The Missing Piece of the Diabetes Puzzle

Modern medicine operates much like a farmer who fixes his fences only after the horses or cows have broken out. Hence, most serious health conditions incubate for years before they are diagnosed. This is certainly true of type 2 diabetes.

A couple of weeks ago, I read a timely article in Life Extension magazine entitled “Glucose: The Silent Killer.” In addition to summarizing all of the really bad things that excess blood sugar can do to your body, the article documented an important fact: By the time you are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, you’ve actually had blood sugar problems for years. (Note: Do not confuse type 1 diabetes with type 2 diabetes. They are really very different. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease, which begins in childhood and requires insulin. Type 2 diabetes, also called diabesity, is related to your diet and lifestyle.)

I certainly knew this to be true, and I have written about it in my books. But there is a new piece to the puzzle: We’ve set the range for normal blood sugar too high. Recent studies indicate that fasting glucose levels should be in the range of 70–85 mg/dL. Unfortunately, most standard labs give the upper limit of normal for a fasting blood sugar at 99 mg/dL. That’s too high!

In addition, blood sugar levels after a meal should not spike more than 40 mg/dL higher than your fasting level. This means that your blood sugar level should be in the range of 110–125mg/dL one or two hours after a meal.

After reading this compelling new data on blood sugar, I decided to test my own blood sugar on a regular basis to see how I was doing—to take my health into my own hands. Taking control of your health starts with knowing where you stand. You don’t need to wait! I sure didn’t. (I have a family history of cardiovascular disease, so doing what I can to keep my blood sugar normal is a good way to support my heart, and so forth.) The first thing I did was consult with my Facebook community. I have a lot of “experts” there — individuals with diabetes who regularly check their own blood sugar. After getting some opinions, I bought a One Touch Ultra Glucometer on Amazon.com, along with lancets and blood sugar strips. Ingenious, simple, and oh-so empowering!

I quickly discovered that my blood sugar never went above 120 mg/dL. Probably because I have pretty much quelled my excess sugar cravings over the years by focusing on lots of activities that bring sweetness into my life in other ways besides eating sugar. This includes dancing tango in close embrace, listening to good music, de-cluttering my house, doing work I love, and taking long baths while reading good novels or looking out the window at the river. I have created a personal paradise for myself. This process has taken a lifetime and began in earnest during perimenopause—the time of life when most women first develop blood sugar and blood pressure problems.

I encourage you to do the same. Be kind and gentle with yourself if you’re not there yet. (I realize that I am reporting from the front lines here!) Bringing sweetness of other kinds into your life will bolster your health, allow you to enjoy your life even more, and help you curb those carb cravings! Don’t get me wrong. I crave a gooey chocolate brownie, just like you might. So, from time to time, I indulge without going overboard and savor every bite. But I want to continue to flourish in the personal paradise I’ve created. And that means doing what I can to keep my blood sugar levels normal.

If you’re checking your blood sugar levels regularly, if you’ve figured out a way to curb your sugar cravings, or if you just like what you’ve read, please leave a comment here or on my Facebook page.

This information is not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease. All material in this article is provided for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you have regarding a medical condition, and before undertaking any diet, exercise, or other health program.

Photo credit: Steve Rothman

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis seven years ago, at the age of 28, it felt like my life was sent spinning downhill. My fear of how this disease would weigh on me, drag me down into inevitable disability, was echoed by the concerned family and friends who cautioned me to be careful, not to take risks, to take drugs, to abandon my dream of having children. How would I cope with one day being in a wheelchair and not being able to work? Who would take care of me?

At the time, I was a longtime heavy smoker, in a toxic relationship, and my feeble attempts at exercise consisted of the occasional yoga class or visit to the gym where I’d putter around on the machines, uninspired and ignorant of how my body actually worked.

The MS diagnosis was a lightning bolt, propelling me into instant action. Leaving the doctor’s office that day, I made a decision to change my life, to embrace a path of healing and empowerment. I quit smoking on the spot (and have never smoked since). I radically changed my diet to eat more organic foods, visited acupuncturists and massage therapists, chiropractors and colonists; I got a personal trainer and went to the gym regularly and started running. The next evolution of my newfound body awareness was to take my growing yoga practice to the next level, and I attended a year-long yoga training program and became a certified Kundalini yoga teacher. Sat Nam!

Yet something was missing. I still thought of myself as a victim, a sick person, at best just slowing down the disease train that was going to smack me into submission, someday.

Then, after a long meditation one day, I got an inspiration, asking myself: What does a strong, fit, powerful healthy person do? Who did I believe I could be, in my wildest dreams? At the top of my brainstorm list was “climb Mount Everest!” Well, I was sane enough to know that wasn’t a short-term option, so instead I decided on a modified plan – I would spend a month trekking in the Himalayas in Nepal, to get myself to the basecamp of the tallest mountain on Earth. That certainly didn’t seem like something a “sick person” would do!

