(We appreciate excerpts from Dr. Julius Whitaker in S. California and recommend his clinic if you are in the area. Otherwise, our Diabetes Protocol is your answer!)
Let’s face it – it’s not a shock to anyone so let’s talk about it. More than 90 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight. In fact, the link between diabetes and obesity is so strong that it has led to coining a new word – diabesity.
A Vicious Cycle
As most participants in a diabetes support group know only too well, the treatments that most physicians often use to lower blood sugar often lead to increased weight gain! If you have been treated for diabetes, you have probably seen it already. Diabetes treatments usually make it more difficult to achieve normal blood sugar levels.
These treatments can also lead patients with diabetes down a dark path toward painful neuropathy, kidney disease, vision problems, and cardiovascular disease. You may not realize it, but diabetes is the number-one cause of blindness, leg amputations, and kidney transplants – and it can dramatically increase the risk of heart attack!
(But there is a bright side: For type 2 diabetics, our natural supplements and the suggestions we offer to get a handle on weight provide an answer. They can help you achieve normal blood sugar levels, help complications to fade away and your overall health to rebound.) First, let’s look at insulin’s role…
Insulin and Obesity
Why are obesity and diabetes hooked together so closely?
Remember that type 2 diabetes (about 90 percent of all cases) is caused by insulin resistance. Insulin is the hormone that moves glucose from the blood into the cells where the body can use it.
In people with diabetes 2, the pancreas is making plenty of insulin but the cells are not responding to the insulin.
- This leads to a rise in blood sugar.
- The pancreas responds by producing more insulin to use up the blood sugar.
- This results in elevated levels of both glucose and insulin.
This is bad enough, but now the adipose fat tissue kicks in by:
- Releasing fatty acids that further impairs insulin sensitivity,
- Encouraging chronic low-grade inflammation, increasing insulin resistance,
- Secreting hormones, including leptin, that directly affects insulin secretion (Boston’s Joslin Diabetes Center).
Now, the high levels of insulin promote weight gain because insulin is also the body’s primary fat-storage hormone. So, the higher your insulin level, the greater is your potential weight gain.
Overuse of Insulin in Type 2 Diabetes
Although many people think injected insulin is reserved for type 1 diabetes, one in four people with type 2 diabetes use insulin. And, in most of those cases, it makes things worse.
A physician may start a diabetic on a drug that stimulates insulin production. It will work for a while, but slowly and surely their blood sugar – and their weight – will begin to increase. The doctor usually responds by upping the medication dose. Again, the levels improved for a time, but eventually both their blood sugar and their waistline inch up.
After a time, the diabetic may no longer be able to keep their blood sugar under control with oral diabetes drugs, so the doctor may prescribed a low dose of insulin. Over the next few years, their insulin dose is usually moved upward to keep pace with their rising blood sugar levels. With every increase, they gained more and more weight.
Folks, that is just not the way it should be! The new diabesity condition can contribute to a number of health problems – caused by the insulin!
Oral Drugs Also Promote Weight Gain
Some oral diabetes drugs cause weight gain as well. Doctors routinely insist that their diabetic patients lose weight, but then give them prescription drugs that make weight control nearly impossible.
Sulfonylureas such as glyburide (Micronase, Diabeta) and glipizide (Glucatrol), which promote insulin release in the pancreas, are notorious for causing weight gain. Thiazolidinediones (Avandia, ACTOS) are also problematic. A study of more than 4,000 patients recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes found that those taking Avandia gained an average of 10 pounds over five years, compared to a gain of three pounds for those on glyburide and a loss of six pounds among those taking metformin.
If you have to take an oral drug, let it be metformin. Metformin is not associated with weight gain, and it’s much safer. These other two classes of oral diabetes drugs are so unsafe that the FDA requires them to carry black box label warnings stating they increase the risk of fatal and nonfatal heart attacks!
Dr. Whitaker suggests considering an alternative! So do we – and the treatment plan is simple. Started on a proper diet, exercise program, and targeted nutritional supplements. It can take time but you can lose extra pounds, your blood sugar normalized and move towards not needing medication at all.
Lose Weight – and Type 2 Diabetes
Granted, diet, exercise, and other non-drug treatments for diabesity require effort on the part the diabetic. But, what a payoff! Here’s what happened for a Georgia subscriber:
“Four and a half years ago, I was 43 and in the worst shape of my life. At 6’2” I weighed 310 pounds, and the only exercise I got was mowing my yard. I insisted on going out for a fast food lunch every day because I just ‘had to get out of the office,’ and those meals were usually ‘supersized’ so I could get as much food as possible for my money.
“I already had hypertension and high cholesterol when a routine physical found a fasting blood sugar of 160 and I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Fortunately for me, my doctor gave me an ultimatum: I could either lose weight or I would have to go on medication for the rest of my life. My wife was determined that I would not take any drugs. We checked out Dr. Whitaker’s book, Reversing Diabetes, and began utilizing many of his techniques. I started exercising and our whole family changed lifestyles.
“Today, I have lost over 100 pounds and it has stayed off. I have never taken medication for diabetes, and my cholesterol and blood pressure are also under control. I walk four miles, four days a week and climb Stone Mountain two days a week. I feel better than I have in years.”
Words of Wisdom
The secret is that you have to decide that this is not just a ‘diet’ but rather a lifestyle change. You also need the support and encouragement of your family and friends.”
The person above was lucky to have a doctor who told it like it is and a helpful wife. If you don’t have that support, create it. Start our diabetes protocol plan, try the weight loss meals and see if you like it, join an exercise group or simply discover the enjoyment a walk can bring. Just keep your eye on your goal. Remember that, as difficult as changing your diet and exercising may seem, it’s a lot easier than dealing with the inevitable complications of diabesity down the line.
We will do all we can to make it easier!