Moderation: The New Word for Diabetes Control
If it wasn’t such a serious problem, it would be hilarious. Before the discovery of insulin in the 1920s, the treatment for the diabetic was to restrict dietary carbohydrates, which means all forms of sugar. Fruits and vegetables are also simple sugars and they begin their chemical change upon contact with saliva. With grains, it’s the same thing. This therapy for diabetics always worked. But once doctors discovered they could inject insulin, this seemed like a more acceptable fix because the person could continue enjoying the sugary foods they loved while somewhat controlling the condition. Moderation!
Why someone saw this as a “fix” is beyond me. From the outset, it was mere damage control at best. It would be a “fix” if we were designed to withstand such a heavy diet of refined and easily digestible carbohydrates. Indeed, if we could “fix” our ability to tolerate them, that would be good. But if we weren’t really designed to tolerate them? If that’s the case then this could hardly be considered a “fix.”
So against, this backdrop, we find modern conventional wisdom and the fallacy of their treatments. They are all about fixing “associations” and have no idea of cause or they find it too difficult to address it. The word “moderation” is bandied about in every place except for the right one. Yes, I’m aware of the fact that they do use the term with regard to health but they misapply it. No one would tell the alcoholic to use moderation — or at least they wouldn’t after he became an alcoholic. No one would tell a recovering cocaine abuser to use moderation yet we do so with those addicted to refined and easily digestible carbohydrates. When their attempts at moderation are met with little to no success as is usually the case, then all is left is addressing the associations in hopes that perhaps that will provide a “fix.”
Consider the latest study which involved using drugs to aggressively lower two associations very common among diabetics: High blood pressure and high blood sugar. By using drugs, they sought to lower the blood pressure and lower the blood sugar but the experts were shocked from the results of this aggressive treatment:
The scientists also found that people suffering from type 2 diabetes who used insulin to get blood sugar levels down to near normal were 50 percent more likely to die during the study period as those who used a combination of oral drugs, such as metformin and sulphonylurea. The findings suggest keeping diabetics on oral drugs that increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin, combined with diet and exercise, may be the safest way of controlling blood sugar in type 2 diabetics, and doctors should strive to keep their patients on this treatment for as long as possible, they said.
Craig Currie, who led the study by a team from Cardiff’s medical school, said:
“This study will raise a few eyebrows. Conventionally, doctors have always been told to drive down (blood sugar levels) as low as possible. It will come as a major surprise to many doctors that taking people down too far appears to be quite risky.”
There were some doctors back in the 1950s who understood that the important consideration for diabetes treatment was not “low” blood sugar, but “stable” blood sugar. This is from Dr. Benjamin Sandler in the 1950s:
Sugar is an essential constituent of the blood. It is also called “blood glucose.” In the fasting state, as in the morning before breakfast, the blood sugar concentration is between 80 and 90 mg. per 100 cc. of blood. Even after several days of fasting the blood sugar will be maintained around this level in a well-nourished individual. It is essential to normal health that the blood sugar be maintained at this level, and that it should not fall below this level for periods longer than an hour. After a meal containing sugar the blood sugar rises at once, usually reaches a concentration of 120 to 140 mg. after 11/2 to 2 hours, and then gradually falls during the third and fourth hours to the previous fasting level. (Fig. 1.) In some individuals the blood sugar may reach 180 mg. and higher after a meal containing sugar, and, accompanying this high level, sugar may be found in the urine.
It is axiomatic that when we fast, we tend to get healthier. The biggest reason is that the body is able to regulate blood sugar on its own without any disturbances from diet. The body typically uses the sugar produced in the liver to take care of its need for blood sugar. The difference between healthy and non-healthy individuals is not how low the blood sugar is at some point in time. The difference is the stability of that blood sugar over time. When an individual eats a steak and drinks water, there is very little disruption (if any) with regard to blood sugar. It stays constant which means the pancreas does not need to pump out floods of insulin to balance the blood sugar. This leads to outstanding health. When blood sugar spikes due to sugary foods, then insulin comes and brings the blood sugar back down again but it overcompensates and brings it too low. This sets off the vicious cycle that most people struggle with that leads to deteriorating health. The wild swings in blood sugar levels are responsible for heart attacks and strokes. Groups of people such as the Masai and historical Northern Inuit ate high fat diets yet never suffered from heart attacks and strokes. Why? Because they ate foods that did not disturb their blood sugar regulation. It’s really that simple. It doesn’t matter that one ate fish and another ate caribou or blood or whatever.
