Pre-Diabetes: The Food Solution
March 11, 2018
Do you have pre-diabetes? Are you one of the 90% of people who don't even know they have it? Pre-diabetes is a serious health condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Pre-diabetes puts you at a higher risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Find out what characteristics are common in people with pre-diabetes and what you can do to get your health back on track.
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Transcript
KARA: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. This is brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. We're a company providing nutrition therapy for people with chronic illnesses such as pre-diabetes, diabetes, cholesterol issues, arthritis, depression, anxiety, menopause, and really so much more. So if you have a chronic illness, I just want to tell you that food does matter. My name is Kara Carper. I'm a licensed nutritionist and also have a master's degree in holistic health. I've been helping people at our company with their nutrition concerns for over 10 years here at Nutritional Weight and Wellness. And I'm excited to be joined today by my co-host, Shelby Hummel, who is also a licensed nutritionist.
SHELBY: Well, good morning Kara. Good morning to our listeners. Welcome to our live show this, this beautiful Saturday morning, and also a warm welcome to our podcast listeners. So today we're going to be talking about a very serious topic, one that you may have heard of before, pre-diabetes. This might be the time for you to pull up the results of your latest blood tests and actually take a look at what your glucose and your hemoglobin A1C numbers look like and keep those tests in front of you because we're gonna refer back to those numbers later in the show.
KARA: So Shelby, approximately one out of three American adults has pre-diabetes. But the thing is, 90 percent of those people don't even know they have it. Isn't that interesting? So again, just to reiterate that one out of three American adults has pre-diabetes. So think to yourself, are you one of those? Do you have pre-diabetes? Are you one of the 90 percent who don't even know that you have it?
SHELBY: I don't know if you notice this Kara, but pre-diabetes even has a billboard.
KARA: I did not know that.
SHELBY: I thought it was very interesting really bringing to light the fact that so many people may not even know that they have it. So really kind of that community push to have people going to the doctor and actually having their numbers tested. So let's talk a little bit more about what pre-diabetes looks like. Pre-diabetes is a health condition where your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, not quite high enough to be diagnosed as full blown diabetes, type two diabetes, but don't let the pre part fool you in pre-diabetes. Pre-Diabetes still means that your blood sugar numbers are higher than they should be. That's, that's kind of a red flag from your body.
KARA: Are you aware that pre-diabetes puts you at risk of developing type two diabetes but also puts you at risk of developing heart disease and risk of stroke? Some people actually have pre-diabetes for years without any symptoms, so that's a little bit concerning. Others have more obvious symptoms. They might be hungry all the time, have sugar cravings, feel fatigued, notice weight gain, things like that.
SHELBY: They feel like it's aging, but really it's some of these other symptoms.
KARA: And we might hear that too, like, “oh, that's just a normal part of aging.” But it could be a lot of signs of pre-diabetes. Studies show us that most people with pre-diabetes, within 10 years will have type two diabetes unless they change their eating habits. So is your glucose number a wake-up call for you? We're going to talk more about that.
SHELBY: Listeners think, you know, pre-diabetes is characterized by two conditions, often. The first one that your doctor will look at is impaired fasting glucose. Your nutritionist will look at that too, because that's very important, but when you have your blood sugar or your glucose test taken at your doctor's office, they're often recommending that you fast or you don't eat anything for at least eight hours before you have your blood test done. Most people try to do that overnight so it not as uncomfortable.
KARA: Yeah, then they have the test in the morning ideally, so they're not starving, and you know, having the test at noon or something.
SHELBY: Yeah, absolutely. So if you're looking at your blood work this morning, the normal range for that fasting glucose would be under 100. As nutritionists, we have found that it's best when people's blood sugar number is between 70 and 90. That tends to be more of an optimal range.
KARA: Right. I mean we don't want it to be kind of hanging out at 100 just because that's technically not pre-diabetes. That's getting a little bit too high. So as you look at your own fasting glucose number or what we would call fasting blood sugar number, is it between 105 and 125? Because if that's the case, you have impaired fasting glucose or impaired fasting blood sugars. That's an indication that you have pre-diabetes. So again, that number when we diagnosed pre-diabetes is if it's between 105 and 125.
