Diabetes & Blood Sugar Issues

History shows our sugar consumption has increased dramatically - but have you ever wondered about fruit?

27/8/2015

If you've ever thought that the whole hoo-ha over our sugar consumption is a little over exaggerated and that it isn't THAT big of a deal check this out:

Our sugar consumption has increased dramatically since the beginning of the century!

The average person in an industrialised nation consumes up to 40tsp of sugar per day through their diet alone - and this is not through JUNK food but just normal SUPPOSEDLY healthy foods.

Just have a look at plate of what a "normal" person would consume in a day - as shown by Damon Gameau in "That Sugar Film" - all the hidden sugars add up surprisingly fast!

Our bodies are not designed to consume this much sugar and have to deal with blood glucose levels that are so high constantly - leading to a host of health problems not to mention diabetes and obesity.

Of all the different macronutrients we eat - Protein, Carbohydrates (sugar and fibre) and Fat - Carbohydrates are the only non-essential ones!

That means your body can create glucose from either fat or protein as needed - you actually DON'T need to eat sugar (or carbohydrates) to MAKE glucose in the body!

Consuming large amounts of sugar and carbohydrates that are broken down into sugar by the body puts a huge burden on the pancreas to produce insulin to drive all that glucose into the cells, and for many people, it can eventually wear it out - leading to diabetes and many other health problems!

Did you know that sugar used to be so rare prior to mass industrialisation that many people around the world would have never even tasted it in their lifetime?!

But even if you might be limiting your sugar consumption and thinking that you are all well and good because of it. Its not just straight out sugar that provides your body with glucose - any carbohydrate that has a high starch content can turn into glucose in the body. Carrots. Yep. Sweet Potato. Yep. Potato - definitely!

Even fruit which we have been told is "healthy" and that we should be eating up to 5 portions of a day is actually just mostly sugar!! (and some fibre) But mostly sugar.

Have you ever stopped to think about our fruit consumption in history and wondered whether we have always eaten as much fruit like we do now?

Prior to the industrial revolution and the incredible advancements of mass production, refrigeration and transportation all around the world all the time - Fruit was not available ALL YEAR ROUND via the local grocery store!

And it certainly wasn't bred selectively like it is now to have the highest sugar content possible!

You couldn't just waltz up to the veggie shop and choose any number of fruits to consume at will - all day long!

In most temperate climates, fruit trees were not readily planted all over the horizon, so that the average person had access to untold variety all year round. They may have had an apple tree or two, or a pear tree, probably some berries and that was probably about it for most people...correct me if I'm wrong, but the only place fruit was available year round like that was the tropics, pretty much.

So fruit in temperate regions (like New Zealand, USA, Europe) was a special treat - something that was harvested carefully and either eaten fresh for a short amount of time, or stored by way of preserving, to be eaten on special occasions the rest of the year IN SMALL QUANTITIES AND INFREQUENTLY.

So we need to be rethinking our approach to fruit consumption - its not as essential as we think it is or have been led to believe in order to have a healthy diet. In fact our overconsumption of fruit could actually be causing us considerable harm, despite the many health benefits of all that vitamin C and some of the other good things that happen to be in fruit.

I don't usually recommend eating more than 1 piece of fruit a day - and that is even too much for some people and certainly those with blood sugar issues like diabetics and pre-diabetics who tend to do better eliminating fruit altogether!

You can get ALL the vitamins and minerals and benefits that you would get from fruit from eating certain vegetables, nuts, seeds and healthy animal products.
It is not an essential part of our diet.

And in fact of all the different types of sugar in our diets, overconsumption of fruit can actually lead to the development of a fatty liver as a result of the fructose (the specific type of sugar found in fruit) which is metabolised in the liver - putting a heavy load on the liver when it is consumed in excess.

So if you want to address your sugar consumption in your diet - you will also need to look at how much fruit you are eating as that can be a hidden source of sugars that you might not have realised were affecting you!

And quite frankly we just don't need to be eating so much.

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Study proves Low Carb diets are effective Tool for managing Diabetes

22/4/2012

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Study Of Obese Diabetics Explains Why Low-Carb Diets Produce Fast Results ScienceDaily (Apr. 8, 2005) — Philadelphia - A new study by Temple University School of Medicine researchers has shown why the pounds melt so quickly on low-carbohydrate diets, and it's not related to water, metabolism or boredom. The research was conducted in a group of obese patients with type 2 diabetes who followed the Atkins diet.

