As you strive to control blood sugar levels, it’s important to remember the role antioxidants play in managing diabetes. In order to get a handle on this condition, you’ll need to shore up on these important nutrients.
For starters, there’s Vitamin C. Vitamin C is the most active antioxidant in our water-based tissues. It lowers levels of sorbitol, the sugar that collects in and damages cells of the eyes (retinopathy), kidneys (nephropathy), and nerves (neuropathy).
You’ll also want to take an adequate amount of Vitamin E, your body’s premier fat-soluble antioxidant. Vitamin E improves glucose control and protects blood vessels and nerves from free radical damage, which is accelerated in people living with diabetes. Studies have shown that high doses of supplemental vitamin E may even reverse damage to nerves caused by diabetes and protect against diabetic cataracts and atherosclerosis.
Supplementation with both of these antioxidants is associated with a reduced risk of diabetic retinopathy. If you are living with diabetes, aim for 1,000-2,500 mg of vitamin C and 300-800 IU of vitamin E daily.
For more information on treating diabetes and diabetes risk factors, visit www.drwhitaker.com.
One of the most effective natural treatments for diabetes is vanadium. This unique trace mineral works to lower blood sugar by mimicking insulin and improving the cells’ sensitivity to insulin.
Supplementation with vanadyl sulfate and other vanadium compounds markedly lowers fasting glucose and improves other measures of diabetes. In a number of animal studies, this mineral has actually eliminated diabetes.
Human studies, although not as numerous, are also compelling. In a landmark study, eight people with type 2 diabetes receiving 50 mg of vanadyl sulfate twice a day for four weeks, followed by a placebo for four weeks, were found to have a 20 percent reduction in average fasting blood sugar, which lasted well into the placebo period after the mineral was discontinued. The only reported adverse effect was minor gastrointestinal (GI) distress during the first few days of the study.
Vanadium is quite safe, even at doses of up to 400 mg per day. Don’t be surprised if you hear rumors to the contrary. According to Dr. John McNeill, one of the world’s leading experts on vanadium, these unfounded precautions are based on toxicity studies done by a single researcher and have never been replicated by anyone else.
Many physicians have utilized vanadyl sulfate with thousands of people living with diabetes in doses of 100–150 mg per day with remarkable success and absolutely no adverse reactions, save slight GI distress in a few individuals.
Vanadium is just one of the many natural diabetes treatments. For additional natural treatments for diabetes or information on managing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com.
While several herbs have been proven to lower blood sugar levels, two in particular stand out:
Gymnema sylvestre. This is a plant native to India that, incredible as it may seem, appears to regenerate the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Gymnema has been demonstrated to lower blood sugar levels in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In a study of 22 type 2 diabetics, supplementation with this herb resulted in improved blood sugar control across the board. Furthermore, 16 of the 22 patients were able to reduce their oral medications while five discontinued them altogether. The recommended dose is 400 mg of Gymnema sylvestre per day.
Banaba leaf (Lagerstroemia speciosa L.). Banaba leaf contains colosolic acid, which activates glucose transport into the cells and effectively lowers blood sugar. In a landmark Japanese placebo-controlled clinical trial, 24 diabetics were given a supplement containing banaba leaf or a placebo three times a day for four weeks. Significant blood sugar declines were observed in the individuals taking the herb (average 153.9 to 133.1 mg/dL); there was little change in the placebo group. Aim for approximately 50 mg of banaba leaf extract daily.
Other botanicals that make it easier to control blood sugar, albeit to a lesser degree, include:
bitter melon (Momordica charantia),
Siberian ginseng,
basil,
cinnamon,
garlic, and
onion.
Look for all of these herbs in your health food store and use as directed.
If you’re dealing with diabetes, specifically type 2 diabetes, the primary thrust of your medical management should be to obtain and maintain blood sugar levels within the normal range.
For most physicians, this means drug therapy. However, in more than 30 years of treating thousands of type 2 diabetics at the Whitaker Wellness Institute, I’ve found that drugs are rarely necessary. Instead, I rely on alternative diabetes treatments, including a comprehensive diet, exercise, and weight loss program, and natural agents that lower blood sugar. Adopting this natural treatment program has allowed the majority of the diabetic patients who come to the clinic to be successfully weaned from their hypoglycemic drugs.
Take the case of Alice, who came to Whitaker Wellness with a seven-year history of type 2 diabetes. Her blood sugar was under pretty good control on Diabeta (a sulfonylurea drug), but she was concerned about side effects—as she should have been. Drugs in this class are associated with weight gain, elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and an increased risk of heart disease.