SHELBY: Yeah. And if you're looking at that, blood tested will often say glucose. I would say for most people that's a routine blood test when they go in to see their doctors.
KARA: Yeah, you usually don't have to ask for that, but it's never a bad idea to ask for just in case.
SHELBY: And if we were looking at type 2 diabetes diagnosis, that would be if your glucose number is at 126 or even higher. So have you looked at your glucose number? Listeners, think about that. Are you in the pre-diabetes range? Or maybe you know that you're already in that diabetic range or are you finding that your blood sugar numbers are well managed, it's under 100, you know, closer to that 70, 80, 90 range.
KARA: Now this second test to determine if you have pre-diabetes, it's called an impaired glucose tolerance test. So let me explain this test. If your blood sugar number is between 140 and 199 and that's two hours after eating, then you have what's called impaired glucose tolerance. That's another indication of pre-diabetes. If your blood sugar is 200 or higher after a meal, or two hours after or after an oral glucose test, you may very well have type 2 diabetes at that point.
SHELBY: So that's another test that people can be asking their doctor about. Looking more at that glucose tolerance test, looking at how their cells are responding, how that hormone insulin is responding to food that they eat after a meal.
KARA: And we were talking before the show how it's more important that we look at the whole picture, like get the fasting glucose, but also get the glucose tolerance test if you suspect pre-diabetes or diabetes.
SHELBY: Yeah and frankly, you're right Kara, it's so important to have some of these things looked at because it's much better to catch those numbers or those red flags when you were in that pre-diabetic range because you can still change the outcome of your health if you change your eating and drinking habits, right? You still have some power to make those changes, but by the time people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, the cells in your pancreas that produce insulin have lost 50 percent of their ability to function.
KARA: Wow. OK. So with that type 2 diabetes diagnosis it's not too late, it's never too late, but it's more difficult to reverse. Is what you're saying?
SHELBY: Yeah, absolutely. And Kara, maybe we should talk to listeners just really quickly about the pancreas. So when we think about the pancreas, the pancreas is the organ that works to produce hormones for us, more specifically, it's producing insulin and glucagon and some of those other really important hormones for balancing blood sugar. But I think it's really interesting that by the time someone is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, those cells, which are called the beta cells, we're going to talk about those throughout the show, but those cells in the pancreas that produce insulin have lost 50 percent of their ability to function. So I think that's important for people to understand that, you know, you have an impact there. Definitely makes a difference in how that works.
KARA: Shelby, what do you tell a client if they come to you and they say, well, you know, Shelby, you're my nutritionist and you know, I have type 2 diabetes in my family, so I'm just probably going to get it myself. What do you say to that person?
SHELBY: I often will say to people, just because your parents or your grandparents or your great aunt Sue had diabetes doesn't mean that you are destined to have diabetes. I often remind people that our lifestyle habits make a huge difference on whether or not those genes get turned on or get influenced. Of course we have that genetic predisposition, but you're not destined to get heart disease if your dad had heart disease. You're not destined to get, you know, an autoimmune condition if your family has autoimmune in the genes.
KARA: We can change the path of that by what we're eating or lifestyle. So you know, we're coming up on our first break here. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. If you or a child in your family has attention problems, I'm sure you want to know and understand what foods increase the symptoms of distractability, inattentiveness, anxiety or lack of focus. I'm sure you also want to know what foods decreased symptoms to help make life more manageable. Next Saturday, March 17, join Joanne and Angela as each of them shares their own family's journey through ADHD and how eating real food made a positive difference. You can call 651-699-3438 if you have any questions about that. See if it's a good fit for you and your family to sign up for that. And we'll be right back.
