Type 2 Diabetes is a hot topic in the health and wellness field. It is one of the leading causes of death and major diseases worldwide.
When I first started my journey on learning about health and promoting essential oils, I was often asked about diabetes. I had no personal experience with diabetes. My grandmother dealt with diabetes, but both my parents had no experience. I soon met a lot of people who’s lives were directly or indirectly affected by diabetes. Kidney failure. Amputation. Cardiovascular issues. Neuropathy.
It’s a struggle. Common adages like “Eat less. Exercise more.” or “Cut out carbs.” don’t seem to make a long lasting impact.
I learned a a lot about diabetes over the years. Over 53 percent of adults in the US are pre-diabetic or have diabetes (have an A1C of 5.7% or higher). This means more people are at risk of diabetes than people who are not. In 2019, my A1C was 5.6% and I made changes to to my diet, lifestyle, and essential oil and supplement regimen. In 2021, my A1C was 5.1%
Had I not made the changes in my life, where would I be today?
Prevention is a lot easier than combatting disease, but it may take conscious effort and support. We are constantly bombarded by society, culture, media, government and corporations about food and health.
I think it’s important to cut through all of these distractions to have a clear picture and create a plan and support system to support your health goals.
There are a lot of books about Type 2 Diabetes.
I recommend The Diabetes Code by Dr. Jason Fung.
The Diabetes Code is by far one of the most insightful books I have read about Diabetes. It was written in 2018 by Dr. Jason Fung, a nephrologist and world-leading expert on intermittent fastin, especially for treating people with type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes Code has five parts.
- Parts 1-3 Addresses Diabetes – The epidemic, the difference between different types of diabetes, insulin resistance and how it relates to sugar.
- Parts 4 Addresses How NOT to treat Type 2 Diabetes
- Part 5 Addresses How to Effectively Treat Type 2 Diabetes
The book has 288 pages and I highly recommend reading it, but if you want the “CliffNotes” version of Diabetes Code, I will break it down starting with Part 1
Takeaway points from The Diabetes Code (Part 1)
Low-fat, high carbohydrate diet promoted in the 1950s until now have had negative effects on the health of society (obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic disease)
- Physicians advocated lower-fat diets to combat cardiovascular disease. They falsely believed dietary fat increase blood cholesterol levels, leading to heart disease.
- In 1980-2015, fat consumption was restricted in the Dietary Goals for the US.
- By 1968, the US government formed a committee to look into malnutrition in the country and released a report in 1977 called the Dietary Goals for the US, and lead to the 1980 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
- These guidelines raised carbohydrate consumption to 55-60 percent of the diet and decreased fat consumption from 40% of calories to 30%.
- The 1980 Dietary Guidelines for Americans spawned the counterfactual “Food Pyramid” with the base is breads, pastas, and potatoes (foods we were told to eat every day)
- Recent evidence refutes the link between cardiovascular health and total dietary fat.
- In 2016, restrictions on total dietary fat was removed from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Type 2 Diabetes is an Epidemic
- In 2013, an estimated of 11.6 percent adults in China had type 2 diabetes eclipsing the US at 11.3 percent.
- Between 2007-2018, 22 million Chinese have been newly diagnosed with diabetes.
- Only 1 percent of Chinese had type 2 Diabetes in 1980
- The International Diabetes Federation estimates that the worldwide rate of diabetes will reach 1 in every 10 adults by the year 2040.
- In the US (2018), 14.3 percent of adults have type 2 diabetes and 38 percent of the population has pre diabetes totaling 52.3
- Prevalence of type 2 diabetes has increased only in the last forty years. this is not some genetic disease or a part of normal aging, but a lifestyle issue.
- In 2012, diabetes cost the US $245 billion due to direct health costs and lost productivity
- The WHO estimates 15 percent of annual health budgets.
- In 2001, less than 3 percent of newly diagnosed diabetes in adolescents was type 2. Only a decade later, by 2011, this had increased to 45 percent.
There are several types of Diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes is the most common, making up an estimated 90 percent of cases
- Diabetes mellitus comprises a group of metabolic disorders characterized by chronically elevated blood glucose or hyperglycemia.
- prefix “hyper-” means “excessive”
- glyco means “sugar, glucose or it’s derivatives”
- suffix “-emia means “in the blood”
- Four broad categories
- Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, meaning that the body’s own immune system damages the cells that secretes insulin. Overtime, cumulative destruction of insulin-producing cells causes type 1 diabetes to progress to severe insulin deficiency. There is strong genetic disposition to type 1 diabetes, but what eventually triggers the autoimmune destruction is uncertain.