According to lead researcher, Guenther Boden, M.D., "When carbohydrates were restricted, study subjects spontaneously reduced their caloric intake to a level appropriate for their height, did not compensate by eating more protein or fat, and lost weight. We concluded that excessive overeating had been fueled by carbohydrates."

Almost 80 percent of diabetics are overweight or obese, compounding health risks such as heart disease and stroke. Boden wanted to examine how low-carbohydrate diets, which have been shown to produce rapid weight loss, affected weight, appetite and blood sugar in obese diabetics.

He discovered that study subjects did not eat less because they were bored with the food selection, and their weight loss was not attributable to water loss, two common speculations about low-carb diets. Further, weight loss could not be explained by a change in metabolism, another popular misconception.

The study, "Short-Term Effects of Low-Carbohydrate Diet Compared with Usual Diet in Obese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes," is published in the March 15 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. It is the only study of the Atkins diet to have been conducted in the strictly controlled environment of a clinical research center where every calorie eaten and spent was measured.

After a week of typical eating, ten obese patients with type 2 diabetes followed the Atkins diet for two weeks, with carbohydrates limited to 20 grams per day and unlimited protein and fat.

"When we took away the carbohydrates, the patients spontaneously reduced their daily energy consumption by 1,000 calories a day. Although they could have, they did not compensate by eating more proteins and fats and they weren't bored with the food choices. In fact, they loved the diet. The carbohydrates were clearly stimulating their excessive appetites," said Boden.

All patients stayed in the hospital for the length of the study to insure exact measurements of calorie intake and expenditure. In other studies of the Atkins diet, subjects were at home and reported their own diet and exercise, making it difficult to ensure accuracy.

In addition to the calorie reduction and weight loss, subjects experienced markedly improved glucose levels and insulin sensitivity, as well as lower triglycerides and cholesterol.

Treatment for diabetes centers on closely monitoring sugar levels, diet and medication. Weight loss can often reduce or eliminate the need for medication, including insulin.

Boden warns that the long term effects of low-carbohydrate diets are not known. Whether other types of diets would have a similar impact also remains to be investigated.

Other research projects of Boden's include a National Institutes of Health supported study of obesity-associated diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

This study was funding by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Diabetes Association.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Temple University Health Sciences Center.

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Blood sugar control and carbohydrate consumption

22/4/2012

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How have we gotten it wrong for so long. It seems that the mantra of the mainstream media and general diet guidelines for those who need to watch their blood sugar levels is to eat high carb - but they say not to eat too much refined carbs, but complex carbs - but in reality it is still carbs. Don't they get it that carbs = glucose in the body no matter how you package them or how slowly you release it into the bloodstream?

The body doesn't care if it is refined or not in the end, it is still carbohydrate, so when someone who is diabetic for instance is told to eat plenty of whole grains, and complex carbs, and they are not told to limit fruit or other starchy vegetables, that is setting their body up for continual health problems for years to come because of an increased glucose load and insulin output.

It’s a simple misunderstanding of how the body works in terms of blood sugar control, putting the emphasis on the wrong place (trying to control the level of blood glucose via more insulin) instead of trying to prevent the rise in blood glucose in the first place, which would negate the need for such huge quantities of insulin needed to process all that glucose! The problem with diabetes is not blood glucose but blood insulin levels. When you force your body to produce that much insulin every day in response to huge quantities of sugary and carb foods, your pancreas and cells can only keep up for so long before you start needing extra insulin *which is when most diabetics start needing insulin shots. The problem with this is that insulin as a hormone causes a cascade effect of other hormone disruptions which is partly why diabetics have such a huge list of secondary diseases and problems that they end up having to deal with.

High insulin in the body also ends up causing your cells to basically shut down their gates to glucose because there is just too much floating around in the blood - the cells become "insulin resistant" meaning that they dont become as receptive to insulin signals to let glucose in. It’s a protective mechanism for the cells or else they would be flooded with too much glucose that they wouldn't be able to regulate. However, as a result of this insulin resistance the pancreas thinks there isn't enough glucose getting into the cells because it gets feedback that the insulin isn't working properly so it makes even more insulin to try and compensate and you end up with a vicious cycle. Yikes! On our way to pancreatic and insulin failure if this keeps up!

