Insulin

Diabetes is an Eating Disease

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

Surprise, surprise, I’ve been saying this for years! Diabetes is an eating disease.

In an article Titled “Low Calorie Diet Helps in Type 2 Diabetes” by Kristina Fiore, Staff Writer, MedPage Today she states ..
Among patients with type 2 diabetes, insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function improved to a similar extent with a very-low-calorie diet as they did after bariatric surgery, a small study showed.

Insulin secretion fell from 13.8 mcIU/mL to 6.8 mcIU/mL (P<0.001) in the diet group, compared with a drop from 23.1 mcIU/mL to 12.7 mcIU/mL (P<0.01) in the bariatric surgery group, Judith Korner, MD, PhD, of Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues reported online in Diabetes.

C-peptide, a measure of beta-cell function, dropped from 3.59 ng/mL to 2.55 ng/mL (P<0.01) in the diet group and from 3.72 ng/mL to 2.95 ng/mL (P<0.05) in the surgery group, they noted.
“Contrary to our expectations, this study demonstrates that Roux-en-Y gastric bypass [RYGB] in subjects with type 2 diabetes does not result in greater improvement in beta-cell function compared with equivalent weight loss achieved over the same period by a very-low-calorie diet,” the authors wrote. “These data indicate that the changes in glucose homeostasis that occur within 2 to 3 weeks after RYGB are primarily due to very low energy intake, as opposed to specific surgically-induced hormonal effects.”
Diabetes is a lifestyle disease. Diabetes is a choice If you choose to have a diabetes, great! God loves you too. But if you don’t, all you need to do is reduce you caloric intake, especially calories derived from processed foods, i.e fast burning carbs, desserts, breads, pastries cakes candies, soda pop etc. Don’t bother with will power. Using protein supplements can make carb reduction easy. Get on the Ketogenic Diet. Use sugar metabolizing supplements chromium vanadium , B-Vitamins (especially thiamine and niacin), magnesium, zinc taurine and choline.

Diabetes is an eating disease

 

Posted by Ben Fuchs in Health News

Mental Health, Sugar and Insulin

Mental Health, Sugar and Insulin

Photo by Matthew Henry from Burst

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

One of the most important mental health references in my library is called “Insulin Treatment in Psychiatry”. It was published in the 1950s and it provides ample evidence of how critical changes in blood sugar chemistry are for mental and emotional well-being. There are chapters with titles like “Biochemical Changes in the Brain Occurring During Insulin Hypoglycemia” , “Insulin Therapy in Schizophrenia” and “Trends in Insulin Treatment in Psychiatry” that provide proof positive that manipulations of blood sugar can play a crucial, non-pharmacological role in improving mental health.

Insulin is an anabolic (growth) hormone with many properties, the most striking of which is its ability to encourage fat cells to absorb sugar (glucose) and store it as fat. But what was recognized by old-time medical researchers, many decades ago, was the fact that this same hormone, as well-known as it was for its role in blood sugar control, was also a potential tool for psychiatrists treating various mental disorders.

Why is this so important? Well, the average American is ingesting over 140 pounds a year of sugar and another 60 pounds or so a year of high fructose corn syrup. In 1960 the amount Americans consumed was less than 100 pounds a year of sugar and zero pounds of high fructose corn syrup. If it is indeed true that there is an insulin connection to mental illness, considering the seeming epidemic in mental disorders 21st century Americans are confronting, one is forced to question how much is related to insulin and associated issues with blood sugar.

This question becomes especially significant in the case of children who are the most obvious and notorious consumers of the sweet stuff. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at any given time, one out of five American children is suffering from some kind of mental illness. That’s anywhere from 7.7 to 12.8 million kids! 30 to 40 percent have ADHD, 10% suffer from an anxiety disorder, and at any given time, 1 out of thirty-three will be clinically depressed and 3 out of 1000 will be diagnosed as schizophrenic.

