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Diet and Associated Health: Facts, Opinions and Somewhere In Between

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Christina Young

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Andover-Aeroflex, 12N
Christina, are you diabetic?

Stewart, no, I am not... why do you ask? My A1C (which I tested 2 weeks ago) is 4.8. My fasting insulin (tested last week) is 3.8.

BUT.... I very well COULD be -- as I was going down that path with the A1C creeping up there and the metabolic symptoms coming on! But I stopped it. Most of my mother's side of the family either died from diabetes (includes both grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc) - and several of the ones still alive have it now (my aunt had it until a few months ago when she reversed it completely and is now off all her drugs). I have been spreading the word that it is completely reversible without drugs, and some people here simply don't like it.

Sorry, but this is one thing I am passionate about. If you are type 2 diabetic it doesn't have to be like that.

Please ban me now, Randy...
 
Alternative Ways to Look at Pre-diabetes/Diabetes

There appears to be interest in discussing alternative treatments of prediabetes and diabetes. Here is a place for you to do just that.

Randy
 
Christina, are you diabetic?

Stewart, no, I am not... why do you ask? My A1C (which I tested 2 weeks ago) is 4.8. My fasting insulin (tested last week) is 3.8.

BUT.... I very well COULD be -- as I was going down that path with the A1C creeping up there and the metabolic symptoms coming on! But I stopped it. Most of my mother's side of the family either died from diabetes (includes both grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc) - and several of the ones still alive have it now (my aunt had it until a few months ago when she reversed it completely and is now off all her drugs). I have been spreading the word that it is completely reversible without drugs, and some people here simply don't like it.

Sorry, but this is one thing I am passionate about. If you are type 2 diabetic it doesn't have to be like that.

Please ban me now, Randy...
 
I wondered about your perspective and why you'd argue with a PhD-MD about health issues. I don't always agree with doctors but I try to respect that they have the starring role in conversations about health and disease.
 
In Christina's defense, I know that I have had more than one physician with whose opinion I took exception. That is why I really appreciate people (PhD, MD, JD, you name it...) who objectively look at issues. I know medicine is not a perfect art. I know that there are scant few definitive studies that provide undisputed approaches to any disease. I know that surgeons think internal medicine docs are way off base, and internal medicine docs who think surgeons are way off base, I know that PhD's think MD's are overpaid and don't analyze data appropriately, and there are MD's who feel that PhD's are merely pocket-protector intellectuals who can't relate to the world. The truth lies somewhere in between.

For me, I just want to stick to good studies, and what is a good study to one researcher may appear to be considered heresy by another.

I am glad you are all here.

Randy
 
As a pharmacist I have personally seen cases where a type II diabetic was able to get off drugs or even insulin, simply by changing their lifestyle. Primarily by losing weight and proper diet. I've been telling my customers for years that food is a drug. What you eat has a dramatic effect on your health. That being said, there are those who will not be able to control their diabetes or other health conditions with diet alone. No matter what they do, they will need the extra help that drugs can provide. We're lucky we live in the day and age where we have options.
 
***************
Trying to understand what background qualifies your arguing with a PhD-MD. Generally the two types of people I pay attention to are people with the condition or people who treat the condition. Both have important perspectives. I don't always agree with doctors but I respect that they believe what they believe. I loved it when ortho surgeons would tell me I was about to have a simple surgery. Simple for them, maybe. I've never woken up in recovery and thought how simple the coming months or recovery and rehab were going to be. Ironically my wife just got back from an appointment with a nutritionist on behalf of her disabled sister, who does have endocrine issues. Lean proteins and non-starchy veggies are what's for dinner. Diabetes, cancer, auto immune diseases, cardiac issues, obesity, etc., the docs all prescribe lean protein and green veggies.

Stewart,

I have multiple graduate degrees too, but I don't go around rubbing people's noses in it or putting lots of letters behind my name, although I could. I prefer to argue science and the facts, and I prefer not to be a snob.

My background is in engineering, and my first masters was in systems and control engineering -- i.e. the dynamics of systems. Therefore, I try to understand the human body as one very complex system - not the way traditionally trained medical doctors look at it at all.

It is easy today to find out what is bullshit and what is not with the entire world's medical library at your fingertips in the form of the internet. Hey -- I can read medical papers too, the same ones that all the medical doctors can read (but 99% don't). In fact, I read a LOT of them - mostly on diabetes, atheroschlerosis and cancer.

And since I also have a background in data science and machine learning, I can do stuff with the data in those papers too (more letters behind my name I could use if I wanted to). Something most doctors can't.

