doctor’s office uses 101 as the cutoff for pre-diabetes so there weren’t any more tests or follow-ups scheduled by them. At that time, I was already trying to eat less gluten to help with asthma. I managed to stay off/very low on gluten, which does help the asthma, but my sugar cravings remained very strong. Still, I lost 15 lbs. I’m 5′ 4″ and went from 165 to 150. A year later, this spring, my fasting glucose was 99. My liver enzymes were in the normal range so I see that as a positive but I’m frustrated that even with weight loss my fasting glucose barely changed. Plus, I still have major sugar cravings. I have to be very careful about timing when I eat, & what I eat, etc. Even under the best conditions I can still end up craving sugar…but then feel sluggish & foggy after I do eat something. I am definitely looking forward to the next article!
It seems that a common underlying cause of many of our health problems is too much dependence on doctors.
Just as you should not be eating manufactured foods you should not be getting advice on what to eat from most doctors. The proof of this is that doctors who can give sensible advice on what to eat, like Dr Hyman for example, have to go outside the medical paradigm to come up with that advice. And the advice they end up giving is the same advice you would have received from your great grandmother.
Yet most people don’t want to eat healthy, they want to go on a diet. They want to treat some specific health condition with a diet. In the long run this is no different than taking drugs prescribed by your doctor for that condition. This is true because for most people, once the goal is achieved, they promptly go off the diet/drug and back to their old disease causing ways.
You don’t need the medical establishment telling you what to eat, that knowledge is embedded in the culture through a long process social evolution. Doctors like Dr Hyman do us a service by bringing us this information, with their scientific/medical imprimatur (because thats all we trust these days), but we must realise that its really just a matter of commonsense.
Eat natural foods
Don’t eat too much
Eat a wide variety
Exercise
Get out of your containers (buildings, cars)
Its OK to break the rules occasionally
emk
I am in the front lines of medicine as an RN on a busy med/surg floor. Dr. Hyman has probably saved my life with his books and columns, but it does not help the health of the people I care for. The physicians I work with are wonderful and caring people, but they are caring for patients who are lost in terms of health. It is also true that when a patient attempts to have a strong voice in his care and treatment, it is usually offensive to the physician, especially if the patient’s wishes conflict with the physician’s treatment plan. What saddens me the most is that I feel we have entered an era in this country where we are witnessing the loss of health and well being in nearly an entire population. Worse yet, we have an entire pharmaceutical industry that thrives and prospers at the expense of this loss of health.
I am a 59 year old female who has been reading your “Ultramind Solution”. I have started off reading Chapter 7, Balance your harmones. Since I had my 1st child at age 32 I have experienced what I thought were hot flashes and I have never been able to lose weight. I weigh anywhere from 189 to 193 and I was 5’4″ and I’m now 5’3″. I’m on blood pressure med. and was on Metformin but got off that – it was turning my teeth in front on the bottom green and was also on a statin which has caused baldness (same as male pattern baldness). When I read your chapter you were talking about labs. that could be done to get to the root of the problem not the symtoms. I’d like to find a physician here in Raleigh, N.C. that hasn’t been tought “treat the symtoms – throw a pill at the patient and they will be fine and when it doesn’t go the physicians’s way make me feel like I’m the villan. I’m tired of “Big Pharma” teaching our Drs. to hand out pills. Where can I go to get real help?
Hi Marshall,
Thank you for sharing your story. We want you to get the best care to restore your health. For local practitioners of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation
In good health
I have no idea what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat it, which diet plan works, which ones to avoid, etc., etc., etc. I do not have diabetes (I don’t think), but it is prevalent in both sides of my family. I am a 60 year old Black woman and I’ve always tried to do the right things..eat a healthy diet and exercise. I think this has paid off for me. People say my daughter and I look like sisters
Anyway, since doctors are not trained to explore diabesity, how do we know we have it? I am rather tall and all my life I was very slim. But in the last 10 years or so, I’ve been battling to keep my weight down. People are quick to say that with age, weight gain is inevitable. I simply will not concede to that. If that were true, all elderly people would be overweight. And I have noticed that there are no very old, very fat people. I recently lost about 30 pounds by cutting out simple carbs, eating smaller portions, drinking green tea, and not eating 2 hours before bedtime. I am anxiously awaiting your 8 steps so that I can continue to lose weight and remain healthy. I also want to set an example for my children. Hopefully, for my family, the killer named diabesity stops here.