The statistics for adults are no less alarming. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly one in four Americans over the age of 18 suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder.

If you go to a physician or psychiatrist and leave with diagnosis of depression, anxiety, ADD/ADHD or some other mental health issue, it’s unlikely anyone will be questioning your diet or suggesting nutritional supplements. In fact, the odds are pretty good that you’re going to get a prescription (or two or three) for a psychotropic drug. In a one year survey period from 2006 to 2007, there were 472 million mental health prescriptions written. That’s almost 10 percent of the total annual number of prescriptions written in the U.S. There are over 170 prescription drugs used for mental health and there are more on the way. According to the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, there are 313 new drugs in research and development that are designed specifically to treat a variety of mental health concerns.

If you are suffering from some kind of mental illness, or you or your children are on a prescription drug that you want to get off of, or if you are being pressured by a well-meaning physician or loved one to start taking a prescription drug, please understand that you have options. And one of the most important ones involves (surprise, surprise) blood sugar and insulin.


Insulin Treatment In Psychiatry Insulin Treatment In Psychiatry

Contributing Authors Include Hans Hoff, Joseph Wortis, Ivan Bennett, And Many Others. Proceedings Of The International Conference On The Insulin Treatment In Psychiatry Held At The New York Academy Of Medicine, October 24-25, 1958.

Insulin Treatment In Psychiatry


Laying off the sugar and refined carbohydrates is the obvious first step. But “just say no” doesn’t usually work. Will-power is relatively useless when it comes to resisting sugar. The best way to wean yourself blood sugar and insulin spiking foods is to increase intake protein and essential fatty acids. It’s probably a good idea to start off all meals with a protein powder drink and 3 to 9 Omega6/Omega 3 capsules or a couple of teaspoonful of a good EFA liquid-like Udo’s Choice. Then make sure you’re getting all the nutrients that help the body process sugar. The B-vitamins in liquid form are very important. Vitamins B1 and B3 have specific sugar-metabolizing properties. (Interestingly, Dr. Abram Hoffer used to use these two nutrients as medications in his protocol for treating schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders.). Taking 50mg a day of Zinc picolinate and 2000 mg of chelated Magnesium would probably be wise. And, the minerals Chromium and Vanadium are well known for improving insulin response and blood sugar levels. There are many more supplements available for stabilizing blood sugar, and ultimately improving and helping maintain mental health. We’ll be getting to those in future posts.

Posted by Ben Fuchs in Health

Why Diets Fail

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

(or “Your Brain is a Dumbass!)
One of the fundamental building blocks of the Bright Side Philosophy is the notion of simplicity. As Albert Einstein said, “everything should be made as simple as possible…”. Einstein also said “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and so is a lot!” . It’s very easy to get carried away with the minutia and specifics and the nanoscopic details of the human body, and its biology and chemistry and that’s why this whole health and healing business seems so complicated. When it comes to weight loss there are 8 zillion strategies and formulas and programs and pills that you can take to lose weight and I’m sure that some of them work. But in the interests of keeping Professor Einstein happy and making things as simple as possible, I’m going to give you my take, the Bright Side take, the simple take on weight loss, which will carve pounds off of off the large majority of people who want to lose weight. If you want to do Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers or Nutragenics or Slimgenics whatever, have at it, but you don’t need to.

OK, so the major focal points when it comes to weight loss is body fat, and that’s what we’re really need to be talking about when we talk about weight loss.
In other words, we don’t need to be focusing so much on the numbers on the scale as much as how much extra body fat we’re carrying. The reason that’s important is because fat is produced via biochemical reactions and once we start looking in this direction, now we can start to target some biochemistry.