Let me tell you something -- the shoddy work in many of those papers is simply astonishing, and most of the studies that get published are published because they reached the "right" conclusions - the ones that the drug companies wanted. If you want to see a lot of studies that didn't get published, go to clinicaltrials.gov - these studies didn't reach the "right" conclusions.

However, if you really want to see the results of modern medicine and doctors, just look at the exploding rates of diabetes, cancer, etc - since the ADA, AHA, and doctors started pushing "healthy whole grains", industrial vegetable oils (which didn't even exist 60 years ago) and telling people to avoid animal fats, something they were eating for at least 300,000 years with no heart disease or diabetes.

Look at the "standard of care" for type 2 diabetes -- put people on insulin, even though it is a disease caused by too much insulin, which makes it even worse! Are you really serious that we should listen to these docs just because they have "MD" behind their name??? When anyone using common sense can figure out that you shouldn't be giving more insulin to someone with hyperinsulinemia??? Oh yeah... then they tell you that you're just doomed to lose your limbs and die from this disease. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Let's talk about the "standard of care" for heart disease... give the patient statins and tell them to eat corn oil. Statins cut off an entire enzymatic pathway in your liver -- not just the liver's ability to make cholesterol (which is your body's repair mechanism for inflammation, which really causes atheroschlerosis), but also many critical things like CoQ10, vital for protecting your heart, nervous system and a bunch of other things. REALLY??? That's like cutting off your leg because of a chipped toenail! And that just as many people with low cholesterol have massive heart attacks as people with high cholesterol? Why are these illustrious doctors with all the letters behind their names doing this??? ARE THEY STUPID? Or just corrupt?

Let's talk about the "standard of care" for pancreatic cancer. Yes heavy chemo + radiation - 6 months and you're dead. Meanwhile, my friend who refused all that and basically did NOTHING (except take a few pancreatic enzymes that I was told don't work) is still alive after diagnosis almost 3.5 years. Granted not well, but alive..... if the docs actually used Otto Warburg's discoveries on cancer metabolism for which he won the Nobel prize in the 1930s, maybe my friend would have recovered by now. WHY DON'T THEY, and instead just go down a path with a near 100% death rate within 6 months, worse than if they did absolutely nothing???

People are beginning to realize that something is seriously wrong - and the good news is that you no longer are blocked by a guy with a white coat and stethoscope with some letters behind his name from accessing the truth for yourself.

BTW, some of the smartest people I know are self trained -- they have studied on their own.

And Randy -- I am not against doctors. Just ones who don't abide by the Hippocratic oath and make things worse, when there there are clear truths out there. Look at what the AHA released the other week to defend their crumbling facade against animal fats and for their dangerous advice to eat corn oil. I could go on for hours about that - the substandard studies (all old ones from the 1960s that violate basic principles of how to do studies). Chris Masterjohn (PhD for you Stewart) has done a better job than I could in dissecting the crappy science in these: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2017/06/24/coconut-oil-killing-us/

The good news is that this facade and barrier to good health is crumbling in the information revolution that the internet has brought about.
 
Dr Jason Fung, a nephrologist in Toronto, is successfully treating his patients with intermittent fasting. Apparently humans never evolved to handle three square meals a day, every day. It blocks the normal waste product purging cycle of the cell, which has to operate in order to purge fats from the cells that block insulin absorption. https://intensivedietarymanagement.com
 
In Christina's defense, I know that I have had more than one physician with whose opinion I took exception. That is why I really appreciate people (PhD, MD, JD, you name it...) who objectively look at issues. I know medicine is not a perfect art. I know that there are scant few definitive studies that provide undisputed approaches to any disease. I know that surgeons think internal medicine docs are way off base, and internal medicine docs who think surgeons are way off base, I know that PhD's think MD's are overpaid and don't analyze data appropriately, and there are MD's who feel that PhD's are merely pocket-protector intellectuals who can't relate to the world. The truth lies somewhere in between.

For me, I just want to stick to good studies, and what is a good study to one researcher may appear to be considered heresy by another.

I am glad you are all here.

Randy

Randy, I am ecstatic that your old dog has shown you the path to learning new tricks. Open minds open unopened doors.

Glenn
 
Christina,I strongly support your stance,for years the drug companies have been pushing this bullshit that drugs keep us alive,when all the drug industry is making billions for themselves and quite happily seeing their families die for the sake of gain.My respect to you,Ron.
 
That being said, there are those who will not be able to control their diabetes or other health conditions with diet alone. No matter what they do, they will need the extra help that drugs can provide. We're lucky we live in the day and age where we have options.
Exactly the point, Scott.

