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Herbal supplements, like cinnamon, are touted for their ability to control
blood sugar levels.
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It can certainly become a disease. But without
a glitch each person I know who has it treats it as though it is a life
sentence handed down to them from their genetic make-up by claiming that
"My mother had it, my father had it, and my grandmother had
it." No doubt.
So what I hear is a surrender to a condition
that they believe the primary cause is genetic and not food or diet related.
And it certainly is difficult to see the faults in eating habits when you've lived those habits your whole life. I should know . . . though thankfully I've not yet been
diagnosed with diabetes. By the time we're adults, I would think that most people should the know the error of their ways and jettison breakfast cereals and soda pop. Many adults who survived the onslaught of a sugary diet from childhood celebrate the survival of childhood excesses by announcing "Oh, I ate four bowls of Captain Crunch" or "I downed 5 bowls of Coco Puffs before I drank a 6 pack of Cherry Cola. Just the thought now of those soda binges wears me out. Two, high-energy adults I've worked with have both been addicted to Diet-Pepsi. I mean a 6-pack a day. I could only shake my head at what that HFCS was
doing to their hormones. iSe la vie!
But here again, it's Bill Sardi who lays out a new way of
seeing old problems. He's not simply pulling these assessments out of a
hat but he cites research after research, collating data to demonstrate that a
lot of the medical assumptions that have reached the popular culture are just
wrong. With regards to diabetes, not completely wrong, but wrong as to the causes. The cause is the overconsumption of sugar in all of its forms. Bill Sardi takes it apart, starting with almost a comical scene--a meeting in which the nation's largest food companies were asked to "share" some of the responsibility. I laugh because when I emailed Pederson's bacon about their use of soy as feed for the pigs, I got a reply that went like this "If we told you, we'd have to kill you." That was their attempt at a joke, of course, a Customer Service joke. Ha, ha. But one has to ask--Should customer service be joking like that? So, I turn to honest, direct and ethical men like Bill Sardi. He starts
At
a 1999 conclave, executives of the nation’s biggest food companies walked out
on a meeting that attempted to get them to share some of the responsibility for
the then growing diabesity epidemic. [New
York Times Feb 20, 2013] With sugarized bacon, ketchup, peanut butter, wrapped
meats, salad dressings and processed foods dominating grocery store shelves,
shockingly half the nation now is diabetic or pre-diabetic. [LA
Times Sept 8, 2015; Journal
American Medical Assn. Sept 8, 2015]
That's about right. I couldn't imagine anything good coming from this meeting either. Absolutely--high blood sugar levels are the causes of diabetes. The answer then is to bring down the high blood sugar levels by removing from one's diet those foods that cause it to soar, regardless if they are traditional foods of your culture.
Pre-diabetes means that your blood sugar level
is higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as adult-onset (type
II) diabetes and you have not developed symptoms yet (eyes, kidneys, heart,
pancreas). You are more likely to develop full-blown diabetes within 2 to
10 years. [Mayo Clinic]
What I find interesting is that the theory of a disease is driven in part, perhaps in large part, by a pharmaceutical monopoly on the medicines that treat specific diseases put forth by institutions funded by the companies providing the antidote. Wow! Does that ever sound conspiratorial. But it is mainly just folks jimmying with the free market. Instead of allowing the customer or patient to find his own cure, conglommerants put enough safeguards in place so as to ensure a higher percentage of patients purchasing their prescription. And so the narrative that folks walk around with in their heads about a condition is an old one. Hell, it's antique. So as the profession has a lock on the narratives that filter down to us folks, we are left with antiquated knowledge that serves as a terrible guide for greater health.
On the diabetic front, Sardi points out important feature of diabetic drugs--
It is common for diabetics to experience frequent urination.
Elevated blood sugar has diuretic action induces frequent urination which
results in loss of nutrients. Yet replacement of lost nutrients is not
the mainstay of diabetic therapy.
I wonder how many diabetics know this. What is astounding is that physicians are phyto-phobic and mineral phobic when it comes to diabetes. Sardi explains that supplemental magnesium is critical for diabetics.
More than 50% of diabetics take dietary supplements, but most are
unguided. [Diabetic Educator 2011]
Even dietitians look at dietary supplements with disdain when it comes to
diabetes. One prominent dietitian says she doesn’t recommend
over-the-counter supplements for fear of possible drug contraindications.
She says: “I’d never advise
anyone to take extra magnesium or to use a supplement-level doses of herbal
remedies that claim to lower blood sugar.” [Todays Dietitian Nov
2011] Yet, as you will learn below, supplemental magnesium is critical
for diabetics.
Phyto-phobic physicians
themselves issue caution over dietary supplements interfering with
anti-diabetic drugs even though vitamins and minerals are essential for
life. It may be the drugs that are interfering with nutrients. [Advances
Clinical Experimental Medicine Nov 2014]
And people wonder why doctors are held in such contempt. Perhaps they hold your health in contempt. More importantly, it is vitamins and minerals that are the first line of defense. This goes for any non-diabetic individuals as well.
In development of a list of supplemental nutrients for diabetics,
essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamins C and D should be given
priority over herbal or other supplements. While there are many herbal
supplements that are touted for sugar control (among them cinnamon, Gymnema sylvestre, and many others), it is important to first utilize essential nutrients (vitamins and minerals) in a daily dietary supplement regimen for diabetics.