During her week at the Back to Health Program, Alice was weaned off Diabeta and placed on a combination of targeted minerals and herbs. And guess what? Her blood sugar levels remained stable. She continued on this effective, less expensive, and far safer program, and has been able to maintain blood sugar levels in the normal range.
Believe it or not, one-third of Americans are obese, and obesity, particularly in the abdominal area, is a well-established diabetes risk factor.
When you exercise, your muscles’ energy requirements increase dramatically—they need ready access to glucose, which fuels the hungry muscle cells. Exercise appears to some degree to actually bypass the normal requirements for insulin. It increases the transport of glucose into the cells, not only while you are exercising but for hours afterwards. Thus, it lowers blood glucose levels and also improves overall insulin sensitivity. So, if you’re living with diabetes, exercise can be your key to controlling blood sugar.
Researchers at Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley who followed almost 6,000 men for 14 years determined that increased physical activity was especially protective for men with the highest risk of developing diabetes—those who were overweight or had a family history of diabetes.
Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical exercise four or more days per week. You don’t have to run marathons—just get active. Brisk walking is one of the easiest activities for beginners, but the most important thing is to choose something you enjoy and stick with it.
If you are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, you’ll immediately—and unavoidably—be prescribed insulin. If the diagnosis is type 2 diabetes, you’ll probably be told to make some changes in your diet and to begin exercising. But, you’ll also likely be told to take a drug if your blood glucose doesn’t normalize with lifestyle changes.
Prescribing drugs is what physicians do. Medical school education is largely an exercise in learning which drugs to prescribe for certain conditions. Studies published in the most prestigious medical journals routinely compare the benefits of one drug versus another. Prescription medications are simply the heart and soul of modern medicine.
There are five major classes of drugs usually prescribed to help control blood sugar. Although these medications may be effective in lowering blood sugar, each and every one of them has its price.
Most oral hypoglycemic agents are no more than a Band-Aid approach to diabetes—they lower blood sugar, but do nothing to address the underlying condition. The majority increases insulin production, which, is not what’s needed in the case of type 2 diabetes, where folks are not insulin deficient, but rather insulin resistant.
Other meds affect the way carbohydrates are metabolized in the intestinal tract. And although some drugs do attempt to improve insulin sensitivity, their side effects (including liver failure and death) make them highly suspect.
Drugs are by their very nature foreign agents. As such, they affect your body in unnatural ways. The most common side effects of diabetic drugs are weight gain, gastrointestinal upset, and sometimes serious liver problems.
While I’m not against all prescription drugs, I know from decades of experience treating diabetes that natural remedies for diabetes also work. Better still, I have thousands of patient success stories to back up this natural approach.
People living with diabetes have an increased need to urinate, as their kidneys attempt to get rid of excess glucose. Along with excess glucose, however, massive amounts of water-soluble vitamins and minerals also are lost. Yet, incredibly, most white-coated experts specializing in helping patients manage diabetes make no attempt whatsoever to replace these nutrients, leaving patients to suffer the inevitable consequences of massive nutritional deficiencies.
Numerous studies have shown that people with diabetes tend to have low cellular levels of magnesium, zinc, vitamins B6 and C, and other essential water-soluble nutrients. Is it any wonder that they are at increased risk for atherosclerosis, heart disease, and other degenerative conditions that have been definitively linked to nutritional deficiencies?
The combination of these processes puts people trying to manage diabetes at a dramatically increased risk of premature death and disability. The areas of the body most profoundly affected by diabetic complications include the blood vessels, nerves, eyes, kidneys, and extremities. In fact:
People with diabetes are two to three times more likely to die from heart disease than those with normal blood sugar levels, and they are five times more likely to have a stroke.
People with diabetes are subject to vision problems such as glaucoma and cataracts, and diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness.
Forty percent of all cases of kidney failure are attributed to diabetes.
Sixty to 70 percent of all diabetics have some form of nerve damage, and a majority of lower extremity amputations are performed on diabetics.
Erectile dysfunction, impaired digestion, urinary incontinence, excess sweating, gum disease, and increased risk of infection are additional diabetes complications.
Fish oil, which contains the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, is powerful medicine for disorders ranging from heart disease and depression to arthritis and autoimmune disorders.
