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Diabetes Mellitus

According to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 23 million Americans have diabetes mellitus, which is commonly referred to as diabetes.  That is 7% of the American population.  About 6 million of those people have no idea they have diabetes and millions more are at risk of developing it.  If you have diabetes, your body has problems converting the food you eat into energy. 

The danger of this lies in the fact that if untreated, diabetes can damage the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, and blood vessels.  Therefore, whenever present, it is essential to diagnose, monitor and treat diabetes correctly. 

Insulin and Blood Sugar

Normally, the food we eat is broken down into glucose, which is a form of sugar.  The glucose passes into the bloodstream where it is used by cells for growth and energy. For cells to use glucose, however, insulin must be present.  Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, a large gland behind the stomach.  If the insulin is not present, or if the cells do not respond to it, the glucose stays in the bloodstream, causing a rise in the blood sugar or blood glucose level.  When blood sugar levels are too high it is called hyperglycemia; when blood sugar levels fall too low it is called hypoglycemia.  The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) says conditions that can lead to hypoglycemia in people with diabetes include taking too much medication, missing, or delaying a meal, eating too little food for the amount of insulin taken, exercising too strenuously, drinking too much alcohol, or any combination of these factors.

Types of Diabetes

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and NIDDK say there are different types of diabetes and insulin-resistance: 

Type 1 diabetes, also called insulin-dependent or immune-mediated diabetes, occurs when your body cannot produce insulin.  This is the kind of diabetes that often appears before the age of 18, although it can also strike at any age.  Type 1 diabetes is considered an autoimmune disease.  An autoimmune disease results when the body's system for fighting infection, the immune system, turns against a part of the body.  In Type 1 diabetes, according to NIDDK, the immune system attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and destroys them.  The pancreas then produces little or no insulin.  An individual with Type 1 diabetes requires daily doses of insulin.  The insulin can be delivered by injection, through a pump system, which feeds the insulin into the body through a needle or catheter inserted just under the skin or via an inhaler.  Healthy meal planning and regular exercise are also a part of the treatment for Type 1 diabetes. 

Type 2 diabetes, also called non-insulin-dependent diabetes and adult on-set diabetes, is much more common than Type 1 diabetes, affecting some 95% of people with diabetes and amazingly half are unaware that they even have this disease.  In this type, your body can produce insulin, but it either does not produce enough or it is not using it properly.  For a while their bodies attempt to make more insulin to make up for the resistance.  But after a while, their production cannot keep up with the increased insulin resistance and blood sugar rises.  The initial treatment is dieting to help maintain or lose weight, but often this will not be enough and will lead to medication followed by insulin injections.

Type 2 diabetes has been linked with obesity and the number of people in the U.S. with both obesity and Type 2 diabetes is growing. 

In fact, there is alarming news from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose numbers are showing thatType 2 diabetes, which affected just adults (age 45 an older), is now growing among younger adults and teenagers like never before and are now calling it a “silent epidemic!”  I wonder if our children’s fast-food diets of empty carbohydrates, excess sodium and sugar, and trans fatty acids might have anything to do with this increase.  Would you like to “super-size” that order?

Pre-diabetes

TheU.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says there is also a condition called "pre-diabetes" which affects an additional 57 million Americans.  The term "pre-diabetes" is being used to describe an increasingly common condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not yet diabetic.  This is also known as impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose.  Someone with impaired glucose tolerance may also be described as "insulin resistant," that is, their body produces insulin but is not utilizing it correctly, causing blood sugar levels to rise.

Insulin resistance is also a factor in metabolic syndrome or syndrome X.  Other risk factors for metabolic syndrome include a body mass index of over 25, high triglyceride levels, family history of diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, sedentary lifestyle, age and ethnicity.  The American College of Endocrinology (ACE) and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) say metabolic syndrome is an epidemic condition that dramatically increases risk for Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. 

They estimate that it affects one in three Americans.  HHS says most people with pre-diabetes will likely develop diabetes within a decade unless they make changes in their diet and level of physical activity, which can help them reduce their risks.  Even before they develop diabetes, their health is still at risk, since they are much more likely to develop high blood pressure, abnormal blood lipids and coronary heart disease.  Studies have linked obesity to impaired glucose tolerance, as well as to pre-diabetes. 