Could it be clearer? If someone has diabetes, your first line of attack is a daily vitamin C and D supplement. Commit to this regime for a few weeks first before you look for the long-term benefits from herbs, like cinnamon, to bring under control other symptoms associated with diabetes.
MAGNESIUM for DIABETIC CONDITIONS
Low magnesium blood levels are common among adults with diabetes. [Journal
College Physicians Surgery Pakistan Nov 2014]
Low dietary intake of magnesium or increased excretion of
magnesium due to diuretic use, are the most common causes of magnesium
deficiency. [World
Journal Diabetes Aug 2015; Journal
Renal Injury Prevention 2014]
Blood serum magnesium levels decline as blood sugar levels
rise. The hemoglobin A1c blood test, a measure of long-term blood sugar
status, rises as serum magnesium levels decline. [Diabetes
Metabolism Syndrome Jan 2015]
In another study, 382 mg of supplemental magnesium taken over a
4-month period resulted in 50.8% of supplemented patients improving their blood
glucose levels compared to just 7.0% taking an inactive placebo. [Diabetic
Metabolism June 2015]
One of the biological actions of metformin, a commonly prescribed
anti-diabetic drug, is it raises magnesium levels. [Biology
Trace Element Research July 2011]
Magnesium has been proposed as a public health strategy against
diabetes. Diabetics are commonly deficient in magnesium. Insulin
and glucose regulate magnesium and visa versa.
There is considerable evidence that diligent magnesium
supplementation may delay the progression from impaired blood sugar (glucose)
regulation to adult-onset diabetes. [Diabetes
Obesity Metabolism Sept 2015]
In one study, just 100 mg
increase of supplemental or dietary magnesium was associated with a 16% risk
reduction for diabetes. [Biomedical
Environmental Science July 2015]
In one study of 54 diabetic patients, 300 milligrams of
supplemental daily magnesium improved blood sugar (glucose) levels. [Medical
Journal Islam Republic Iran July 2014]
How many diabetics have
ever heard of an iron overload as one of the causes for insulin
resistance? That's what I thought.
An
overlooked fact is that iron overload induces insulin resistance, that is, the
inability of insulin to get into cells and generate energy.
So how do you know if you have too much iron? Get a blood test. Sardi identifies that test. It's called a ferritin test.
There is a blood test that is not part of a regular blood panel
that measures iron load in the body. It is called a ferritin test.
Transferrin is another test that measures iron transport. Elevated
transferrin and ferritin are believed to be underlying causes of high blood
sugar (glucose) and insulin resistance. [European
Journal Endocrinology Aug 20, 2015]
Very few diabetics are aware of
the need to measure iron storage in the body. Men begin to accumulate
iron in their body earlier than females who control iron load by monthly
menstruation.
I wonder if this is why men tend to get Diabetes II at a later age than women do.
Men tend to have a greater risk
to develop diabetes as indicated by a high ferritin level. [British
Journal Nutrition Dec 14, 2014]
Males accumulate 1 milligram of
excess iron per day of life after they are fully grown. By middle age,
around age 40 years, males will have double the iron load of an equally-aged
female and experience double the risk for diabetes.
I thought that this was the most interesting point about iron accumulattion. "Iron from plant foods is absorbed on an as needed basis. Iron from meat is absorbed whether it is needed or not." Ouch!
Iron from plant foods is
absorbed on an as needed basis. Iron from meat is absorbed whether it is
needed or not. The consumption of red meat, which provides the most
easily absorbed iron of any food source, is associated with adult-onset
diabetes. [American Journal Clinical Nutrition June
2015] High ferritin levels, as determined by a blood test for the amount
of iron stored in the body, correlates with the onset of diabetes. [Advances
Biomedical Research March 2015] Insulin resistance
occurs when ferritin (iron storage) levels rise. [Journal
Pakistan Medical Assn. Dec 2014; Diabetologia March 2015]
In fact, elevated ferritin levels predict future onset of insulin resistance. [Diabetes
Research Clinical Practice Jan 2015; Acta
Diabetology April 2015]
Note that the quotation above says "Iron from meat . . . ," and not "iron from red meat." So any meat--chicken, beef, pork, etc.
FOOD SOURCES of MAGNESIUM
from Healthline
Cooked spinach, one cup, 157 mgs of magnesium.
Pumpkin seeds, 150
mgs of magnesium in a one-ounce serving.
Cooked black beans, a one-cup serving, contain 120 mgs of magnesium.
Cashews, a one-ounce serving, contain 82 mgs of magnesium.
Buckwheat, one-ounce serving, contains 65 mgs of magnesium.
Dark chocolate, a one-ounce bar, contains 64 mgs of magnesium.
Avocado, one medium avocado, contains 58 mgs of magnesium.
Tofu, 53 mgs of
magnesium in a 3.5 ounce serving.
Salmon, half of fillet, contains 53 mgs of magnesium.
Bananas, 37 mgs of
magnesium.
In addition to the benefits for diabetics, magnesium is also an important bone mineral. From Bill Sardi's book, The New Truth About Vitamins and Minerals, he writes comparing the virtues of calcium to magnesium
Magnesium interferes with crystalization and produces flexible bones that can withstand physical stress. Boron, a trace mineral, enhances bone hardness.
So there's that.