EPA is particularly beneficial for the cardiovascular system, as it discourages blood platelets from sticking together, relaxes the arteries, and lowers triglyceride and cholesterol levels.
For years, people dealing with diabetes, specifically type 2 diabetes, were advised to avoid fish oil supplements, due to their presumably negative effects on the body’s ability to control blood sugar. However, a meta-analysis has put this myth to rest.
In this review of studies involving 823 patients with type 2 diabetes, fish oil supplementation at doses ranging from 3,000–8,000 mg per day had no harmful effect on short- or long-term ability to control blood sugar. Furthermore, the fish oils supplements significantly improved triglyceride levels.
More recent research found that women living with diabetes who took 3,000 mg of fish oil a day for two months had marked improvements in body fat and blood lipid levels. (This is key, in part due to the connection between diabetes and weight.)
I’m not suggesting that fish oil is a cure for high blood sugar, but it can certainly play a role in managing diabetes. Everyone, regardless of health status, should take a minimum of 2 g of high-quality fish oil per day. If your cholesterol and triglycerides are high, consider increasing this to 4 or more grams daily. For these larger doses, look for liquid or concentrated fish oil supplements, as they beat taking handfuls of capsules.
Two of the best natural remedies for diabetes are B-complex vitamins and vitamin C.
B-complex vitamins, particularly B6 and B12, are vital for the health of people who have diabetes. That’s because these vitamins support nerve health, which is critical when addressing conditions such as diabetic neuropathy.
Biotin is another B-complex vitamin that is necessary for cell growth and for the metabolism of protein, fats, and carbohydrates. This vitamin also also been shown to lower fasting blood sugar levels and reduce risk of complications such as diabetic neuropathy. The ideal daily dose for people living with diabetes is 75-125 mg of B6, 150-1,000 mcg of B12, and 300 mcg of biotin daily.
Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that protects against free-radical damage throughout the body. This vitamin is also required for the production of collagen, so it strengthens the blood vessels and supports healthy blood flow. In addition, it is involved in multiple aspects of the immune response and boosts overall immunity.
Perhaps most important to people managing diabetes, however, is vitamin C’s ability to lower levels of sorbitol, a sugar alcohol that can collect in the cells and damage the eyes, kidneys, and nerves. This, plus its ability to put the brakes on free radicals, makes vitamin C an important weapon in the arsenal against diabetes complications.
Finally, vitamin C is an excellent therapy for another condition that often co-exists in individuals living with diabetes: hypertension. Irish researchers found that just 500 mg of vitamin C a day lowered blood pressure and arterial stiffness in patients with type 2 diabetes. I recommend people dealing with diabetes take at least 1,000 mg of supplemental vitamin C daily.
Numerous scientific studies support safe, natural remedies for diabetes. Yet the vast majority of physicians continue to ignore the research—and jeopardize the health of patients seeking to manage diabetes—by focusing strictly on lowering blood sugar, no matter what the cost.
Part of the problem can be laid at the feet of human psychology. When a doctor sees a patient living with diabetes, specifically type 2 diabetes, he or she may give lip service to diet and exercise. But, to be really effective, the doctor must become a counselor who encourages and monitors the patient’s activity level, diet, and weight.
Obviously, lifestyle changes require work on the part of both physician and patient, and who wants to put forth that much effort? So the doc pulls out his prescription pad and discharges that responsibility. And patients accept this because it’s an easy out for them as well. What could be simpler than taking a “magic pill,” especially if adverse side effects are glossed over, as they usually are?
The pharmaceutical industry also shoulders much of the blame. These companies currently control the bulk of medical research, treatment guidelines, and physician education. As a result, not only is the effectiveness of drugs overstated and the risks minimized, but the emphasis on medication draws attention away from safe, natural treatments that truly improve the health and longevity of people managing diabetes.
Taiwanese researchers looked at more than 87,000 patients with type 2 diabetes who were treated with either oral drugs or insulin, and what they discovered may shock you.
They found that patients using insulin had a higher prevalence of hypertension (61.3 versus 53.9 percent), and the longer they used it, the greater their risk.
This is not surprising when you consider insulin’s activities beyond nutrient storage. Injected insulin increases sodium retention and stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. It induces oxidative stress, leading to free-radical damage that impairs the function of the endothelial cells lining the arteries. It also has growth factor–like activity that thickens blood vessels and increases risk of atherosclerosis.
Since people living with diabetes are already at dramatically increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, the last thing they need is a treatment that amplifies this risk.