SHELBY: Well, welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. As we've said earlier in the show, have pre-diabetes is a serious health condition. Pre-diabetes is often a silent disease, but as it manifests into diabetes or continues to create that damage. There is also internal damage done to the vessels, specifically the blood vessels in your heart, looking more at the damage that can be done to your liver, your nerves, even your brain, your toes, your eyes, and other areas of your body. So I really encourage people, don't wait until it's too late, make an appointment. If you're looking at your blood numbers this morning and you are in that pre-diabetes or even I'm diabetic range, would you consider or would you be willing to make a two hour appointment with one of our nutritionists at Nutritional Weight and Wellness to learn more about how you are in charge of your health and how you can take charge of your blood sugar? You don't want to let those high sugar foods and that misinformation continue to impact your health. The first step, and, and often the scariest step for people is actually making that call and coming in and sitting down and once they're done with that two hour appointment, they say, OK, I'm, you know, I'm confident and I feel like I can do this. They're like this Shelby, this nutritionist, she's going to take all my foods away. And it's like, no, we're gonna put together a realistic plan for you. And oftentimes I hear back from people and they say within a few days they have better energy. They have less aches and pains. They don't have that numbness and tingling in their fingers or their toes. So, you know, if you're listening this morning and you think that setting up an appointment would really help you put to rest some of those, some of that confusion around food. Call our office this morning, 651-699-3438 to get your schedule, to get your appointments scheduled. I do want to give out the studio number for us this morning as well, so if you have questions for us this morning you can call into the studio at 651-641-1071 and then before we get back to our topic here, I just want to let people know that we are actually hiring. So if you want to work for a company that is really passionate about helping other people and doing so with real food, our Wayzata location is looking to hire a part time front desk staff. So you could work with Kara and I in Wayzata. If you're interested in that, you can learn more at our website weightandwellness.com and you can actually apply at weightandwellness.com.
KARA: Yeah, there's actually a careers page on weightandwellness.com. So Shelby, we were talking before break just about what happens by the time people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. So they've already had pre-diabetes. They now have type two diabetes. The cells in their pancreas that produce insulin have lost 50 percent of their ability to function. Now, if pre-diabetes is picked up by the routine blood tests at your doctor's office, that's really an opportunity to prevent or delay the breakdown of the pancreas so that it can continue to function normally. So really the earlier that we're getting these tests and taking action, the more control that we have over these changes.
SHELBY: Yeah. And don't let that stress or those feelings around, "Oh, I'm just going to have to be put on medication" or "this is just going to spiral out of control." Don't let that prevent you from actually taking action. I think for so many people, they may be sitting there looking at their blood glucose numbers and they may be concerned, but when we think about when a person has diabetes or even pre-diabetes, looking at that blood glucose number, that often really sets the stage for overtaxing those beta cells in the pancreas. So once a person has pre-diabetes or that blood glucose number between 105 and 125 that really sets the stage for that high glucose in the blood to overtax the beta cells in the pancreas. And over time, there may not be enough of that insulin being produced in the pancreas to control those blood sugars. So I hope that makes sense to listeners. We're going to talk a little bit more about that later in the show, but it can be stressful on the body. Those high blood sugars can be very stressful on the body.
KARA: And we always talk about in our office with our clients and our class participants, really high blood sugars lead to so many other chronic aging diseases. So that's something we want to avoid at all cost is having a lot of sugar running through our blood. And when people do have high blood sugar, it puts a big demand, a lot of stress on the Beta cells of the pancreas. Over time they become tired, they become worn out so they produce less insulin, less insulin production means higher blood sugars. And you know, more likely to acquire other diseases, more damage to the body, damage to the brain. It really kind of speeds up the whole aging process.
SHELBY: Definitely. And once you have pre-diabetes or those tired, worn out beta cells and the pancreas that pre-diabetes can then lead to, of course type 2 diabetes, it can also lead to other health problems. But as nutritionists, we know that people with diabetes often have other signs and symptoms, whether that's nerve damage, whether that's neuropathy of the feet, blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke. I mean the list goes on and on and on. But when we think about the stress on the system, it can affect the brain, whether that's memory problems, Alzheimer's, setting people up for irritability, fatigue, you know, those complications can really take toll on people. So it's important to take that pre-diabetes seriously before it becomes a full blown diabetes.
KARA: And when you were mentioning some of those symptoms or things that can occur when people have those high blood sugars and ended up getting diabetes. You had mentioned blindness, kidney failure. You know, prior to that happening, people might just have a harder time seeing. They may have just more mild symptoms at first.
SHELBY: Yeah. Or maybe even, you know, they don't get out at nighttime because their night vision is impacted.