We have an unacceptably large % of patients who have to reduce their bmi and deal with their "pre-diabetes" in order to have reasonable chances of conceiving. We encourage them to consider a number of options, but any options they choose must include weight loss. As you mentioned, there are some that diet and exercise, alone, will not get them to their short term goal in what they consider a reasonable amount of time (they want to conceived yesterday).

Glenn, this old dog has encouraged patients, and folks here, to be aware of all of their options, and have done so for many, many years. My point is, and has been, to be aware of all options for people to deal with their disease, whether it be diabetes, "pre-diabetes", cancer, kidney stones...you name it. I have written here before that we try to make recommendations based upon good science. I take issue with those who encourage people to come to conclusions based upon scientifically less reliable studies. Again, that doesn't mean that the alternative approaches, or homeopathic remedies, do not work, or are not effective. I am sure some do. Others may not. How do we know which is which? Good studies.

Ron, I am also in agreement with you that drug companies push their cures and profit mightily from them, and I concur that they do so at the expense of people who may unwittingly be advised that "this drug is for you!" I am also one who has NEVER been a hired gun, so to speak, using one's expertise and good reputation to not-so-subtly promote their drugs. My mentor strongly discouraged us from being hired guns, and that has been the case in my medical practice.

The mission of Medical Matters is to provide information to those who are contributing members of Supercub.org to deal with medical problems, and medically-related problems, which may adversely impact their ability to fly, to obtain or maintain medical certification. SJ suggested that we create this thread so that an outlet can be offered for those who wish to discuss non-traditional, alternative methods of dealing with prediabetes. As moderator of Medical Matters I have been charged with making sure that discussions are on point, respectful and appropriate. This thread exists to recognize that there are more than one way to skin a cat, and as long as our mission is being met, this thread, and all others in MM, will continue.

Randy
 
Health maintenance and disease treatment aren't the same thing. I've used Naturopath MDs for most of my adult life but when something bad happens they send me to specialists for expert treatment. Then for general health maintenance I'm back at the Naturopath's. What's right for me doesn't suit everyone. What's right for others doesn't suit everyone, either.
 
I have a family history of Type 2 Diabetes. An uncle, not over weight lived to be 90. His sister died at 86 of complications but she was considerably overweight. In those days the only pharmaceutical remedy was insulin injection. That is not the case today.

I was diagnosed over 25 years ago. No symptoms. I took the day off because I had my medical scheduled and I wanted to relax. I treated myself to a big breakfast and failed the urine test. I was shocked. I managed to get through that with a letter or two to OK City from my doctor. This was before pre diabetes was all the rage. I was overweight by 20-25 LBS by the BMI charts. I was advised to diet and exercise. Doing that controlled the situation for several years. Eventually I couldn't eat any less or run any farther and went on Metformin which worked for several more years. This was the point that I told FAA and got a SI second class.

As the years went by, meds needed to be added, all oral, no insulin. Although I am not overweight by the BMI charts I still need the meds. My HG1ac is measured every three months. The last two were 6.0 and 5.8. When I told the ophthalmologist I was diabetic he said "Oh, you're one of those skinny diabetics."

There is no doubt that the diabetes epidemic is fueled partially by the eating habits of America. Many of them feel they'd rather "take a pill" than change their life style. Many of these folks, if they got their weight down, would tell you their diabetes was cured.

Rich
 
I think the important thing here is that everyone needs to understand what causes type 2 diabetes. It is NOT BMI, being overweight, or even high fasting blood sugar (those are just symptoms). The root cause is insulin resistance that builds up over time due to too much ingested carbs - primarily sugars (both glucose and fructose, the latter of which wreaks havoc on your liver in sustained amounts), and starches, which are converted into glucose.

People of certain genetic backgrounds are much more sensitive to carbs than others - that's why aboriginal natives in many parts of the world (who have not been exposed to carbs until the past couple hundred years) have higher rates of modern metabolic ailments like diabetes than other populations.

Fobjob, Dr. Fung is a leader in reversing type 2 diabetes and obesity - and he has a really great set up videos explaining all this. Thanks for posting the link here - the videos are on his site. He is also known as the expert in fasting, just having come out with a book about it. The idea is to remove everything that triggers insulin response, so as to let the insulin receptors on your cells heal from the damage. It works, and many major cultures have practised fasting for millennia (it's even discussed major religious tomes like the Bible). Even if you time-restrict your eating (like I do) to 8 hours a day, that leaves 16 hours of no insulin triggers.