Hi Brenda,
It seems you are on the right track and we are excited to share that Dr. Hyman’s new book, The Blood Sugar Solution (out this winter!) will have many ideas for you to explore. For now, read this articles for an interesting trick which you can get started on right away to prevent diabetes, lose weight and ward off cravings: http://drhyman.com/blog/conditions/the-super-fiber-that-controls-your-appetite-and-blood-sugar/
In good health
I have been severely obese my entire life. In my 30′s I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I have gone to several doctors who just threw drugs and diet at me. Everything from pills to shots and all kinds of diets. Just a few months ago I met a new doctor. I really don’t know what the difference is except this one fact. She treats me as if I am a whole person. She listens closely she researches. I know she has consulted with a team from Vanderbilt University. When I met her my blood sugars were running close to 300, within a week and a half they they dropped down into the 120′s. She took me off all meds which was a lot and gave me two. No insulin. The real difference for me is that she treats all of me. I am losing weight and even being going to the gym to walk on the treadmill everyday. I am feeling better than I have in years. So there is something about treating the whole person. There is something treating with dignity and respect. There is something about this doctor that really wants to make a difference.
Honestly, I don’t think it is that simple in some cases – at least not in my case.
I’m an extremely clean eater. I eat only organic veggies. I eat only wild caught fish. I eat only grass fed beef. I take Chromium (spelling), apple cider vinegar, etc. I stay away from HG foods, like potatoes, etc. I never eat sugar. I rarely eat processed foods.
I exercise 6 times a week. Each workout is between an hour and 1.5 hours. I alternate days between lifting and cardio.
I’m very lean. I’m 6’3″ and weigh 190 lbs. My waist is 29″. I’m 52 years old.
I’ve never been out of shape in my life. I have never had a sweet tooth.
But given all that .. I’m still pre-diabetic.
Dr. Hyman is right. We can and should be proactive in our health!! Prevention and treating the cause of disease should be our main focus. I believe that there is more money in treatment and not curing or preventing disease in our country. Just like we are still dependent on foreign oil, our society is mostly still dependent of fast food.
I have been on Dr Hyman’s program since February 2010 because a severe reflux. I followed the steps on the Ultrasimple diet for two months and reflux was gone. I will start again the ultrasimple diet to revitalize my health and to boost my energy and will try to be more firm making the program work on my busy schedule. Thank you Dr. Hyman, God bless you richly
I am obese (191 lbs @ 5’3″), my glucose readings are starting to elevate from insulin resistance to real diabetes 2 (used to be around 119, now fasting in am @ 135 +). I have had digestive problems since birth (told was born with twisted stomach – recently told that was really pyloric stenosis); couldn’t keep food down until around 1 yr old, always threw it up. I am the hugest person in my family and the only one out of shape. I used to be a champion rower, now I’m lucky I can walk my dogs up the street. I am fatigued to the point of exhaustion, and am fearful of starting exercise programs because when I did prior to this I stuck with programs & loved it – but my weight only moved up. My tsh recently was .57 (3rd gen.); my Bp is mostly controlled on Coreg 40 (timed release really works well). I was prescribed Metformin which made me have severe diarrhea – did lower glucose a bit but not enough – refused to take 2000 mgs a day of the stuff – so I try to control by diet. I live in an area with a glut of doctors who are all idiots. Thinking of going to Mayo to see an endocrinologist, but at this point hate doctors. One branch of Mayo is 2 1/2 hours away.
Any insight?
HI Diane,
Sounds like you could use the care of a functional medicine practioner to help you safely and naturally control your insulin and sugars. Go to http://www.functionalmedicine.org and scroll down to locate a practitioner. Put in your zip code and see who is the best option for your needs. I hope you get some attention you need. Also, check out this article for a lot of helpful information which you can start applying now: http://drhyman.com/8-steps-to-reversing-diabesity-7941/ And stay tuned for the release of Dr. Hymans new book The Blood Sugar Solution, which is out this winter and can be a huge help for your condition.
In good health
I know what “caused” my type II diabetes (and my son’s prediabetic condition)–an inherited inability to detox normally. My mother died of health problems that I believe were directly related to this. (leading to the cancer that killed her)
I was in peak health when my downward spiral began.
