The Completely Curable Disease Your Doctor is Treating All Wrong... Posted By Dr. Mercola | November 12 2010 | 3,803 views

The Completely Curable Disease Your Doctor is Treating All Wrong... Posted By Dr. Mercola
November 12 2010
3,803 views


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A new federal report projects 1 in 3 American adults could have diabetes by 2050. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the number of Americans with diabetes may double or triple over the next 40 years.



People with diabetes face medical costs more than twice that of those without the illness. The total costs of diabetes is about $174 billion annually. Currently, roughly 24 million Americans, or 1 in 10 adults have the disease.



The Boston Herald reports:



“The CDC report ... gives a range for the predicted increase -- from 1 in 3 to 1 in 5 [people] by 2050 -- to reflect differing assumptions about how many people will develop diabetes, and how long they will live after developing the disease.”



Sources:

Boston Herald October 22, 2010



Population Health Metrics October 22, 2010; 8:29







Dr. Mercola's Comments:





There seems to be no stopping the meteoric rise of diabetes. Estimates of future cases are still growing at lightning speed.



Currently, roughly 1 in 10 of US adults has type 2 diabetes, and according to the latest CDC estimates published last month, diabetes is expected to affect a staggering 1 in 3 adults by 2050.



But the statistics get even more mind-blowing than that when you factor in those with pre-diabetes; those who are a hair's breadth away from the full-blown disease.



Add those to the equation, and nearly 1 in 4 Americans are already either pre-diabetic or diabetic!



Rise in Diabetes Also Drives Other Disease Rates

Most of my paternal relatives (my dad included), have, or have died from, diabetes, so this is an issue very close to my heart.



It is definitely not a disease to be taken lightly. It increases your risk of heart disease and brings on fatal and non-fatal heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events 15 years earlier than in those without diabetes, as well as significantly shortens your lifespan.



Rising diabetes rates exponentially increase other serious diseases, one of which is Alzheimer's disease. As I've discussed before, some are even referring to Alzheimer's as "type 3 diabetes," due to the links between the two diseases.



Diabetes also fosters numerous other health complications, including:



Heart disease and stroke

High blood pressure

Blindness

Kidney disease

Nervous system disease

Amputations

Dental disease

Pregnancy complications

Diabetics are also increasingly being misled to take statin drugs to prevent heart disease (which is strongly associated with diabetes), which adds further insult to injury.



Statin drugs have been shown to actually cause heart failure and are not the right treatment for most people. These drugs offer a "cure" that is far worse than the disease, yet vast numbers of people are being manipulated into taking them as "preventive medicine" once they're diagnosed with diabetes.



The truly insane part of all this is that type 2 diabetes is virtually 100 percent preventable, and most people can successfully reverse the condition without any drug intervention at all.



The problem is that the conventional advice for preventing and managing this disease is incorrect, which is why most doctors' advice causes diabetics to die. Even the CDC is clueless here, stating in their report that "intervention can reduce, but not eliminate, increases in diabetes prevalence."



I firmly disagree.



The High Cost of Diabetes

Again, type 2 diabetes is virtually 100 percent preventable and treatable with common-sense lifestyle changes that cost little to nothing. Meanwhile, the conventional treatment of diabetes is VERY expensive.



As reported by the Boston Herald:



"People with diagnosed diabetes have medical costs more than twice that of those without the disease.



The total costs of diabetes are an estimated $174 billion annually, including $116 billion in direct medical costs, according to the CDC."



I shudder to think about the enormous ramifications to health and the health care system should we fail to turn this disease trend around.



Fortunately, there is plenty of room for hope, because all we need to do is inform people about the truth about this disease. This is why I ask you to keep sharing this vital information with everyone you know.



These large numbers of people with diabetes are simply unnecessary, because as you'll see below, avoiding diabetes is a fairly simple and straight-forward affair. However, it does require you to take control of your diet and your lifestyle.



According to the Boston Herald:



"... [A]bout 15 percent of families don't want dietary counseling because their insurance company will deny the fee."



First of all, the advice you get from conventionally-trained nutritionists may or may not be accurate and helpful, and secondly, the information you need to make the correct lifestyle changes are available for FREE!



So please, always avoid allowing the lack of insurance coverage to prevent you from taking control of your diet.



