I woke up the other day, with the TV
still on, during the last minute of a “Yoga for Diabetes” TV program, so I
missed it. Dang! Fascinated by the idea, though, I decide to Google it. I found
a gazillion sites, with videos. Whoda thunk it?
No offense (intended), folks, but
this idea made me laugh. It reminded me of the time in the 1970s when, after 5
years of working on a high-profile project with one of the best solar
architects in the country, I opened my own architectural practice specializing
in active and passive solar energy design. Unfortunately for me, without the benefit
of experience, so did everyone else in my practice area. Everyone wants to be
on the “diabetes solution” bandwagon, without regard to whether they are
qualified.
Yoga is no doubt a useful activity
for meditation, stress reduction, and even stretching. I hesitate to call it
exercise, but if you are old or unfit, it may be good fitness training for you.
I’m not knocking it, but to suggest that yoga has real benefit for “treating”
or even “curing” Type 2 Diabetes as many of the TV sites do, well, give me a
break! Type 2 Diabetes is a Dietary Disease, and the only
effective treatment is a low carb or
very low carb diet.
But if that isn’t enough for you, you
could add Metformin. Metformin will slightly increase your Insulin Sensitivity
(i.e., reduce your Insulin Resistance), and it will suppress unwanted glucose
production in the liver. But a low carb diet alone, with fasting,
will result in a reduction in A1c (as well as weight loss) such that, for many
people diagnosed with Pre-Diabetes or even long-term Type 2 (like me), your
disease will go into remission.
You will not be cured (you will
always be Carbohydrate Intolerant), but nobody will know it – not even your
doctor – if you don’t tell him or her. That’s because a doctor is trained to
treat symptoms, and you won’t have any symptoms detectable by any
lab test (s)he will likely administer. So, from your DOCTOR’s
perspective, you will be “cured.” If
there is nothing for him or her to treat (because you are treating yourself with a
low carb diet and intermittent fasting), what other conclusion
could he or she reach?
It’s that simple folks. Don’t waste
your time looking for a miracle cure, or trying to re-invent the wheel. And
don’t think you can cheat Mother Nature. Your body is a very complex biological organism and is much smarter than
even you! You can’t fool it. And even though you might talk yourself into
thinking it will only cost you a little to cheat, kachung, the “cheat” will
register in your blood glucose. Every carb will wind up “under
the curve” and have to be absorbed eventually. If not burned for energy, your
liver will use these extra carbs to make fat, via a process called de novo lipogenesis, another good reason
to take Metformin. Didja know that?
In basic science, the funding
continues to flow from government sources (NIH, etc), for an understanding of
what causes Insulin Resistance (IR), Type 2’s
underlying metabolic dysfunction. It is the first in a galaxy of related
metabolic disorders (Metabolic Syndrome) and the one that appears to cause,
first, Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT), and
then Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG), the two blood
measurements that characterize incipient diabetes.
They are reflected, respectively, in
the blood tests used by clinicians to diagnose Type 2: Fasting Blood Glucose
(FBG) originally, and today the hemoglobin A1c test. The latter is a better
test because, like Impaired Glucose Tolerance, it incorporates postprandial (after
meal) excursions and thus catches the rise and fall of your blood sugar after
eating. Another test, the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT), usually
administered over 2 hours in an outpatient hospital setting, is the gold
standard, but it’s more expensive.
In applied science (pharmacology) the
search continues for a miracle drug – to treat the SYMPTOM: an elevated blood
sugar. What did you expect? That’s how Big Pharma got to be big.
It’s their raison d’être. And that’s
because they can’t patent the cure for the CAUSE; because Insulin Resistnce
is caused by CARBOHYDRATE INTOLERANCE!
But YOU can treat the cause. YOU CAN EAT LOW CARB. It will put your
Type 2 Diabetes into full REMISSION, and you’ll lose a lot
of weight to boot.