Instead, opt for alternative treatments for diabetes, including nutritional supplements and diet modifications. These more natural options have been very successful in lowering blood sugar and preventing complications.
How does a physician know someone has diabetes and needs treatment?
For years, fasting blood glucose (blood sugar) and oral glucose tolerance tests were the primary diagnostics doctors used to determine whether or not a patient has diabetes. Today, glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C) is the new gold standard. This test measures the average glucose level during the two to three months prior to the blood draw, so it’s a broader picture than the “snapshot” the other tests provide. An A1C level higher than 6 percent is indicative of blood sugar problems, and 6.5 percent is the cutoff for a diagnosis of diabetes.
If a doctor diagnoses you with type 1 diabetes, you’ll immediately—and unavoidably—be prescribed insulin. If the diagnosis is type 2 diabetes, which nine times out of 10 is the case, you’ll likely be told to make some changes in your diet and to begin exercising. Beyond that, if it’s a conventional physician, a prescription drug will likely also be dangled in front of you, if not to begin at once, then to start if your blood glucose and A1C levels don’t normalize with lifestyle measures.
Prescribing drugs is what physicians do. In fact, medical school education is largely an exercise in learning what drugs to prescribe for which conditions. Studies published in the most prestigious medical journals routinely compare the benefits of one drug to another. Prescription meds are simply the heart and soul of modern medicine.
Although diabetes medications may be effective in helping to lower blood sugar, each and every one of them has its price. The oral hypoglycemic (blood glucose–lowering) agents are no more than a Band-Aid approach to diabetes—they lower blood sugar, but do nothing to address the underlying condition. For example, one popular class of drugs, sulfonylureas, increase insulin production. However, most people with type 2 diabetes produce too much insulin! These folks are not insulin deficient; they’re insulin resistant.
For years, doctors have known the potential dangers of oral hypoglycemic drugs, but for whatever reason, they continue to prescribe them to patients. This is a shame, given the number of blood sugar supplements and other, more natural treatments for diabetes that exist.
Stay tuned for my top supplements for diabetes and other natural remedies for diabetes.
For years, doctors have known the potential dangers of oral hypoglycemic drugs. But for whatever reason, they continue to prescribe them to patients dealing with diabetes. So my question is this: When are we going to learn—rather, when are we going to accept—that oral medications used to treat type 2 diabetes actually do more harm than good?
In February 2008, researchers heading a large, government-funded trial made a sobering announcement. The study in question, Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD), was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of various medication regimens in reducing heart attacks, strokes, and death from cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes.
One arm of the study tested the widely held assumption that using more aggressive methods to lower blood sugar would provide greater protection against heart disease. Instead, ACCORD found just the opposite. Study participants on the most intensive drug regimens aimed at driving blood sugar way down had a much higher cardiovascular death rate. “Intensive blood sugar lowering treatment” proved to be so harmful that the researchers halted this arm of the study 18 months early to prevent this aggressive drug use from killing even more people.
“Those Who Cannot Remember The Past…”
Medical experts were reportedly “shocked,” “stunned,” and “startled” by this “unexpected” finding. Folks, this is nonsense. We’ve known about the fatal complications of diabetes drugs since 1969, when results of a similar study called the University Group Diabetes Program were made public. The goal of this placebo-controlled study of patients with type 2 diabetes was to see if either of two oral diabetes drugs lowered the incidence of heart attacks and other cardiovascular complications.
Incredibly, just like ACCORD, the study had to be stopped two years early because participants who were taking the drugs had a 250 to 300 percent higher death rate than those taking the placebo.
Philosopher George Santayana said more than a century ago, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Well, modern medicine has a terrible habit of forgetting—or ignoring—the past. And patients are condemned to pay for this folly. IMPORTANT WARNING: If you are currently taking an oral hypoglycemic drug, don’t stop taking it. You must work with your doctor to determine if you can gradually discontinue the medication. Ask him/her to help you implement a program of weight loss, lifestyle changes, and other natural remedies for diabetes. Check this blog frequently, do your own research, and talk with your doctor to determine that you’re getting the care that’s best for you.
Fact #1: In the Diabetes Prevention Program, a large prevention study of people with diabetes risk factors, changes in lifestyle reduced the likelihood of participants developing diabetes by 58 percent over three years. And for participants who were aged 60 years or older, the reduction was even greater—71 percent. Fact #2: A review of 37 studies involving 40,129 patients revealed that a low-glycemic diet reduces diabetes risk factors and makes it less likely to get the disease.
