Do medications or supplements improve diabetes?
It is becoming more common that prescriptions are being made for prediabetic fasting blood glucose levels (100-124 lm/dl).
Metformin is the current “Gold Standard,” first-round medication for type 2 diabetes. But does it even help improve or prevent diabetes?
A Meta-Analysis studying Metformin treating type 2 diabetes reported:
- 31% increase in all-cause mortality.
- 64% increase in cardiovascular deaths (mortality) is the number one cause of death in diabetics who get heart disease, up to 400% more than those without diabetes.
Women with diabetes are 10 TIMES more likely to die from a heart attack than breast cancer, with female diabetics running a risk 400% higher than non-diabetics.
- No reduction in heart attacks, peripheral vascular disease, or leg amputations.
So basically, the people taking Metformin continued to suffer all the ill effects of diabetes with better blood sugar levels and increased their risk of dying by the number one killer of diabetics.
What was the point of taking metformin in the first place?
The bottom line is you can not depend on medication to save you from a heart attack or developing heart disease, and it will not prevent any of the severe complications of diabetes.
Nor can it stop the progression of pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or type 3 diabetes (Alzheimer’s Dementia).
If it lowers blood sugar, why does it not prevent people from getting worse, suffering diabetic complications, or preventing deaths?
High blood sugar is NOT THE PROBLEM!
Insulin Resistance is the problem. High blood sugar is the effect.
If you do not fix the insulin resistance, you will not reverse the situation, can’t prevent it from getting worse, or improve any health outcomes for people with it.
Here’s the deal. The same goes for natural products, supplements, or herbs that lower blood sugar.
The only way to positively impact this problem is through long-term lifestyle changes and a structured program.
The good news is that this issue can improve and does every day.
Specific fasting protocols combined with other lifestyle modifications have been shown to increase cell growth and restore growth within the pancreas of a diabetic that produces and regulates the insulin response.
That is step 1 of an actual reversal of diabetes.
Step 2 is repairing the balance of the transporter proteins within our cells that carry glucose in the cells themselves. Diabetics have an 85% reduction in the function and number of these transporters. People with Insulin Resistance have damage of over 50%.
The restoration of the glucose transport system is also increased with well-structured fasting protocols. When combined, fasting and metabolic exercise can give someone the possibility of fixing the core injury in insulin resistance.
By incorporating different lifestyle “magnifiers” that enhance the repair process and simultaneously avoiding lifestyle habits that have been shown to worsen insulin resistance, you can see a dramatic improvement in insulin resistance.
If the person is no longer diabetic, the risk of death drops significantly with the chance of heart disease as the quality of life increases dramatically. Taking someone off the diabetic path gives them back 11-14 years of life that would have been cut short statistically by “managing” their diabetes by just lowering blood sugar numbers.
How do you know if you are going down this path of chronic disease from insulin resistance?
Here are some potential signs you are:
- Test your morning fasting blood sugar levels with a glucometer that you can buy at the pharmacy or online.
- Pre-pre diabetes (increased health risks)= over 86
- Pre-diabetes: 100-125
- Type 2 diabetes: 126 and up
- Measure your waistline: >35 inches for women and 40 inches for men are positive markers for metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance.
- Triglycerides over 100 = Insulin Resistance
- Low Vid D (under 60 for women and 50 for men)
- Low T, Estrogen, or Thyroid are associated with IR.
- Weight loss resistance: not losing weight or gaining it from dieting and exercise.
Any one of these simple at-home tests could save you years of suffering and add years to your life if you make the changes needed to fix it now.
How can you prevent it?
Live as if you have it. Live an Insulin Friendly Lifestyle now.
We can do better my friends!
Dr. Don
