All posts tagged: diabetes

The Essence of Functional Medicine

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Because I am a nurse, I know a lot of people in the medical community and as they learn my story and I get healthier, I’ve often been asked what functional medicine is. This image below sums up completely what a patient’s experience with functional medicine is like: Patients have evolved since the 1950s and they’re much more informed and want to participate in their care compared to decades ago. They often want to know why they have whatever illness it is they have. Unfortunately  during those same decades, conventional medicine became more specialized, and, at least where primary care is concerned, it took a turn away from what was important: seeing the entire person and trying to figure out how the symptoms come together and solve a puzzle. Don’t misunderstand me — patients are being treated more efficiently and quicker than ever before, the problem is that chronic illness is exploding in a way that we’ve never seen in history.  So, despite having better drugs and more efficient technology, we are getting sicker faster …

10 Days, 10 Ways to Lower Carbs, Day 6

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T2T Restaurant Carb Hacks. It’s not as hard as you think to go low carb at a restaurant.  Here are some of my favorite tricks to stay low carb and still enjoy yourself: I want to say something first.  If you eat out once a year, or it’s your birthday, use the 90/10 rule:  decide when you’re going to have that 10% “blow my rules” meal, and then ENJOY it!  If you order something and then feel guilty about eating it, what’s the point?  For the rest of the time, use these hacks: Look for entrees that offer a simple fish, meat, or poultry option.  Stay away from pasta and things with sauces that may contain cornstarch, flour, sugar, or other thickening agents. When rice or potatoes are served, ask for two servings of the vegetable instead. Order a salad with dinner, and specify you want a dressing without sugar.  Oil and vinegar are usually available, and many restaurants make their own vinaigrettes, you just have to be assertive and ask what is in it.  …

10 Days, 10 Ways to Lower Carbs, Day 5

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Today is a very important one.  I’m not posting these in order, and maybe this should be considered #1.  EAT MORE FIBER.  Sounds simple, but here’s a trick that can help you get healthier, thinner, and lower your cancer risk.  A win/win! The Role of Fiber in Weight Loss, Heart Disease and Diabetes: Dr. Dennis Burkitt, an English physician, studied the differences between indigenous African bushmen and western people like you and me.  The bushmen seemed to be free of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity.  They ate a ton of fiber every single day.  In fact, the bushman had a stool weight of 2 pounds and the westernized men had a stool weight of only 4 ounces (yes, 87.5% smaller!).  Today, the average American eats about 8 grams of fiber a day. But the average hunter and gatherer ate 100 grams from a raw whole foods diet (roots, berries, leaves and plant foods). And the fiber is what helped them stay much healthier than the average American today. Why is fiber so great? Fiber …

Fasting 101

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Okay, there’s been a lot in the media lately about fasting.  Here’s my take on it based on research and what I learned at Food As Medicine. There are amazing immune and cardiac benefits to fasting, in addition to weight loss.  But, you must do it correctly. The benefits are so startling it is worth considering incorporating fasting into your lifestyle as a routine practice.  The type of fasting I will talk about here is INTERMITTENT fasting, and specifically, the kind that only goes for 15-18 hours.  According to the latest research, you get most of the benefits of a fast without the torture of not eating for long periods without eating. Intermittent fasting is: A 15-18 hour period of not eating (eg;  eat dinner, then eat your next meal 15-18 hours later) done 1-2/week on average You can drink water, tea and coffee while you are fasting (non-calorie beverages – NO SODA) People who intermittently fast get benefits in 14-18 hours.  Here’s why:  increased Autophagy.  Autophagy is a normal physiological process in the body …

A calorie is not just a calorie…

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Scientific research concludes there are real health benefits to low Glycemic Index/Load (GI/GL) diets.  After reviewing all the latest research on glycemic index, glycemic load and glycemic response, an international committee of leading nutrition scientists have released a Scientific Consensus Statement that concludes that carbohydrate quality (Glycemic Index = GI) matters and that the carbohydrates present in different foods affect post-meal blood glucose (sugar) differently, with important health implications.  A calorie isn’t just a calorie.  They also confirmed that there is convincing evidence from a large body of research that low GI/GL diets reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease, help control blood glucose in people with diabetes, and may also help with weight management. They recommend including GI and GL in national dietary guidelines and food composition tables, and that packaging labels and symbols on low-GI foods should be considered. They also confirmed low GI measurements complement other ways of characterising carbohydrate foods (such as fiber and whole grain content), and should be considered in the context of an overall …

Bites #2: The most common deficiency is…

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What is the most common nutritional deficiency in the US Population?  Many would say Vitamin D and they’d be right….  almost.  But, the answer is MAGNESIUM. For a variety of reasons, we lack a diet rich in magnesium.  We take other minerals, meds or substances that compete or block its absorption (think Calcium, insulin, soda, alcohol and diuretics).  Do you have restless legs or know someone who has?  It is most likely a magnesium deficiency.  They estimate that 1/6 of all headaches in the US may be a simple magnesium deficiency.  Because magnesium is necessary for so many reactions in the body that use and supply energy, low blood levels of the mineral are implicated in metabolic dysfunctions like diabetes. Magnesium is a powerful relaxant.  We give it to critically ill patients, mothers in pre-term labor, and often it’s the stuff you take to “clean you out” before a colonoscopy.  So, if our diet isn’t rich in it, what to do?  Especially if you’re already taking calcium, you absolutely should be supplementing your diet with …