Here’s some recurring statements I hear from patients…
“I hate needles!” (Always said by someone covered in tattoos)
“I don’t like doctors.” (Only said on their first visit, never their second 😉
“I hate taking medicines!” (Said by every single person alive)
Okay that last one was an exaggeration, but you get the point. No one wants to take a pill. I get that. But sometimes you’ve got to take your medicine. (Believe it or not, I actually recommended to someone this week to add a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down. Ha.)
To help you decrease medications, improve your health, and just all around feel better, I’m going to share with you some natural therapy options for common conditions. These will be things you can either add to your diet, your exercise routine, supplement, or other hacks that might help.
But understand, the point of this is not to take the place of your doctor’s advice. Always talk to your doc before starting, stopping, or changing medications!
So today, let’s start with Type 2 Diabetes.
As you probably know, Type 2 Diabetes occurs when the body is no longer able to adequately utilize its own insulin.
Here’s a simplified version of how insulin works: When you eat, your body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose. Insulin is a hormone, produced by the pancreas, to get the glucose from the blood and into your cells. Your body then utilizes the glucose for energy.
With Type 1 Diabetes, the pancreas doesn’t produce insulin anymore. These patients must take insulin.
With Type 2 Diabetes, the insulin is still produced but there is either not enough and/or the amount produced doesn’t work like it should. When insulin doesn’t do the job, we call this insulin resistance. This is why your blood sugar becomes elevated. The insulin isn’t getting the sugar out of the blood. The reason people with uncontrolled diabetes feel so tired is because their body can’t utilize the energy source it needs.
That’s why treatment of Type 2 Diabetes is different than treatment of Type 1. We want to focus on getting the body to use its own insulin correctly. Diet and exercise work great for this! But sometimes people need more help than just that.
I’m not going to review all the medications. Today I want to talk about more natural remedies. Now, that doesn’t mean that medications aren’t helpful or that they are bad. It doesn’t mean you can go out and stop all of your meds. But it’s possible that by utilizing some of these natural options, you may be able to decrease or prevent needing more meds in the future.
First, let’s talk about supplements. Here are a few that might be effective for treating Type 2 diabetes.
(Realize that there’s no billion dollar pharmaceutical company funding research for these, so we don’t have a lot of data on how well these work. But feel free to research and see what you think)
Aloe Vera
It’s not just for burns you know! Research has shown that taking this by mouth might be effective in lowering blood sugar.
Here’s an abstract from a study I found on pubmed:
Aloe vera gel has been claimed to have antidiabetic activity but not all published results are consistent. We investigated the effect of oral administration of one tablespoonful of Aloe vera juice, twice a day for at least 2 weeks in patients with diabetes. Blood sugar and triglyceride levels in the treated group fell; cholesterol levels were not affected. The results suggest the potential of aloe vera juice for use as an antidiabetic agent.
Alpha-Lipoic Acid
This supplement may be helpful in treating painful diabetic neuropathy. If your feet are burning, tingling, or numb, you might want to give it a shot.
Casein Protein
Casein is a type of protein found in milk. (Giving milk its nice white color). It digests slower than it’s more famous brother (whey). Adding this to your meal might help improve your insulin and blood sugar levels.
Flaxseed
Flaxseed is as old as dirt. Well, I mean, we’ve been growing it about as long as we’ve had civilization. Even Hippocrates (the granddaddy of medicine) recommended it for certain treatments.
Here’s another study I found on pubmed:
Supplementation with FS reduced fasting blood glucose by 19.7% and glycated hemoglobin by 15.6%. A favorable reduction in total cholesterol (14.3%), triglycerides (17.5%), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (21.8%), and apolipoprotein B and an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (11.9%) were also noticed. These observations suggest the therapeutic potential of FS in the management of diabetes mellitus.
Check out this link for some Keto friendly Flaxseed!
Garlic
Keep the vampires away and your blood sugar down! win/win
Ginseng
I may just leave the details of this amazing herbal supplement for a future post.
Oats
Can we all agree that we should go back to calling this porridge? If it was good enough for Goldilocks, it’s good enough for me.
Zinc
Low levels of zinc could contribute to insulin resistance. Supplementation has been shown to be helpful in some studies.
Now, let’s move on. In a minute, I’m going to give you a working plan to discuss with your doctor.
But first, the dreaded EXERCISE!
Exercise Hack
Want to know a great way to get solid exercise in every day?
Walking.
Yep, still as effective today as it was 6000 years ago.
A lot of folks feel they just don’t have time to exercise. I understand. It’s a busy world.
But what if you could just take a 15 minute walk after eating and get better results than 45 minutes at night? Well, this small study showed that for controlling your blood sugar, walking after meals was more effective! (both work though, so do what you can)
Let’s wrap this up…
This list wasn’t meant to be exclusive. I’m sure there’s plenty more out there. And we need to remember that no supplement is going to out perform a healthy diet and lifestyle. So with that being said…
How do we turn all this information into a working plan?
Try this:
0500: Wake up, stretch, brush teeth.
0510: Pray, Read, Write, Coffee.
0530: Stretch. Push ups. Pull-ups. Jump rope. (Or continue to read/write/pray)
0600: Breakfast
- 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 1 scoop Casein protein powder
- 1/2 cup blueberries
- 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
- 1 tsp Hemp seeds
Heat the oatmeal first then add the protein powder, flaxseed, hemp seeds, and throw on those blueberries.. Add a little milk or water to help it mix if needed.
Take a 15 ml shot of Aloe vera juice and 25mg zinc.
Then enjoy your oatmeal.
0630: 15 minute brisk walk
0645: Take on the world.
p.s.
Thanks for reading and sharing. Feel free to leave a comment if there is a specific condition you’d like me to write about in the future.
p.p.s
This article is not intended as specific medical advice for you. Some supplements may interfere with certain medications. Talk to your doctor!
p.p.p.s.
Remember that if you’re diabetic, you should be checking your blood sugar and keeping a log. How often would depend on your doctor’s recommendations. Tell your doctor right away if your blood sugar is dropping low or running high!
Dr. Chris Park is a family physician and lives in Mississippi with his 4 kids, 4 cats, 3 dogs, and one wife.
He wrote a book of devotions for people struggling with addiction, depression, and anxiety that you can find here
What do you know about cinnamon supplement for diabetes/insulin resistance??