Simply stopping eating so many carbs and switching to a low carb diet which is rich in healthy fats and proteins would completely alleviate the problem and the potential for worse problems down the line all together, as proteins and fats don't require ANY insulin in order to be digested or broken down into useable energy - they undergo a completely different transformation process.

So my recommendations for anyone with blood sugar control issues - skip the carbs and go for the high fat and proteins - your body will thank you for it later and you will feel much better, and often quite quickly. It is amazing how fast your body can adjust - try doing a high fat and protein diet for a week and see how you feel afterwards. You can measure your progress by how much you are craving, how much constant stable energy you have, whether you have better mental accuity, feel less tired after eating and need less down time.

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Eating Carbohydrates fuels hunger cravings!

22/4/2012

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An issue that I am seeing and have been thinking about for a while is the fact that carbohydrate consumption (ie. that bread and cake and cookie you ate) actually fuel the hunger feeling - and I have been thinking about why that is and just this evening felt like I had a bit of an epiphany about it.

The reason your body craves food is because it is trying to get you to eat something. That simple craving feeling is the body's instinctive way of getting you to consume something in an attempt to meet its nutritional needs. The problem lies in the fact that once we feel the craving to eat something, we often fill that craving with whatever we choose, and its often not very nutritious or filling (empty carb snacks like chips/cookies/cakes etc) so the body quickly uses up that energy and the meager nutrients gained from those foods, and is aware that there were hardly any nutrients involved, and so signals to the body that it needs more, which responds by creating the hunger/craving feeling again.

Have you ever noticed what happens to your hunger when you eat a bowl full of fruit or fruit salad or anything pretty much just straight carbs? You get hungry pretty quick afterward and end up looking for more food...Now what about the same scenario but this time a little bit of fruit and a whole lot of whipped cream, or mascarpone or heavy greek yoghurt...you find you can actually go for longer before you feel so hungry. That’s because the fat makes you feel satiated, allowing you to feel fuller for longer. Contrary to popular belief this is actually a good thing and how your body was designed. We need a LOT more fat in our diets than what we are told in the public media and by mainstream nutrition experts. Atkins was onto something when he discovered that a high fat and protein diet would cause people to lose weight and feel great. It does actually work.

The biggest way off this spiral of food cravings is to feed the body nutrient dense and very high *healthy fat foods. Things like meat, cheese, eggs, nuts, cream cheese, cream, and anything made from a combination of those foods.

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Sugar's effect on your health

22/4/2012

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I came across this article while looking for a simple article that explains why sugar is so bad for your immune system. I think it explains the concepts pretty well in layman's terms and is an important read for anyone who struggles to keep their sugar intake low.

Sugar is far more detrimental to our general health, and our immune system than most people realise, certainly more than the food industry or advertising or general media would have you believe. The majority of processed foods that are advertised are loaded with sugar and it is generally hard to keep away from unless you make a conscious effort. Therefore, most people consume far too much sugar (anything more than a little is extremely detrimental to their daily health).

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Sugar's effect on your health

The average American consumes an astounding 2-3 pounds of sugar each week, which is not surprising considering that highly refined sugars in the forms of sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar), and high-fructose corn syrup are being processed into so many foods such as bread, breakfast cereal, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and a plethora of microwave meals.

In the last 20 years, we have increased sugar consumption in the U.S. 26 pounds to 135 lbs. of sugar per person per year! Prior to the turn of this century (1887-1890), the average consumption was only 5 lbs. per person per year! Cardiovascular disease and cancer was virtually unknown in the early 1900's.

The "glycemic index" is a measure of how a given food affects blood-glucose levels, with each food being assigned a numbered rating. The lower the rating, the slower the absorption and digestion process, which provides a more gradual, healthier infusion of sugars into the bloodstream. On the other hand, a high rating means that blood-glucose levels are increased quickly, which stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin to drop blood-sugar levels. These rapid fluctuations of blood-sugar levels are not healthy because of the stress they place on the body.

One of sugar's major drawbacks is that it raises the insulin level, which inhibits the release of growth hormones, which in turn depresses the immune system. This is not something you want to take place if you want to avoid disease.

An influx of sugar into the bloodstream upsets the body's blood-sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin, which the body uses to keep blood-sugar at a constant and safe level. Insulin also promotes the storage of fat, so that when you eat sweets high in sugar, you're making way for rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, both of which have been linked to cardiovascular disease. Complex carbohydrates tend to be absorbed more slowly, lessening the impact on blood-sugar levels.

