Diabetes ramblings
Following on from yesterday’s post https://www.facebook.com/Honestlykarenx/posts/pfbid02moRzpzZKh12MCvsqqWMM5zqDEVU9dbn1rvJEzjVaDTy9FQp6Fg8jVDrqgvAF5Fvjl about acetic acid (short-chain saturated fatty acid) being good for diabetes, here are some of my ramblings/thoughts around diabetes. The main thing driving up blood sugar, I believe, is stress (cortisol). Most people automatically jump to stress being something obvious, like work, relationships, illness etc. but it can literally be anything. My hospital visits have all been the result of stress to my body. Firstly by drinking orange juice. Let me add here that there is nothing wrong with orange juice, a good quality one is amazing for metabolic health and for lowering your stress hormones. Drinking the amount of it that I did (nothing even wrong with that if you’re metabolically healthy and can handle that amount of liquid) stressed my body out as 1. I can’t handle that amount of liquid (it absolutely tanks my metabolic rate) & 2. I wasn’t eating any other meals (so no solid food, no protein & no salt) not a good combination! So it became one big stress to my body & the more stressed you become the more you want to drink. Increased thirst and increased urination are symptoms of diabetes but mainly they are symptoms of stress. Secondly I was eating too much protein (I believe that caused the issues before the last hospital visit) which can really stress you out if you’re not eating enough carbs to go with it.
“Insulin release is also stimulated by amino acids such as leucine, and insulin stimulates cells to absorb amino acids and to synthesize proteins. Since insulin lowers blood sugar as it disposes of amino acids, eating a large amount of protein without carbohydrate can cause a sharp decrease in blood sugar. This leads to the release of adrenaline and cortisol, which raise the blood sugar. Adrenaline causes fatty acids to be drawn into the blood from fat stores, especially if the liver's glycogen stores are depleted, and cortisol causes tissue protein to be broken down into amino acids, some of which are used in place of carbohydrate. Unsaturated fatty acids, adrenaline, and cortisol cause insulin resistance.” - Ray Peat
Add in to the mix that I had been permanently stressed dealing with Cam’s seizures (for over 6 years) and then her death last year 💔 and you have a perfect melting pot for stress and therefore high blood sugar, aka a diabetes diagnosis.
Once I had the diagnosis, I was in the hospital’s clutches and was prescribed all kinds of things. Firstly they tried metformin. Which I absolutely did not want to take. Luckily (if you can call it lucky?) whilst I was still in the hospital (following the first visit I think) my bowels went to shit (literally) so I was able to refuse it on those grounds. Metformin causes a risk of elevated lactate and mitochondrial impairment ( https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3975915/ ) so that’s not going to be helping anyone. Which brings me to the next point: It’s all about the numbers. They must bring your blood glucose down to the correct number by any means possible. In my opinion the high blood sugar is not the problem (up to a certain point obviously), the bigger problem is that your cells are not getting/using the sugar. Knocking your numbers down by any means possible is not going to do anything to help get the sugar into your cells. Over Christmas, when I was away, I managed to get my blood sugar down to around 9/10 (still high by medical standards but low for me) and I can tell you that it didn’t help my health any. I had next to no energy and my ability to sleep virtually disappeared. Night after night I would just lie there bored and unable to sleep. In my book that’s not an improvement!
The next problem is that mainstream just loves insulin. They prescribed me a dose of it before I left the hospital. Every time after that they’ve just told me I need more insulin 😳 and put the dose up. I wonder at what point they’ll give up and realise that insulin is not making the slightest bit of difference.
“Insulin is important in the regulation of blood sugar, but its importance has been exaggerated because of the diabetes/insulin industry. Insulin itself has been found to account for only about 8% of the "insulin-like activity" of the blood, with potassium being probably the largest factor. There probably isn't any process in the body that doesn't potentially affect blood sugar.” - Ray Peat
As I now wear a Dexcom one+ monitor and can see what my blood sugar is doing all the time I felt comfortable stopping the insulin to see what happened. I haven’t taken any insulin for about 4 weeks now & I can tell you it hasn’t made any difference to the readings. It was high then (by medical standards) & it’s high now but insulin didn’t reduce it no matter what the dose. Insulin becomes a health issue of its own and it wasn’t making me feel great. I felt like I’d lost the essence of me. I was tired all the time (ridiculously so) and I’d lost my sense of humour and my silliness (which is especially noticeable when I hang out with my sister 🤣) Now, my blood sugar might be higher than it should be but I sleep, function, write and engage with things a million times better than I did when my blood sugar was forced down (too little food/carbs) over Christmas or when I was filling myself full of insulin!