Fasting is not the only way to do it, as what you eat is also important. In fact, if you eat a lot of starches and sugars generating a large insulin response (and eventually insulin resistance over time), you're going to be hungry again after the insulin crash -- and in most cases it is almost impossible to fight your hormones (this hormone being insulin). You're going to eat again. Fasting is almost impossible under those circumstances.

Once I got the carbs and sugars out of my diet, it was funny to watch people as you suddenly realize how addicted to food they are. To see friends suddenly ravenously hungry just 2 hours after having eaten a large breakfast! But then I realized that I was like that once. Yesterday I went 24 hours without food and was NOT hungry - I had a shooting match and just figured it would be easier to not eat. It does NOT effect your energy because if you are already fat adapted, your body will just switch to burning its own body fat. You won't even notice. It takes several months for fat adaptation, since the body actually grows more mitochondria to be able to process it at the cellular level. During that adaptation time, expect your sports performance to suffer by about 10%, but it is only temporary. That's what happened to me. Before I switched my diet, no way would I have ever believed that I could go 24 hours without food! Although I had done it before, when I went through USAF SERE long ago.

The best way to measure insulin resistance is through a Kraft Insulin Assay. This is the REAL test for diabetes, will detect it long before any glucose test will. Ivor Cummins has a ton of background on the Kraft Insulin Assay on his website, along with stuff about Dr. Joseph Kraft, who just passed away this past winter at the age of 95: http://www.thefatemperor.com/search?q=kraft.

Bottom line is that the whole key to CURING type 2 diabetes is to cure the insulin resistance. You can do this without drugs as you cells with heal themselves if they are no longer exposed to high insulin levels -- and any drugs that don't cure the insulin resistance are just "treatment", not a cure -- and a waste of money.

Just some thoughts.....
 
WOW - you are hitting it out of the park Christina! I admire your passion! If you are not already, you should be on the Diet Doctor staff!!!

Youre fighting a good fight - don't back down!

Roger
 
Christina, how about providing the readers with the top five articles/summaries/reviews of the points that you have so eloquently provided? That would be helpful, I think.

Randy
 
There are only three things that make me eat:
1. Boredom
2. Frustration
3. Hunger(a distant third)
The psych factors are more than just these, and pretty tough to get past. The carb addiction HAS to conquered first....
 
There are only three things that make me eat:
1. Boredom
2. Frustration
3. Hunger(a distant third)
The psych factors are more than just these, and pretty tough to get past. The carb addiction HAS to conquered first....

I am very similar to that, There are times that if I am working all day on an outdoor project, say on a backhoe, or building a stone wall I do not need to eat.
Issue is I work on machines, mills and lathe as well as welding. And I tend to need to eat whether or not I truly need the food.
Christina, thank you for this thread. The timing is just right for me.
 
Christina, how about providing the readers with the top five articles/summaries/reviews of the points that you have so eloquently provided? That would be helpful, I think.

Randy

I am not quite sure what you are asking. If you are looking for reading material to learn more about insulin resistance, diabetes, etc I can certainly provide that, starting with Dr. Fung's works, the link to which has already been provided in this thread.

Please be more specific.
 
I don't think Brats and Budweiser are on the approved list. :)

No plans to go this year... but brats are indeed on the approved list, as long as they are made without sugar. Beer not quite... unless your insulin resistance is already healed - then once in a while is okay. Wine is better, especially dry wine...
 
No plans to go this year... but brats are indeed on the approved list, as long as they are made without sugar. Beer not quite... unless your insulin resistance is already healed - then once in a while is okay. Wine is better, especially dry wine...


Could make for an interesting group conversation. There are sure plenty of interested minds that are opening up.

No beer for me, a Johnny Walker Black now and then though.
 
Okay I have been busy this weekend... canoed the upper Delaware River yesterday, maybe fly some place today (although the airspace is currently shut down with the presidential TFR centered on Bedminster)... but here is some good background hard copy reading material for those who want to learn more. I'll post some online stuff later.

In order from less technical to more technical:

- Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore & Dr. Eric Westman - for those interested in a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet. How to do it correctly and what to expect. Definitely read up on this stuff before you try it! I didn't read this book until I had already transitioned to LCHF (my aunt sent it to me - her doctor who helped her fix her metabolic issues gave it to her), but wish I had it earlier. The book is a lot cheaper than all the drugs she was on!

- The Complete Guide to Fasting by Dr. Jason Fung & Jimmy Moore - This is a new book about how to fast correctly... but I personally recommend you work on getting the sugars and starches out of your diet first before trying fasting. I really can't imagine fasting on a diet laden with sugars and starches!

