November is National Diabetes Awareness Month: Take Control of Your Blood

Sugar Today

 

October’s spooky festivities (and mountains of candy) are over but what you’re about to read might give you goosebumps: the statistics of diabetes mellitus. Even though it’s daunting, the reality of diabetes is that it doesn’t have to be a death sentence. You can prevent diabetes and its complications for yourself and your loved ones, or improve your situation if you have already been diagnosed. Let’s get into it.

Millions of Americans don’t know they have pre-diabetes; one in five statistically. In this writer’s experience, many people don’t know they’re headed for pre-diabetes with the way they eat and live their lives.

Here’s some of the facts:

• Over 38 million Americans live with diabetes, and 97 million have pre-diabetes, yet 1 in 5 don’t know they have it. Early action can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. Without action, a projected 60 million Americans will have diabetes by 2060, according to the CDC.
• Type 1 diabetes (5-10% of cases) is autoimmune and requires lifelong insulin; type 2 (90-95%) is often linked to lifestyle and reversible with diet, exercise, and supplements. Gestational diabetes is when a pregnant woman has high blood sugar, similar to type 2 diabetes, and can be managed by her medical care team with a nutrition and lifestyle plan.
• Symptoms include excessive thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, and blurred vision—watch for emergencies like extreme thirst and frequent urination (high sugar) or confusion, trembling, and dizziness (low sugar). For more info, visit diabetes.org.
• Optimal labs: Fasting glucose <100 mg/dL, HbA1c <5.7%, HDL >60 mg/dL. Uncontrolled diabetes often shows fasting glucose >126 mg/dL, HbA1c >7%, triglycerides >200 mg/dL.
• Poor blood sugar control fuels heart disease, nerve damage, kidney failure, vision loss, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, obesity, weakened immunity, joint pain, slow healing, and higher cancer risk, but evidence reveals lifestyle changes reversing many of these diseases.
• A supervised ketogenic diet (high healthy fats, moderate protein, low carbs) plus intermittent fasting stabilizes glucose, improves lipids, normalizes blood pressure, aids fat loss, reduces inflammation, and eases joint Diet changes should be doctor supervised.
• Exercise 150 minutes weekly (mix aerobic/resistance) boosts insulin sensitivity. Be sure to start slowly, under doctor’s supervision, check glucose before/after.
• Supplements like Mountain Peak Nutritionals Glycemic Formula (bitter melon, gymnema, alpha-lipoic acid, chromium, vanadium) support healthy sugar levels when paired with diet.

 

Important: If you’re on blood sugar medication, have kidney disease, and/or are type 1 diabetic, you must get medical advice before reducing carbohydrates because it is dangerous to take blood sugar lowering medication and go low carb or water-fast.

 

For people dealing with these issues, the way we improve their situation is always generally the same: Nutrition and exercise. It’s easier than you’d think to avoid blood sugar problems.

First, start with a home food inventory and record daily eating habits. Writing everything down is a good way to start having accountability to oneself. Determine what you eat in a day, from the time you get up to the time you go to bed. Then tally up the nutrition facts or macros (protein, fat, and carbohydrates) for the day. Now compare all of that to what is clinically seen as preventative or healing for blood sugar problems as follows:

Breakfast sets the tone for blood sugar control through the day and should be high protein (40-50 g or 7-8 oz of meat), high fat (20-30 g), and 0-5 grams of carbohydrates. This could be bacon and eggs, plain greek yogurt with stevia and MCT oil mixed in, topped with walnuts and a few blackberries, a cheddar cheese omelette, a scramble in coconut oil with tofu, mushrooms, and spinach. A hearty breakfast prevents hunger, crashing, and snacky-ness.

Lunch should be moderate protein (20-30 g), high fat (30 g), and 5-10 grams of carbs. Imagine a leafy green salad with tomatoes, onions, peppers, olive oil and apple cider vinegar, Italian seasoning, with some chopped meats, boiled eggs, and/or cheeses. Romaine makes a great lettuce wrap instead of a sandwich, or try a hot soup like homemade broccoli cheddar, pumpkin soup made with bone broth, or a chicken stew with lots of vegetables but without noodles or rice.

Dinner should be similar to lunch in macros of moderate protein, high fat, and low carb, but lower in calories if you’re trying to lose body fat. Think of homemade meatloaf or meatballs using almond meal instead of breadcrumbs and tomato paste with stevia and vinegar instead of ketchup or premade sauces, with a side of whipped cauliflower mash. Grilled salmon with asparagus is simple and light. Or try grilled chicken thighs sliced and stir fried with sliced onions, snow peas, peppers, broccoli, and cabbage “noodles” in a sauce of soy sauce, dry rice vinegar, allulose, minced garlic, and avocado oil.

Dessert after dinner should be small and low carb. Try berries and homemade whipped cream with stevia, monk fruit, or allulose, a cup of decaf tea or coffee with soy milk or cream and a ChocZero brand cookie (natural, keto treats), or a hot cocoa made from soy milk or water with cream mixed with a zero carb chocolate collagen like Dr. Amy Meyer’s or Vital Proteins.

After meals, taking a 10 minute walk is a great way to increase circulation and improve digestion and insulin response. Insulin being too high is what increases risk of diabetes and causes weight gain.