KARA: And they just think I'm getting older, but really it has everything to do with those high blood sugars, pre-diabetes, things like that. Many people see their glucose number in the pre-diabetic range and they'll call our office, they'll call Nutritional Weight and Wellness to make an appointment with one of our nutritionists because they're afraid, they're afraid of those numbers and rightly so. They have good reason to be afraid because a higher glucose number or a diagnosis of pre-diabetes should be something to be fearful of. I mean, we want to be honest with everyone that that's something to be taken seriously.
SHELBY: One thing that I want to mention, oftentimes people come in and they say, really, can food really make that big of a difference? Because here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, we always say real food first, right? Kind of that idea that you can't out supplement, you can't out exercise a poor diet. But I loved, Dr. Mark Hyman, he's a real advocate for real food and quality nutrition. He says, food is not just calories, it's information. And I think that's so powerful to people to think what you eat isn't just to fill your stomach. It's not just, you know, counting calories and knowing this is the upper limit for my body or I need to get as at least these many calories throughout the day. It's actually information to yourselves.
KARA: We know that it's so much more than calories in, calories out. It's the quality of food it's, you know, we need to be eating good proteins, healthy fats, lots of vegetables. Those vegetables.
SHELBY: Yeah, and when we think about any chronic disease, you know, of course we can have kind of that predisposition that can contribute to our health, but those genes are often impacted by poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, stress, and even exposure to environmental toxins. So I really want to drive home the fact today that you know, you, you have the power to change your health. If you're looking at your blood sugar numbers this morning and that creates concern for you or you're afraid of what that might mean, just know that you can make changes and we're right here to help you make those changes.
KARA: That's right. It has everything to do with what we're putting in our mouth and the environment and our lifestyle. Should we go ahead and take our second break and finish that conversation when we come back? You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. If you're always saying to yourself, why am I tired all the time? We have just the class for you. The class is called, Why Am I Tired All Day Long? The extra special benefit of this class is that we're offering it for $10. It's a one hour class for $10 at such a great deal and this class is going to be taught Friday, March 23 from 11:00 am to noon at our Maple Grove location and also Tuesday, March 27 from 6:00-7:00 pm and our North Oaks location.
SHELBY: And I'll be teaching that class.
KARA: Oh great. Wonderful. I forgot that you were teaching that. Call 651-699-3438 to sign up and sign up before all those spots are taken. We'll be right back.
SHELBY: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition, for some of our clients, breaking that sugar habit has been very difficult. To help our clients put their sugar cravings into remission, we often recommend three supplements that will usually do the trick, and I know you use this group of supplements Kara. But when we talk about these three supplements, the first one is taking one Bifido Balance before each meal, you would take two L-Glutamine before each meal and then take two or three of the Crave Control Plus capsules before each meal. So I'm going to repeat that again. The three supplements that will often help people kick that sugar habit are the Bifido Balance, the L-Glutamine and the Crave Control Plus capsules. So think about that. If you're struggling with sugar cravings, would you be willing to give these supplements and try for one month and then see how they work for you? You can find each of those supplements, the Bifido Balance, the L-Glutamine, and the Crave Control Plus capsules at each of our seven Nutritional Weight and Wellness locations. Or you can even find them online at weightandwellness.com. All you have to do is click on the vitamins tab at the top of our homepage and then you can look at those supplements on our website.
KARA: We call that the magic one, two, three. It really can be magic for people though. One month of taking those. I'm always shocked if somebody does not come back and say, you know, my cravings are gone or at least very much decreased. So we were talking Shelby, we were talking about that higher glucose number and just, I mean, pre-diabetes is actually something to be taken very seriously.
SHELBY: Yeah, definitely. And I think for a lot of people in the past, you know, especially doctors, nutritionists and dietitians, those healthcare professionals didn't really understand what was behind that higher blood glucose number. Perhaps for those misinformed practitioners, the recommendation was always to lose weight. You know, if you lose weight, you'll be able to get that blood glucose number back into the normal range. But, you know, is that really feasible for people? How do you really lose weight? And I think when we talk about changing that blood glucose number, it can take some time for people, it can take some effort for them and I think it's interesting to see that oftentimes when people are changing what they eat, they can change how they feel. So instead of just focusing on losing weight, we often help people think more about how they can balance their blood sugar. And I know you had mentioned earlier Kara, eating protein, vegetables and healthy fat just like what we recommend in our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss class. So our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss series would be a great option for someone who is wanting to, of course lose weight, but also get their blood sugar numbers back into balance.