My website contains nearly 8,000 pages of free information about diabetes alone! The best way to access this free information is to visit our diabetes index page.



Why are Diabetes Cases Surging?

The latest statistics on diabetes in the US are a very sad commentary and a major clue that conventional medicine has it all wrong; their standard diabetes recommendations -- both in terms of medication and nutrition -- are incorrect.



At best, they simply do not work. At worst, they're aggravating your problem and speeding up the deteriorating disease process.



There's no doubt in my mind that if government agencies and the medical community would stop catering to the greedy demands of the sugar, grain and pharmaceutical industries, and start issuing recommendations that actually promote health rather than deteriorating it further, this modern epidemic would be curbed in fairly short order.



But again and again, you'll find the ludicrous advice that consuming starchy carbohydrates, and even added sugar "in moderation," is okay for diabetics, as long as you use blood glucose lowering tools to balance out their effects.



Just ONE Soda a Day Can Raise Your Diabetes Risk by 25 Percent!

A recent meta-analysis concluded that drinking just ONE soda -- or other sweetened drink, including Vitamin Water -- per day can raise your risk of developing diabetes by 25 percent, compared to drinking just one sugary drink per month.



According to U.S. News & World Report:



"Previous studies have shown that sugar-sweetened beverages are strongly associated with weight gain…



They identified eight studies with enough data to let them check for a link between sugary drinks and type 2 diabetes and three similar studies of metabolic syndrome.



The largest diabetes study, which followed more than 91,000 American women ages 24 to 44 for eight years, made the strongest case for a relationship, and it wasn't just because higher consumption of sweetened drinks added excess calories that turned into pounds.



While weight gain is a known diabetes risk factor, the diabetes-beverage link persisted even after adjusting for that."



Considering the fact that the number one source of calories consumed in the US is in the form of soda, it's not hard to see the correlation between inappropriate dietary choices and the meteoric rise of diabetes.



Why Conventional Diabetes Recommendations are almost all WRONG

It's vitally important to understand that type 2 diabetes is NOT a blood sugar disease like you've likely been led to believe.



Type 2 diabetes is a disease caused by insulin resistance and faulty leptin signaling, both of which are regulated through your diet. Every diabetic needs to understand that the number one way to avoid and control this disease is to severely restrict or eliminate sugars (particularly fructose) and starchy carbs like breads and cereals – more or less the complete opposite of conventional recommendations.



Until this concept becomes well-known in both the medical community and by the public at large, the misconception about what diabetes is and the appropriate way to treat it will continue to be promoted.



Conventional treatment that is focused on fixing the symptom of elevated blood sugar, rather than addressing the underlying disease, is doomed to fail in most cases. Treatments that concentrate merely on lowering blood sugar while raising insulin levels can actually worsen rather than remedy the actual problem of metabolic miscommunication.



It just trades one evil for another.



Since most treatments for type 2 diabetes utilize drugs that either raise insulin or lower blood sugar, the tragic result is that the typical, conventional medical treatment for diabetes contributes to the additional diseases and the shortened lifespan that diabetics' experience.



Diabetics Must Become Aware of the Function of Leptin

The two hormones insulin and leptin work hand-in-hand when it comes to diabetes.



Insulin -- When your blood sugar becomes elevated it is a signal for insulin to be released to direct the extra energy into storage. A small amount is stored as a starch called glycogen in your body, but the majority is stored as your main energy supply -- fat.



Thus, in this regard insulin's major role is not to lower sugar, but to take the extra energy and store it for future times of need. Insulin lowers your blood sugar as a side effect of directing the extra energy into storage.



This is why treatments that concentrate merely on lowering blood sugar for diabetes while raising insulin levels can actually worsen rather than remedy the actual problem of metabolic miscommunication.



So, please, understand that if you only implement strategies to treat your blood sugar level, you are destined for premature death. Taking insulin is in fact one of the WORST things you can do, as it will actually make your insulin and leptin resistance worse over time.



Leptin -- Leptin is largely responsible for the accuracy of insulin signaling, and whether you become insulin resistant or not.



Leptin is a hormone produced by your fat cells. It helps regulate your appetite and tells your body and brain how much energy it has, and what to do with that energy.



