By Christiane Northrup MD on May 18, 2012
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
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By Alexandra Jamieson on May 16, 2012
When I was 25 years old, I got sick. Not just a cold or flu, or even a string of colds and flu.
Here I was, in the “prime of my life,” but I felt exhausted every day, was putting on pounds like never before, had migraine headaches several times a week, feeling depressed, and couldn’t stop slurping up caffeine and grabbing chocolate throughout the day.
Getting sick was one of the best things that ever happened to me, because it was a huge wake-up call.
I can’t stand not feeling well. And to feel that bad for weeks and months was just more than I could take. I went to a doctor who asked me about my symptoms. When I explained how I was feeling, I was given two prescriptions: one pain medication for my headaches and one anti-depressant.
This is not the answer, I thought. I never filled those prescriptions.
So, What Are You Eating?
Instead, I reached out and looked for a more holistically minded doctor. I knew my mom had some food allergies, and I wanted to find out if I had any sensitivities.
Sitting on the examination table in this new doctor’s office, I was surprised to see posters with vegetables, pamphlets talking about vitamins and supplements, and a diagram of the human body with energy meridians and acupuncture points all over it.
When my doctor finally arrived and sat down across from me, one of his first questions wasn’t “Why are you here today?” or “What are your symptoms?” Instead, he asked, “What is your daily diet like?”
That one question blew the case wide open! I started to detail my diet at the time:
Breakfast: cereal with milk and coffee or a pastry with a latte on the way to work
Lunch: pizza and soda, subway sandwich and soda, or hamburger with fries and … you guessed it, soda
Snacks: salted nuts, chocolate, another latte, crackers and cheese, maybe an orange
Dinner: pasta with meat and cheese, Chinese take-out, soup and garlic bread, turkey sandwich with potato chips … you get the picture.
Nary a fresh fruit, rarely green vegetables, and often soda and caffeine throughout the day. Oh and sugar – lots of sugar.
This doctor didn’t recommend any painkillers or anti-depressants.
Instead he talked with me about how my diet was causing my discomfort, as well as my weight gain and lack of energy. He gave me a sample list of menus for the week, and suggested some books to read. He also told me that my sugar intake was feeding yeast in my body called “candida albicans”.
And he told me I should go off sugar and caffeine to help my body recover, balance and start to heal. He said, “Alex, you need a detox.”
I had about five minutes of freaking out, and then something clicked – I had been feeling so bad over the last few months, even giving up sugar wouldn’t be so bad if it helped alleviate some of the pain and suffering.
The diet he recommended was wheat-free, sugar-free, caffeine-free and excluded all animal products except a few eggs a week and some salmon.
I began to read everything I could and learned that a vegan diet, totally free of animal products, was an additional way I could improve my health.
I jumped in with both feet. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I started eating tofu for the first time, learned to enjoy stevia in my herbal tea, and only ate a small piece of chocolate a couple of times that first week. The first few days were really tough.
But, about 7-10 days later, I remember waking up and feeling – awake! It was amazing. I actually got out of bed and felt rested – and it was the best feeling ever. It was so easy to continue on this new eating plan because I felt so much better. I had energy to start going to the gym five days a week.
It was freeing and enlivening to take out the foods that were hurting my body. And I began to learn how to cook foods that would actually help me feel better and heal! Vegetables and whole grains were a revelation.
I also had the energy and clarity to look at the rest of my life and realized that my diet wasn’t the only thing that needed detoxing. I was unhappy with my career path, so I found a new job and went back to school. I wasn’t connected or passionate in my intimate relationship, so my sweet boyfriend and I went our separate ways.
Once I started pruning the dispassionate things from my life, my energy and life opened up even more, and things really took off! My new career of healthy chef and holistic health counselor was fun, soul-filling, and interesting. I started dating new people and found deeper, more intimate relationships.
Detoxing and Weeding – My Two Favorite Pastimes
Looking back, it all makes sense.
See, I grew up in my parents’ garden. We had weekly chores that included raking, stacking wood, and cutting the lawn. Weeding and pruning were my favorite chores.
I love looking at a plant and finding what doesn’t need to be there, removing injured or dying flowers, branches and leaves, and cutting away the dead wood.
Taking away the useless, even harmful parts of a bush or tree help it grow stronger, create more blooms and leaves, and result in a more vibrant plant.
That’s what detox is like for people, too.
I love looking at someone’s diet and lifestyle, getting into the details about how they feel and what foods they choose. Finding and cutting away the harmful, useless aspects of a persons diet and life empower them to grow stronger, feel energized and create a new, powerful way of being.
