Let's Talk Blood Sugar... Diabetes!
Some Blood Sugar Words:
GLUCOSE - A preferred fuel source of the body. Food is broken down into this small molecule of sugar.
GLYCOGEN - Your body stores glucose molecules as glycogen. Reserves of glycogen are stored in your liver and muscles. Glycogen is the main fuel source requiring enough potassium to be able to store it.
BLOOD SUGARS - Refers to the level of sugar in your blood. Your body automatically works to maintain a steady level of sugar in your blood when you are eating and when you are not eating. This fuel runs your body's systems. The optimal level of usage in your blood is 100. Anything above 126 is called diabetes, anything around 70 is called hypoglycemia.
INSULIN - Is a hormone made by the pancreas to control levels of sugar in your blood WHEN YOU ARE EATING, it removes excess sugar from your blood levels to maintain 100. The more food you eat that is high in sugar, the harder your pancreas works to move excess sugars out of your blood and stores the excess sugar as fat.
When the pancreas becomes exhausted and can no longer make enough insulin, or when the pancreas is making enough insulin but the receptors won't receive it, a person is diagnosed as diabetic. Insulin spikes are triggered by sugar (pasta, cereal, crackers, waffles, pancakes, breads...). In the presence of even a tiny bit of insulin, a person's ability to burn fat is blocked.
Insulin is triggered when you eat a meal, it spikes when you eat sugar, refined carbs (grains) and excess protein.
Check out the spikes in insulin from refined grains and carbohydrates, as well as excess protein.
HYPOGLYCEMIA - Is a condition in which there are low blood sugar levels. This is the condition that comes before diabetes. If the person skips a meal, they get irritable, dizzy and crave sweets.
DIABETES - Is a condition where the blood sugars are too high – also called hyperglycemia (hyper: too much, and glycemia: means blood sugar).
There are two main types in which the pancreas either does not produce enough insulin to control blood sugars (Type 1) or the receptors for insulin fail to receive insulin, which is called insulin resistance or (Type 2).
A1C - One way doctors diagnose diabetes is by something called A1C. This blood test indicates your average blood sugar level for the past two to three months. It measures the percentage of blood sugar attached to hemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells). The higher your blood sugar levels, the more hemoglobin you'll have with sugar attached.
An A1C level of 6.5 percent or higher on two separate tests indicates you have diabetes.
A result between 5.7 and 6.4 percent is considered pre-diabetes, which indicates a high risk of developing diabetes.
Normal levels are below 5.7 percent.
Type I - The body is not making insulin. This is a more sever condition because the cells that make insulin are burnt out. The person must then take insulin in oder to lower blood sugar.
Type II - The body is making too much insulin. This is because the cell receptors are desensitized or not responding to insulin. It’s like someone is talking but no one is listening. Massive amounts of insulin are being pumped out but liver and muscle cells fail to absorb the insulin. The body needs to pump out more insulin to try and create the same effect because of the downgraded or broken receptors.
WHY are the receptors downgraded or desensitized? This is because of the high levels of sustained insulin output because of too much dietary sugar that keeps your insulin high. After a while your cells say, “Hey, this is too much, I am not going to receive insulin anymore. You can imagine if 1000 telemarketers kept calling your house for 1 year. After a while, you are not going to pick up your phone. You are no longer willing to receive that communication.
The person with Type II is usually prescribed a medication called Glucaphage (or Metformin) that forces the receptors in your liver to receive more insulin, there by lessening the need for higher levels of insulin from the pancreas. This causes the real problem to worsen until after a while, the person becomes a Type I diabetic needing insulin. This is an insane way to deal with the problem, because they are already pumping out too much insulin. Now the excess insulin causes plaque buildup in the arteries, destroys the nerves (causing numbness in the hands and feet), destroys the eyes, and fills up the liver with fat. Can you see how a stroke could follow? The medical doctors fail to change the patients diet that will heal the body.
