Reversing Adult Onset Diabetes

[NJCher]

I was gardening this a.m. and listening to the radio. Democracy Now had a show on (not listed at their site, unfortunately) that intrigued me. In fact, I almost turned it off since I don't have this problem but my gloves were dirty and I didn't want to mess with tuning the radio so I left the show on. I'm glad I did!

Something You Won't Hear Anywhere Else

The show was about adult onset diabetes and they interviewed this doctor who very much impressed me with his sincerity about solving patient problems about diabetes. His name is Dr. Neal Barnard. He has an organization called Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

When he said there was research that hadn't been taken into account with diabetes treatment, my ears perked up. He said, "You will not hear this anywhere else." What "it" is is research that shows diabetes has something to do with little fat globules in the muscle. His treatment, which is backed by research he did with the National Institute of Health, is far more effective in treating it and in fact can even reverse it.

The answer is a low-fat vegan diet.

One reason this research is not being recognized is that the continuing education that is required of M.D. has been pretty much taken over by the pharmaceutical companies. Thus research that does not benefit them is not brought to doctors through the required continuing ed.

Unfortunately a lot of people will not be able to adjust to such a diet. I did, however, want to post this in case any of you or your loved ones are dealing with this problem.

Here is a link to his book page:

http://www.nealbarnard.org/diabetes_book.htm


Cher

[OneGrassRoot]

1. I met him back in the late 80's...

He struck me as indeed very sincere, and I just loved his organization, which was in place at that time as well.

This is good information. Thanks so much for sharing! :hug:

[conscious evolution]

2. Sanicula Europaea

Anyone ever heard of this herb?Supposedly it is very good for rectifying the pancreas and problems associated with it.Including diabetes.

[northernlights]

3. looking forward to reading his work

and the biochemistry behind it. Just a nit, but it is already known (and being taught) that Type 2 diabetes is controllable/reversible by diet and losing weight. We covered diabetes quite a bit in clinical chemistry the last 2 semesters. So that part isn't new...

I like Dr. Barnard -- I think I've seen him on PBS and maybe have one of his books somewhere around here :D. It's good to see someone getting the word out where it where people can find it :D

[JanusAscending]

4. I was going to chime in about

adult onset diabetes too. I am a regular fan of "Biggest loser" and many of the participants reversed their diabetes and hypertension when they took off the weight! I was discussing this with my physical therapist just this AM when she made her bi weekly visit.

[kimmerspixelated]

5. Really, just common sense.

It is important info that gets slung to the wayside when big pharma's profiteering rules everything in the med world. What's terribly tragic is that some with diabetes will simply rely on the dangerous meds to work instead of trying something more disciplined, but with greater results. SOme will try the combo, but not feel altogether great because of the side effects and just give in to the fact that they think they are doomed to feel bad. This radio show you listened to probably helped a lot of folks and that's the main thing. In the near future, hopefully, Big Pharma's voice will be muffled like trans fats in most foods on the market today.

[tanyev]

6. One other teeny nit to pick.

My husband was diagnosed with Adult Onset Diabetes last year, but it was not Type 2, which I believe Dr. Barnard focuses on exclusively. It's not common, but apparently Type 1 can also manifest suddenly in an adult, most likely as a result of some type of auto-immune reaction. My husband's doctors don't even use the terms Juvenile Diabetes or Adult Onset Diabetes. They use Type 1 or Type 2. DH has always been slim and in good physical shape--there was no transitional phase from Type 2 into Type 1. His doctor has limited him to 40 carbs per meal and his insulin dose is calculated accordingly. Moral of the story: if you ever start suddenly feeling run-down, really thirsty and have to go to the bathroom much more often, go see a doctor right away.

[northernlights]

9. yup...the terms juvenile and adult onset have lost their meaning

Due to sedentary lifestyle and overeating junk, teenagers are developing what used to be called "adult onset." And what was called "juvenile" in the past is now called type 1, insulin-dependent, diabetes mellitus.

Type 1 often starts with a viral infection -- mumps, rubella, Epstein-Barr -- that develops into an autoimmune reaction with circulating antibodies that destroy the beta cells of the islet of langerhan, which are the cells that make insulin. It can also be genetic or idiopathic (no known cause); in those cases no circulating antibodies are found, but the pancreas is unable to produce insulin. It's onset is sudden and characterized by the "3 Ps", aka polyphasia, polydipsia and polyuria (constant hunger, thirst and urine; also sudden weight loss).

Type 2 diabete mellitus has no relation to viruses, is milder, more insidious in onset, and is a *relative* deficiency of insulin activity and insulin-resistance. 80% of type 2 diabetes patients are obese at the time of diagnosis and loss of weight controls and even reverses it.

There is now also what is sometimes referred to as Type 3 diabetes -- juveniles with insulin-dependent Type 1 that, due to overweight, show some symptoms associated with Type 2.

And the 4th type is gestational diabetes, which temporarily occurs due to metabolic and hormonal changes of pregnancy. It increases the risk of diabetes later in life, and also puts the newborns at risk of hypoglycemia.

[Celebration]

7. now HERE is an anecdote

I have a younger friend who had gestational diabetes when she was pregnant with her now three year old daughter. She also has Type 2 in her family. She wasn't feeling great and when she went to the doctor she had a high blood sugar reading. The doctor wanted additional testing. She called me because she knew I knew a lot about diabetes. I told her to get a home glucose monitor and start counting carbs, and see what affects her blood sugar. That only sort of helped, as she was still getting spikes. Oh, I forgot to mention she is not a pound overweight.

Then, she started talking about other things bothering her--constant sinus infections. When she said that I asked her if she ever had candida infections, because sinus infections were related to yeast overgrowth. She sort of screamed YES. She had asked the doctor if these things were related and the doctor said NO. This friend of mine does muscle testing so I asked her to muscle test herself to see if the candida and yeast was related to the diabetes. YES.

I told her she needed to find an anti candida diet and go on it, and see what happened. She had gone to an energetic conference with me and picked up a book that was recommended there--The Body Ecology Diet. No sugars of course, but also things like sauerkraut, etc. She followed that book to the letter and her high blood sugars completely disappeared. It isn't low carb or vegetarian as much as just related to the candida. She was well down the path to having Type 2 diabetes.

What happens in leaky gut syndrome is that the proteins escape the intestines, and are attacked by the immune system. That sets the body into the inflammation mode, and it is hard to escape this without intervention.

Anyway, this REALLY worked for her, in a huge way. Doctors know that diabetes can cause candida, but they don't realize that the reverse is also true, and a negative feedback loop forms.

Maybe this story will help someone here.

[elleng]

8. Researchers on trail of a faster, easier test to detect pre-diabetes.

http://www.topnews.in/researchers-trail-faster-easier-test-detect-prediabetes-2266873

[NJCher]

10. posting some recipes from Dr. Barnard

Interesting post, Celebration. It shows how complex diabetes can be. I really know very little about it but I have become more interested since reading about the rise of it in our country.

I've decided I want to try his diet two days of the week, which I have designated at Tuesday and Friday. I ordered his book and I also found this rather extensive collection of recipes on the 'Net. I looked them over and think many of them would be quite enjoyable:

http://www.nealbarnard.org/pdfs/Diabetes_Recipes.pdf


Cher

[Sanity Claws]

11. Great minds think alike

Cher,

Within the past week, I also decided to go vegetarian twice a week. I had not designated any days of the week yet but I like your idea and will follow it.

Thanks for the link to the recipes. They sound very good and very do-able.