The key to the treating diabetes is twofold. First, you need to control blood sugar levels. Equally important, you must prevent diabetes complications.
While conventional physicians do attempt to stave off diabetes complications by helping patients maintain blood sugar levels that are in the normal range, they ignore the solid scientific research that supports the aggressive use of specific nutritional supplements for protection against the ravages of diabetes. This is one of the most obvious and inexcusable blind spots of conventional medicine.
Diabetes is a nutritionally wasting disease. Massive amounts of nutrients are lost as the kidneys rid the body of excess glucose by increasing urination, so the first step is replacement of these lost nutrients.
Among the most significant losses are the B-complex vitamins, and many people with diabetes have suboptimal cellular levels of these vital nutrients. Vitamins B6, B12, and biotin improve insulin sensitivity and also help prevent diabetes complications, particularly neuropathy, which is present in almost half of all people with diabetes. Supplementation is imperative, with recommended doses of:
75 mg vitamin B6,
150 mcg of B12,
300 mcg of biotin, and
an array of other B-complex vitamins.
People with diabetes also tend to have low levels of magnesium, and those with the lowest levels are most likely to have diabetic retinopathy and other eye problems. For this reason, anyone trying to manage diabetes should also take a minimum of 500 mg of magnesium per day, balanced with 1,000 mg of calcium.
For more information on managing diabetes, natural diabetes treatments, and reversing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com.
Chromium is a trace mineral that improves the action of insulin and helps move glucose and other nutrients into the cells. Its therapeutic value was first discovered in the 1950s, when researchers isolated a previously unknown substance from pork kidney. When they gave this substance to laboratory rats with glucose intolerance (a pre-diabetic form of insulin resistance), it caused such significant improvements that they named it glucose tolerance factor.
This unique compound was found to improve the activity of insulin and facilitate the uptake of glucose into the cells. Research intensified, and in 1959, the active ingredient in glucose tolerance factor was identified: chromium.
Chromium doesn’t cause the body to make more insulin—it just helps make insulin work better. At least 15 well-controlled clinical trials examining the effects of supplemental chromium on patients living with diabetes, insulin resistance, and other blood sugar abnormalities have shown that this mineral improves glucose metabolism.
Chromium has also been demonstrated to facilitate weight loss. As you likely know, diabetes and weight are very closely connected. Maintaining an ideal weight greatly increases your chances of avoiding the disease and beating diabetes.
For more information on managing diabetes, natural diabetes treatments, and reversing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com.
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.
With all the focus on “fixing” diabetes with drugs, underlying causes of the condition are rarely considered. One potential contributor is low testosterone, which affects one in three men managing diabetes. But which came first, testosterone deficiency or diabetes?
A study published in Diabetes Care may answer that question. Finnish researchers measured levels of sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) and testosterone in 702 middle-aged men who had no signs of diabetes and were easily able to maintain blood sugar levels that were healthy. They then reexamined them after 11 years.
At the time of follow-up, 147 had developed metabolic syndrome and 57 had diabetes. What’s important about this study is that, regardless of other factors, the men with the lowest testosterone levels were nearly two-and-a-half times more likely to have developed diabetes or metabolic syndrome.
The idea that diabetes can be treated by normalizing testosterone levels is one of the many alternative treatments for diabetes that is picking up speed. Studies looking at supplemental testosterone as an adjunct therapy are being conducted, and many physicians who use bioidentical hormones have been treating diabetes patients with it for years.
Men over the age of 45 should have their testosterone level tested. If it’s low, replacement should be considered. In addition to regulating insulin, testosterone reduces body fat, increases libido, boosts energy levels, and improves mood and memory. Testosterone requires a prescription and may be obtained from compounding pharmacies.
Excess fat, particularly saturated fats from meat and whole dairy products and trans fats found in processed and most fast foods, can wreak havoc on your body.
As early as the 1920s, it was demonstrated that a high-saturated fat diet not only causes weight gain, but also decreases insulin sensitivity.
