Diet, Exercise, Stress and Diabetes

There is a new study showing that the majority of people with type 2 Diabetes are not changing their diet. They are not regulating their blood sugar with their diet. They are eating too many of the wrong foods and not enough fruits and vegetable. What was astonishing to the researcher was that he thought these people would be more educated and more motivated to eat the right foods, but that simply isn’t the case. I won’t comment on the lack of motivation, but the lack of education, in my opinion could be coming from the people who profit on selling medications than those who profit by selling fruits and vegetables. Overcoming diabetes begins by controlling your blood sugar levels with the foods and drinks you put in your body. In my opinion traditional medicine doesn’t emphasis diet and exercise and that it can be controlled by changing those two factors, along with controlling stress. Type 2 diabetes is the inability of your body to control all the sugar (carbohydrates, glucose) in your body. Many have thought that it is simply not making enough insulin, which takes the sugar out of your blood and puts it into your cells for energy. The fact is, if you eat a diet loaded with refined white flour and sugar it (processed, refined, fast foods) causes your blood sugar to skyrocket up and causes a NEED for more insulin than normal. The continual demand for more insulin can literally becomes exhausting to your pancreas. To lessen the spike of your blood sugar and lessen the demand on your pancrease.

• Eat more whole grains
• STAY AWAY from as much processed, refined foods as possible
• Make sure you have protein and good fats with each meal.
• Don't SKIP meals.

These simple steps will help reduce how much insulin your pancreas needs to produce, which will make it easier for your body to handle your blood sugar levels on their own, without the need of medications. The continual spikes and rapid falls of your blood sugar is what makes diabetes difficult to control. Keep in mind Insulin isn’t a bad thing, I don’t think the Good Lord made a bad hormone, but if your body is making too much it triggers all kinds of other problems. If it can’t make enough because you are forcing it to make so much more than normal...it will trigger a host of other problems. FYI....If you can’t keep your blood sugar stable you will always struggle with fatigue, weight gain, cravings, mood swings, PMS, hormonal imbalances, hot flashes, ADD and the list goes on... Exercise to the Rescue... The reason exercise is so critical for the diabetic patient is simple. Exercise causes your cells to be more receptive to insulin and makes it easier for your body to remove the sugar (carbohydrates, glucose) out of your blood stream and into the cell. The best time to eat a meal that may have more than the normal amount of carbohydrates is after your workout, when your cells are more receptive. The Stress Connection... The reason stress has to be looked is very simple to understand. Stress does the exact opposite to what exercise does. It makes your cells resistant to insulin, which triggers a need for more insulin. This causes a vicious cycle because all that additional insulin will cause your blood sugar to drop very quickly. This is where the adrenal glands, and the production of cortisol and adrenaline come into play. When your blood sugar drops and you don’t eat....your adrenal glands will produce cortisol and adrenaline to raise or stabilize your blood sugar. This is a normal response! What isn’t normal is depending on your adrenal glands to always stabilize your blood sugar and act as a backup, because you ate the wrong foods. If you keep forcing your adrenal glands to manage your blood sugar you can quickly begin to deplete and exhaust your adrenal glands, which sets off another cascade of problems. What eventually happens is that your adrenals become fatigued or unable to meet the demands you are placing on them and this sets up a huge domino effect of health challenges. FYI....you can never balance your hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone) and overcome hot flashes, night sweats, PMS, loss of libido or infertility if your adrenal glands are exhausted. Test Yourself... If blood sugar has been a problem it could also be throwing off your metabolism. Test your blood sugar and metabolism to see if that is contributing to fatigue, weight gain and cravings. I would recommend using our "Online Health Quizzes" to see if that is part of your problems. I would also take our “Stress Test” to see if stress is contributing to your problems. Let me also suggest if you are looking for a healthy snack or meal replacement that will help you control your blood sugar...try our NatraLean Health bars. They are without a doubt the best tasting health bar. Similar products are nothing more than a glorified candy bar with additional protein. If stress could be part of your problem, I would recommend a bottle of Adrenal Fuel to help re-nourish those exhausted adrenal glands. Don’t forget the benefits of exercise, you might want to consider something like The Work Horse to help you in that arena.