PANCREAS - Is a gland under the left rib cage, which produces hormones and digestive enzymes that break down food. The 2 hormones the pancreas makes are insulin and glucagon. These hormones work in opposites. Insulin lowers blood sugars and stores fat and glucagon raises insulin by breaking down fat.
Insulin is triggered by sugar. It is considered a fat making hormone.
Glucagon is triggered by protein and intense exercise. It is considered a fat burning hormone.
LIVER - Is a 3 ½ pound organ under the right rib cage. It has many functions including detox, digestion and the storage of glycogen (stored sugar). The liver does make a hormone called Insulin-Like Growth Factor #1 (IGF-1). This hormone regulates blood sugars WHEN YOU ARE NOT EATING. It works with the pancreas to balance blood sugar. It will take stored sugar and stored fat and turn it into sugar to raise blood sugar, WHEN YOU ARE NOT EATING.
Your body uses the liver and pancreas to keep your blood sugars leveled. They work together, the liver releasing IGF-1 to breakdown fat into sugar and increase sugar in the blood and the pancreas releasing insulin to remove sugar from the blood and put it into fat.
The interesting thing about this is that the liver is 100 times bigger than the pancreas and spends more time than the pancreas regulating blood sugar simply because you are not eating more than you are eating. So the liver is VERY important in the blood sugar regulation, yet very little attention is given to it.
ADRENAL CONNECTION - The name of one of the main adrenal hormones is called Glucocorticoids (another name for it is cortisol). This hormone functions by breaking down muscle protein. This is a state where the body under lots of stress can eat its own tissues for fuel. In some cases, it will use up muscle proteins before using its own fat storage. Glucocorticoids turn muscle into sugar and fat. This raises the blood sugars, causing you know what….diabetes. In other words, stress can cause diabetes. This is also why people who receive cortisone shots for pain and other conditions can end up with diabetes.
Side Note: the thigh muscles (Quads) are the first to be broken down into sugar, then the buttocks muscle (Glutes). Broken down muscle is called atrophy.
PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY - Is a condition in which high levels of insulin destroy the coating around the nerves leaving the person in severe burning pain, which eventually leads to numbness and tingling mostly in the hands and feet.
Image below shows reduced blood flow and damaged nerve. Image modified from this website: Innovative Foot and Ankle http://www.innovativefootandankle.com/2017/08/diabetic-neuropathy/
Diabetes Natural Support Strategies
Your body can heal given the proper conditions and right ingredients:
1. FIX THE GLYCOGEN RESERVE WITH POTASSIUM (LOWER CRAVINGS)
Stored sugar is vital to the backup or reserve fuel. If there is not enough glycogen, the pancreas will have to work harder and there will be greater sugar level fluctuations. Remember, potassium is needed to store glucose as glycogen.
Most people do not know that we need 4700mg of potassium every day to ensure the sugars are stored among all the other functions. 1 banana is only 400mg and you would need 12 bananas each day, but this is not workable. However, 7-9 cups of vegetable (including salad) will satisfy our potassium levels. Just this ONE change will drop sugar cravings and improve blood sugars.
Meal ideas: Drink the kale shake (Supplement powder)* in the morning, then have eggs. For lunch have a huge salad (5 cups) with 3-4 oz. of protein. For dinner have vegetables with 3-4 oz. of protein. *You can also make your own Kale Shake in a blender, or add a veggie shake to lunch with some protein to get enough greens to boost your potassium levels.
Dr. Berg's Chocolate Instant Kale Shake
2. SUPPORT THE LIVER (IGF-1)
The liver/IGF-1 supports blood sugars when you are not eating, which is much more than when you are eating. By supporting liver function, you are taking stress off the pancreas.
The liver is 100x bigger than the pancreas and all you have to do is support a small amount to take a huge stress of the pancreas.
Add Cruciferous Superfood (supplement).
