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DIABETES INFORMATION ONLINE

Diabetes, often referred to by physicians as diabetes mellitus, describes a group of metabolic diseases in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate, or because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin, or both. Patients with high blood sugar will typically experience polyuria (frequent urination), they will become increasingly thirsty (polydipsia) and hungry (polyphagia).

It sounds too good to be true: reversing type 2 diabetes through exercise and healthy eating.

Type 2 diabetes develops when the body cannot use insulin properly or make enough insulin, so the body cannot properly use or store glucose (a form of sugar) and sugar backs up into the bloodstream, raising blood sugar levels. In the United States, some 8.9 percent of adults 20 and older have been found to have diabetes, and health officials estimate that another 3.5 percent have undiagnosed diabetes.

While certain lifestyle changes are key to managing diabetes, whether you can actually turn back time so that it’s like you never had diabetes is a different matter. That depends on how long you’ve had the condition, how severe it is, and your genes.Studies are being done everyday to actually see whether it is possible to reverse it.

The researchers randomly assigned diabetic participants, who were also overweight or obese, to an intensive program of diet and exercise, in which they were urged to cut calories down to 1,200-1,800 calories per day and engage in nearly three hours of physical exercise per week.

After one year, 11.5 percent of the program participants no longer needed treatment to keep their blood sugar levels below the diabetes threshold. Only two percent of the non-intervention group experienced any significant improvement in their condition.

Those who’d had been diagnosed with diabetes more recently saw greater blood sugar improvements on the program. Ditto for those who lost the most amount of weight and/or made the greatest progress in raising their fitness level. The lifestyle intervention group also managed to sustain their remission better over the following 3 years.

Amazingly, one in four Americans has some form of diabetes or pre-diabetes. If this is not a clear sign that conventional health recommendations are flawed, I don’t know what is.

And the cure for type 2 diabetes has nothing to do with giving insulin or taking tablets to control your blood sugar. In fact, giving insulin to someone with type 2 diabetes is one of the worst things that can be done.

The truth of the matter is that type 2 diabetes is a fully preventable condition that arises from faulty leptin signaling and insulin resistance, both of which are directly diet- and exercise-related. It is NOT a disease of blood sugar.

For some people, reaching a healthier weight will mean taking fewer treatments, or in rarer cases, no longer needing those treatments at all.

Losing 5% to 10% of your body weight and building up to 150 minutes of exercise a week may help you to slow or stop the progress of type 2 diabetes.

In another study, people with type 2 diabetes exercised for 175 minutes a week, limited their calories to 1,200 to 1,800 per day, and got weekly counseling and education on these lifestyle changes.

Within a year, about 10% got off their diabetes treatments or improved to the point where their blood sugar level was no longer in the diabetes range, and was instead classified as prediabetes.

Results were best for those who lost the most weight or who started the program with less severe or newly diagnosed diabetes. Fifteen percent to 20% of these people were able to stop taking their diabetes treatments.

Once you understand that, the remedy becomes clear: To reverse the disease, you need to recover your body’s insulin and leptin sensitivities.

The ONLY way to accomplish this is through proper diet and exercise, as detailed in my free Nutrition Plan. Bariatric operation, which is being increasingly recommended as a diabetes treatment, will NOT do the trick, and there is No treatment that can correct leptin signaling and insulin resistance.

Adhering to the following guidelines can help you do at least three things that are essential for successfully treating diabetes: recover your insulin/leptin sensitivity; normalize your weight; and normalize your blood pressure:

• Severely limit or eliminate sugar and grains in your diet, especially fructose which is far more detrimental than any other type of sugar. Following my Nutrition Plan will help you do this without too much fuss.

• Exercise regularly. Exercise is an absolutely essential factor, and without it, you’re unlikely to get this devastating disease under control. It is one of the fastest and most powerful ways to lower your insulin and leptin resistance. If you’re unsure of how to get started, I recommend reviewing my Peak Fitness program for tips and guidelines.

• Avoid trans fats.

• Get plenty of omega-3 fats from a high quality, animal-based source, such as krill oil.

• Optimize your vitamin D levels. Recent studies have revealed that getting enough vitamin D can have a powerful effect on normalizing your blood pressure and that low vitamin D levels may increase your risk of heart disease.

• Optimize your gut flora. Your gut is a living ecosystem, full of both good bacteria and bad. Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than lean people. The more good bacteria you have, the stronger your immune system will be and the better your body will function overall. Fortunately, optimizing your gut flora is relatively easy. You can reseed your body with good bacteria by eating fermented foods (such as fermented vegetables, natto, raw organic cheese, or raw milk kefir) or by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement.

• Address any underlying emotional issues and/or stress. Non-invasive tools like the Emotional Freedom Technique can be helpful and effective.

• Get enough high-quality sleep every night.

• Monitor your fasting insulin level. This is every bit as important as your fasting blood sugar. You’ll want your fasting insulin level to be between 2 and 4. The higher your level, the worse your insulin sensitivity is.

Yes, modern treatment may be able to keep sick people alive longer, but it fails miserably when it comes to providing a high quality of life. Lifestyle-related chronic diseases are also threatening to bankrupt nations across the globe.

Physician Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization has referred to noncommunicable diseases “a slow-motion disaster” that may eventually become financially unsustainable. According to a 2011 reportt by the World Economic Forum and Harvard School of Public Health, noncommunicable diseases is expected to cost more than $30 trillion over the next two decades alone!

Clearly, something needs to change. Part of the problem is that so many of the recommendations issued by conventional treatments are seriously flawed, having been thoroughly corrupted by conflicts of interest. The notion that you cannot trust your physicians advice on diet and exercise is disconcerting for most people, but the fact is that many physicians are clueless when it comes to nutrition and fitness.

The list goes on. The failure of such recommendations to produce good health can clearly be seen among the general population that believes such myths.