Soon after, I found myself climbing steadily uphill, rising every day, step by step, toward “Chomolungma,” the sacred mountain the Nepalese call “Mother Goddess of the World.” At 15,500 feet above sea level, life takes on a different perspective. The oxygen levels were 40 percent lower, yet every breath was deep and pure, as I appreciated the pristine mountain air. After three weeks of hiking from dawn to dusk every day, I felt blessed by a new awareness and appreciation of my body, the rhythm of my own power to move my life, upwards, higher and higher, into what seemed like heaven on earth. One morning, I woke at sunrise and watched the daylight fan across the top of Mount Everest, and I knew I was connected to a light that would rise for me every day if I woke to greet it.

After that journey, I realized the healing power that I was seeking could be found in immersing myself in nature. I began to explore the wilderness in my own backyard, in Canada. I began to hike regularly and practice yoga outdoors, in the mountains, on the beach, in remote fields of wildflowers. I paddled canoes along backcountry lakes and swam nude in secluded rivers under the moonlight. I felt healthier and more vibrant than I ever had in my entire life! So much so, that I decided to dedicate my energy to helping other women discover their wild side and natural vitality, changing my job from an urban office worker to becoming the director of Wild Women Expeditions, an outdoor adventure travel company, and moving from the city to living on the edge of a National Park surrounded by forest, mountains and ocean.

The medicine I needed more than anything was to fall (rise!) in love with life again. To love my body and trust its infinite resilience. To love and cherish the land and the water, and let it hold me and wash over me, like a nurturing mother. Synchronicity would have it that the love of my life, who is now my husband, is a holistic life coach and personal fitness trainer at Holistic Fitness Guru, as well as a wilderness guide. We are now getting ready to welcome our first child into the world!

There have been so many lessons in the adventure of moving through the healing path, and in every way I am more alive because of the disease I chose to make a tool, not an obstacle. I have found that living more naturally is about deeply engaging in the world around you, connecting with the land and the lifecycles that bring us nourishment, daring to get our hands dirty and our feet wet.

Many scientific studies have been conducted to validate that physically and psychologically, getting outdoors and being active in nature is beneficial for our health. And intuitively, we know this to be true. Spend an afternoon walking in the woods, swim bare breasted under a waterfall, push yourself through waves in the ocean or sing your heart out around a campfire. Feel yourself wild and powerful and a precious part of the life that grows all around you.

I am continually inspired and reinforced by the words of the poet Mary Oliver, who wrote the compelling challenge to us all: “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Jennifer Haddow is the director of Wild Women Expeditions, Canada’s Outdoor Adventure Company for Women. She is a certified yoga teacher and believes strongly in the rejuvenating powers of nature and that wilderness immersion is essential to good health, life balance and human happiness.

10 Tips to Find the Right Doctor

You might have been raised to believe that doctors are gods and that you shouldn’t question us, but let me tell you the real truth, my loves. We docs are in the service industry — it’s our job to love, nurture, tend and care for you, and if we’re not doing that the way you deserve, you should fire our sorry asses!

If you weren’t getting what you needed from your massage therapist, hairdresser, or yoga instructor, you would find someone else, right? Why should your doctor be any different? And yet, your doctor is even more important. This is serious stuff we’re talking about here.

Plus, medicine is, after all, a spiritual practice. At least it should be, and if your doctor doesn’t believe that, do you really want to put your body and your life in his or her hands? If you didn’t like your priest, minister, guru, or shaman, you would go elsewhere, right?

I just got an email from a reader saying she was miserable with her doctor, but she was afraid to see anyone else because she didn’t want to get labeled as a troublesome “doctor shopper.”

Why Not Doctor Shop?

My response to her was “Why not doctor shop? And who cares if someone labels you ‘troublesome?’ It’s your body. Your health. Your life. Your choice.”

