Reversing Type II Diabetes

The other day I had the pleasure of having a phone consultation with a patient from northern Utah who was referred to me for help her with type II diabetes. She had been diagnosed close to 20 years ago and her condition was not well “controlled” (which happens to be the word that medicine uses to describe a “best case” scenario for those with Type II diabetes).  In addition, this patient had a host of other health issues that were the natural result of severe metabolic and hormonal collapse.

When we first started working together, this lovely woman was doing her best to follow a grain-based, vegetarian diet that she was reading from a nutrition book published in the 90’s.  While the book’s author made it sound like this was a solution to her diabetes, she noticed that the longer she followed the recommendations, the worse her blood sugar numbers became, even getting to the point where it was close to 400 mg/dl.  She knew that she needed better advice but wasn’t sure where to find it.

The reason that our recent consultation was so much fun was that I was able to share her latest blood test results with her.  In less than 3 months she was able to lower her fasting blood sugar to 91 mg/dl, which is no longer consistent with a diagnosis of diabetes!  Her triglycerides have gone from 180 (very high) to 118 (normal) and her cardiac inflammation markers have been cut in half from 9.5 mg/L down to 4.3 mg/L, dramatically reducing her risk of a heart attack.  All this was done while at the same time dramatically reducing the need for insulin and other diabetes medications.

Along the way she has released over 15 lbs. of body weight, improved her energy and sleep. Reduced her blood pressure and eliminated the swelling in her ankles and feet.

How did we do it?  What did she do that was so different?  Well, the short answer is that we applied the principles of Functional Medicine. We carefully assessed her unique health picture, laid the groundwork with a holistic lifestyle including significant dietary change, and added targeted supplementation to restore balance to the chaos that was going on inside of her body.

Is she “cured” of Type II diabetes? Well, I guess that if she returned to the lifestyle that created and supported the disease in the first place, the condition would return, so the answer would be “no”. But have we reversed it?  Absolutely!  She is now empowered and on her way to a much longer and happier life.

A recent research study looked at the number of Americans that were overweight or obese, had metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, or had developed type 2 diabetes. What did they find? A whopping 90% of people have one or more of these problems… and many of them have no idea!

Despite the fact that we are investing BILLIONS of dollars for pharmaceutical research, the rates of diabetes and obesity rates continue to rise. 

What’s even more troubling is that there are over 70 diabetes drugs being prescribed in the U.S. alone, and not one of them fixes the root causes or stops the progression of the disease.

It is clear that we need a new approach in the fight against metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, obesity, diabetes, and myriad other chronic degenerative diseases.

I hope that you’ll share this email with those you love who are headed down the wrong path with their health. Let’s all get on board with a better way of living.