Sugar depresses the immune system. We have known this for decades. It was only in the 1970's that researchers found out that vitamin C was needed by white blood cells so that they could phagocytize viruses and bacteria. White blood cells require a 50 times higher concentration inside the cell as outside so they have to accumulate vitamin C.

There is something called a "phagocytic index" which tells you how rapidly a particular macrophage or lymphocyte can gobble up a virus, bacteria, or cancer cell. It was in the 1970's that Linus Pauling realized that white blood cells need a high dose of vitamin C and that is when he came up with his theory that you need high doses of vitamin C to combat the common cold.

We know that glucose and vitamin C have similar chemical structures, so what happens when the sugar levels go up? They compete for one another upon entering the cells. And the thing that mediates the entry of glucose into the cells is the same thing that mediates the entry of vitamin C into the cells. If there is more glucose around, there is going to be less vitamin C allowed into the cell. It doesn't take much: a blood sugar value of 120 reduces the phagocytic index by 75%. So when you eat sugar, think of your immune system slowing down to a crawl.

Here we are getting a little bit closer to the roots of disease. It doesn't matter what disease we are talking about, whether we are talking about a common cold or about cardiovascular disease, or cancer or osteoporosis, the root is always going to be at the cellular and molecular level, and more often than not insulin is going to have its hand in it, if not totally controlling it.

The health dangers which ingesting sugar on an habitual basis creates are certain. Simple sugars have been observed to aggravate asthma, move mood swings, provoke personality changes, muster mental illness, nourish nervous disorders, deliver diabetes, hurry heart disease, grow gallstones, hasten hypertension, and add arthritis.

Because refined dietary sugars lack minerals and vitamins, they must draw upon the body's micro-nutrient stores in order to be metabolized into the system. When these storehouses are depleted, metabolization of cholesterol and fatty acid is impeded, contributing to higher blood serum triglycerides, cholesterol, promoting obesity due to higher fatty acid storage around organs and in sub-cutaneous tissue folds.

Because sugar is devoid of minerals, vitamins, fiber, and has such a deteriorating effect on the endocrine system, major researchers and major health organizations (American Dietetic Association and American Diabetic Association) agree that sugar consumption in America is one of the 3 major causes of degenerative disease.

Honey is a simple sugar There are 4 classes of simple sugars which are regarded by most nutritionists as "harmful" to optimal health when prolonged consumption in amounts above 15% of the carbohydrate calories are ingested: Sucrose, fructose, honey, and malts.
Some of you may be surprised to find honey here. Although honey is a natural sweetener, it is considered a refined sugar because 96% of dry matter are simple sugars: fructose, glucose and sucrose. It is little wonder that the honey bear is the only animal found in nature with a problem with tooth-decay (honey decays teeth faster than table sugar). Honey has the highest calorie content of all sugars with 65 calories/tablespoon, compared to the 48 calories/tablespoon found in table sugar. The increased calories are bound to cause increased blood serum fatty acids, as well as weight gain, on top of the risk of more cavities.

Pesticides used on farm crops and residential flowers have been found in commercial honey. Honey can be fatal to an infant whose immature digestive tracts are unable to deal effectively with Botulinum Spore growth. What nutrients or enzymes raw honey does contain are destroyed by manufacturers who heat it in order to give it a clear appearance to enhance sales. If you are going to consume honey, make sure it is raw, unheated honey. Good to use in special cures, but not as an every day food. It is not much better than white or brown sugar.

Here is a list of ways sugar can affect your health:

