Natural Diabetes Treatment

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...




 

If managing diabetes was simply a matter of controlling blood sugar, that would be one thing. But the condition is often accompanied by other troublesome complications, one of them being diabetic ulcers—wounds that heal slowly or not at all.

The good news is that there’s a far better natural treatment for these painful, persistent sores than today’s antibiotic therapies, and it’s one I’ve been using at the Whitaker Wellness Institute for more than 20 years. It’s a simple sugar dressing.

When white sugar or honey is packed inside and on top of a diabetic ulcer, it dissolves in the fluid exuding from the wound and creates a hyperosmotic, or highly concentrated, medium in which bacteria cannot exist. Scientists have tested the viability of many types of bacteria, including Klebsiella, Shigella, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pyogenes, and none of them have been able to survive in a honey or sugar solution.

In addition to curbing infection, this therapy facilitates healing in other ways. It draws fluid out of the wound, which reduces swelling. It provides a covering or filling and therefore prevents scabbing. It encourages the removal of dead tissue to make way for new growth. It promotes granulation, which is the formation of connective tissue and blood vessels on the surface of a wound. Finally, it supports the growth of new skin covering the wound.

Although we use them specifically to heal diabetic ulcers, sugar or honey dressings can be used to treat any kind of open wound or burn. However, they will not work on abscesses or pustules that are covered with skin. Also, do not use them on a bleeding wound, because sugar promotes bleeding. (By the way, sugar and honey are perfectly safe to use on diabetic wounds because they do not enter the bloodstream.)

Here’s how to use sugar to treat a diabetic ulcer:

• Unravel a 4” x 4” piece of gauze into a long strip and coat it with Vaseline. Place it around the outside edges of the wound, like a donut.
• Cover the wound with ¼-inch of sugar. (The Vaseline “donut” will keep it in place.)
• Place a 4” x 4” sponge on top of the wound. Bandage it firmly but not too snugly with a cling dressing.
• Change the dressing every one or two days. Remove, irrigate with water, saline, or hydrogen peroxide, pat dry, and repeat steps 1–3.

This is one diabetic complication you don't have to live with. Give this approach a try. I think you’ll be happy with the results.

 

Oh vitamin D, is there anything you can't do?

As I've written before, the "D" in vitamin D may soon be shorthand for "diabetes fighter" as the pile of research continues to grow supporting this humble nutrient's power to maintain blood sugar and beat back diabetes naturally. 

This, of course, is in addition to the already long list of benefits for vitamin D, including immune fortifier, bone builder, PMS and SAD preventer, fibromyalgia fighter, C-reactive protein reducer and mood booster.

If anything has earned the moniker "the sunshine vitamin," it's this.

The latest good news for vitamin D takers comes from the British Journal of Nutrition, which showed that by increasing levels of D, you can improve insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity, two major risk factors for developing diabetes.

Study participants taking 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily for six months showed "significant improvements" in both insulin sensitivity and insulin resistance, according to the New Zealand researchers conducting the study. 

The improvements were also accompanied a decrease in fasting insulin levels, another boon for those struggling with diabetes, pre-diabetes, or metabolic syndrome.

This study focused on the D3 form of vitamin D, also known as cholecalciferol, which Dr. Whitaker recommends due to its bioavailability. It's also the form created naturally in the body from regular sun exposure.

The bottom line. If you're not taking vitamin D, start. If you haven't asked your doctor to check your vitamin D levels, do it soon. You're not going to find a more inexpensive, easy-to-take, versatile natural remedy than this one, whether you're focused on beating diabetes naturally, or just looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

For most people with type 2 diabetes, getting a handle on weight is all it takes for blood sugar to normalize, complications to fade away, and overall health to rebound. But shedding those extra pounds isn’t easy—especially when many of the conventional treatments used to control blood sugar actually promote weight gain. 

One of the worst offenders is insulin. Although it’s generally associated with type 1 diabetes, insulin is used by more than one in four people as a type 2 diabetes treatment. And, in most of those cases, it only makes things worse.

A patient of mine—let’s call him Bill—had type 2 diabetes for 10 years prior to seeking treatment at the Whitaker Wellness Institute. At the time he was diagnosed, Bill’s physician started him on an oral drug that stimulates insulin production. It worked for a while, but his blood sugar—and his weight—slowly began to increase. His doctor responded by upping his dosage. Again, his levels improved for a time, but eventually both his blood sugar and his waistline inched up.

Eventually Bill was no longer able to control his blood sugar with oral drugs, so his doctor prescribed a low dose of insulin. Over the next few years, his insulin dose was periodically ratcheted upward to keep pace with his rising blood sugar levels, and with every increase, he gained more and more weight. When I first saw Bill, he was taking 100 units of insulin daily and had put on 100 pounds!

A Vicious Cycle

Let me explain why patients like Bill find themselves in this predicament. Type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance. In people with this condition, 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.

Excess weight makes the problem worse. 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.

Fat cells also secrete hormones, one of them being leptin. Although leptin is best known for its role in regulating appetite and energy metabolism, researchers have discovered that it also has direct effects on insulin secretion and beta cell growth.

As if that weren’t enough, high levels of insulin themselves promote weight gain. That’s because insulin is the body’s primary fat-storage hormone—it ushers fat into the cells as well as glucose. So the higher your insulin level, the greater your potential weight gain.

Lose Weight, Lose Diabetes

The best way to break this cycle is to shed excess weight. For best results, cut out starches, sugars, and other high-glycemic carbohydrates; eat plenty of lean protein, vegetables, and fiber; and take a brisk, 10- to 15-minute walk after every meal. Nutritional supplements that enhance weight loss, help lower blood sugar, and protect against diabetic complications—such as alpha lipoic acid, chromium, cinnamon, and Gymnema sylvestre, to name a few—are also important.

Bill had great success with this natural diabetes treatment. It took several years, but he lost those 100 extra pounds, and he was able to control his blood sugar without any medication at all.

 

As the General Manager of Forward Nutrition, I'm constantly reading and researching about supplements and health, particularly when it involves diabetes. Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome are huge problems that are only getting worse in this country, and natural treatments for diabetes don't get nearly the attention they deserve.

This article from the April 2009 issue of Nutritional Outlook (ok, I'm a little behind) is too good not to share.

Entitled "Understanding a Silent Killer," this is must reading if you're at all concerned about diabetes, maintaining or managing blood sugar, or seeking natural, safe treatments to treat Type 2 diabetes.

Among the natural treatments for diabetes care discussed are alpha-lipoic acid, dietary fiber, gymnema sylvestre and chromium. These nutrients have been shown repeatedly to help manage blood sugar, control blood sugar spikes, and reduce sugar cravings and mood swings.

Alpha-lipoic acid doesn't just improve insulin sensitivity, but also protects against diabetic complications like peripheral nerve pain. It's one of the best natural diabetes treatments, and it also helps your body utilize the other antioxidants you take, like vitamins C and E.