The old way of looking at weight loss is called “Calories IN and Calories OUT”. And I want everyone to understand something Calories IN and Calories OUT is just bad science. A calorie is a measurement of heat, a unit of heat. The Calories In and Calories Out theory says if you put heat in the body it will get burned and what does not get burned will get stored as fat. The problem with this theory is that it does not take into account the different biochemical mechanism that is involved in turning something into fat. The Calories IN Calories OUT was first developed in the late 19th century and it’s based on steam engine science where you but fuel in and it get’s burnt. It’s very primitive, crude science. Today we know there are key hormone players in this whole weight loss game. And by addressing these hormonal players and their biochemical correlates we can really start to address body weight and more importantly body fat.

Perhaps the most important role is played by the hormone insulin. One of the cool things about looking for elevated insulin is that an increase in the levels of this vital hormone always announces itself. Insulin is a loud-mouth and when insulin chemistry is off, you will know it. And, the classic sign of elevated insulin levels is body fat. Anyone interested in this whole insulin body fat connection should read a book by Gary Taubes called “Good Calories Bad Calories”. He has another book called “Why We Get Fat”. In both of these books he breaks down in a simple layman’s term way (he’s a not a chemist he’s a sociologist) this whole insulin body fat thing down really well. Taubes presents clear and compelling evidence that THE key to dropping weight/body fat is lowering insulin.

Why Diets FailSo, how do you lower insulin? Well, it’s the simplest thing in the world to do, but it’s also the hardest. You know why that is? It’s because we all have mental problems. I kind of kidding, but I’m not. Because weight problems may not be caused by mental problems in the traditional sense, but they are caused by are brain problems. That’s right. Body fat, weight gain issues begin in the brain this is the most important thing to recognize if we are going to get control over our Great Weight State. Now what do I mean by a brain problem? You see, the brain is programmed to keep the body surviving, and that’s it in a nutshell. Our brain is operating under survival conditions. As if our survival is somehow at stake. As if calories are scarce and as if a famine is ion the way.

In terms of body weight the brain is programmed to put on pounds and keep the body eating if it thinks the body’s starving. It is constantly reading the blood to see what the situation is in the rest of the body. And one of the things it’s reading is protein, specifically it’s reading for the levels of the amino acid tryptophan. When the brain senses there is not enough protein (via tryptophan), it will send the owner out for food, and specifically high energy food like fat and sugar. In fact you can’t eat enough fat and sugar if you’re brain thinks you’re starving. Here’s another problem with the brain. You know how silly people look when they dress like it was two or three decade as before, like really old hippies that still think it’s the sixties? Well, you’re brain is kind of like those silly old hippies with the bald heads except for a ratty little pony-tail in the back, except your brain isn’t living 40 or 50 years in the past. Your cranial computer is actually living 50-100 thousand years in the past. It thinks from a biological standpoint that you are in the great grasslands of Africa with abundant or not-so-abundant game that you can eat and that can eat you. Now, leaving aside the fact for a moment that this kind of mentality doesn’t seem a very nice place to live from, the real salient issue is that this kind of mentality is wreaking havoc on our health in general and or weight in specific.

Under conditions of (perceived) nutrient deficiency, your brain will be sending you on a one pointed hunt for sugar and fat. And then you know what it does? It STORES it and because the brain thinks its Africa and you’re starving or that there is a famine on the way.

So, what does this have to with insulin? Well, insulin is a fat storage hormone and a sugar storage hormone. The more insulin that’s around the more sugar will get turned into fat and the more cells will store fat and the fatter you will be. So the brain makes you eat; it especially compels you eat sugar and fat, and today our sources of sugar and fat are endless and everywhere, another factoid the brain is blissfully unaware of.

OK, so you can see here this brain problem first, WHICH IS WHY DIETS FAIL!!! You have to override the brain’s survival mechanism, which is really a shortcut. The brain doesn’t process things with choice if it doesn’t have to. Just another reason why the brain is a dumbass.

How do you override the brains anti-starvation, Must Eat signaling? Well, stay tuned. We’re gonna save that info for our next post!

Posted by Ben Fuchs in Health