The Diabetes Reset: Avoid It. Control It. Even Reverse It. a Doctor's Scientific Program - Tapa dura

If you have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, you have the potential to reverse your disease. If you are prediabetic, it is within your grasp to stop it from developing.

Based on cutting-edge research from Dr. George King and his colleagues at the Joslin Diabetes Center, this book presents eight evidence-based strategies that—simple though they may sound—will dramatically change your life. The science proves it.

Implement only one, and your type 2 diabetes will improve. Pursue all eight, and you can not only stop type 2 diabetes in its tracks but turn it around—effectively resetting your body’s glucose metabolism for a long, healthy life.

Introduction: The Diabetes Reset Promise
 
If you’re reading this book, it’s very likely that you or someone close to you is struggling with blood glucose levels. It could be that your fasting blood glucose level was higher than it should have been at your last checkup—perhaps in the prediabetes range of 100 to 125 mg/ dL (milligrams per deciliter), indicating you have impaired glucose tolerance and are at high risk of developing diabetes. Your fasting blood glucose may even be more than 125 mg/dL, which is considered the threshold for type 2 diabetes.
 
You may also have gotten test results showing that your hemoglobin A1C levels, which measure your average blood glucose over the past several months, are elevated—meaning they were either between 5.7% and 6.4%, the range for prediabetes, or 6.5% or higher, signaling that you may actually have diabetes.
 
Learning that your blood glucose levels are too high can be bewildering, even frightening. Because both type 2 diabetes and its precursor, prediabetes, tend to develop slowly over many years, it’s tempting to think that once you’ve been diagnosed with one of these conditions, there’s not much you can do except take diabetes medication and hope for the best. As a lifelong diabetes researcher, however, I want to assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, you can always take steps to improve your body’s response to insulin and “reset” your ability to metabolize the glucose in your blood—starting today.
 
This simple statement has profound implications. It means that if you have prediabetes, not only can you prevent your condition from progressing to diabetes, but in many cases you can actually reverse course and bring your glucose metabolism back to normal. Even if you’ve already been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, you can still significantly improve your body’s natural glucose metabolism and dramatically reduce—and in some cases even eliminate—your need for metformin, synthetic insulin, or other diabetes drugs.
 
The promise of The Diabetes Reset is equally simple: If you follow the evidence-based approaches in this book, you will begin seeing immediate improvements in your body’s ability to metabolize blood glucose—improvements that will continue to grow over time. At the same time, you will also see remarkable improvements in your overall health. In addition to becoming lighter and fitter, you will find yourself eating the types of foods that human beings have thrived on for thousands of years. You’ll also sleep better at night, experience less stress during the day, and have a more balanced immune system that fights off illness without overreacting. And because impaired blood glucose control is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, you will be taking a major step toward improved heart health as well.
Glucose and the Goldilocks Principle
There are only 4 grams of glucose—just enough to fill a teaspoon— circulating at any given time in the bloodstream of an average-weight person. But keeping that small amount of glucose constant is vitally important to your health. When it comes to your blood glucose level, the Goldilocks principle holds—you want it to be in the “just right” range, no lower than 70 mg/dL and no higher than 100 mg/dL when you wake up in the morning, and no higher than 140 gm/dL one to two hours after eating a meal. Normally, your body is programmed to keep glucose safely within this range. When glucose levels rise, the body automatically produces more insulin to speed the absorption of this glucose into the body’s tissues. When glucose levels dip toward the lower end of this range, the liver releases stored glucose into the bloodstream, while the pancreas stops producing insulin and may instead secrete glucagon, a hormone that induces the liver to manufacture still more glucose.
 
If this system falters and you become hyperglycemic, meaning that your blood glucose levels are consistently elevated, this excess glucose will begin attacking your nerve endings and the walls of your blood vessels. Over time, this can lead to neurological problems, damage to the eyes, kidneys, inner ear, and other organs, and increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Although these complications are typically associated with diabetes—defined as a fasting blood glucose of 126 mg/dL or higher or a postmeal glucose level of 200 mg/dL or above—people with prediabetes (a 100 mg/dL to 125 mg/dL fasting glucose level, or 140 mg/ dL to 200 mg/dL following a meal) can also be at increased risk for these conditions.
 
If blood glucose levels fall too low, on the other hand, a condition known as hypoglycemia, your health can also suffer. Because the brain relies completely on blood glucose for fuel, and requires a lot of it (when you’re in a sedentary fasting state, your brain consumes a whopping 60% of your total blood glucose supply), it is quickly affected by low glucose levels. People typically begin noticing the mental effects of low blood sugar as their glucose levels drop below 70 mg/dL. These may include feelings of irritability, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating. Low blood sugar can also cause headaches, fatigue, blurred vision, sweating, an elevated heartbeat, tremors, and hunger pangs. If glucose levels drop further still, it can lead to fainting, seizures, coma, and even death. People who take insulin medication for type 1 or type 2 diabetes are at particular risk for low blood glucose because injected insulin can push glucose levels too low if it’s administered at the wrong time or in the wrong dose.
 
If you notice signs of low blood glucose, you should immediately ingest 15 grams of fast-acting carbohydrate, such as: 4 ounces of fruit juice, 6 ounces of regular soda, three to four glucose tablets, one small box of raisins, 1 tablespoon of honey or syrup, or seven gummy bears.