KARA: You were talking about your client. Is she in the class now or she previously was in class?
SHELBY: Yeah, I have a client in my Nutrition 4 Weight Loss class now and I'm working with her individually as well. But she is diabetic and she's using insulin and she was so excited last week she came back and she said that she was able to reduce insulin levels because her blood sugar is more stable and she even said that when she's waking up in the morning and testing her blood sugar, the way that she's eating now is reducing that stress on her system. And she said, of course, you know, she was excited about losing weight around that mid-section too, but she noticed that changing what she was eating made a huge difference. And mind you, she's been diabetic for years. And so she was really shocked that our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss eating plan included beneficial fats and we talked more about the importance of proteins and vegetable carbohydrates.
KARA: That's amazing. I mean to be able to reduce the amount of insulin.
SHELBY: And I think for her it was really nice because she was in that group setting where she was learning more about how to actually make that a priority.
KARA: It's a great environment for people to make lasting changes.
SHELBY: And there are several studies that show that when you're in that group setting with like-minded people, you are more likely to lose weight, but you're also more likely to keep that weight off.
KARA: Right. It's about the maintenance was a lot of people struggle with that yo-yo dieting. Really what we're looking for is long-term weight loss and health. So one in three adults have pre-diabetes, but like we mentioned at the beginning of the show, only one in 10 adults realize that they have this condition. So what is causing all of this pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes and the obesity epidemic in the United States? If we go back to the 1977 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, there is actually a clear warning about the dangers of sugar, but you know what? That message got lost because all of a sudden in the seventies what was actually before the seventies, but there was this huge anti-fat message. And just want to reiterate that that was, that's not correct. That's misinformation that we should be avoiding dietary fat, but at the time it was really easy to jump on the low fat bandwagon as the food industry supplied us with lots and lots of low fat and fat free foods. I think everybody was kind of inundated with that and to be honest, you know, it was probably easier for people to give up eating fat than it was to give up eating their cookies or pancakes, bread, donuts, pizza, pasta, all those desserts. A lot of those things are considered low fat.
SHELBY: When we think about the, you know, what did these food companies add to those low fat or kind of those, I call them fake foods to make them taste good because oftentimes Kara food that tastes good has fat, salt, sugar. So oftentimes these food companies wanting to sell lots and lots of their fat free products actually load those cookies and processed foods up with sugar so they're still tasty. So think you know we have Easter right around the corner. And what does that mean for a lot of people?
KARA: Jelly beans in the Easter basket.
SHELBY: And they're fat free. But think about that. They're actually fat free and loaded with sugar and fructose and
KARA: High fructose corn syrup, probably.
SHELBY: Jelly beans are essentially 100 percent sugar. And who can really stop? I mean, once you put your hand in that jelly bean bowl, you can't just stop with one. So eating jelly beans, that can put a lot of stress on the beta cells in your pancreas. So jelly beans are just one example of a food that is going to create more stress in your body. Even though it's fat free, but it has a lot of sugar.
KARA: It's going to raise those blood sugars. It's gonna put a big burden on the pancreas, like you were saying, the beta cells. So you know, back to the 1977 guidelines, sugar consumption rose steadily from 1977 to the year 2000. You know what else rose steadily, obesity rates. They increased and so did the cases of pre-diabetes and type two diabetes. So by the 1980s, sugar-sweetened soda was more popular than water as a beverage. So if you, you know, if you're sipping on sugar sweetened beverages like soda, juice, flavored milk, whether it's chocolate or strawberry, iced tea that sweetened, sugary coffee mochas, is you can increase the risk of developing type two diabetes by 83 percent. Versus if you have just one sugar sweetened beverage once a month, you know, let's just say OK, the first Sunday of the month I'm going to go get my fancy mocha latte that's we know has sugar. That's not a big risk factor. But if you're drinking several cans of soda every day, you increase your risk of developing diabetes by 83 percent. So those sugar sweetened beverages really put people at a huge risk.