““Diabetes” is often the diagnosis, when excess cortisol is the problem. The hormones have traditionally not been measured before diagnosing diabetes and prescribing insulin or other chemical to lower the blood sugar. Some of the worst effects of “diabetes,” including retinal damage, are caused or exacerbated by insulin itself.” - Ray Peat
When I was taking the insulin I often found myself with double vision or bad eyesight. At the moment, even with raised blood sugar my vision is incredible. I often use it as a test (if my blood sugar is way too high then my vision can be terrible) and look out way into the horizon to see if it’s still crystal clear. It’s amazing to be able to see so sharply. You will lose this ability if you’re pumped full of insulin or if you don’t eat enough glucose.
When I mentioned acetic acid (vinegar) and blood sugar in my post yesterday a lot of people (like the friend who got in touch) recommended the Glucose Goddess to me. I checked her out and she seems very fond of ‘hacks’. Also on her website she seems to think that the glucose spikes themselves are the problem but not any kind of underlying cause. Even for the vinegar ‘hack’ she talks about it telling our muscles to soak up glucose but doesn’t mention that acetic acid is key to our health, not just for blood sugar spikes. Like most ‘experts’ she seems to have missed quite a large amount of the picture and good lord I wouldn’t want to be eating any of her breakfasts 🤣 Anyway, to each their own & if she helps you then that’s great. I would say that it’s better to work on improving your overall health than to use hacks to manipulate glucose levels. Other culprits that cause stress to your body are endotoxins and estrogen. She doesn’t appear to mention them (although I only had a quick look so feel free to correct me!). If you don’t tackle these (if you’re suffering with them) then you’re unlikely to make much headway with glucose problems.
Some of the checks I use on a daily basis are:
Am I thirstier than usual? I drink milk with each meal so usually don’t need to drink much in between. If I suddenly find myself up & down to the fridge drinking more fizzy water than normal something’s afoot!
Am I peeing more than usual? I usually pee around every 3 hours (yes at the moment I keep a check on it just to know things are still ok!) It’s normal to pee around 6-7 times per day I believe. If I suddenly start peeing every 2 hours or less then I know something is causing my body more stress and is likely to drive my blood sugar higher.
Is my eyesight nice & clear? If it gets very blurry or I have double vision then something is wrong. As I said earlier, at the moment I have excellent eyesight.
Some of the dietary changes I’ve made:
I eat oat bran for breakfast. I did a post on the reasons for this the other day but basically it’s to add fibre to reduce estrogen. It’s also a good precursor for your gut to make butyric acid (another short-chain saturated fatty acid) which is also essential for proper gut function and is a stimulator of metabolic rate.
I reduced my potato consumption right down (it wasn’t as high as it used to be lol - for any long term readers who remember all the potatoes 🤣) as having a lot of them just doesn’t work for me. Instead I have added in butternut squash & a bit of sweet potato. Having a variety of these kinds of carbs are also good for producing butyric acid in the gut.
I’m lowering fat slowly. Eating too much fat in your diet can cause metabolic confusion and lead to fat blocking the use of carbs, which then leads to high blood sugar. It’s important to do this slowly if your body is used to having a lot of fat to run on. If you suddenly take it away and expect it to use carbs instantly then it’s just another stress to your body. So far it’s going well and I’ve been replacing whole milk with semi-skimmed milk a bit at a time. I’m almost at the stage where I’ll just be using semi-skimmed.
Also make sure you’re having the right kind of fats. Even though mainstream tells you that saturated fat is bad and polyunsaturated is ‘heart healthy’ 🤮 this is categorically untrue. Polyunsaturated fats cause insulin resistance and lowering of the metabolic rate. Saturated fats are the ones you want to be eating (butter, ghee, coconut oil etc.). These all have a positive effect on the metabolic rate and is the main reason I’ve created my own skincare range. So I’m not putting awful unsaturated fatty acids on my skin. No matter if you eat them or rub them on your skin, they all end up in your bloodstream!
Other important stuff:
Meals are always comprised of carbs, proteins and fats. I never eat carbs/sugar on its own as this does lead to big blood sugar spikes. I have around 3 hours between meals & (unless I get hungry) I don’t snack in between, I just give my body time to do its thing with the food I just ate.
Relaxing! This is very important, especially for digestion. If you are stressed, het up or are just running on stress hormones in general then your digestion isn’t going to be very good as blood is being directed elsewhere. No time to digest when threats are present. I like to do some neuro drills to relax my body and tell it that the environment is safe. I bought access to a video from Anna G (@beyond_functional) in order to learn some of these techniques. One of my favourites is breathing in for 2 seconds and out for 8. When we breathe out we stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. This always makes me feel nice and relaxed as it calms the body and mind, and promotes the rest & digest state.
This seems like a good place to end my ramblings for the moment 😁 As always these are just my thoughts as I stumble my way to better health!