A more recent British study also found that cutting back on saturated fats in meat and whole dairy makes it easier to maintain blood sugar in people dealing with diabetes. So, if you want to maintain a healthy weight and better manage blood sugar levels, try to eliminate these foods from your diet.
Retinopathy is one of the more serious diabetes complications that affects the eyes. It occurs when the small blood vessels in the retina (the light-sensitive area in the back of the inner eye) become damaged, usually as a result of metabolic changes associated with diabetes. The longer you’ve been living with diabetes, the higher your risk of developing this condition.
Early diagnosis and treatment are very important, as diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the industrialized world today. In fact, it leads to 12,000 to 24,000 new cases of blindness annually.
There are three main types of diabetic retinopathy:
Background retinopathy, which occurs when the blood vessels are damaged, but there is no problem with vision.
Maculopathy, which happens as a result of damage to the macula (a small area in the center of the retina that provides central vision and helps us to see fine details), and leads to impaired vision.
Proliferative retinopathy, which develops as a result of poor blood flow and oxygen delivery to the eye
If you have diabetes, you should do everything you can to protect your eyes. For optimal protection, maintain blood sugar levels, eat a low-fat diet with lots of carotenoid-rich leafy greens, and take a nutritional supplement that targets vision health.
Cataracts, or blind spots in the lens of the eye, are a common affliction of aging. Unfortunately, people with diabetes are at a much higher risk of developing cataracts. Part of the reason for the increased risk relates to how cataracts are formed in the first place.
Cataracts develop as a result of a process known as glycation, which occurs when sugars react with proteins to produce harmful substances called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). To understand glycation’s effects on the eyes, I like to use the analogy of cracking an egg into a hot frying pan. The clear part of the egg turns white as the proteins undergo glycation. Likewise, when glycation occurs in the protein-dense lens of the eye, the eye clouds over with cataracts.
Because it can take months to years for a cataract to have a noticeable effect on vision once it begins to form, it is important that people managing diabetes have regular eye exams. They should also do all they can to maintain near-normal blood sugar levels—and be open to seeking natural diabetes treatments, including nutritional supplements that help protect the eyes.
Search this blog for information about these and other natural remedies for diabetes.
As you may know, type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance.
For people living with diabetes, the beta cells in the pancreas make plenty of insulin—the hormone that moves glucose from the blood into the cells—but the cells are unresponsive to insulin’s actions. This leads to a rise in blood sugar. The pancreas responds by churning out more insulin, and the net result is elevated levels of both glucose and insulin.
Obesity throws fuel on the fire. Adipose tissue (fat), especially in the abdominal area, releases fatty acids that impair beta-cell function and insulin sensitivity. It also produces immune cells that lead to chronic, low-grade inflammation. Inflammation, in turn, increases insulin resistance and risk of diabetes.
Fat cells also secrete hormones—so many, in fact, that some experts actually refer to adipose tissue as an endocrine organ. One of these hormones is leptin.
Although leptin is best known for its governing effects on appetite and energy metabolism, researchers from Boston’s Joslin Diabetes Center have discovered that it also has direct effects on insulin secretion and beta-cell growth.
At the same time, the high levels of insulin (a common characteristic of type 2 diabetes) promote weight gain. That’s because insulin is the body’s primary fat-storage hormone—it ushers fat as well as glucose into the cells. So the higher your insulin level, the greater your potential to gain weight.
In short, preventing—and reversing—type 2 diabetes for many is as easy as achieving or maintaining your ideal weight.
In a future post, I’ll introduce you to my favorite supplements for diabetes that you can use to help keep this condition under control.
If you are trying to manage diabetes, a smart way to determine how a food may affect your ability to control blood sugar is by looking at the food’s glycemic load (GL).
Based on the same concept as the glycemic index (GI), but a little more practical, GL (which was created by Walter Willett, MD, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues) takes into account both quality and quantity. It is determined by the GI of any given food, as well as the amount of available, or net, carbohydrates (fiber excluded) in a standard serving.