SHELBY: And I often tell people it's more important what you're doing on a daily basis than what you're doing here or there, just like you were saying, of course, someone who's drinking a mocha or soda or juice on a daily basis, that really sets them up for that increased risk of developing diabetes or other chronic diseases. But Kara I find it was also interesting there's other research that supports the fact that you increase your risk of getting diabetes by a little over 1 percent for every 150 calories of sugar you eat daily. What does that really mean? I mean if were to break that down, 150 calories of sugar is about 9 teaspoons. So you can see if you have, you know, that mocha, the caramel latte or something, even a medium caramel latte still has 13 teaspoons of sugar and you pair that with maybe a muffin or a cookie or something. And there's 30 teaspoons of sugar. So with that, you know, yes it does add up quickly. And with that morning treat, you've increased your risk of getting diabetes by more than 3 percent. And then of course, if you consume sugar at lunch or dinner or ice cream after dinner, that sort of thing, that sugar and those risk factors can continue to increase. So now you can see why the American Heart Association recommends that women limit their sugar consumption to no more than 6 teaspoons daily. And men, you're not left out of this either. Yeah, I think it's interesting that they recommend men that limit their sugar consumption to 8-9 teaspoons of sugar daily.
KARA: And when we come back, we'll talk more about what that looks like because that's actually pretty low in the whole big picture. Six to 9 teaspoons is not very much. You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. If this show is helping you to understand pre-diabetes, I suggest you tell your family and friends that they can listen to this show via our podcast. Or you can actually go to the MyTalk107 website and get the replay of this show. It's replayed on Sunday night as well, live at 6:00 pm. One in three people have pre-diabetes. With this information, hopefully they'll be able to turn it around and prevent type two diabetes.
SHELBY: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. We know it can be very difficult to give up your sugary treats, but maybe again, when you're looking at that blood chemistry number, maybe that's telling you it is time to give up your favorite treats. Are you telling yourself I'm ready. I'm ready to give up my cookies, my cakes, my morning latte. So how do you get more information to make that change? I want to recommend that you check out our Weight & Wellness Series because that six weeks series can often help people change their eating habits. We hear it all the time. You know, they took the Weight and Wellness Series and it gave them the science behind the changes that we recommend with real food and it changed their life. So if you're wanting to focus on real food called 651-699-3438 and get signed up for our Weight & Wellness 6 week series.
KARA: And we have a caller. Let's take the caller.
SHELBY: Good morning. Margie, you have a call for us this morning or questions for us?
CALLER: Yes, I do. I have pre-diabetic numbers and the brochure I got from the clinic recommends, let's say like low-fat cheeses, light mayo and margarine, was the thing that surprised me the most, because I listened to you. But I'm wondering, you know, which to think that because listening to you, I realized that butter is healthy and they're not recommending butter.
KARA: Well, we're so glad you called with the question and that you are familiar with us and that we are not proponents of cutting out the fat. And without getting into too much detail, fat, dietary healthy fat is the number one thing that's going to help stabilize blood sugar.
SHELBY: Yeah. It's going to help to prevent that your blood sugar isn't going to high after eating a meal. It's also going to protect your blood sugar from dropping too low, which is oftentimes when people are starting to crave more sugar. So you can see how I'm eliminating that fat or consuming low fat options that's going to set you up for more stress on the pancreas and more stress on yourselves.
KARA: So unfortunately that is misinformation and there is some of that out there in regards to what to eat for pre-diabetes and type two diabetes. And so we would just encourage you to keep following our message that we're not the only one saying that message. It's cutting edge research that we need healthy fats, particularly for anyone that has higher blood sugars. A great book you might want to check out is The Schwarzbein Principle.
CALLER: What was it called?
KARA: The Schwarzbein Principle. It's the name of Dr. Diana Schwarzbein. And she talks all about how, you know, we need to be eating healthy fats and proteins to manage pre-diabetes and diabetes. From a medical doctor perspective.