- The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung - I bought this book last year not because of weight loss (I have never been overweight) but to better understand insulin resistance and how insulin affects metabolism. Great book for those who do need or want to lose weight however. No matter how much you exercise, you can't outrun your hormones!

- The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Doctors Steve Phinney & Jeff Volek - This book is for athletes and others who want to maximize their physical performance on a low carb high fat diet, or are concerned what it might do to their athletic performance (there is a LOT of misinformation out there, and Phinney and Volek actually give you the real science down to the cellular level of what goes on - backed up with experiments and studies, many of which they directed themselves in their labs).

- The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Doctors Steve Phinney & Jeff Volek - This book is written specifically for doctors, but is great for anyone who wants to dive into the science behind low carb metabolism. Probably 99% of MDs out there are clueless about how this works... after all, how much training do doctors get in med school about nutrition and metabolism? Less than 20 hours? This is for them.

- Principia Ketogenica by Ash Simmonds - This book is for real nerds like me! It is "The evidential reference manual of research papers and scholarly journal articles on the benefits of carbohydrate restriction." If you like to read a lot of scientific papers, this book is for you!
 
Here is an excellent presentation at the lay person level by Dr. Ted Naiman about why both a low carb diet and fasting work to restore a person's insulin sensitivity and reverse their type 2 diabetes (caused by insulin resistance). I like this page because of its infographics -- very clear and easy to visualize what's going on:

http://www.burnfatnotsugar.com/intermittent-fasting.html

A low carb diet works because carbohydrates cause the biggest insulin spike by far, followed by protein, and then fat, which has a very low insulin spike. So the idea is to replace the carbs with fat for energy, while leaving protein at a moderate level (protein will also get turned into glucose at levels beyond that needed by the body for maintenance and repair).

Fasting works because there are no insulin spikes at all. Both of these approaches allow your cells to recover from being insulin resistant. From my experience, they really complement each other, because a low carb diet makes fasting easy without hunger. In fact, once in while I even forget to eat, and am never hungry between meals!
 
Just cuz I have it handy, here's a snapshot of the meal planner handout my wife got a couple of days ago from a licensed dietician, for whom her sister needed a referral to see. Basic nutrition advice. Stuff we all know but seem to forget. ESPECIALLY the portion size!
6a9092d00ab7693bd61dcab96108f825.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org mobile app
 
Stewart, that advice from a "licensed dietitian" is 100% guaranteed to keep insulin levels high so that someone with insulin resistance can't recover. While the menu does have some healthy things on it, it also has some insulin-spiking things and the constant snacking keeps the pancreas secreting insulin and doesn't let insulin receptors in the cells have a rest.

To be honest, while I have not personally had any interactions with "licensed dietitians", I do have a friend with atheroschlerosis (he's had multiple incidents and has stents), and his licensed dietitian keeps him eating a diet heavy in grains and low in healthy fats - virtually assuring he can't recover. Even though it is only a data point of one, I have not been impressed.
 
Over the last year I had been working with a "licensed dietitian" at the only Endocrinology office in the Rutland VT region. Under her guidance as well the other support from staff members they raised my body weight 10# and raised my A1C from 7.2 to 8.2, that last number was taken back in February. At that time the dietitian whom was promoting 45 to 60 grams of carbs per meal and keeping fats low, her comment to the elevated A1c was, "well that didn't work" At that time we had maxed out the visits allowed by my insurance so there has been no true change of course by the "pros" After that visit I requested a change of Endocrinologists since the one I was with was the "low man on the totem pole". He was referring to "Web MD" and the Mayo center website while I was in office. I was denied a change of Endos so I have not been back there. Clearly their guidance is frustratingly wrong.

I think back a few years ago when my GP was saying to totally cut out bread, I wish he backed up that statement with some guidance since I am now beginning to realize he was right. I just did not understand it. When I joined this forum a year ago it was for research for the plane I am building, I did not expect to get guidance about controlling a major issue of life such as Diabetes.
 
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Charlie, there is a lot of dietary confusion and outright misinformation out there... and unfortunately much of it is coming from the medical and nutrition communities.

For people who want to know how to eat this way correctly, this is an excellent video of Dr. Eric Westman, MD of Duke University - the same guy who co-wrote the Keto Clarity book I referenced above. This is him explaining to his patients what to eat and what to expect (he doesn't call it "keto", he calls it the "no sugar no starch diet", which is what it really is). It's a really good primer - just over 38 min long:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNZsfluh0Uo" target="_blank">
 
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My endocrinologist looks like a young Sandra Bullock. I go as often as I can.
[h=2][/h]
 
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