Sugar can suppress the immune system.
Sugar can upset the body's mineral balance.
Sugar can contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and crankiness in children.
Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.
Sugar can reduce helpful high density cholesterol (HDLs).
Sugar can promote an elevation of harmful cholesterol (LDLs).
Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.
Sugar contributes to a weakened defense against bacterial infection.
Sugar can cause kidney damage.
Sugar can increase the risk of coronary heart disease.
Sugar may lead to chromium deficiency.
Sugar can cause copper deficiency.
Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
Sugar can increase fasting levels of blood glucose.
Sugar can promote tooth decay.
Sugar can produce an acidic stomach.
Sugar can raise adrenaline levels in children.
Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.
Sugar can speed the aging process, causing wrinkles and grey hair.
Sugar can increase total cholesterol.
Sugar can contribute to weight gain and obesity.
High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Sugar can contribute to diabetes.
Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
Sugar leads to decreased glucose tolerance.
Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.
Sugar can increase systolic blood pressure.
Sugar causes food allergies.
Sugar can cause free radical formation in the bloodstream.
Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.
Sugar can overstress the pancreas, causing damage.
Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.
Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.
Sugar can cause liver cells to divide, increasing the size of the liver.
Sugar can increase the amount of fat in the liver.
Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.
Sugar can cause depression.
Sugar can increase the body's fluid retention.
Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance.
Sugar can cause hypertension.
Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.
Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha and theta brain waves, which can alter the mind's ability to think clearly.
Sugar can increase blood platelet adhesiveness which increases risk of blood clots and strokes.
Sugar can increase insulin responses in those consuming high-sugar diets compared to low sugar diets.
Sugar increases bacterial fermentation in the colon.

Source: www.nancyappleton.com

Sugar and cancer Of the over 4 million cancer patients being treated in the U.S. today, almost none are offered any scientifically guided nutrition therapy other than being told to "just eat good foods." Many cancer patients would have a major improvement in their conditions if they controlled the supply of cancer's preferred fuel: GLUCOSE. By slowing the cancer's growth, patients make it possible for their immune systems to catch up to the disease. Controlling one's blood-glucose levels through diet, exercise, supplements, meditation and prescription drugs - when necessary - can be one of the most crucial components to a cancer treatment program. The saying "Sugar feeds cancer" is simple. The explanation is a little more involved.

German Otto Warburg, Ph.D., the 1931 Nobel laureate in medicine, first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells.

The gist of his Nobel thesis was this: malignant tumors frequently exhibit an increase in "anaerobic glycolysis" - a process whereby glucose is used by cancer cells as a fuel with lactic acid as an anaerobic by-product - compared to normal tissues.(1)

The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from the cancer cells is then transported to the liver. This conversion of glucose to lactate creates a lower, more acidic PH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid build-up.(2,3) Therefore, larger tumors tend to exhibit a more acidic PH.(4)

Hence, cancer therapies should attempt to regulate blood-glucose levels through diet, supplements, exercise, medication when necessary, gradual weight loss and stress reduction. Since cancer cells derive most of their energy from anaerobic glycolysis, the goal is not to eliminate sugars or carbohydrates entirely from the diet but rather to control blood-glucose within a narrow range to help starve the cancer cells and boost immune function.

Article Source: http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/sugar.htm

** Rachael's Disclaimer: Although this article about sugar is brilliant, and the author has a brilliant understanding of how to communicate health issues in layman's terms on a variety of great topics, I do not necessarily agree with all the articles or the viewpoints of the healingdailywebsite or its author, particularly the author's religious affiliations.

References (1) Warburg O. On the origin of cancer cells. Science 1956 Feb;123:309-14.

(2) Volk T, et al. pH in human tumor xenografts: effect of intravenous administration of glucose. Br J Cancer 1993 Sep;68(3):492-500.

(3) Digirolamo M. Diet and cancer: markers, prevention and treatment. New York: Plenum Press; 1994. p 203.

(4). Leeper DB, et al. Effect of i.v. glucose versus combined i.v. plus oral glucose on human tumor extracellular pH for potential sensitization to thermoradiotherapy. Int J Hyperthermia 1998 May-Jun;14(3):257-69.

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Insulin and Insulin Resistance - Why Low Carb diets are so important

22/4/2012

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This is another excellent article that explains clearly why it is so important to eat a low carbohydrate diet, so as not to stimulate insulin production. Keeping your insulin levels low are a very critical componant to being able to maintain excellent health.

Raised Insulin and Insulin resistance causes huge problems in the body as it leads to hormone imbalance, diabetes, cravings, weight gain, bone demineralization, and the list goes on. This is an important article which gives a general understanding of how and why this happens.
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Insulin and insulin resistance

Each time we eat, insulin is released into the bloodstream. This vital hormone, secreted by special cells in the pancreas, encourages our tissues - our muscles in particular - to gobble up the glucose surging through the bloodstream after we eat a meal. That's good news, because glucose hanging around in the blood is dangerous stuff. It can stick to proteins and destroy their ability to do their job. Kidney damage, blindness, and amputations may result.