- Type 2 diabetes. Hyperglycemia occurs due to insulin resistance rather than the lack of insulin as in type of diabetes. Insulin resistance is the failure of insulin to lower blood glucose. The body overcomes this resistance by increasing insulin secretion to maintain normal blood glucose. When insulin secretion fails to keep pace with increasing resistance, blood glucose rises, leading to diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
- Gestational (by definition not a chronic disease, if it persists after pregnancy it mus be reclassified as Type 1, Type 2, or another type)
- Other specific types such as genetic defect, pancreatic disease, drug or chemical induced, infections (other types of diabetes are rare)
- Type 1 Diabetes is characterized by low insulin levels. Type 2 is characterized by very high insulin levels. Both have high levels of blood sugar.
Diabetes may be diagnosed through one of two blood tests: the hemoglobin A1C or the blood glucose test.
- Hemoglobin is a protein found inside the red blood cells that carries oxygen to the entire body. Over the average three-month lifespan of a red blood cell, glucose molecules attach to the hemoglobin in proportion to the prevailing blood glucose levels. The ammount of glucose attached to the hemoglobin can be measured and reflects the body’s average level of blood glucose over three months.
- <5.7% – “Normall”
- 5.7-6.4% – “Pre-diabetes” (high risk to progression to diabetes)
- >6.5% – “Diabetes”
- Fasting blood glucose test, a patient is asked to have no caloric intake for at least eight hours. A blood sample is taken. A level above 7.0 mmol/L (or 126 mg/dL) is considered diabetic.
- Oral glucose tolerance test, a patient is asked to ingest 75 grans of glucose. A blood sample is taken two hours later and the amount of glucose in the blood is measured. A level above 11.1 mmol/L (or 200 mg/dl) is considered diabetic.
Unlike virtually every other known disease, Diabetes has the unique and malignant potential to devastate our entire body.
- Diabetes may lead to microvascular complications (small blood vessels). Damage to small blood vessels result in:
- Visual problems (Eyes) Approximately 10,000 new cases of blindness in the US are caused by diabetic retinopathy each year.
- Chronic kidney disease (kidney) More than 100,000 patients are diagnosed with chronic kidney disease annually. Diabetic kidney diseases is the leading cause of end stage renal disease in the United States accounting for 44 percent of new cases in 2005. To stay alive, patients require four hors of dialysis, three times per week, indefinitely, unless they receive a transplant. 2 percent of type 2 diabetes develop kidney diseases each year. Ten years after diagnosis, 25% of patients will have evidence of kidney disease.
- Nerve damage (nerves). Diabetic nerve damage (Neuropathy) affects approximately 60-70 percent of patients with diabetes. Diabetic neuropathy affects the peripheral nerves first in the feet and then progressively in hands and arms as well. Damage to different types of nerves will result in different symptoms including tingling, numbness, burning and pain.
- Pain protects us against of damaging trauma, it lets us know that we should quickly adjust ourselves in order to prevent further tissue damage. If we are unable to feel pain, we may continue to experience repeated episodes of trauma.
- Diabetes may lead to macro-vascular disease (large blood vessels)
- Damage to larger blood vessels results in narrowing called atherosclerotic plaque. (hardening of the arteries. Diabetes greatly increases the risk of developing atherosclerosis.
- When the atherosclerotic plaque ruptures, it triggers the inflammation and blood clots that cause heart attacks, strokes, and gangrene of the legs.
- Heart attacks known medically as myocardial infarctions are caused by atherosclerosis of the blood vessels supplying the heart. The sudden blockage of these arteries starves the heart of oxygen.
- Stroke is caused by atherosclerosis of the large blood vessels supplying the brain. A sudden disruption of the normal blood flow starves the brain of oxygen and a portion of the brain may die. Approximately a quarter of all new strokes occur in diabetic patients.
- Peripheral vascular disease is caused by atherosclerosis and disruption of normal blood flow starves the legs of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin. Pain or cramping is a common symptom of PVD. PVD affects mobility. Skin with a poor blood supply is more likely to be damaged and takes longer to heal. Patients with gangrene requiring amputation may never walk again which can result in a cycle of disability.
- There are other related health complications.
- Diabetics are more prone to all types of infections. Decreased blood circulation associated with PVD contributes to poor wound healing. High Blood sugar may impair the immune system. Poor Blood circulation decreases the ability of infection fighting white blood cells to reach all parts of the body.
- Skin and nail conditions. Acanothosis nigricans is a gray-black velvety thickening of the skin caused by high insulin levels. Diabetic dermopathy, also called. shin spots are often found on the lower extremities as dark, finely scaled lesions. Fungal infections in nails.
- Erectile dysfunction 60-60 percent of diabetic men above the age of 50. Diabetes and poor circulation is a key risk factor.
- PCOS patients share many of the same characteristics as type 2 diabetics including obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and insulin resistance. PCOS is caused by elevated insulin resistance.
Those are the notes for Part 1 of 5 of the Diabetes Code. It’s pretty straight forward and people familiar about diabetes may already know most of the information. Part 1 merely establishes the Type 2 Diabetes epidemic, the history and what society knows about diabetes. The next parts (Parts 2-5) however challenges popular beliefs and the common approaches to Diabetes, which is why this book is one of the top books on the subject. I will continue taking notes and share key takeaways from the book.