Add Gallbladder Formula (supplement) – to take the pressure off the liver and digest all the fat-soluble vitamins helping the blood sugars and nutrient absorption. When people do not have enough bile, they need sweets after they eat.
FYI: the liver loves bitter vegetables – kale and cruciferous (broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower).
If you don't have IBS, you could add Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) before meals to heal your liver as well as help your stomach pH to be low enough to break down proteins, plus it causes the liver and pancreas to release their goodies into the digestive mix. Check out more about digestion in the article on Bloating, Indigestion....
Dr. Berg's Cruciferous Superfood
Dr. Berg's Gallbladder Formula
3. SUPPORTING ADRENAL FUNCTION
Cortisol turns body tissues into sugar, especially protein. This gives you atrophy. Stress is the culprit. To reduce cortisol, we need to decrease stress and increase sleep.
Use a natural Sleep Aid (vegan supplement) or practice Earthing 30 minutes per day to stabilize your ability to sleep 6-8 hours each night.
Replace stressful exercise with daily long (45-60 minute) walks without distractions..
4. PROTEIN FOR BREAKFAST
This will stabilize your blood sugars at night, and reduce late night snacking.
Harvard University did a study on the best breakfast to stabilize your blood sugars throughout the day and protein was it.
We recommend 3-4 eggs for breakfast. Watch this if you think eggs will increase your cholesterol: EGG VIDEO > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC3D_eeULLU
If you skip breakfast or eat a typical grain breakfast – your blood sugars will crash in the evenings, sweet cravings will increase with fatigue at night.
5. BRING SUGAR DOWN TO ZERO (USE Healthy SUBSTITUTES)
It is the absence of sugar in the diet that causes fat burning. You will burn fat and greatly reduce the stress on the pancreas when removing sugar from you meals, allowing your body to heal.
Use substitutes to those sweet comfort foods, using natural sweeteners that won't spike your insulin, helping your body to heal.
Dr. Berg's Book on Healthy Comfort Foods
6. UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEMS WITH Medical DOCTORS Recommendations
Some Doctors tell people with low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), to take glucose tablets or orange juice to raise their blood sugar levels – this is bad because the tablets or juice spike insulin, making the body work hard to pump out more insulin, which stresses and weakens the pancreas that leads to diabetes (Type I or II) over time.
Some Doctors give insulin to people who already have high insulin (Type II or hyperglycemia), when the problem is unresponsive receptors to insulin. The receptors for insulin downgrade even more. All the excess insulin drives the insulin down temporarily but at the same time destroys the cells in the pancreas that make insulin, making the person eventually dependant on insulin.
7. YOUR CHOICE
You know what is important to you and what you have the capacity and resources for. Adding a health regime to heal diabetes could be a stressful and overwhelming consideration…
Start by adding small steps of health into each day.
It could be mixing a scoop of chocolate kale shake powder in water following a meal like a dessert. This adds much needed potassium through a dessert!
If you like creating your own fresh ingredients smoothies or green drinks, you can add one into each day. Just make sure it has lots of bitter greens like kale for much needed potassium.
You could also add Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) in water to taste before each meal to help your stomach, liver, gallbladder and pancreas, (be sure you don't have trouble with acidic food like having IBS).
There are many ways to begin adding health that will naturally cause you to begin feeling better. I've had to do the very things I'm suggesting you do. I know the body is resilient and can heal given the right support. I know you can create healthy habits and begin feeling better each day. Let me know if you'd like my support, I'm an email or call away.
All the information provided on this website is meant to educate, not treat or diagnose. Please seek the support of a reputable Functional Medicine Doctor or Naturopath whenever possible. I do not benefit from promoting supplements on my website. I recommend high quality products that support the body's health.
Helping you discover the wisdom of health within you!
-Cheryl Hill
Most images are used from the Berg Method Health Coaching Training material and from www.drberg.com product images unless otherwise noted.
Dr. Berg's Sleep Aide (Vegan)