10 Tips to Help You Find the Right Doctor

• Interview your doctor. Let them know when you schedule the appointment that you would like to schedule a consultation to make sure your doctor is the right fit for you. If the doctor won’t submit to being interviewed, you gotta wonder what they’re afraid of. Find someone who has enough confidence in his or her awesomeness to agree to being interviewed.
• Be willing to get what you pay for. Insurance may not pay for you to doctor shop or for consultative interviews with doctors. So tell the front desk you’re willing to pay cash when you schedule the appointment. Also, doctors who do not accept insurance tend to offer more time. Find a doctor who will give you a whole hour if you can.
• Demand what you deserve (in a gentle, loving way, of course). Understand that your doctor may have 40 patients on her schedule, so be mindful of her time and ask how long you have allotted for you. Then be clear about what you expect and don’t settle for less.
• Seek someone who shares your beliefs. If you are a spiritual person counting on your relationship with the Divine to guide you on your self-healing journey, and your doctor is an atheist, it might not be the best fit.
• Check in with how your body reacts. If you feel tight, clenched, nervous, cold, shivery or closed off, your body may be telling you something. Look for feelings of openness, warmth, relaxation and calmness in your body.
• Listen to your intuition. What does your gut say? Do you trust this doctor? Do you feel safe in her hands? Trust your Inner Pilot Light (that 100% authentic, unapologetically YOU, that knowing inner healer who will always steer you in the right direction).
• Ask your doctor if they believe you can be healed. If your doctor reads you negative statistics, dismisses your self-healing superpowers, insists that there’s no hope, lacks belief in miracles, and generally considers you a hopeless case, get thee the hell outta dodge!
• Feel the love. I know I practice love, with a little medicine on the side. Science may cure, but only love heals. Go where the love is. There are plenty of loving doctors out there. Find one.
• Ensure that your doctor trusts your intuition. If you believe homeopathy is going to heal you, and your doctor thinks homeopaths are quacks, fire her. You and your inner wisdom know more than anyone else, no matter how long they went to medical school.
• Know that you deserve the best care possible. Don’t go telling yourself stories about how you’re not good enough/smart enough/young enough/rich enough/[fill in the blank] enough to get this kind of stellar medical care. If you believe you’ll only get bad care, it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Know you are worth it.

Are You Ready To Go Out And Get The Kind Of Care You Deserve?

This doesn’t just apply to doctors, you know. (I picked on them because my profession is notoriously bad about providing good customer service these days.) But this also goes for alternative health providers, the woman who does your pedicure, and your dentist.

I believe in you. There are so many good doctors and other health care practitioners out there. Find the ones who are right for you.

For more about me and the atypical medical services I offer, read here.

Do you feel comfortable doing these things? Have you already found awesome healers? Do you have other tips for how to find great docs? Tell us what you think!

What if I told you caring for your body was the LEAST important part of your health? Watch my TEDx talk here to learn the MOST important part.

With faith in you and hope for my profession,

Lissa Rankin, MD

For more by this author, visit owningpink.com

Photo credit: TimmyGUNZ

The Healing Power of Saying Yes

This summer I taught a Shero’s Journey retreat at Hollyhock, the magical retreat center on Cortes Island in British Columbia — an island wild enough to be home to wolves and cougars. My sweetheart Bob came along and, while I taught a powerhouse group of shimmering Shero’s, he birded and kayaked — until the third morning of the retreat, when he pulled a muscle in his back while kayaking.

Our friend, neuropsychologist, Buddhist teacher and author, Rick Hanson, was also teaching at Hollyhock. Being with Rick reconnected Bob and me with the life-changing practices from Rick’s books, “Buddha’s Brain” and “Just One Thing.” We had shared these beloved practices when we were first falling in love, a time when Bob tasted meditation and yoga for the first time.

One powerful practice Rick teaches is saying yes. This means simply saying yes to whatever is happening in this moment, whatever thought you are having, whatever emotion is passing through your awareness. Not just the peace and love and harmony, but the icky, gritty, nasty stuff as well.

As Rick writes in “Just One Thing,” “Your yes means that you accept the facts as they are, that you are not resisting them emotionally, even if you are trying with all your might to change them.”

Based on this practice, Bob decided to say yes to the pulled muscle in his back. He decided to say yes to his pain, yes to the fear he’d be laid up for months, yes to his kayak resting on the pebbled beach, yes to missing yoga, yes to missing birding, hiking and even sex (sigh).

Guess what? His back healed in a quarter of the time it usually takes.

Yes, he was relaxed, able to stretch, meditate and be nourished by Hollyhock’s amazing food and loving vibe. Yet even in paradise, he could have so easily chosen to tighten up with resentment at “missing out” on his planned retreat.

Instead, he said yes. It was inspiring to behold. And it shifted everything for him.

So I ask you, where does resistance show up in your life? What might change for you today, what might open, soften, and shift, if you said yes? Yes to being late. Yes to your breakfast. Yes to a difficult client. Yes to a fabulous client. Yes to learning your mother has dementia. Yes to a stranger holding your hand and telling you it’s going to be OK. Yes to being tired. Yes to a stain on your favorite shirt, yes to the sparkle in your beloved’s eye, yes to dirty dishes, yes to the sun spilling across the floor, yes to the dust bunnies the sunlight illuminates.

Yes.

Saying yes is not about resignation. Resignation is a big NO, a tightening of your soul into “Everybody else can have _______ except me.” Yes is the opposite. It is an opening. You simply stop opposing what you are experiencing. You notice what is. Yes creates relaxation and energy to move forward into action, out of resignation, judgment and mind-numbing fear.