If you think that looks like a ketogenic diet, you’re right! Keto can be done safely and effectively by many people, but should be started under a healthcare provider’s supervision as any dietary change should. You will notice there is almost no pre-packaged food listed. Often that is the first step to optimal nutritional health. For anyone not prepared to simply start a ketogenic diet, the following is a general stepwise process:

1. Remove sugar and starch: sugar, flour, rice, potatoes, bread, pasta, etc.
2. Eat every 2-3 hours, higher protein and fat than you’re used to.
3. Reduce to 3 meals per day, similar to what’s described above.
4. Do this until you “forget to eat” before moving to the next step, which prepares you for water-fasting. Folks who are on medications must absolutely get medical advice before fasting.
5. Reduce to 2 meals per day, preferably skipping dinner to use your morning cortisol (adrenal energy) rise to work with breakfast.
6. Try one meal a day (OMAD) like breakfast and don’t eat until the next breakfast. Drink plenty of water and electrolytes while doing this. If you make it to this step, you’ve beaten your reliance on carbohydrates for primary energy!

If you don’t get this far, don’t fret. There are nutritionists and doctors using keto nutritional advice to help their patients eliminate blood sugar problems. Seek them out for guidance.

Fun life hack: put a note on the fridge that reads, “are you hungry, or just bored?”

Equally important for blood sugar control is exercise. Here are the steps that can help with starting or re-starting getting moving daily:

• You only need to start with a little at a time: 5-10 mins once per week, then when that’s a habit, increase the days per week or the time per session. Use every opportunity to move a little more than before. And know that you’re not “failing” or doing “bad” if you make a mistake or miss a day. Just keep working at it!
• 10 body weight squats every hour can really help with insulin sensitivity.
• Look up YouTube videos for low impact exercise, chair aerobics, pilates, yoga, strength training for women, etc., and start there.
• Set a goal of 30 mins per day of moderate activity and weightlifting 3 days per week.
• You can do a version of pushups, squats, lunges, or jumping jacks literally anywhere and at any time! Do a few every time you go to the restroom.
• Getting lots of general movement (chores, stairs, gardening, exploring outdoors), avoiding being seated as much as possible, is a major factor in preventing disease overall. 10,000 steps a day really is a great way to stay healthy!

To cap things off, utilizing dietary supplements can help accelerate progress with improving blood sugar control. Magnesium, one of the most important nutrients we have, participates in hundreds of chemical reactions in the body and most people don’t get enough, so supplementation of 400-600 mg daily is standard for adults. Magnesium is vital for bones, metabolism, brain and nerves, muscles, digestion, and mood. Natural (non-synthetic) B vitamins are used through the nervous system and metabolism to keep the whole body going strong.

Herbs like bitter melon and gymnema help to support the pancreas which is responsible for insulin production. Gymnema taken as a tincture and held in the mouth can actually reduce the flavor of sweets by blocking sugar receptors, making it an interesting tool for breaking carb addiction! Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) helps to reduce oxidative stress. Chromium, found in stevia, monk fruit, and cinnamon, help feed the pancreas and improve insulin function.

Trace minerals like vanadium, zinc, and copper help with glucose utilization in the body and make organs like pancreas, thyroid, liver, skin, stomach, and intestines work more efficiently.

Rather than take a million different supplements, using a single supplement blend can be instrumental to cover many of these benefits. Mountain Peak Nutritionals Glycemic Formula contains bitter melon, gymnema, ALA, chromium, copper, B6, Vanadium, Zinc, and Magnesium all together to help improve blood sugar control. The usual dose is 1 cap, 3 times daily with food, or as directed by your healthcare provider.

Now that you’re armed with knowledge about diabetes and how to prevent it, please share this article with others so they can be more aware of this ever growing problem in the United States so we can have a healthier future.

The information in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment; always consult your healthcare provider before making any dietary, exercise, supplement, or lifestyle changes, particularly if you have diabetes (type 1, type 2, or gestational), prediabetes, are on blood sugar-lowering medications (such as insulin or oral agents), have kidney disease, or any other medical condition, as unsupervised modifications—especially reducing carbohydrates, initiating ketogenic diets, intermittent fasting, or adding herbal supplements like bitter melon or Gymnema—can lead to dangerous hypoglycemia, ketoacidosis, nutrient imbalances, or interactions that jeopardize your health and require personalized monitoring to ensure safety and efficacy.

References:

1. CDC National Diabetes Statistics Report: https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/statistics-report/index.html
2. Projection of Diabetes Burden to 2060: https://pophealthmetrics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12963-018-0166-4
3. ADA Standards of Care: https://diabetesjournals.org/care/issue/47/Supplement_1
4. DPP Lifestyle Intervention: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/about-niddk/research-areas/diabetes/diabetes-prevention-program-dpp
5. Keto/IF Meta-Analysis: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36465743/
6. Exercise Guidelines: https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/39/11/2065/37249/Physical-Activity-Exercise-and-Diabetes
7. Bitter Melon Review: https://www.nature.com/articles/nutd201442
8. Gymnema Meta-Analysis: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34467577/
9. ALA Neuropathy Meta: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3272801/
10. Chromium Meta: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32730903/
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