The GL has revealed a few surprises that everyone managing diabetes should know. For example: Did you know that some foods with a high GI actually have minimal effects on your ability to maintain blood sugar levels when eaten in normal quantities, while others with a low GI are potentially problematic?
It’s true! In fact, a large carrot and a cup of spaghetti have similar GIs. Yet, that carrot contains only 5 g of available carbs (it’s mostly water), while the spaghetti contains 38 g, giving them GLs of 2 and 16, respectively. Therefore, they have dramatically different effects on blood sugar.
Carrots, watermelon, pineapple, and other fruits with a high GI once thought to be inappropriate for those minding their glucose levels turn out to be acceptable, while the GL confirms the need to cut out pasta, bagels, and other starchy, carbohydrate-dense foods.
And hundreds of studies confirm that eating a low GL diet is a great way to treat type 2 diabetes. One typical study, a meta-analysis of clinical trials involving more than 350 patients, revealed that a low GL diet improved both the long- and short-term likelihood of your ability to manage blood sugar levels.
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.
There are two herbs that I recommend to help you manage blood sugar and protect against diabetes complications: Gymnema sylvestre and banaba leaf extract.
Gymnema sylvestre is an extract from the leaves of a climbing plant native to the forests of central and south India that has been used since the sixth century BC. The leaves of the plant contain gymnemic acids, which have been shown to slow the transport of glucose from the intestines to the bloodstream. This, in turn, helps keep blood sugar levels in the healthy range. I recommend a maintenance dose of 200 mg of Gymnema sylvestre daily. For extra support, try 400 mg daily.
Banaba leaf extract (Lagestroemia speciosa), which comes from Asia, contains colosolic acid. Colosolic acid promotes glucose transport into cells, making it easier to maintain blood sugar levels within the healthy range. In one Japanese clinical trial, 24 people living with diabetes were given a supplement containing banaba leaf or a placebo three times a day for four weeks. While those taking the placebo showed no improvement, significant blood sugar declines were observed in the individuals taking the herb.
Vanadium, a trace mineral, is an excellent natural treatment for diabetes. I believe it is one of the most effective and intriguing blood sugar supplements. In fact, studies show that vanadium (as vanadyl sulfate) mimics insulin in the body and helps maintain blood sugar levels well within the healthy range.
One specific study involved individuals who were trying to treat type 2 diabetes. They each received 50 mg of vanadyl sulfate twice a day for four weeks, followed by a placebo for four weeks. At the end of the study, they 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 distress during the first few days of the study. The suggested dose of vanadyl sulfate is 100 mg per day.
I know you are thinking that sugar-laden chocolate is the last thing people who are trying to manage diabetes should be eating. But, while it is true that chocolate has fat and calories—and it tastes way too good to be good for you—the health benefits of dark chocolate cannot be denied, even to people living with diabetes.
Italian researchers discovered that dark chocolate significantly improves markers of insulin sensitivity. It can also decrease fasting insulin and glucose levels, as well as insulin and glucose responses to the glucose tolerance test.
High-quality dark chocolate is sold in health food, specialty, and grocery stores. Look for bars that contain 70 percent cocoa or more. Don’t be put off by the fat content, and expect it to have some sugar. Unsweetened dark chocolate is extremely bitter and, even sweetened, it is for some an acquired taste, so shop around for a brand you like.
I urge my patients to enjoy it in moderation so that it doesn’t interfere with their ability to maintain blood sugar levels. So, if you are dealing with diabetes, know that a square or two of dark chocolate every other day or so is enough to satisfy your sweet tooth. Just be sure to keep caloric intake steady, and eat your dark chocolate in place of, rather than in addition to, other foods or snacks.
Diabetes is a fearsome disorder, yet one we take much too lightly. Few people dealing with diabetes risk factors or borderline elevated blood sugar levels realize the urgency of controlling diabetes in its early stages.
Most are unaware that diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, and amputations in this country or that people who have diabetes are more likely to have—and die of—a heart attack or stroke than those who are able to maintain blood sugar levels that are closer to normal. Nor do they recognize that diabetes is a primary contributor to conditions such as erectile dysfunction (impotence) and dementia. As a matter of fact, most people either don’t know or tend to ignore the subtle warning signs. It’s time we all pull our heads out of the sand and look diabetes in the eye.