Fact #3: Chinese and U.S. researchers teamed up to evaluate the dietary habits of more than 64,000 healthy, middle-aged Chinese women. After four and a half years, they discovered that the women who ate the most legumes had a 38 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. And those who regularly ate soybeans slashed their risk almost in half!
Fact #4: In a British study involving 1,122 men and women, fiber-rich vegetables were shown to be protective against diabetes risk factors and against developing the disease. Those who regularly ate salad and raw vegetables had an 80 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes than people who ate vegetables less often.
Fact #5: Austrian researchers found that walking downhill lowers and helps control blood sugar levels more effectively than walking uphill, while walking uphill is better at lowering cholesterol and triglycerides.
Fiber has no sex appeal. The admonition to eat more “roughage” is as old as the hills. Heard it a million times. Been there, done that.
The problem is most people still aren’t doing it. In fact, though optimal health requires at least 30 g of fiber daily, Americans average one-third to one-half this amount.
Most of you know that adequate fiber intake ensures regularity and protects against disorders of the colon, from constipation to hemorrhoids to cancer. But did you know it also helps control blood sugar levels?
A high-fiber diet is a powerful type 2 diabetes treatment. In fact, it is a natural treatment for diabetes that we simply don’t talk enough about.
Fiber slows absorption of glucose in the gastrointestinal tract, promoting a gradual rise in blood sugar levels, followed by a gradual release in insulin. It also improves the body’s sensitivity to insulin, combating insulin resistance and helping insulin to do its job of ushering glucose into the cells.
In a study comparing diet containing either 24 or 50 g of fiber daily, blood glucose levels were reduced by 10 percent with the high-fiber diet—a blood sugar–lowering effect equal to that of oral diabetic drugs!
This high-fiber diet had an additional benefit that diabetes drugs can’t match: It significantly reduced levels of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides.
The best type of fiber to help you lower blood sugar levels is soluble fiber—so called because it “dissolves” or forms a gel-like substance in water. Foods rich in soluble fiber include legumes, apples, and citrus fruits. Make these health-enhancing foods part of your daily diet.
People living with diabetes are at higher risk of developing periodontal disease than people without blood sugar problems.
Periodontal disease, or gum disease, occurs when the gums become infected and inflamed. Signs that you may have periodontal disease include:
red, sore, swollen gums
bleeding gums
loose or sensitive teeth
bad breath
trouble chewing
According to the CDC, young adults dealing with diabetes have about twice the risk of periodontal disease than those without diabetes. Also, people with poorly controlled blood sugar levels are nearly three times more likely to have severe forms of gum disease, and they typically lose more teeth than those without diabetes.
As is the case with most diabetes risk factors, a primary culprit behind the increased risk of periodontal disease is damage to blood vessels due to the inability to maintain blood sugar levels within the healthy range. Without nourishment and removal of wastes from their tissues, the gums become less resistant to infection, setting the stage for periodontal disease.
Another reason people with diabetes are much more prone to periodontal disease is because they are prone to nutritional deficiencies. Diabetes is nutritional wasting disease, and affected individuals often have low blood levels of vitamin C, zinc, and other water-soluble vitamins and minerals. Zinc is necessary for tissue healing, and vitamin C is required for collagen formation. In fact, scurvy, the quintessential vitamin C deficiency disease, is characterized by bleeding gums and loose teeth.
And if you smoke, you are at even higher risk. Statistics show that diabetics who smoke and are 45 years or older are 20 times more likely to develop severe gum disease than people who don’t smoke.
The best way to lower your risk of developing periodontal disease is to brush and floss every day, take a good daily vitamin and mineral supplement, and visit your dentist on a regular basis.
People who lead a sedentary lifestyle are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. In fact, some Harvard researchers found that the more TV you watch, the more likely you are to suffer with diabetes and weight problems and diabetes. Why? Because lack of exercise lowers insulin sensitivity and increases the possibility of metabolic syndrome.
Regular exercise is a must if you’re looking to maintain a healthy weight and control blood sugar levels. Researchers at Stanford and the University of California Berkeley who followed nearly 6,000 men for 14 years determined that increased physical activity was extremely effective in preventing type 2 diabetes. And it was especially protective for men with the highest risk of developing diabetes—those who were overweight or had a family history of the disease.
