Stopping Type II Diabetes, Is it Possible?

There is so much information on the Internet about diabetes that is contrary to other information about diabetes, it can drive you crazy trying to figure it all out. Each person is different, each body reacts differently to the many different treatments, medications and foods. Each of us needs to watch our glucose levels as we eat different foods and when we eat them. There is a fairly new science, called nutrigenomics, not a new idea, but current science is just now getting around to studying it.

I only heard about nutrigenomics watching a program on P.B.S.: "Blood Sugar Solution" by Dr. Mark Hyman. Nutrigenomics can be defined as the study of the relationships between dietary factors and individual genes. Like I said it is not a new concept, in 400BC, Hippocrates told physicians to ‘Leave your drugs in the chemist’s pot if you can heal your patient with food.’ It is very similar to the Eastern medicine teachings of the Ayurveda Diet (Indian Alternative or Holistic Medicine). That the cells of the foods we eat effect the cells of our bodies in profound ways. Some give them information to turn on "storage" mode so that we store fat because we must be starving. Most of the fast foods and convenience foods fit into that category, as do refined flour, refined sugars, and all the things made with chemicals. Not all have fat listed on their nutrition labels, it isn't fat that makes us fat, it is the wrong kinds of foods. 


Some doctors and researchers think we should live strictly from a vegetarian diet, others tell us to eat fewer carbohydrates. I think that we were meant to be omnivorous, eating both plants and animals. A balance of foods, proteins, vegetables and fruits, dairy, grains and good fats is necessary. Of course there are those who have sensitivities and allergies to some foods, including dairy, nuts and gluten from any grain. Some are real, some are perceived because people have read about them but never have been tested for them. 


Each of us came from ancestors from various parts of the world, our genes learned to work properly from the foods those ancestors ate. If you have several different areas your ancestors came from, it can be hard to determine which diets to follow. I would say it depends how long it has been since they left that diet, how many generations and if too many generations have passed, just follow the general diet plan and experiment with foods to see how your glucose levels and body reacts. Like plants, our cells also learn to adapt slowly over time to the growing conditions they are given, slowly as in more than one or even two generations. Change that is too fast creates misfiring messages for our body to understand. Poor nutrition to our body, is like not giving a tropical plant enough water, it will die or deform.  All of our ancestors, only a few generations ago, ate only organically grown local foods, there was no refrigeration or fast way to get products to market and keep them fresh. They canned, and preserved the foods of summer to last throughout the winter. They ate only meat, dairy and eggs from animals that were grass fed, or game and freshly caught fish with seasonal fruits and vegetables, or the same foods preserved. These foods had no chemicals with long unpronounceable names, they had no preservatives other than salt, they were not genetically modified or from animals kept in pens that ate only genetically modified grains or garbage. 


Environmental toxins can also turn on the fat storage system and store those same toxins in it!  Toxins like pesticides and herbicides  screw up your thyroid, and make it work overtime or under perform. They can create a disease in your pancreas, gallbladder, liver and kidneys.  They affect every cell in your body; they can cause genetic mutations. Even babies are now being born with these toxins in their systems because of their mothers diets.


When I go to the grocery store I now read labels on everything, it began with trying to lose weight, then my diabetes and then my husbands high cholesterol. I have discovered for everything they take out, they add something else that is not good for you to enhance flavor or texture.  So many of these bad foods and additives act to trigger your immune system and cause even more problems with arthritis, frequent infections and colds, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and all inflammatory diseases. I look for foods with the fewest ingredients and nothing I don't know what it is. Absolutely no high fructose corn syrup because not only is it made from genetically modified corn and refined to being super sweet, it raises blood glucose very quickly with no value what so ever. Real cane sugar also raises the blood glucose level, but it does so slower. Eating foods that taste super sweet, either from sugars or artificial sweeteners make you crave more food, especially salty foods, which makes you crave sweets, and it becomes a vicious cycle. 


No matter how much I want to plant a big garden, or raise farm animals, the old body just doesn't work the way it once did. I do use containers for some fresh vegetables and fruits, and try to buy organically grown meats, as these are much better tasting and offer far more nutrition than most fresh foods in the grocery stores. Crops that are genetically modified for high yield rather than nutritious value are so lacking in the vitamins and minerals we need, that they too can turn on our starvation mode. So we still need to add supplements; multiple vitamins, vitamin D, and fish oil omega 3's, as well as others depending on our system.  According to the science, feeding our cells the right kinds of foods we can over come diseases like diabetes, arthritis, inflammatory diseases, cancers, and more. This seems like common sense to me, we were not meant to consume all these strange chemicals.


My meal plan is to eat 3 meals and 3 mini meals. All containing the proper amounts of protein, fast acting carbohydrates and slow acting carbohydrates. Just in different amounts. I find the healthiest foods I can, and the largest variety I can, including seeds and nuts. For those who prefer to count calories, you need to eat 10 calories for each pound of your ideal weight to get enough nutrients and not increase your chances of going into that starvation mode. Never less than 1200 calories a day for an adult. But it has to be the right foods. 


Now, I will tell you I know all of this and still do not always stick to what I know is good for me. But this blog is going to help me stick to the best foods and stick with my meal plan, to see how much healthier I can get and how much weight I can lose. (It is embarrassing to tell you how much I weigh, but I have recently lost 10 pounds since the last high blood sugar scare.) 


If you want to join me and report how you too are doing, please post in the comment section below. Thank you for helping me to stay on track by supporting my blog. :)