The ability to manage blood sugar levels is largely an issue of lifestyle. In 90 percent of all cases, diabetes is both preventable and treatable.
I’ve been practicing medicine for more than 30 years and I have tens of thousands of diabetes success stories from to people who have followed my protocol of natural diabetes treatments. Many of my patients have called me over the years to thank me for my alternative treatments for diabetes. “My blood sugars are normal—without drugs.” “I was able to avoid amputation.” “My vision has stabilized.” “Your advice saved my life.”
In future blog postings, I will share what you need to know to take control of your own health so that you, too, can beat diabetes.
Diabetes, like most chronic illnesses, is often (and rightly) characterized as a disease of lifestyle. Specific lifestyle choices can create and exacerbate type 2 diabetes, but as Dr. Whitaker has proven time and again, the right lifestyle changes can prevent, treat and even reverse type 2 diabetes as well.
But do some people have the cards stacked against them, where developing diabetes is an inevitable component of their very genetic makeup? To read the latest study in Nature Genetics, you might reach that conclusion.
There's no disputing that there is a strong, inheritable correlation present with type 2 diabetes. If your mother, father, sister or brother has it, your risk of developing diabetes goes up considerably. Your identical twin has diabetes? Your risk is even higher.
Now researchers have identified 10 new genetic variants that lead to differences in glucose levels for non-diabetic people. Half of these genetic differences also correlate to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
"Finding these new pathways can help us better understand how glucose is regulated, distinguish between normal and pathological glucose variations and develop potential new therapies for type 2 diabetes," Dr Jose Florez, one of the lead researchers, explained.
What researchers go on to say is that by studying healthy people without type 2 diabetes, their hope is we can better understand how to treat those people who are currently living with diabetes, or those simply trying to manage blood sugar every day.
No dispute here, it's an admirable pursuit. And most experts concede that the future of medicine will be greatly influenced by the study of the human genome. But a danger few people talk about is this science of medicine instead fueling a belief that if you have a genetic predisposition towards a disease, all you're left to do is throw up your hands and live with it.
The fact is, 55 percent of people dealing with type 2 diabetes are struggling with their weight, and regardless of your genes, diabetes and weight are unquestionably connected. Another lifestyle correlation -- making regular exercise a part of your life -- dramatically impacts your likelihood of facing type 2 diabetes, now or in the future.
By understanding how to manage your risk -- with the proper diet that promotes insulin sensitivity, with supplements for diabetes that make maintaining blood sugar safe and manageable -- you gain control of your genes, not allow your genes to seal your fate.
The fact that you're reading this means you're already taking steps to understand your role in your own health.
Remember, as Dr. Whitaker says, you're in charge. Not your doctor. Not the system. And, as we'll have to keep in mind as more studies like this come out, not your genes.
A recent study in the Journal of Applied Physiology highlights an important point for those living with diabetes or simply trying to maintain healthy blood sugar -- what you eat immediately after exercise can have a dramatic impact on your ability to control your blood sugar and maintain insulin sensitivity.
While it's no surprise that exercise can enhance insulin sensitivity, what we're learning is how to best maintain that benefit for a longer period of time, so you get a more lasting impact from your efforts. When study participants were given post-exercise meals containing relatively low levels of carbohydrates, the benefits for insulin sensitivity were greatest.
When you improve your insulin sensitivity, it's easier for your body to absorb the sugar in your blood stream into your tissues, where it can be stored or used as fuel. One of the main signs of type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance, which is also a significant risk factor for other chronic diseases, like heart disease.
The good news is that efforts to eat modestly after exercise, with low-calorie meals, did not improve insulin sensitivity any more than when study participants ate enough calories to match what they burned off. As anyone who's hopped on a treadmill knows, exercise often increases hunger, and it's good to know you don't have to fight the urge to eat after a workout to still take advantage of the important blood sugar benefits.