CALLER: Is it possible for, if you have pre-diabetic numbers, is it possible with a diet and exercise to prevent it from becoming diabetes?
SHELBY: Absolutely. And that's why we're so glad you called this morning because we know that if we can catch that early, we can take stress off of those cells and eating real foods, specifically the healthy fats like avocados, olive oil, butter, like you mentioned, even things like you know, nuts and seeds. Those are the types of beneficial fats that are going to help you balance your blood sugar and reverse some of that damage related to the, the high sugar in the cells.
CALLER: Ok that's good. The doctor wanted to start me on a medication and I didn't want to do it yet. And so she's, it's OK with her if I try other things first. So I am considering either the one-hour consultation or the class. I had asked the person who answered the phone about pricing, I don't know if you do that?
SHELBY: Yeah. Margie I think you would really enjoy our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss Series. That's the one that I was talking about my client with diabetes reduced her blood sugar numbers by eating the Nutritional Weight and Wellness way. And not only do you get to take the 12 weeks of class, so you get to learn more of that information. But you get to sit down with a nutritionist for two, one hour appointment, so you'll get that individualized meal plan. So I'll do you have a pen, I'll give you our office number so you can talk to our staff a little bit more about the details. It's 651-699-3438 and you can call them any time this morning. They would be happy to answer any other questions that you have.
CALLER: OK, wonderful.
SHELBY: Thanks for calling!
KARA: Good luck to you and thanks for your call.
SHELBY: So Kara before we went to break. And before we got to take that last caller, we were talking a little bit more about sugar.
KARA: I think we all agree, everyone agrees that sugar tastes great. You know, I personally think sugar tastes pretty darn good, but well it is very tasty, we consider it a dangerous white powdery substance. Sugar can increase risk for pre-diabetes and diabetes. It can add extra pounds around the middle. We know that for sure.
SHELBY: Yeah, that's actually one of the first signs and symptoms that we have some of that insulin resistance. So we have to be thinking why is sugar so fattening? Because sugar tastes so good we tend to over eat it. We overindulge. One of the obvious reasons, and often the biggest reason is that sugar is stimulating that production of insulin and excess insulin is actually our fat storing hormone. So Kara will you explain a little bit more to our listeners?
KARA: Absolutely. When we eat sugar, our blood sugar or otherwise known as blood glucose, that rises and our brain sends a message to the pancreas, hey, you know it's time to release insulin so that insulin can lower the blood glucose level. Insulin actually helps muscles, fat and liver cells to absorb the glucose. So in a healthy person, this would be, you know, before something like pre-diabetes develops, blood glucose and insulin levels are in the normal range. So there is no concern.
SHELBY: And really often the problem starts when you start eating too much sugar or you have too much glucose because then that's when we have excess levels of insulin that are produced and when you have that excess insulin, those cell receptors on the outside of those cells, those often get coating over them. When I'm teaching classes about insulin resistance, I remind them that most people that have diabetes or pre-diabetes, they have kind of that crusty coating on the outside of the cell that blocks that communication. So, you know, like we talked about, one indication of insulin resistance is when people start to gain weight around the middle, that extra belly fat. And really Dr. David Ludwig, he's the author of Always Hungry, he shares in his books the research behind excess sugar leading to excess insulin and an increase in belly fat.
KARA: So what causes excess glucose and insulin will really, you know, we only have about a minute left here, so it's a lot to sum up, but it's eating too many processed, we call them process man-made carbohydrates and sugars. So it's the foods that are turning into sugar quickly. The breads, the pastas, cereal, and then there's the sugary beverages and then the straight up desserts.
SHELBY: And think about how the low fat message has continued to perpetuate people eating more sugar. Because if you don't have that fat to balance your blood sugar, you're going to be craving more. And like Dr. David Ludwig says, you're always going to be hungry.
KARA: That's right. That's the name of his book, Always Hungry. And so you know, we were going to talk more about what to eat. You can get that from a lot of our other shows. We encourage a good proteins, the healthy fats liberally to balance blood sugars, good vegetable carbohydrates. And our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It's a simple but a powerful message. Eating real food is life changing. Thank you so much for listening and have a wonderful day.