Symptoms of Diabetes

Symptoms of diabetes can vary, but the American Academy of Family Physicians says typical symptoms include: 

• Frequent urination 

• Excessive thirst 

• Blurry vision 

• Tingling or numbness in the hands and feet 

• Unexplained weight loss despite eating more than usual. 

• Extreme tiredness or irritability 

Facing the Future

Anyone who has diabetes should have two basic goals:  to reduce their reliance on prescribed medications and to reduce their risk of diabetic complications such as blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, and amputation of legs. 

For someone with Type 1 or insulin-dependent diabetes, whose pancreas produces too little insulin, it is likely that insulin replacement will be necessary for the rest of his or her life.  For people with this type of diabetes, the object is not so much to get off insulin, but to prevent the long-term complications of diabetes mellitus.  The amount of insulin needed can be reduced through appropriate diet, exercise and nutritional supplements, and the likelihood of complications will also be significantly decreased on this regime.

For someone with Type 2 or non-insulin-dependent diabetes, the object is to prevent future insulin dependency and currently reduce or even stop oral prescription drugs through appropriate diet, exercise, and nutritional supplements.  The major studies on these oral drugs, including DiaBeta, Glucotrol, Glucophage, and Avandia have shown that they increase the death rate from heart attacks.  In fact, the warnings on these drugs in the Physician’s Desk Reference state exactly that.  The listed side effects for these drugs include increased risk of fatal heart attack, nausea, diarrhea, flatulence, bloating, photosensitivity, hives, skin eruptions and rash, itching, drowsiness, headache, metallic taste and loss of appetite.

Targeted Nutritional Supplements

The biggest oversight of the current medical approach to diabetes is its failure to recognize that diabetes is a nutritional wasting disease.  An elevated blood sugar level acts as an osmotic diuretic, which explains why diabetics experience increased urination.  More important, diabetes causes massive losses of nutrients, like vitamins B-1, B-6, and B12, and the minerals magnesium, zinc and chromium to name a few.

This loss of nutrients obviously contributes to, and could be the primary reason for, the deterioration of the eyes, kidneys, peripheral nerves, and blood vessels, which often occurs with diabetes.  You cannot get the proper level of nutrients from diet alone.

Health Guardian GlucoMax

Over the course of many years, clients often asked what they can take to help with their diabetes because they did not want to continue taking the medications.  I would make my recommendations and then I recently decided to put all those nutrients into on formula which would save them time and money.  The goal for any diabetes supplement should be 2 fold…first help to lower blood sugar and secondly to increase insulin sensitivity.  It is my belief that taking a properly formulated natural supplement, a Type 2 diabetic will be able to get off their medication and Type 1 diabetic may be able to reduce the amount of insulin they are injecting every day. So, let’s breakdown each ingredient in Health Guardian GlucoMax and understand why I thought they would improve the life of a diabetic.

Ceylon Cinnamon Bark…studies show that cinnamon improved blood sugar or insulin resistance.

Moringa (from Olivera leaf) the two primary benefits of Moringa for diabetes include:

lowering your blood sugar levels and indirectly defending you from other diabetic-related metabolic diseases.

Gymnema Sylvesta extract…reduces sugar craving, lowers blood sugar levels, contributes to favorable insulin levels by increasing insulin production.

Fenugreek Seed extract…reduces insulin resistance, decreases fasting glucose, improves how the body uses sugar and increases the amount of insulin released.

Chromium Polynicotinate…This essential mineral helps improve insulin sensitivity and may lower fasting blood sugar levels.

Vanadium complex…vanadium has insulin-mimetic properties and can improve glucose uptake by cells.

Berberine… This plant compound has been shown to lower blood sugar as effectively as some prescription medications.

Bauhinia Forficate extract…helps reduce blood glucose levels.

Nopal Leaves…helps reduce blood sugar levels.

Bitter Melon extract…acts like insulin and can lower blood sugar and A1c levels.

Folate…improves glycemic control.

Magnesium Stearate…improves insulin sensitivity.