Many of us have had the need to modify our diets and lifestyles due to blood sugar, lipids, or other markers. Some have used pharmaceutical approaches, and while convenient, they often sacrifice some other process (or processes) in the body which may cause a whole other set of issues or problems.
Often, our family physicians present us with a choice. “Do XYZ and ABC and hopefully we can put off taking LMNOP”. It’s a familiar tune sung by doctors the world over. But XYZ and ABC often entail a bit more effort and perseverance to attain their intended goals.
So when the average American with some weight, lipid and sugar issues has that conversation, the mind starts to race as it assesses the work and labor needed to do what is needed. I bring all of this up because the current medical approach to obesity, diabetes and heart disease all have their own pharmaceutical approaches, yet there are truly inextricably linked and have a root cause that must be properly addressed if we ever want to help prevent the end-diseases from ever forming.
That root cause? Insulin.
And not just Insulin. Insulin in the presence of inflammation.
Yeah I know, carbs and sugars turn into fat leading to obesity. Of course they do. But the damage that we see in individuals, including the onset of diabetes, starts way before the fat cells get all nice and plump and the person has blood markers positive for diabetes. The body secretes insulin to take care of that excess sugar and over-secretion of insulin leads to insulin resistance. In other words, the cell walls have a gatekeeper that allows sugars into the cell. The insulin molecule is like that A-list celebrity that can bring whomever they want in to that exclusive nightclub. Without them, the line goes down the block and around the next corner.
Insulin is a hormone. So that makes insulin resistance a hormone problem. What we call diabetes is the end-symptom of this condition. Diabetes is simply insulin resistance in the presence of high blood sugar. So why are we focusing on a symptom that occurs later in the process? Seems absurd, doesn’t it? It’s like detecting heart disease AFTER the patient has a heart attack.
Triglycerides go up. Lipid balances go out of whack. Can you see the beginnings of heart disease???
With insulin being cranked out in massive amounts due to our food intake, we then have to consider the other component mentioned earlier in this article. Inflammation. Now add in the abnormal cholesterol markers now present in the blood. The body makes cholesterol to make hormones. HORMONES!!! Didn’t we just say that insulin is a hormone? And that we are secreting LARGE amounts of this hormone? Hmmm. Now factor in that the inflammation will chemically react with these lipids causing hardening and plaquing. Cardiovascular disease anyone??? But now can’t you see that there were processes going on before your doctor gave you that diagnosis?
Our bodies will have inflammation from seemingly normal molecules that are consumed in higher-than-acceptable amounts AND we will have inflammation from foods/molecules that are either toxic or highly modified. I have graphs that show correlations between genetically engineered corn and soy use increasing at the same rate as diabetes in the US. Wow. And that’s just one major part of our food system…what about the use of glyphosphate (pesticide) that also increased over the same time period?
These compounds, the sugars we eat, our diets and traditional patters of eating, ALL are seemingly INFLAMMATORY. And remember how I said heart disease, obesity and diabetes have an inflammatory component? There are many sources of inflammation in the Standard American Diet and in our food supply. You simply have to educate yourself and not bury your head in the sand.
Hopefully this article has caused you to start to think about WHY you may be sick or not well. We all can do better for ourselves and our office is here to help our community do just that. Our kids, AND US, deserve it.