Overweight or Diabetic?

[Guest guest]

Overweight or Diabetic?

http://www.drhui.com/overweight-or-diabetic/

 

How to Prevent, or Correct the Problem

By Fred Hui, M.D.

 

Obesity and diabetes have a common cause and they can lead to each other. I

would like to give you insight into some oversights by mainstream medicine.

 

The patient with either of these health conditions has trouble metabolizing

carbohydrates. The underlying cause is a phenomenon called Insulin Resistance.

Carbohydrates are sugar (including fruit and juices) and starch (bread,

potatoes, pasta, rice, corn or any grains, or root vegetables). When we eat

carbohydrates the body digests and converts them into sugar (glucose in the

blood).

 

Type 1, juvenile onset diabetics have a problem secreting insulin. Type 2

diabetics (90% of all diabetics) do not have a lack of insulin. They, in fact,

have too much insulin floating around (hyperinsulinism), because they have

insensitive insulin receptors, or a lack of them on the surface of the cells.

The

end result is that sugar is not transported into the cells to be burned for

energy. Instead, the sugar is turned into fat.

 

What’s wrong with increased circulating levels of insulin? Insulin stimulates

the appetite. One of its main functions is to convert excess sugar to fat.

When insulin is at a higher level, there is a more rapid conversion of blood

sugar into fat. Insulin resistance results in a higher proportion of blood sugar

being converted into fat than just meeting the normal needs of the body

(muscles, organs, etc). This is the usual case of people eating more than they

need.

The unfortunate thing is that they are driven to eat as a result of the

excess insulin in circulation.

 

Blood sugars dropping quickly from a high level can bring on hunger. And when

it has been packed away as fat rapidly, the rest of the body cries out for

more food in a steady supply.

 

We can see at a glance on the street who has hyperinsulinism. Externally they

have a “spare tire,†internally they have increasingly thickened arterial

walls. Excess insulin causes damage to arterial walls. This in turn causes

cholesterol to patch up the damage. Over time, the arterial walls become thicker

and thicker, leading to circulation problems, and a higher risk of stroke and

heart attack.

 

As a result, even though a diabetic has seemingly good sugar control when

fasting, after eating, it rises significantly. So, an obese person, with normal

sugar at the time of a medical checkup, will eventually suffer the consequences

of arterial blockage: angina, heart attacks, stroke and decreased circulation

in the legs. It is not just high sugars that are detrimental, but also the

large amounts of insulin in circulation.

 

Glyburide, the most common medicine prescribed for diabetes, forces the

pancreas to create more insulin, and, in fact is not addressing the problem. It

may

help reduce blood sugar in the blood stream but it will burn out the pancreas

faster, make you fatter and stimulate your hunger sometimes to frustrating

levels even when you don’t really want to eat. Insulin is the “hunger

hormone.â€

For those of you that are taking Glyburide, have you noticed that you cannot

resist hunger? You constantly need to eat, or even have a disturbing craving

for sweets.

 

If you were to do an educational experiment tomorrow morning by eating a

large, high calorie breakfast that consists of lots of fruit, cereal, muffins,

toast (all carbohydrates) you would think you should not be hungry for quite a

while. But by 11:30 am you will feel extra hungry and shaky. What is happening

is a high carbohydrate meal will trigger the body to release lots of insulin

into the blood stream and carbohydrate is easily and quickly stored away within

three hours. Then 3 ½ hours later your sugar may be so low that you might feel

you would “kill†to get something sweet to give yourself a “sugar fix.â€

Consequently, your physiology prompts you to look for a big, satisfying sweet or

carbohydrate filled lunch and the vicious cycle repeats itself.

 

The Solution Tried During the Last 30 Years

 

Conventional mainstream medical advice for weight loss is to avoid fat, and

avoid the meat that contains fat and eat more complex carbohydrates. Based upon

results, this concept does not work. The incidence of obesity and adult onset

diabetes has been increasing at an alarming rate. Recently released in the

news is the shocking fact that diabetes has increased 31% in Ontario in only 5

years from 1995 to 1999.

 

When average North Americans rely on “whole wheat bread and no oil pasta†as

their main calorie source, their waistlines just keep getting bigger. They

may try to diet and cut their total calories and amount of food. While calorie

restriction may work in the short term, when the body senses that there is a

famine happening, it will adjust and become more thrifty. It will slow down the

body’s metabolism rate and concentrate on “storing fat†rather than “

spending energy.†The body then feels tired, and the food is tasteless.

McDonalds

tried to market a low fat hamburger, but they gave up as nobody liked it enough

to buy it. People give up on these restrictive diets and gain their weight back

because they go overboard again in eating, after being deprived.

 

What is the Real Solution?

 

When Dr Atkins first proposed a low carbohydrate, high protein diet, he was

ridiculed, and angrily opposed. In spite of the favourable consumer feedback,

judging from the number of best selling books based on a variation of the

Atkins diet. Read the various good books such as “The Zone†diet, the

Carbohydrate

Addicts’ Diet, Protein Power by the two Dr Eades, and the Suzanne Somers’

diet, among others. Mainstream medical doctors and dieticians have been the last

to accept the low carbohydrate diets because they are afraid of recommending

diets with saturated fats. Now, the diet is finally gaining ground. Even

prominent academics such as Walter Willett, chairman of the department of

nutrition

at the Harvard School of Public Health, have become strong proponents of this

diet.

