So many people have diabetes type 2 today. More than 1 in 10 have diabetes. About 1 in 3 have prediabetes. Between 2005 and 2016, the percentage of adults with prediabetes who were aware of their condition, doubled. This is a critical situation and must be addressed. The guidelines from the American Diabetes Association are not working. Those who take on this disease and change their lifestyle can recover by reversing the disease. I’ll talk about how more than just sugar and carbohydrates play a role in this process.
Cholesterol plays a major role in this process. Most patients with diabetes, are treated for high cholesterol. Statin medications are generally prescribed as a result, and they have their own debilitating side effects. Inflammation plays a role in the onset of diabetes as well.
The unhealthy triad of high cholesterol, inflammation, and diabetes is a battle that is lost when the patient and their doctor don’t address all three together. I’ve recently heard a great analogy of how inflammation and diabetes are related, and how reducing cholesterol is actually damaging in the case of the diabetic patient. When we eat inflammatory foods, inflammation in the body and cholesterol increases. Think of inflammation and inflammatory foods as a fire. Now think of the cholesterol as the firefighter. Cholesterol is raised to lower the inflammation. The firefighter has to put out the fire. Why would you stop the firefighter from putting out the fire? Why not stop the cause of the fire in the first place?
By taking cholesterol reducing medications, you’re stopping the firefighter from doing their job. The reason the fire needs to be put out, is that inflammation is increasing to an unhealthy level for the body to work properly. This is an unhealthy loop that needs to stop. The ingestion of inflammatory foods only hinders healthy function of so many organs in the body. In the case of diabetes, it’s the pancreas, (and other organs) that cannot function properly.
By just reducing your sugar and carbohydrates, you are reducing the fire just a bit, but not putting it out. The inflammation has to be reduced and stopped. Choosing non-inflammatory foods and eliminating harmful chemicals and food additives will accomplish this. Inflammatory foods include dairy, grains, artificial and natural flavors, food coloring, unhealthy oils, and more.
Going back to basics with homemade food and organic, non-genetically modified (GMO) foods will help. Animals fed GMO grains will affect how we process that meat. What the animal ate is what we are eating. If they are fed an inflammatory grain diet, we are eating an inflammatory grain diet by consuming the meat from that animal. Farming methods are not the same as they were years ago. We now have to be cautious of what we’re eating. Not only with organic fruits and vegetables, but with our meats as well. As a side note, grass fed beef does not count as a non-inflammatory food.
It must say grass fed, grass finished, or 100% grass fed. Otherwise, the animal has been fed a GMO grain as well as the grass.
My patients who live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, notice their blood sugar levels are more stable. Most are even able to reverse their diabetes with their lifestyle and dietary changes. This is just a sample of dietary changes that help to control or eliminate diabetes. It’s not that difficult to make the changes necessary to stop the cycle, once you know which foods work to reduce the inflammation, or to prevent the fire from starting in the first place.
If you or anyone you know suffers with diabetes or prediabetes, please call my office for a complimentary consultation so I can help.
For any questions regarding my articles, please email me at:
[email protected]
Leisa-Marie Grgula, D.C.
Chiropractic Physician
Accurate Care Medical Wellness Center
18261 N Pima Rd. Suite 115
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
602-493-2228