Aerobic exercise will lower blood sugar and burn calories, while resistance training, such as weightlifting, builds muscle and improves long-term insulin sensitivity. You don’t have to run marathons—just get active. Brisk walking is one of the easiest exercises.
The most important thing is to choose something you enjoy and stick with it. I recommend at least 30–45 minutes of vigorous exercise four or more days per week.
In addition to being the driving force behind type-2 diabetes, insulin resistance is also part and parcel of a condition known as metabolic syndrome.
Identified in the mid-1980s by Stanford University researcher Gerald Reaven, MD, metabolic syndrome, initially called syndrome X, is a cluster of disorders that includes obesity, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol (often referred to as “good” cholesterol since it ushers excess cholesterol out of the body), and increased risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Reaven, observing that these seemingly unrelated disorders cropped up so often in the same individuals, determined that the one underlying constant was insulin resistance. In addition to insulin resistance, here are some of the other risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome:
Abdominal obesity: an accumulation of excess fat around the waist
Age: the older you are, the higher your risk
Sedentary lifestyle
Hormone imbalances
Poor diet: a diet high in saturated and trans fats and sugar
Fortunately, by following the alternative treatments for diabetes that we’ll be sharing here, you will not only protect yourself from diabetes, but also lower your risk of metabolic syndrome.
Finally, a reason to feel good about my daily venti dark roast fix.
A new meta-analysis from the Archives of Internal Medicine showed a nice correlation between coffee consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes.
For every cup of Joe you drink, your risk goes down 7%. Not bad.
This review included data from over 500,000 people, with over 21,000 cases of type-2 diabetes. Of the 31 studies reviewed, 18 looked at regular coffee consumption, six focused on decaf, and the remaining seven studies included tea drinkers.
Bottom line, everyone with a mug holds a natural diabetes treatment in their hands.
It's not just regular coffee drinkers who can beat diabetes. Three to four cups of decaffeinated coffee were associated with a 33 per cent lower risk of type 2 diabetes, compared to non-coffee drinkers. And three to four cups of tea dropped diabetes risk by one-fifth as well.
Now if I've learned anything, it's to take a meta-analysis like this with a grain of salt. And if this were the only reason to drink coffee, I'd proceed cautiously. But it isn't.
Coffee has been championed by researchers as a natural way to maintain blood sugar and reduce diabetes risk before, because coffee has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity. Previous studies have shown that a high intake—at least six cups a day—lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 54 percent in men and 30 percent in women.
Dr. Whitaker has written about the health benefits of coffee for years, including research showing coffee reduces the risk of Parkinson’s disease by as much as 80 percent and even protects against other neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s.
Coffee improves concentration and alertness, boosts mood, and decreases suicide risk. In fact, coffee aroma alone can relieve stress in animals. (Count me among them.)
Did you know that coffee can also halt a full-blown asthma attack in its tracks? And drink coffee before a workout and you'll enjoy both increased endurance and less muscle pain.
There are even studies that suggest coffee will make you live longer!
Of course, if you're exercising, preventing diabetes and enjoying your day feeling alert and in a great mood, you can't help but live longer, right? Pour me another cup...
It's always nice to be proven right, particularly when it concerns health advice that actually changes people's lives.
As has happened so often over the years, Dr. Whitaker's core recommendation of supplementing with cinnamon daily as a natural way to control blood sugar continues to rack up additional clinical support, the latest from a recent study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
This study sought to determine whether cinnamon could help lower hemoglobin A1C in patients with type 2 diabetes. The randomized, controlled study followed patients for 90 days, with the cinnamon group using 1g cinnamon daily (curiously, the same amount Dr. Whitaker has been recommending for years...).
The result: Cinnamon users lowered their hemoglobin A1C by .83 percent, compared to .37 percent with standard treatment alone.
Said another way, adding cinnamon doubled the effectiveness of the basic treatment.
This may not sound that significant, but lowering your A1C is critically important for anyone with diabetes. A hemoglobin A1c test measures the level of glycated hemoglobin in the blood, the result of blood sugar (glucose) attaching to hemoglobin. As your A1C rises, so does your likelihood of diabetes complications, like vision problems, cardiovascular or kidney disease, circulatory and nerve imparement, and stroke.
When it comes to natural remedies for diabetes, cinnamon is pretty hard to beat. It's cheap, readily available, safe, and as the research continues to prove, effective.
Finally, a reason to feel good about my daily venti dark roast fix. 
It's always nice to be proven right, particularly when it concerns health advice that actually changes people's lives. 
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