 

What is an Ideal Diet?

 

It goes without saying that if you are overweight or diabetic, you should

avoid sugar. The main point is to avoid filling up on starches, no matter how

good you think complex carbohydrates may be. Instead, eat lots of green

vegetables, lean meat and oily fish and nuts.

 

Some guidelines such as Health Canada’s Food Guide Pyramid are outdated for

our sedentary lifestyle. You should imagine a food pyramid where low

carbohydrate vegetables are at the base and rice is just a small side dish. By

eating

the bulk of your meals as starches, or sugar you become victimized by the

effects of insulin, whereby you feel compelled to eat soon afterwards.

 

For the diabetic, don’t just check your fasting blood sugar, but check your

level 2 hours after a meal, to give you direct feedback about your worst case

scenarios, and to determine how different foods affect your blood sugar.

 

Exercise Regularly

 

If your insulin receptors are insensitive, they are not depressed

permanently. The receptors have only receded temporarily because your cells are

not

calling out for more glucose. While fat cells can expand indefinitely, other

cells

have only limited room for storing glucose. Cells withdraw their willingness

to accept glucose by making the receptors either insensitive or pulling them

away from the cell wall.

 

You should at least go walking twice a day for half an hour, not just to burn

calories but to re-sensitize your insulin receptors and bring them back into

action, by using up your accumulated stores of glycogen (stored glucose) in

your cells. The receptors will be signaled to go to the cell walls to collect

more glucose.

 

Other Measures

 

There are numerous health supplements that have a positive effect such as the

Ayurvedic Indian herb, Gymnema Sylvestre.

 

Chinese herbs containing bitter melon are extremely useful.

 

Research indicates this amazing herb has positive benefits on blood sugar

control, helps with sugar cravings and may help to regenerate the pancreas.

 

Chromium is useful for stabilizing blood sugar levels, both the high and the

low. It helps insulin attach to the receptor sites.

 

I have used a mixture of Chinese herbs that has a wonderful, dramatic effect

on blood sugar control. I have managed to get most type 2 diabetic patients

off insulin or all their diabetic medication, while still maintaining good blood

sugar control.

 

The mixture of herbs seems to promote progressive healing of the diabetic

system so that the patient has less need for medication, including even the need

for the herbs.

 

To help sensitize the insulin receptors and to reopen blocked circulation,

Intravenous Chelation Therapy has also been extremely effective. Diabetics are

prone to heart disease, clogged arteries resulting in poor circulation, with

reduced oxygen and nutrient delivery to tissues and organs can lead to:

 

-- Calf pain when walking

-- Shortness of breath and chest pain when carrying a heavy load or going up

stairs

-- Cold feet and cold fingers

-- Shrinkage of the brain due to impaired blood flow

-- Difficulty with memory management

-- Vision problems including macular degeneration

-- Declining function of all organs

 

Current treatments for arteriosclerosis include medications, exercise, wise

food choices, and supplements. When these are not enough, more heart patients

are turning to Chelation Therapy, which has been in use since WWII and is now

refined to a fine art. Chelation is a series of intravenous infusions including

the following ingredients:

 

-- “EDTA†(Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetate) — a metal binding agent that

has

the magnetic ability to attract and “hand cuff†heavy metals and misplaced

calcium that have been hardening and calcifying our arterial “pipesâ€.

-- A high dose of vitamin C – to work as an anti-oxidant, neutralizing

harmful free radicals in our circulation. In this way, Vitamin C serves to

“rust

proof†the linings of our arterial pipes.

-- A high dose of magnesium — to relax the arteries and return flexibility to

our arterial “hoseâ€.

-- Vitamin B12 — provides energy to every cell.

-- Vitamins B6 and B1 work together to reduce toxic substances like “

homocystine†that accelerate the blockage of arteries.

 

This has become the safest natural method of treating heart disease. It is

the solution for those who have been told surgery is no longer an option, and

for those who want a more complete, full body solution that is non-invasive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

A very good article shan, I am always saying (nagging) that hunger is really low

blood sugar, I had terrible low blood sugar problems up until 10 years ago - not

surprising really as I've been a sugar addict for 45 years !

Now that I have it under control, I can have egg on toast at 7-30am and nothing

else til 1-00pm but, as the article quite rightly says - I don't get hungry at

all ... I know diabetics type 1 and 2 who 'use' a lot of white bread (sugar) and

white sugar and yes, they just take some more insulin !

I do try to 'preach' to these souls but - there are none so blind as those that

will not see !!

If I had taken the 'normal' route 10 years ago like most people, there is no

doubt I would be on Glyburide + Statins + + + by now, and for that I must thank

Frank, JoAnn & Marianne from when this esteemed group first started as

Gettiingwell some 6 or more years ago.

 

Ray.