Published October 4, 2003 in the North Island Weekender
Diabetes is also known as non-insulin dependent diabetes or Type II diabetes. It is a condition where the pancreas has difficulty regulating blood sugar levels and requires treatment of some kind to keep blood sugars within the normal limits of 4.5-5.0. Tissues that normally respond to insulin no longer respond as well. This is called insulin resistance. The initial symptoms include urinary frequency, wounds that don’t heal, increase incidence of infections that do not resolve easily, irritability, mood swings, and cravings for sweets. A blood test called the fasting blood sugar and a urine test for sugar are routine tests that should be done as part of your regular check ups to diagnose this condition. Often what I find in practice is the condition of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, is a precursor of diabetes. The symptoms of hypoglycemia are fatigue, cravings for sweets, feeling worse if meals are not regular, mood swings, dizziness, and lack of concentration.
The first step in being proactive in your diabetic care or prevention is to know your numbers, your blood test numbers that is. On a routine blood test Bonny, age 55, had a blood sugar of 6.6 mmol/L (optimal is 4.0-4.8 mmol/L); Triglycerides (TG) 3.5mmol/L (optimal is less than .85); LDL (bad) cholesterol was 4.5 mmol/L (optimal is less than 2.58), HDL’s (good cholesterol) were .85mmol/L (optimal is greater than 1.42) and hemoglobin A1C was 6.0 (optimal is .040-.048)..
To regulate blood sugars is very important for successful aging as excess sugar in the blood stream is very oxidating and contributes to tissue damage. The complications of diabetes that result if the blood sugars are not regulated include: poor circulation that can result in diabetic ulcers, loss of vision, diabetic neuropathy (pain of the peripheral nervous system), diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease) and heart disease. Using some very simple naturopathic approaches a diabetic can prevent the seriousness of these complications by controlling blood sugars closer to 4.8mmol/L.
I suggested for Bonnie:
1. Make one change every two to four weeks, as it is a stress on your body to change your program.
2. Try each treatment at least three months to give it a fair trial.
3. Monitor her blood sugars at home, one hour before eating and two hours after. The goal is to prevent the wide swings in her blood sugar over a 24-hour period. The HgA1C, which is the average of the blood sugars over the period of three months, can give a false sense of security that everything is just fine. However if over a period of 24 hours the blood sugars range from 3.0 to 11.0 then that is not a healthy process for the body to be put through day after day and seriously contributes to oxidative damage.
4. Increase the amount of protein in relation to carbohydrate in her diet and monitor her blood sugars to see if in fact they do lower. Choose good quality protein such as lean red meats, organic in source and the least processed. Usually a high protein diet helps to control wide swings in blood sugar and Dr. Schwarzbein in her book The Schwarzbein Principle outlines a low carbohydrate program which is not as extreme as the Atkin’s Diet..
5. Measure blood fats and tryglycerides regularly to evaluate her progress.
6. Take B complex to help her assimilate sugars, to optimize the health of her nervous system, decrease cravings and improve mood swings.
7. Antioxidants such as Vitamin E, C, A, natural carotenes, selenium, and CoEnzyme Q10 will slow the oxidative process that is hastened because of diabetes.
8. Minerals such as magnesium, vanadium, chromium, copper, manganese, and zinc help to regulate blood sugar levels.
9. Herbs such as Gymnema sylvestre, ginseng, garlic, gingko, bilberry, pine bark, cayenne pepper and bitter melon have been effective in treating diabetic complaints and lowering blood sugars.
10. Lipoic acid is a wonderful antioxidant that also decreases insulin resistance; biotin is a B vitamin, which is important in blood sugar metabolism; and essential fatty acids prevent blood clots, decrease inflammation and improve sugar metabolism.
11. Exercise helps to regulate blood sugars
Some of the reasons we see a high obesity rate amongst younger people, including children, thus increasing their risk of developing Type II diabetes at an earlier age are: diets very high in carbohydrates, the wrong fats (trans fats found in chips, crackers, baked and packaged goods), sedentary lifestyle due to computer games and TV watching, and eating foods that are not organic therefore the above nutrients are not found in them.
Bonnie was able to bring her blood sugars down to 5.3mmol/L and her hemoglobin A1C to .053 as well. Triglycerides normalized at .98, HDL improved to 1.7, LDL reduced to 2.8. She was able to lose 15 pounds over several months on this low carbohydrate diet which she found easy to follow. She was hoping to continue improving so that she could lower or even discontinue her diabetes medication. Many people are taking some of the above nutrients in hopes of improving their health but they are not taking them in therapeutic dosages to make much of a difference. It is also important to monitor your progress so getting help from a naturopathic physician is crucial.
A reminder to all my readers that the names I use in my articles are fictitious to protect the privacy of my patients, so no I did not treat Jewel the singer, whose name I used in my last article!
Dr. Pincott has been practicing naturopathic medicine since 1985 and is currently practicing in Campbell River. She can be reached at (250) 286-3655 or www.DrPincott.com