Two of the most important organs that influence whether you develop (type 2, insulin resistant) diabetiesor not are your liver and your brain, and it is their ability to "hear" the leptin signals that determines this.



Once you become leptin resistant, the part of leptin's message that would normally reduce hunger and fat stores, and increase fat burning, does not get through to your brain -- so you stay hungry and store more fat, rather than burning it.



It's a vicious cycle, where a high sugar/grain diet increases fat storage and promotes leptin resistance, which in turn drives insulin resistance and obesity, which eventually leads to full-blown diabetes.



If You Want to Prevent or Reverse Diabetes, IGNORE the Following "Health" Agencies

American Dietetic Association

American Heart Association

American Diabetes Association

For the last 50 years, many people have been following the nutritional recommendations from these agencies, which advise a high complex carbohydrate, low saturated fat diet.



Clearly, these recommendations are NOT working.



Again, it's imperative to understand that if you have diabetes, you need to avoid sugar/fructose, grains (even organic, whole grains) and other starchy carbs like rice, potatoes and cereal, to get healthy.



Most Diabetics Can be Cured with Lifestyle Changes

The good news is, you do NOT need to become another statistic!



Rest assured that nearly 100 percent of type 2 diabetics can be successfully treated – eliminating the symptoms of diabetes, or the high risk of developing health complications -- if you are willing to implement the following recommendations:



Exercise





Exercise is an absolutely essential factor, without which you're highly unlikely to get this devastating disease under control. It is clearly one of the most potent ways to lower your insulin and leptin resistance.



Typically, you'll need large amounts of exercise, until you get your blood sugar levels under control. You may need up to an hour or two a day. Naturally, you'll want to gradually work your way up to that amount, based on your current level of fitness.



For more information and guidelines for an optimal exercise program, please see this article where I explain the superior benefits of Peak 8 exercises.



Eliminate sugar/fructose and grains

For the last 50 years, people have been following the nutritional recommendations dictated by conventional health agencies, which advise a high complex carbohydrate, low saturated fat diet. The end result has been a 700 percent increase in diabetes in the same time frame and many have come to view diabetes as an incurable chronic disease…



Our current diabetes statistics are the inevitable result of seriously flawed dietary recommendations.



Instead, you'll want to eliminate foods that your body will react to by creating insulin, which includes all types of sugars and grains. This also means avoiding most processed foods of all kinds as they are loaded with fructose. You may even need to avoid fruits until your blood sugar is under control.



Eat right for your Nutritional Type





Exercising and avoiding grains and sugars might not be enough unless you balance your protein, carb and fat ratios for your unique and specific genetic biochemistry.



This is so important, I now offer the entire online nutritional typing test for free. Please do take advantage of this free offer as we previously charged $29 to take the same test.



Monitor your fasting insulin level





This is every bit as important as your fasting blood sugar. You'll want your fasting insulin level to be between 2 to 4. The higher your level, the worse your insulin receptor sensitivity is.



The recommendations mentioned above are the key steps you need to achieve this reduction.



Optimize your vitamin D levels





Interestingly, optimizing your vitamin D levels can not only help improve type 2 diabetes if you have it, but can likely eliminate the risk of type 1 diabetes in your children if you are pregnant. It's also vital for infants to receive the appropriate amounts of vitamin D in their early years for these same reasons.



Ideally, you'll want to do this by exposing a large amount of your skin to appropriate amounts of sunshine (or a safe tanning bed) on a regular basis, year-round. Your body can safely create up to 20,000 units of vitamin D a day this way.



However, if neither of these options are available, you may want to use an oral vitamin D3 supplement. But remember, if you choose to take an oral supplement it's essential that you get your levels tested regularly by a proficient lab to make sure you're not reaching toxic levels, and are within the therapeutic range.



Maintaining your vitamin D levels around 60-80 ng/ml can significantly help control your blood sugar.



These are the basic steps you need to take, starting today, if you have type 2 diabetes.



Doing so will virtually guarantee that your diabetes will disappear. And if you want to make sure you are not one of the millions impacted by the coming diabetes epidemic, these same steps will help you to stay healthy and diabetes-free.









Related Links:

Diabetes Epidemic and Treatment



How to Finally Make Type 2 Diabetes Disappear



Do Not Take This Deadly Diabetes Drug