Like ChrisW (see above comment), I exercised daily and ate a healthy diet. I belonged to a church nutrition group, that met regularly to share organic produce, supplements and information about alternative health practices. In my early 40′s my body was toned, my skin clear and you could see I radiated health with every step.
I didn’t know about the genetic inability to detox until years later, (after being chronically ill.)
My health decline was rapid and mysterious–yet some of what led to it was a gradual process, (years of allergies, sensitivities and low level exposures to environmental toxins) finally exacerbated by an onslaught exposure of workplace toxic molds and chemicals. (years of that, too) Traditional medicine docs did not know what was wrong with me. Even after I had figured it out myself, little was offered by way of treatment. In fact, a toxicologist told me there was no treatment–just to avoid future exposures.
Fortunately, I had family members who helped me find specialists in toxic exposure. (My treatment began years after the exposures, making any recovery a slow process–and complete recovery unlikely.)
Here’s what I noticed about others response to the mold and chemicals in the workplace: They had health problems unique to their individual “chemistry”. Two (that I know of) died of brain tumors; another survived removal, but had distinct personality disorder. Some had systemic health problems, with some similarities to mine, especially inflammatory-based. A few were exposed for shorter periods of time, and when I last saw them, they were experiencing only upper respiratory illness, digestive symptoms and headaches. Some complained of panic attacks, along with other symptoms. One had heart attacks in addition to breathing problems and digestive complaints–and what seemed like an auto-immune type condition with fatigue and muscle pain. Sleep apnea, acid reflux, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, migraines, irritable bowel….and more.
We are poisoning ourselves via our toxic environment in so many ways. You may not have inherited this inability to detox from both parents–maybe you did from one side of the family–or maybe you detox “normally”. Whatever your detox ability, it will at some point, not be sufficient to protect you.
We need to take action to clean up this beautiful planet we were entrusted with. When I am physically able to do more than write a comment like this one, I want to make a difference…I want to help the folks who don’t know they are at risk, and the children who inherit the need for environmental cleanup.
Apparently we have a lot of obesity in children and adults in Arkansas. We’re behind on good diet information. In my small town one can’t even get various types of fish. Thank goodness we heard about Tufts University Strong Women program.
One of every two – unbelievable!
Did not know that it is so common…
JW – your problem sounds like what mine was—low magnesium and reactive hypoglycemia. Try taking a magnesium supplement along with a glass of milk (it has to have calcium and vit d to be effective). Do not take vitamins with iron along with this or it may wash out of your system. A B complex would help as well as magnesium works w/b vitamins. When you eat, always include some form of protein….only carbs (e.g. cereal for breakfast) will give you the brain fog about 2 – 3 hours later. Magnesium is a natural bronchodilator so the fact that you have asthma may indicate some trouble retaining or processing magnesium in the first place.
Hello,
53 y/o white male, 4xcabg, afib after. Would like to see some of Dr. Mark’s articles on Afib and heart health.
Thanks,
Scott
Hi Scott,
Thank you for your interest in dr. hyman’s work. Check out this article for your interest in heart health: http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/05/20/magnesium-the-most-powerful-relaxation-mineral-available/ and http://drhyman.com/blog/conditions/gluten-what-you-dont-know-might-kill-you/
In good health
Lizzy
I do accept as true with all of the ideas you’ve introduced on your post. They are really convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are very short for starters. May just you please extend them a little from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.
I work as a Primary Care Physician. Everytime I go to the supermarket I see families pushing trolleys overflowing with junk food towards the checkin counter. Ticking time bombs. Even though in most cases it is an uphill task, we still try to encourage healthy life styles in people so that only unavoidable ailments would affect our patients. Unfortunately, no one wants to take responsibility for their lives. They want antidepressants and sedatives to numb the pain in their social lives and not look at ways to overcome their problems, they want a majic pill that will ensure that their weight does not increase + blood pressure remains stable and heart keeps ticking healthily, but will not eat healthy food and exercise, they want to smoke 20+ cigarettes a day but do not want to wheeze or get chronic lung diseases or cancer, they want to drink alcohol in excess every day but do not want liver diseases, they wanbt to have mind altering drugs and indulge in dangerous casual sexual encounters and do not want to get any sexually transmitted infection or become addicts to drugs. 70% of the workload seen in an average primary care center would be gone if only people who can just took responsibility for their life and health and adopted a healthy lifestyle. The money saved could be used for other things.