Are you concerned about your risk for diabetes? You should be. That is, if you are not eating properly! Did you know that diabetes has had a six fold increase during the past four decades? It is one of the leading causes of death by disease, and can lead to other serious conditions like heart disease and kidney disease. Not only that, but diabetes is also a large cause of limb amputations, adult blindness, and erectile dysfunction.
But there is hope! There is good news to this story! In fact, there is great news! Adult onset diabetes is a completely preventable disease! You can dramatically cut your risk of developing adult onset diabetes, just by making some changes in your lifestyle and eating habits.
STOP DIABETES BEFORE IT STARTS!
You may be headed there and you don’t even know it!
Most likely you have heard us talk about Syndrome X, or metabolic syndrome in some of our prior newsletters. You can look at Metabolic Syndrome as the precursor to diabetes and heart disease. In other words, these people are on the road to worsening health if they do not do something about it immediately. These are the “ticking time bombs,” if you will. We see a lot of people in our office with Metabolic Syndrome, and many times he/she does not even know that he/she has it.
An estimated 1 in 5 American adults have Metabolic Syndrome. It is categorized by a group of medical conditions that seem to occur as a result of increased levels of insulin production. This is primarily due to excessive carbohydrate intake and overeating.
Some of the conditions associated with Metabolic Syndrome include:
| 1. | High blood pressure, |
| 2. | Elevated blood sugar levels, |
| 3. | High “bad” cholesterol and triglyceride levels, |
| 4. | Low “good” cholesterol, and |
| 5. | Increased abdominal fatness. |
If you are already experiencing some of the above conditions, take this e-newsletter as your wake up call! These conditions are not just signs of “normal aging” that can be expected. I know some of you are experiencing these things and you are still in your 30’s! You need a comprehensive natural medicine evaluation by Dr. Hauser who can give you a complete overhaul! You need to make some changes in your dietary and lifestyle habits and come up with a plan now – before it’s too late!
SHOULDN’T I JUST WAIT FOR MY DOCTOR TO PRESCRIBE SOMETHING?
Listen to what we are saying! Adult onset diabetes is preventable! But with that, comes change! It’s not about taking a little pill! It’s about getting healthy and CHANGING! Some of you have not eaten a vegetable for years! Some of you have left a permanent butt-mark in your couch or chair because you sit there so frequently. Eating the appropriate diet for your Diet Type, in addition to a rigorous exercise plan can stop you from developing diabetes, along with a lifestyle of checking your blood sugars and worrying about going blind!
Check this out! This study from the New England Journal of Medicine just looked at walking as lifestyle intervention. When compared to placebo, or to a popular prescription drug Glucophage, lifestyle intervention (150 minutes of brisk walking per week) was the most successful in decreasing the incidence of the onset of diabetes. Imagine what you can do with a more aggressive exercise regimen? In our opinion, walking is usually not enough to get people to their optimal health and fitness goals.
Walking may be a great place to start. But many will start making excuses about why they cannot exercise – the weather is too hot or too cold; they are too tired at night; they have no exercise partner; their spouse just watches TV and the list goes on. One of the best things you can do to prevent diabetes (or get rid of diabetes if you have already been diagnosed with it) is exercise, so get out there and go! Hire a trainer if you don’t know what to do! Caring Medical has a personal trainer on staff who is just waiting to talk to you!
DIETARY CHANGES: IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE SUGAR!
Okay, let’s talk about eating here! Let me tell you about a couple of friends of mine. They are both, unfortunately, on the very heavy side and do not eat the way they are supposed to eat. Exercise is 3 minutes of walking to them. The husband has been diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes, both of which he takes “a pill” for. Both eat a huge amount of sugar-free foods such as diet soda, sugar free jello, sugar free candies, sugar free ice cream, sugar free pies, and the like, thinking that this is the way diabetics should eat. All the while, neither of them is getting any thinner!
I was recently out to dinner with them, and again, I observed these strange (to me) eating behaviors:
| 1. | The husband told the waitress to put the BBQ sauce from the ribs on the side because he was diabetic. |
| 2. | The husband poured three Equals into his iced tea – each time it was refilled! |
| 3. | The couple ate two bread baskets full of white bread. |
| 4. | The husband ordered the ribs and a double order of mashed potatoes, no vegetables. |
| 5. | The wife ordered the ribs, also with the BBQ sauce on the side, and a baked potato, of which she didn’t eat because the restaurant didn’t have margarine instead of butter. |
| 6. | Both ordered salad with the dressing on the side. When the iceberg lettuce salad came, they poured on all of the dressing and then some, atop the salad and scarfed it down! |
| 7. | The wife ordered a dessert to be shared by the table and the diabetic husband had a huge portion, including the ala mode and whipped cream! |
When you examine just the above meal habits, you see many problems, first and foremost being that this couple is addicted to carbs! They pretend to be eating the right way for diabetics, but they don’t. In the above example, here’s what could have been done:
REVAMP YOUR INTAKE:
| 1. | Have a little BBQ sauce, but order a half slab of ribs, not a whole slab. |
| 2. | Drink plain unsweetened iced tea. It takes some getting used to, but nobody needs that much artificial sweetener – plus it’s not good for you! |
| 3. | Ask your server to leave the bread in the kitchen! Do not even tempt yourselves with having it on the table! |
| 4. | Substitute vegetables for white rice or potatoes, such as green beans, spinach, squash, stewed tomatoes, or broccoli. Often restaurants will do this for you. |
| 5. | Have half of the baked potato with the skin and add a little pat of butter and a teaspoon or two of milk, wish a dash of salt. |
| 6. | Ask if the salad is made with iceberg lettuce or dark greens. If all you get is iceberg lettuce, skip the salad and order some side vegetables. Otherwise, you’re just eating a carrier for salad dressing and not getting any nutrient value! |
| 7. | Skip dessert and have a coffee or a cup of hot tea if you need something after dinner. Share some fruit if you must have something sweet. |
DO YOU EAT LIKE THIS?
Take a look at your food and drink intake over the next week or the next time you are out. Think about what is health-promoting (diabetes defeating) and what is health-defeating (diabetes promoting). These friends are definitely addicted to that sweet taste and they eat too much food, period! They try to say that they are eating healthy for diabetes, when in reality, they are just eating too much food, not enough fresh vegetables, and loads of carbs!
Health-promoting foods are fresh, whole foods such as meat/fish/poultry, nuts, soy, legumes, essential fats, and vegetables.
Health-defeating foods include fast food, sugar-laden food, artificially sweetened food, fried food, soda, desserts, and almost all packaged food. These foods tend to be void of fiber and vitamins, while overloaded with chemicals, and the wrong nutrient breakdown for you!
What’s the best thing to drink? Plenty of purified water! Cut out sodas! Cut out the juice! Cut out the alcohol! Cut out the coffee with sweetened creamer!
Do you know how to eat? To best determine the breakdown of protein, fat, and carbs that is right for you, get Diet Typing! This objective laboratory testing procedure will help determine the best break down of foods for your Diet Type.
NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS
You can supplement with high grade nutritional supplements that help to help keep your blood sugar balanced, reduce oxidative damage, and keep you from feeling “carb-starved.”
