Type 2 diabetes English

I am sure you know why you got your diabetes. Type 2 is rising like an epidemic in the whole world. The basic problem is the wrong food and too little exercise.

Sugar, sweets, white bread, white pasta, white rice and potatoes are very quickly broken down to sugar in the stomach and the small intestine, where the sugar (glucose) sends powerful signals to your pancreas which is also influenced by the  quick rise in your blood glucose. This effects a quick and exaggerated rise in your blood insulin which is needed to transport the glucose into the cells of the body. This generates a quick fall in the blood glucose, making you hungry.

The high blood insulin in type 2 diabetes is needed, because your cells become less sensitive to insulin, because of wrong and too much food and too little exercise. Insulin is like a key, slipping into keyholes (receptors) on the cells and thereby letting the glucose into the cells, where it can be burned into energy or stored. The cells can only store a little glucose, the rest is converted into fat.

Exercise generates more keyholes and less insulin insensivity. Therefore exercise is very important for diabetics (and for everybody), and it has to be daily, several times.

Walk more, use the stairs, not the elevator. Park your car far away form the place you are going. Have a gym in your house with a rowing machine or other fitness machinery. With the daily exercise your blood insulin will fall, because the insulin works better. This in important, because too much insulin is not good for your heart and circulation.

Another problem with type 2 diabetes is a change in cholesterol with lower HDL cholesterol. This augments your risk of heart disease and stroke. You can get a higher HDL by exercise and by eating the right kind of fats. Olive oil has a very positive effect on type 2 diabetes and inflammation. So has avocado, fat fish, fish oil, almonds, nuts, flax oil. Do not use margarine or dairy fats (apart from ecological butter, because cows on grass and hay produce milk with lots of good omega 3 fatty acids).

The so called “bad” LDL cholesterol is only a problem, if it is oxidized, so it is only a problem if you do not get enough antioxidants. You have to supplement with these antioxidants, primarily vitamin C (one gram 3 times daily) and vitamin E. Diabetics need far more antioxidants than other people.

Most type 2 diabetics get a too high blood pressure. There are many natural ways to treat this. 

A central problem with type 2 diabetes (and many other diseases) is inflammation.

High blood glucose gives chronic inflammation, because it forms lots of free radicals that makes the power stations (mitochondria) of the cells go rancid (oxidizes them) and oxidizes the fats in the cell walls and the blood.

Inflammation is also caused by overweight, arachidonic acid (from beef, dairy products, offal etc.), too many polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-6) in proportion to the valuable omega-3 fatty acids, frying, trans fatty acids (margarine and fast food), homocysteine, tobacco, too much iron and a lot of chemicals. Inflammation is measured by C-reactive protein (CRP).

The following reduces inflammation:

Reduction of overweight. Eating the right food with a low glycemic index (which means that it is but slowly converted to glucose in the stomach and small intestine).

Avoiding margarine and fats that have been heated strongly (deep-fried). Eating less meat. Taking extra antioxidants, among others vitamin C and E, and selenium, 200 micrograms daily. Using more olive oil and omega-3 fatty acids. Vitamins B and K. Taking Magnesium, 500 mg in the evening. Artichoke, chili, Aronia juice or any other dark berries and juice. Berries contain valuable antioxidants.

Taking herbs like Boswellia serrata, artichoke, ginger, Stephania tentandra, nettle extract. Policosanol (from wax of sugarcane), bromelain (from pineapple) and curcumin (from turmeric, curry). A high intake of dietary fibres (vegetables, unrefined foods) reduces CRP to half. Keep your colon going – don’t be constipated. Have a healthy bacterial flora in your intestines by using probiotics.

The medicine metformin (which is the best drug against type 2 diabetes with overweight) reduces the amount of insulin in the blood and thus inflammation. But is can with time deplete vitamin B12, which needs to be taken as a supplement. B12, folic acid and B6 reduces homocysteine and thereby the risk of heart disease and arteriosclerosis.

Food and diabetes:

The problem is no so much how much you eat, but what you eat. Fiberrich vegetables and fruits are the best. Don’t drink juice but eat the whole fruit. The best carbohydrates have a low glycemic index: Lentils, beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Jerusalem artichokes, green peppers, zucchini, onions (the red are best). Use whole grain bread. Use only raw carrots (like the rabbits), because cooked carrots are easily and quickly converted to glucose. Don’t eat potatoes for the same reason. Use high quality food, preferably organic.

Use many spices because they are good antioxidants and antidiabetic.

Onions and garlic have been used as natural remedies against diabetes for hundreds of years and prevent arteriosclerosis. Mulberry extract slows the conversion to and uptake of glucose. Gymnema sylvestre, ginseng, curcumin and especially cinnamon are very good against diabetes. Take half a teaspoonful cinnamon every morning with your meal. This often works just as effectively as antidiabetic drugs.

Use Stevia as sweetening agent. It is a purely natural sugarfree sweetener, and research in Denmark and elsewhere has shown that it reduces blood glucose and blood pressure in type 2 diabetes.

Take a supplement with organic chromium to stabilize the blood glucose and to keep your sweet tooth in check. If you are tempted use dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa). This won’t harm your diabetes or your blood lipids, but helps.

Be sure to have enough selenium, zinc, vitamins C, E, D3 and A.

Take a supplement of alpha lipoic acid to prevent complications to your diabetes. It is a strong antioxidant and protects against stroke and heart disease. Take Q10, especially if you are treated with the cholesterol lowering statins (that have many side effects and are superfluous if you try to reduce inflammation, se above).

Take magnesium, 6500 mg in the evening. It is very important for your enzymes, energy, muscles, nerve system etc. Take a broad vitamin B complex.

Don’t use normal table salt as it is only natrium chloride and aluminium powder to reduce clotting of the salt. Use sea salt instead. This is filled with valuable minerals and does not raise your blood pressure but lowers it.

Drink enough water (about 2 litres a day). Don’t try to lose weight with pills. They will only fatten you up in the long run.

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