Exercise Acts Like A Natural Shot of Insulin
As Dr. Whitaker has pointed out in Health & Healing, exercise dramatically improves your ability to fight diabetes and insulin resistance. That's because exercise actually acts like insulin in the body — the exercising muscle takes up glucose, even when no insulin is present. And if you exercise regularly, the benefits can be long-lasting.
Given the soaring rate of obesity in this country and the connection between diabetes and weight, exercise is more important than ever to stem the epidemic of type 2 diabetes, and keep those with metabolic syndrome from progressing toward full-blown disease.
As studies have shown, regular exercise (just 30 minutes, five days a week) and a low-fat diet can deliver average sustained weight loss of 10-15 pounds. This alone can help prevent diabetes or reverse the disease if you already have it.
Brisk walking, jogging, cycling, swimming — it's not what you do but your commitment to actually do it that matters. Shoot for 30 minutes 3-5 times a week. Once you start, and you start reaping the rewards, it's that much easier to stick with it!
If you have diabetes, you know how important it is to carefully monitor your food choices to avoid unwanted spikes in blood glucose levels. This is especially true when it comes to sweeteners. Let’s take a look at some options that offer you the taste you’re craving, without the unwanted side effects.
By far, my favorite sweeteners are the natural ones. Topping the list is stevia. This herb has been used for over 1,500 years in South America and continues to boast worldwide popularity. It is calorie-free and does not affect glucose levels, making it easier to control blood sugar. Just a few drops of a liquid concentrate or a dusting of powdered stevia is all you need to lend sweetness to any dish.
Running a close second is xylitol. This sweetener looks and tastes like sugar, making it ideal for baking. Better yet, it’s good for your teeth—Xylitol actually reduces cavity and plaque formation, a dental claim approved by the FDA. Although xylitol is not calorie-free, it is metabolized much more slowly than regular sugar and has an extremely low glycemic index. The only reported side effect is gastrointestinal distress when large amounts are ingested.
A third option is a sweetener I’ve recently begun recommending called Whey Low. It also tastes just like table sugar (sucrose), but is actually a combination of fructose, lactose, and sucrose. The lactose interferes with the absorption of sucrose, instantly cutting calories and stopping the sucrose from being absorbed into your blood stream—which allows you to satisfy your sweet tooth and still maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
Give them a try and let me know which one you like best.
Seems you might get more than you bargained for with your $5 foot-long.
According to a study of heavy meat eaters published in the journal Diabetologia, a diet high in processed meats -- think bologna, salami, hot dogs and the like -- could increase your risk of type 2 diabetes by as much as 40 percent.
The incidence of diabetes with a high meat diet rose 17 percent overall, but with red meat, the increase lept to over 20 percent. Processed meats drove diabetes risk even higher still.
But why, exactly? What is it about an Italian hoagie that could specifically cause type 2 diabetes?
The researchers involved speculate that the culprit could be nitrates.
"Nitrosamines can be formed by the interaction of amino compounds with nitrates present either in the stomach or within the food product,” they said. “[Nitrosamines] have been linked to beta cell toxicity. In addition, low doses of the nitrosamine streptozotocin were found to induce type 2 diabetes in animal models.”
Because beta cells produce and regulate the release of insulin, a diet heavy in anything that targets and kills them off is a recipe for a diabetes disaster. Healthy beta cells equal healthy glucose levels in the blood. Without them, glucose levels can spike unabated, insulin sensitivity plummets, and maintaining healthy blood sugar becomes a weighty challenge.
Clearly, maintaining a healthy diet is paramount to beating diabetes, or preventing diabetes and nearly any other serious health condition in the first place.
And no one would argue, save the commissioner of Major League Baseball, that hot dogs are a good choice, no matter what your health concerns are.
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...
Diabetes, like most chronic illnesses, is often (and rightly) characterized as a disease of lifestyle. Specific lifestyle choices can create and exacerbate type 2 diabetes, but as Dr. Whitaker has 
A recent study in the 
Finally, a reason to feel good about my daily venti dark roast fix. 
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