But insulin has many other vital roles. After a meal, insulin stops the liver from releasing any fat, a potential metabolic fuel, into the blood. Why after a meal? It turns out that just like glucose, these fats, released as triglycerides, are dangerous if they hang about in the blood too long.

In some organisms, insulin plays the role of controlling their lifespan. What is the purpose of insulin in humans? If you ask your physician, they will say that the role of insulin is to lower blood sugar and you must learn right now, that is one of insulin's many roles.

Insulin, sugar, and glycogen When your body notices that the sugar level is elevated, it is a sign that you have more sugar than you need right now, your body is not burning it and therefore it is accumulating in your blood. So insulin is released to take that sugar and store it. How does it store it? Glycogen? Your body stores very little glycogen at any one time. All the glycogen stored in your liver and muscles would not last you through 1 active day. Once you have filled up your glycogen stores, that sugar is stored as saturated fat.

So the idea of medical professionals recommending a high complex-carbohydrate, low-saturated-fat diet is absolutely a mistake. A high complex-carbohydrate diet is nothing more than a high-glucose diet, or a high-sugar diet. Your body is just going to store it as saturated fat, and the body makes it into saturated fat quite readily.

Your body's principal way of getting rid of sugar, because it is toxic, is to burn it. The sugar which your body can't burn will be rid of by storing it as glycogen, and when those glycogen reserves are full, sugar gets stored as fat. If you eat sugar your body will burn it and you stop burning fat. Another major effect of insulin on fat is it prevents you from burning it. What happens when you are insulin resistant and you have all this insulin floating around all the time? You wake up in the morning with an insulin level of 90.

High levels of insulin cause health problems High levels of insulin cause several problems: one of them is high blood pressure. One of the roles of insulin is to assist the storing of excess nutrients. Insulin plays a role in storing magnesium. But if your cells become resistant to insulin, you can't store magnesium so you lose it through urination. Intra-cellular magnesium relaxes muscles. What happens when you can't store magnesium because the cell is resistant? You lose magnesium and your blood vessels constrict. This causes an increase in blood pressure. Insulin also causes the retention of sodium, which causes fluid retention, which causes high blood pressure and congestive heart failure.

A recent study(1) showed that overweight children with high levels of insulin in their blood are also likely to have high levels of homocysteine, a substance which appears to raise the risk of heart disease, stroke, and birth defects.

Osteoporosis is another potential problem resulting from insulin resistance. Insulin is a master hormone which controls many anabolic hormones such as growth hormone, testosterone, and progesterone. In insulin resistance, the anabolic process is reduced. Bone is built upon the command of such hormones. When these hormones are reduced, the amount of bone building is reduced, and the amount of calcium excreted is increased.

Insulin increases cellular proliferation. How does this affect cancer? It helps it grow. And there are some pretty strong studies(2,3) which show that one of the strongest correlations to breast and colon cancers are levels of insulin.

Insulin Resistance
When your cells are exposed to insulin at all, they get a little bit more resistant to it. So the pancreas just puts out more insulin. Cells become insulin resistant because they are trying to protect themselves from the toxic effects of high insulin. They down-regulate their receptor activity and number of receptors so that they don't have to be subjected to all that stimuli all the time. Different cells respond to insulin differently. Some cells are more resistant than others, as some cells are incapable of becoming very resistant. The liver becomes resistant first, followed by the muscle tissue and lastly the fats. As all these major tissues, become insulin resistant your pancreas is putting out more insulin to compensate. Any time your cell is exposed to insulin it is going to become more insulin resistant. That is inevitable, we cannot stop this process, but the rate we can control.

But the pancreas can't always keep up that high level of insulin production forever. Once the production of insulin starts slowing down, or the resistance goes up, then blood sugar goes up and the person becomes a diabetic.

"Insulin resistance syndrome" refers to a combination of risk factors for type 2 diabetes, including chronically elevated insulin levels, low HDL ("good") cholesterol, abdominal obesity and high blood pressure.

Excessive intake of all carbohydrates, especially the high-glycemic type, is the primary culprit in the development of insulin resistance.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body no longer responds to insulin. As a result, levels of insulin in the blood become elevated and over time, can raise the risk for kidney failure and blindness, as well as heart disease.

A recent study(4) has found that insulin resistance syndrome, or "syndrome X," is found in families with a history of early heart disease - a heart attack or blood vessel blockage before age 55 in men and before age 65 in women.

