Oxidative Stress and Diabetes Time To Conquer The Growing Monster
Stress and Diabetes are definitely linked. Is Diabetes a problem for you? Watch the following video to learn more about the latest research in addressing the Diabetes and obesity epidemic in North America and around the world.
Our Disease Discussion this week focuses on oxidative stress and diabetes. Diabetes, as most people know, is one of the big six chronic degenerative diseases crippling the North American population at the current time.
Dr. Ray Strand, MD
As with all the diseases we discuss, during these workshops, we will be referencing the teachings of Dr. Ray Strand, author of “What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You." Doctor Strand is a true authority on oxidative stress and Diabetes.
Lyle MacWilliam, MSc, FP
We will also reference the work of Lyle MacWilliam, author of the "NutriSearch Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements." Lyle MacWilliam has conducted extensive research on the links between oxidative stress and diabetes and the needed antioxidant solutions.
Diabetes Statistics
Diabetes is one of the most widespread diseases in existence. Over the past 35 years, the number of cases of diabetes, in the industrialized world, has multiplied fivefold. In the US, over 150 billion dollars is spent every year on treating diabetes and its related complications. At the current time an estimated 16 million people in the US have diabetes and these are just the ones who know about it.
The shocking reality is that most people who have Diabetes don’t know it yet. Another 24,000,000 have pre-clinical Diabetes, which means they’re just a few blood counts short of being diagnosed with full-blown Diabetes and approximately 80,000,000 more people have a condition called Insulin Resistance or Metabolic Syndrome, which is the precursor to Diabetes. Diabetes and obesity are out of control in North America.
Diabetes Reality
So what’s the takeaway? The diabetes reality in society today is that it's time to rethink our attitudes towards dieting, exercise and cellular nutrition.
Diabetes Complications
Oxidative stress and Diabetes are the leading cause of new cases of blindness. Diabetes causes 1/3 all new cases of kidney disease or end stage renal failure. 60 to 70% of diabetics have neuropathy or nerve disorders. 80% of diabetics end up dying from heart attacks, strokes, ruptured blood vessels that are also called ruptured aneurysms, or loss of a limb. All of these complications come from the accelerated aging of the large arteries in the body. Unfortunately, the news is not very good as far as treatments are concerned because in the past 40 years all the diabetes treatments have not helped to decrease these risks at all. Oxidative stress and diabetes are still out of control, no matter how much money has been spent.
Silent Killer
As with many chronic degenerative diseases, diabetes is very slow to diagnose. Once it is diagnosed, 60% of people already have a major cardiovascular disease. By the time you are diagnosed, it is often too late. The link between oxidative stress and diabetes is clear.
Carbohydrates Mythology
It seems that the cases of diabetes have increased dramatically in the last 35 years. Why is this so? Well, it all comes down to carbohydrates. We all know that a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet is the healthiest diet…right? Wrong! This would be true except for one problem. Not all carbohydrates are created equal. Different carbohydrates have different absorption rates in the body. For 35 years, doctors, dietitians, and nutritionists have all been telling us that all carbs are the same.
The US and Canada Food Guides, both the old ones and the new ones, still have starch-based carbohydrates, such as bread, potatoes and pasta (including all the whites) at the bottom of the food pyramid.
This is very wrong! Whole fruits and vegetables need to make up the first level - we need to eat a lot of these. Healthy proteins should be the second level. Whole grain carbs need to go to the third level and should only be eaten sparingly. Healthy fats and everything else including all the whites and treats and candy should be at the top of the food pyramid and should only be used once in a very blue moon.
High-Glycemic Foods
White bread, white flour, white pasta, white rice, and potatoes all release their sugars very rapidly in the body. These foods raise your blood sugar faster than slapping table sugar directly on your tongue. Processed, high-glycemic carbs are a big problem. It seems that sugar is as addictive as cocaine or heroin and when we eat high-glycemic meals all the time, we become very addicted to these foods and our bodies constantly demand them. Most whole wheat breads and other whole wheat starches are also high-glycemic. To move into low-glycemic fare, you must look for whole GRAIN foods, not whole wheat foods.
Low-Glycemic Foods
Fruits, vegetables and whole grains are classified as COMPLEX and low-glycemic carbohydrates because they release their sugars very slowly in your body and they do not spike your blood sugar. When you eat these kinds of complex carbohydrates, you have a chance to burn the sugar energy from them before your pancreas begins to produce insulin and store this sugar as fat.
