Diabetes Type 2: How It Affects Neuropathy And Can It Be Reversed?
Type 2 Diabetes is a condition where there is too much glucose in the blood stream. Insulin, which is the hormone that allows for the transfer of glucose into the cell, becomes resistant at the cell not allowing glucose from the blood into the cells. This creates inflammation and eventually will cause vascular and nerve damage.
Generally medications are given that increase insulin levels which does not really affect the ability to bring glucose into the cells. The body has several ways too remove this excess glucose basically by bringing it back in the liver and turning it into triglycerides or fat. Through time this will affect many of the organs including the kidneys, heart, eyes and can create a lot of serious issues including Peripheral Neuropathy.
What Can We Do To Reduce Blood Glucose?
The most important and obvious factor is we must reduce the amount of sugar we consume. We have to reduce simple carbohydrates, read labels and eliminate high sugar content in foods and drinks, and reduce the levels of fructose.
Fructose is a big part of the problem. Fructose cannot be utilized by the whole body and gets stored in the liver and contributes to high triglycerides and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The pancreas as well will get affected by this high fat content and will have more difficulty secreting insulin.
Where Does All This Fructose Come From?
Fructose is the sugar source we receive from fruits but this is not altogether the problem. The biggest issue is the amount of high fructose corn syrup that is added to a lot of our foods. This is an inexpensive additive that is placed in processed foods, energy drinks and soft drinks.
Fatty Liver Disease More Common In Adults and Children
As a result of our poor dietary habits and the shifting from whole foods to processed and fast foods there has been a dramatic increase in fatty liver disease in children as well as adults.
What Can We Do?
When we see the real problem is the consumption of too much fructose we need to control our dietary intake. Fructose from processed foods, soft drinks and energy drinks needs to be eliminated completely.
Then to jump-start the body to it helps to begin to consume less food. We recommend intermittent fasting, which is following dinner try not to eat for a period of 18 hours. For example if your last meal were at 6pm then your next meal would be at noon the following day.
We also recommend eating 3 meals per day, if possible, rather than grazing all day long like we were taught.
The foods we eat also matters of course. We endorse a ketogenic type diet where the emphasis is placed on fat, good fat. Our brain and nerves love fat. When our diet is consumed mostly by fat then we tend to burn ketones as a major source of energy instead of glucose. There is a lot of research suggesting Ketogenic diet is beneficial for chronic degenerative conditions such as Diabetes and Peripheral Neuropathy.
Effects on Pancreas and Liver
When our body becomes a fat burning machine the first place it burns fat is the pancreas and liver. This will help with the body’s natural ability to secrete insulin and help remove the excess blood sugar in the body. Over time people have become less reliant on their medication as their HbA1c becomes within normal ranges.
Action Steps:
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Stop Eating Processed Foods, Energy Drinks
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Check Fructose Corn Syrup On Food Labels and Avoid
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Begin Eating Whole Foods
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Implement Intermittent Fasting
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Begin Ketogenic Diet and Eat More Healthy Fat
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Proper Supplementation To Support Healthy Glucose Metabolism
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