Symptoms of insulin resistance:
Here is a list of some of the most common symptoms of people with Insulin Resistance. Many symptoms manifest themselves immediately following a meal of carbohydrates, and others are more or less always present. Keep in mind that these symptoms may also be related to other problems.

1. Fatigue. The most common feature of Insulin Resistance is that it wears people out. Some are tired just in the morning or afternoon, others are exhausted all day.

2. Brain fogginess. Sometimes the fatigue of Insulin Resistance is physical, but often it's mental. The inability to focus is the most evident symptom. Poor memory, loss of creativity, poor grades in school often accompany Insulin Resistance, as do various forms of "learning disabilities."

3. Low blood sugar. Mild, brief periods of low blood sugar are normal during the day, especially if meals are not eaten on a regular schedule. But prolonged periods of this "hypoglycemia," accompanied by many of the symptoms listed here, especially physical and mental fatigue, are not normal.

Feeling agitated, jittery and moody is common in Insulin Resistance, with almost immediate relief once food is eaten.

4. Intestinal bloating. Most intestinal gas is produced from carbohydrates in the diet. Insulin Resistance sufferers who eat carbohydrates suffer from gas, lots of it.

5. Sleepiness. Many people with Insulin Resistance get sleepy immediately after eating a meal containing more than 20% or 30% carbohydrates. This means typically a pasta meal, or even a meat meal which includes potatoes or bread and a sweet dessert.

6. Increased weight and fat storage. For most people, too much weight is too much fat. In males, a large abdomen is the more obvious and earliest sign of Insulin Resistance. In females, it's prominent buttocks.

7. Increased triglycerides. High triglycerides in the blood are often found in overweight persons. But even those who are not overweight may have stores of fat in their arteries as a result of Insulin Resistance.

These triglycerides are the direct result of carbohydrates in the diet being converted by insulin.

8. Increased blood pressure. It is a fact that most people with hypertension have too much insulin and are Insulin Resistant. It is often possible to show a direct relationship between the level of insulin and blood pressure: as insulin levels elevate, so does blood pressure.

9. Depression. Because carbohydrates are a natural "downer," depressing the brain, it is not uncommon to see many depressed persons who also have Insulin Resistance.

Insulin and Aging
Centenarians, people who have lived over 100 years, don't have much in common. Many are smokers, for example. They come from all over the world without a favoring any geographic location in particular. However, there are 3 consistent blood metabolic indicators of all centenarians which are relatively consistent: low sugar, low triglycerides, and low insulin. All 3 are relatively low for age. Among these 3 variables, insulin is the common denominator. The level of insulin sensitivity of the cell is one of the most important markers of lifespan.

Controlling your insulin levels is one of the most powerful anti-aging strategies you can possibly implement. Sugar and grains cause your body to produce insulin and high insulin levels are the single largest physical cause of accelerated aging. If you want to slow down aging and be healthy then you need to change your grains for greens.

Insulin resistance is the basis of all of the chronic diseases of aging, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, cancer, all the so-called chronic diseases of aging.

Fortunately insulin is the variable most easily influenced by a healthy diet and exercise. Traditional doctors will prescribe drugs to lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetics and give verbal acknowledgment to exercise.

A low grain, no sugar diet is one of the most effective ways to lower one's insulin levels. This is especially effective when combined with an aerobic exercise program which increases the heart rate to about 75% of its maximum and maintains it there for 45 minutes, 5 times a week.

In addition to the steps we discussed related to diet and exercise, you may want to consider chromium supplementation. Chromium helps insulin to work efficiently. Many well-controlled clinical studies through the years show blood glucose improvements in the patients tested.

Your goals should be: Reduce insulin levels as much as possible, through diet and exercise, and control your weight. 90% of those with insulin resistance are obese.

Article Source: http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/insulin.htm

** Rachael's Disclaimer: Although this article about sugar is brilliant, and the author has a brilliant understanding of how to communicate health issues in layman's terms on a variety of great topics, I do not necessarily agree with all the articles or the viewpoints of the healingdailywebsite or its author, particularly the author's religious affiliations.

References (1) Diabetes Care 2000;23:1348-1352

(2) Annual meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology, New Orleans, May 23

(3) National Cancer Institute 2002 September 4;94(17):1293-300

(4) Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology August 2001;21:1346-1352

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