Blood Sugar Rollercoaster Ride
After a rapid rise, your blood sugar will very quickly drop down into the low blood sugar range. This causes your brain to send a message to eat another high-glycemic meal. Your brain literally screams this at you. This is why you feel like you’re going to die if you do not eat right away.
It’s kind of like survival eating. The body needs sugar to function and if the brain senses that sugar levels are low, it will do everything in its power to get more sugar or glucose.Then we repeat this pattern over and over, day after day. For the last 35 years, this carbohydrates party has kept us on the blood sugar roller-coaster ride.
Insulin Resistance
After many years, our bodies become less sensitive to our own insulin. This condition is called metabolic syndrome. It’s a lot like crying wolf all of the time. We give our bodies too much processed sugar and the body sends insulin to the rescue. Overtime, it just wears out your pancreas.
Central Obesity (Killer Fat)
Central obesity, also known as killer fat, is a major indicator that a person has the beginnings of metabolic syndrome. It's one of the first indicators that oxidative stress and diabetes are on the horizon for you.
It starts in your late twenties to early thirties when you begin to find that you have love handles. Maybe you call it a spare tire or your haunches and you get mildly offended if somebody pokes or pinches your muffin top. You find it harder and harder each year to lose that five or ten pounds that you gained at Christmas time. You may have even convinced yourself that it's just scar tissue from all your stomach surgeries and c-sections. More than likely, though, it's oxidative stress and diabetes knocking at your door.
Other Signs and Symptoms
If you were to get some blood work done, you would see that there are other more scientific signs of your beginning stages of insulin resistance as well. The doctor might begin telling you about slowly increasing levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides. You may also see very low levels of HDL or good cholesterol. You may have hypertension, which needs to be treated and the arterial aging is not slowing down. In fact, for every third birthday that passes, you should probably add an additional year as far as the age of your arteries are concerned. By your late forties, diabetes will probably have set in whether you know about it or not.
Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress
The blood sugar roller-coaster ride and all of the arterial damage that has been accumulating for 10, 20 or 30 years causes the creation of free radicals or unpaired electrons and lots of them. This leads to extreme oxidative stress and diabetes is not far behind once this ball starts rolling. Long-term oxidative stress does extensive damage to your cells, which is the major reason why all the complications occur.
Antioxidants To The Rescue
Of course, we know that antioxidants can help address the free radical damage. Antioxidant-rich nutrients can partner up with those unpaired electrons that are shooting around making a mess and neutralize them. Examples are Chromium, Vitamin E and Magnesium. 90% of all diabetics are chromium deficient, low Vitamin E levels can lead to a fivefold risk of diabetes and Magnesium deficiency can lead to diabetic retinopathy.
Diagnosing Insulin Resistance
If you want to find out if you already have insulin resistance, just take a look at your last lipid profile when you had blood work done. You take your triglyceride level and divide it by your HDL cholesterol level and if the answer or the ratio is greater than 2, then you are developing insulin resistance. Advanced metabolic disorder would be obvious if your ratio was 8-10 or more. Your bloodwork cannot tell a lie. The relationship between oxidative stress and diabetes will be clear as a bell in your bloodwork.
Why Doctors Don't Treat Insulin Resistance
Most doctors don’t treat insulin resistance because there is no drug for it. Western medicine is reliant on pharmaceuticals and insulin resistance can only be treated by lifestyle change. You have to stop eating so many processed, high glycemic carbohydrates. You have to stop spiking your blood sugar at every meal. You have to stop assaulting your body several times each day. Your body can only handle this a couple of times per week and each time you do it, it takes a couple days for your body to recover. Fighting oxidative stress and diabetes really has become like a contact sport. You can't really ever let your guard down.
Dr. Strand's Recommendations
Dr. Strand has made some recommendations about the optimal levels of nutritional supplementation needed to assist diabetics. Of course, everyone needs basic high quality supplementation.
Lyle MacWilliam has researched extensively and has identified which supplement products, available in North America, are high-quality enough to actually help you with Diabetes-related oxidative stress. Check out www.strictly-stress-management.com to get the high quality supplements you need to help reverse metabolic syndrome. Don’t you think it’s time to give your body a fighting chance! Don't let oxidative stress and diabetes get the better of you anymore.