Diabetics are advised to attempt to control the situation with “moderation.” They can eat sugary foods they love and follow that up with drugs and insulin therapy. This is all meant to balance the blood sugar or “control the diabetic condition.” However, since there is no “cure” to the problem, the situation gets progressively worse and the diabetic usually dies of heart disease or one of the other diseases of civilization at a rate much higher than the rest of us. So basically, the diabetic is attempting to do what the body would normally do:
In the fasting state glycogen is constantly being broken down in the liver cells into a simpler chemical called glucose or sugar which is then liberated into the blood stream at such a rate as to maintain the blood glucose level at around 80 mg. per 100 cc. This breakdown of liver glycogen is controlled chiefly by nerves of the autonomic system which consists of two divisions, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The autonomic nervous system is so called because it is not under direct voluntary control; it regulates involuntary functions such as digestion, intestinal movements, the heart rate, the blood pressure, breathing, and body temperature. In general, the action of the sympathetic division is to facilitate and hasten the breakdown of liver glycogen with subsequent elevation of the blood sugar level, and the action of the parasympathetic division is to favor the synthesis and storage of liver glycogen. The two divisions are thus essentially antagonistic, and, at any moment, the blood sugar level will be the resultant of these two opposing forces.
On an all-meat diet such as my own, my body takes care of the synthesis and regulation of blood sugar. I don’t need to supply any glucose via diet to make this happen, much less any injected insulin to balance my blood sugar. When I consume carbohydrates of any sort I negatively affect my body’s blood sugar regulation. The misregulation of the blood sugar is the cause behind all the diseases of civilization both directly or indirectly. I say this because the regulation is the responsibility of the autonomic nervous system. If you consume foods which disrupt the regulation of the autonomic nervous system, then it will effect blood sugar and blood pressure. By restricting carbohydrates, you can eliminate the cause of the disruption and return to a normal state.
By using drugs to artificially lower blood sugar and blood pressure, you are not dealing with the problem. You are only attempting to influence an association, or a side effect of the misregulation. The nervous system is unable to regulate the situation properly and therefore a drug will only worsen the problem, not improve it.
So what is the proper application of moderation when it comes to health? The moderation that happens between the two competing natural body systems, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic systems. It is their responsibility to exercise moderation with regard to blood sugar. This is not something one should be calculating with their head and an insulin pump. There should be little wonder why such an approach does not work over the long term.
The same is true with cholesterol, sedentary behavior, heart disease, stroke, etc. Lowering cholesterol artificially has also been shown to be a disaster as people with low cholesterol suffer more heart attacks than people with high cholesterol. Just lowering the blood cholesterol does not affect the makeup of that cholesterol and thus does not address the cause.
One cannot cure sedentary behavior by subjecting themselves to yelling and screaming as motivation to reverse the condition. It may help the person get active, but it does not address the reason they became inactive in the first place. One must eliminate that which caused the defect in the metabolism which is normally regulated once again, by the autonomic nervous system.
Eating the so-called balanced diet only makes the problem worse because it negatively affects the makeup of the cholesterol and disrupts blood sugar regulation. If we want to fix the problem, we simply have to address the cause.
Share on TwitterPosted on March 17, 2010 at 10:07 am by Charles · Permalink
In: Diabetes, Diet, Disease, Heart Disease, Hypoglycemia, Insulin2 Responses
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on March 17, 2010 at 4:36 pm
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on March 17, 2010 at 9:16 pm
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