Say yes grudging, say yes fervently, say yes tentatively — there are many flavors to agreeing to have this experience you are having right now. Please do not force anything. When you do not want to say yes, when you hate the very idea, when all you want to do is scream no!, say yes to that, too.

I’ll be saying it right along with you.

P.S. I’m not teaching at Hollyhock in 2012, but I am teaching the Shero’s Journey online and details are here: http://www.entheosacademy.com/course/The-Sheros-Journey. There’s even a pay-what-you-can option!

Photo credit: Chris

Is Healing Your Body a Full-time Job? Tips for Easing the Overwhelm

Does this sound like a typical week? A doctor’s appointment, a massage, acupuncture, daily yoga, therapy, 25 daily supplements, morning green juice, daily meditation, cardio, cooking, and that’s after cleaning the house, getting the kids to school and finishing the sales presentation. Wow, I’m tired just thinking about it.

Healing your body from illness can seem like a full-time job on top of your regular life ? a job you didn’t even apply for.

How do you manage it all without going crazy or making yourself sicker? One option is to ignore your self-care and go on with life as usual. I’ve seen this work for some, but usually not for the long term.

Alternatively, you can try to do it all at once and get overwhelmed under the weight of juggling all your healing tasks with your family and career obligations. Early on, when I was healing myself from multiple sclerosis, I spent more nights at the dinner table crying from overwhelm than I like to think about.

I eventually found a third way between overwhelm and denying the disease. I found a way that honors the healing process without having it consume or define your life. Here are some those lessons.

Start slow.

It can be natural for some of us to take on all the healing modalities at once. That was biggest the mistake I made. I was so determined to stay out of a wheelchair that I jumped in with both feet. I don’t advise it. It’s not possible and it’s not wise.

Instead, start with a few items and build up your self-care muscle. Start with green juicing or 20 minutes of meditation every other day. Any one of these can give you more energy so you can later add yoga or massage.

Self-care is a project.

While you might not have asked for this job, it is yours. Put it on your to-do list. Not just the appointments, but also the juicing, the baths, the supplements – everything.

But don’t put it at the bottom where you will forget it. That’s easy to do without a deadline. Instead, place healing at the top of your list.

I know this sounds like it will create more stress. But it works to shift your paradigm, and put self-love front and center. If you are notorious for taking care of yourself last, illness marks the end of that.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying sales reports and soccer practice aren’t important. Yet if you are sick or too fatigued, you won’t make those anyway. There is a reason they tell you to put your oxygen mask on first.

Plan, delegate and execute

OK, all your healing tasks are on your to-do list. Great. But that doesn’t by itself make it any less overwhelming. Just like that big project at work, break down the tasks, plan them out, efficiently multitask and engage help when needed.

Here’s an example. You want to make green juice each morning, but you also need to get the kids and yourself out the door. Plan it out. Sunday afternoon clean, cut and prepare all the produce for the week. Then put enough for a day in seven separate bags. You can even have the kids help. Each morning, grab a bag, juice it and head out the door.

Make healing fun.

Ask a person who loves their job what they love about it and they will almost always say, “because it’s fun.” Why not make self-care fun?

Spice things up. Try Thai massage. Practice yoga naked. Dance in your skivvies to Lady Gaga instead of going to the gym. Play soccer with your kid, and score parenting and self-care points. Be creative.

Make healing sacred.

OK, the shot I give myself every day is not fun. Having to down all those supplements three times a day is no joy either. How do you get through the yucky stuff?

Make those moments sacred. Take a deep breath. Burn a candle or put on a relaxing sacred CD. (I love Tibetan singing bowls.) Then as you pop that pill or insert that needle, imagine it is a magic potion going directly to the source of your illness and restoring your health. Not only does this take the dread out of these tasks, you also incorporate the power of guided imagery that may even boost the healing effects of your medicine.

Be kind to yourself.

I imagine self-care like a serving tray overflowing with beautiful dishes. There are so many dishes piled up that occasionally one falls off. No worries, I just place it back on the tray and continue on. The same is true of all your healing methods.

Know that on any given week or day, something will fall off. You will forget your midday supplements. You will be too tired for yoga. It’s OK. Don’t beat yourself up. Expect it to happen. Why? Because you are human.

What do you do when it happens? Get back on the bike. Pick up the task the next day.

But one word of caution: Create boundaries around the ultra-important healing tasks. Those are the ones that will set your healing back big time if it falls off the tray. For example, I never miss my daily injection, no matter what. For you it may be a pill. Or yoga. Regardless, create strict boundaries around those one or two things. And then don’t cry over the other stuff.

How will you organize your week so you have the time to make self-care an integral and non-overwhelming part of your life?

Laurie Erdman is a holistic health coach and the Chief Wellness Hero at Chronic Wellness Coaching. She helps her clients take the overwhelm and confusion out of their healing journeys.

Photo credit: Tyler Axtell