Coming out of the Closet

I use this spot, predominantly to talk about family and home stuff, though lately, I have been feeling like I am not fulfilling all that I could do here. I teach about diabetes for a living, but more importantly, I have been studying extensively, how the components of a diet can effect the overall life of a person. I believe there is more than one way to get healthy and that sometimes Western medicine falls terribly short. I use herbs, I see a chiropractor and I believe that attitude and prayer can heal more, at times, than medication.

With the stressors of the last couple of months, I have completely fallen off the wagon - eating everything in sight, including things that I know are unhealthy. Stress eating - and I knowingly chose not to do anything about it. Until yesterday - when I realized that even though I am worrying about all these other things, I have to take care of myself.

So let me share a little bit with you about what I know.

1. There is a direct relationship between hypoglycemia and diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is caused by cellular death in the pancreas. When the pancreas struggles day after day to keep up with the load of carbohydrates in the body ( whether the burden is quantity or quality) those cells are taxed, like a car kept in overdrive all the time. In overdrive, the cells cease to function properly, making it so that sometimes a person eats a meal and feels fine - other times they are starving and shaky two hours later - or they just want to sleep - both signs that the pancreas isn't functioning properly. Those cells can only go on so long until they are dying at a faster rate than they are reproducing, decreasing insulin production - and then the blood sugars start to rise. This process also fouls up the back up sugar-system in the liver and kidneys, complicating the matter even further.

2. Dr Weil and Dr Atkins and Dr Schwarzbein have it right. When I follow the dietary suggestions they have, my energy soars. I find that I am healthier - and my patients who follow them, find the same things. There must be something to the whole idea of less processing being healthier for a person, because it works in studies - and bears out when you look at populations as well. They preach about loading up on lean meats, fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains in moderation and most of all, avoiding all those chemicals and additives that tax the immune system.

3. If you could pick it from a tree, hunt it down, or grow it in your garden, it is probably good for you. Macaroni and cheese doesn't grow in a garden, so it should be eaten in moderation.

4. The immune system is like a three man clean up crew - there are a finite number of guys doing the clean up in your whole system. They react to everything we inhale, everything we eat, and all the germs that land on our skin. If we have them on heavy clean up duty - think of a three man crew at a stadium after a pro ball game - then some things get missed. If we have them on a lighter duty, like clean up after a gradeschool soccer game, they are more likely to have enough time to do the cleaning and do a thorough job.

5. If you don't bring it home from the grocery, you won't be as likely to eat it. It's an environmental control issue.

6. People who struggle with stress eating, have other deeper issues that also need to be dealt with - a gastric bypass doesn't repair your heart - it only shrinks your stomach. Thanks Dr Phil.

Maybe I'll share more in the future, but this morning, these things were bouncing around in my head so I wanted to jot them down.