You “have” diabetes.
Okay, maybe you don’t (or maybe you just don’t know it yet), but I had a one-in- three chance of being spot on with that one. In fact, if you don’t have diabetes, consider yourself REALLY lucky, or maybe you’re in the minority and just plain healthy. Oh, and guess what! Your chances of being diagnosed with diabetes goes up with every day you get older, so if you aren’t exhibiting symptoms of diabetes right now, chances are pretty good you will – just give it time.
This “cheery” prediction comes from a recent report out of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [1] [2] which paints a pretty dire picture for the U.S.. More than 100 million Americans have either diabetes or pre-diabetes. Of those 100 million, 4% were of age 18-44; 17% between 45-64 years old; and, 25% were above age 65. The report also details trends based on the level of education one has. Graduate high school? You’re 3.1% less likely to have diabetes than someone who hasn’t. Graduate college? That put you in a 2.2% smaller pool. But here’s the scary part…with every study, the overall rates continue to go UP, so it doesn’t really even matter the demographics or economics of your specific situation..
Why should you care? Well, diabetes, over time, can lead to problems such as nerve damage, dental disease, kidney disease and eye issues. [3] And, it was the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2015 (the year this data was compiled). Scarier yet, the longer you have diabetes, the higher your chances of developing heart disease. [4] In fact, adults with diabetes are nearly twice as likely to die from heart disease or stroke as people without diabetes. And guess where those two things rank on the worldwide deaths and mortality list – first and fifth, respectively. [5] Now, I’m not a statistician, but I don’t think it takes one to see that having diabetes “ain’t good.”
So what is diabetes anyway? Simply put, it’s your body’s adaptive response to being exposed to consistently high amounts of toxic foods. See, you don’t “catch” diabetes. You earn it.
Here’s what happens (at a very high level, admittedly). When you eat or drink something, your body breaks down those ingredients into their most basic forms. One of the most prominent building blocks of food is glucose (a carbohydrate). Every cell in your body can utilize glucose as a fuel, but in order for the glucose to get into the cell, a “door” has to be opened, and only insulin knows the secret knock. Insulin is the hormone, made by the pancreas, that regulates the amount of glucose in your blood by offering it up to the cells. Once all the cells have their share, any extra glucose is shuttled into your fat stores for later, because your body can only handle so much glucose just floating in your blood stream. Bad things happen when there’s too much sugar in your blood stream. The system is quite brilliant, actually – and the majority of the time, it works pretty well. But, abuse the system, and things start to go haywire.
After excessive and/or constant carbohydrate consumption (yes, protein has affects on insulin as well), the cells (already full of fuel) just start “ignoring” insulin’s knocking. This would be the pre-diabetes stage (also referred to as “insulin resistance”). It is the cells’ subtle hint, “Enough already! Give me a break.” Maybe a little heart broken at first, insulin isn’t completely discouraged from performing its primary mission. It continues to keep blood glucose at a safe level by transporting all that sweet energy into fat. But eventually, the cells constant apathetic attitude takes its toll. The pancreas sees all its hard work of producing insulin as a complete waste of time and energy, so it simply makes less. I mean, the cells aren’t going to use it. They’ve got their own sugar stores packed to the brim, and you sure as heck aren’t going to listen to the lonely cries of rejected insulin and stop consuming SUGAR!
Well, less insulin means less control over rising blood sugars. And too much sugar is toxic to the body. Enter your doctor, who prescribes you Metformin (or some other obscure attempt at picking up the slack from your burnt out pancreas). “Awesome!” says your pancreas, “Now I don’t have to work at all to make this silly insulin!” Crap! I guess we need to start manually injecting ourselves with synthetic insulin, now! This would be Type II diabetes. Since the environment hasn’t changed (i.e. the toxin not removed), you continue to get worse. Just remember, your cells (at this point) need sugar like a competitive eater needs an all-you-can-eat buffet after a hot dog eating contest. So, if the cells aren’t going to accept any sugar, where is that synthetic insulin going to put all that extra carbohydrate? You guessed it! FAT.
According to The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Health Information Center (holy crap that’s a mouthful), there is no “cure” for diabetes – BUT! It can be managed! [6] Well, they are kinda right. There is no magic pill that you can take to “cure” this condition. That much is true. Your body has adapted to its environment. If your environment doesn’t change, it will continue to deal with those stresses the way it’s evolved to over the past hundreds of thousands of years. But what if you changed the environment? What if…you removed the toxin?
Remember those stuck up cells that were too good for insulin? What if you played a little “hard to get?” What if you cut out the reason for them becoming tone deaf to the knocking? Like a date that suddenly becomes interesting when they stop smothering you and start dating someone else, insulin may still have a shot! Since excessive carbohydrate intake led to this problem, you’re probably wondering, “Maybe reducing the amount of sugar I consume on a daily basis would be a good start?” Yes. I think you’re on to something! And I know what you’re thinking…”If I stop poisoning my body and give it good, healthy foods – it will heal.” Now you’ve got it!
Later on, I’ll go into more detail about how insulin works in the body and how YOU can become the puppet master; how this hormone may not be the daemon everyone is making it out to be; how this all ties in to gaining weight and stimulating other physiological imbalances; and, the easy and effective lifestyle changes you can make (starting today) that will completely turn this thing around. Just think, in a few short weeks, you could be off that medication. In a handful of days, you could drop the mic on your doctor and strut out of that exam room beaming from the self-confidence you rightfully deserve for beating this. Don’t succumb to the outdated and hopeless disease management model and become another statistic that trends our impending doom. Be a part of this optimistic movement and start Heading Healthy, instead!
[1] https://www.cdc.gov/media/
[2] https://www.cdc.gov/
[3] https://www.niddk.nih.gov/
[5] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/
[6] https://www.niddk.nih.gov/