Getting Clear, Without Judgment
My career is filled with opportunities to help people – teaching, writing, sharing healing recipes, information and products. I get to explore new and old methods of detoxing all the time – and the results are glorious. My clients all come from different places and backgrounds, but they all have two things in common – a desire to feel healthy and a “knowing” that choosing different foods can help them feel whole.
Clearing away the “dead wood” of my diet was the first step toward growth and healing. Once the no-longer-passionate lifestyle fell away, I found that my energy and life totally opened up, and amazing things became possible.
I’ve since published three books and traveled the world premiering “Super-Size Me” with my son’s father, Morgan Spurlock. I live in New York City and have incredible friends and colleagues who continually inspire me.
While my diet and lifestyle aren’t always as “perfect” as they were in the beginning, I now recognize the signs faster that my body and energy are off balance. One chocolate dessert and one glass of wine usually make for a pretty groggy, impatient mommy in the morning.
Looking at your own diet and lifestyle, ask yourself: What is my body truly needing right now? Does this serve my life? What can I remove to help my body thrive and heal? Are there different choices I could be making that will energize me, help me succeed and live with delicious vitality?
For more information on how to optimize your life, visit deliciousvitality.com.
Photo credit: clogsilk
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By Guest Blogger on April 24, 2012
There’s something so annoying about getting sick. Whether it’s the common cold, flu-like symptoms or being hit with the cancer stick – it really is most inconvenient! And let’s be honest, it’s never a good time to get cancer. “I have things to do, thank you very much – you are mucking up my life plan, god damn you!” was my response to my “incurable” disease.
I have never been one to do things by halves; it’s just not in my DNA. I went for 24 years without ever having to step inside a hospital (apart from the time I faked hurting my back falling off the garden swing because I didn’t much fancy school that day) and then in an instant, everything changed, and my life revolved around scans, hospital waiting rooms and Mr. Oncologist. Yes, I got cancer. And that sucked. But then I got “better.” And then four years later, I got it again, and was told it was “incurable.” That really sucked!
During those four years, I did a lot of reading, a lot of researching, and a whole lotta learning, and now those golden nuggets are coming in handy as I have set about helping my body to heal naturally. Yep, these days, I self-medicate with stuff you can’t get in a bottle and that no one can manufacture. If you’re wondering what those things are, I’ll get to that.
But first, let me tell you that this is the stuff I wish I had known back then. During my first diagnosis, there seemed to be very little information available to help people help themselves. I felt I had to ride the rollercoaster cancer journey alone and work out for myself how I could heal the “incurable” lymphoedema that had developed in my right leg after my treatment (which I did heal successfully, by the way!) I had to find more natural ways to relieve the constant constipation from treatment, deal with the diarrhea days, overcome the nausea, the extreme fatigue, learn how to get the best out of the doctors seriously lacking in social skills and even re-educate friends and family on how to communicate with what I had become: a cancer survivor.
All of this and more, I wish I had known. But most importantly, I wish I had known at the beginning that I could have taken back the reins on my health at any time. It’s so easy to roll over and give your power away to your doctor, close your eyes and wish they would just “fix me.” But the truth is, there is always something you can do to help yourself. Whatever your health, and whatever path of treatment or non-treatment you go down, there is always something you can do to move from feeling disempowered to becoming an empowered participant in your health and well-being.
So what are these things I have learned along my path that allow to me feel healthier and happier than ever before, despite this inconvenient “incurable” cancer?
1. Understand your illness. Come to grips with the facts, learn what makes it tick and what stops it in its tracks so you can make better food and lifestyle choices.
2. Get support. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. The belief that we have to do everything alone is often more painful than the reality of the situation. Give yourself permission to be a little bit selfish for once. Prioritize your health – you deserve that.
3. Deal with the mind monkeys. The fear and uncertainty around your illness can often be paralyzing, so it’s important to manage them and realize you are not your thoughts. Drop the fear-based thinking and choose positive and loving affirmations instead.
4. Take care of your emotional needs. Dealing with the emotional aspect of having an illness is a little bit like watching “Little Miss Sunshine.” Sometimes you’ll laugh, sometimes you’ll cry and sometimes you’ll have no idea what to feel, but it’s vital you deal with the waves of emotions. See a therapist, write a journal or find a creative outlet in some form of therapy to ensure the emotion is released.
5. Practice stillness. Everything exists within a larger context. The chair you’re sitting on, the computer you are reading this on, the glass you are drinking from. It’s all stuff. Stuff exists within space. Take time to notice the space around the stuff and the stillness that is omnipresent. Take time to tune in to it and let it be your guide. In the stillness, you’ll find that peace exists.
6. Eat consciously. A clean, green diet is where it’s at in terms of optimum wellness. Flooding your cells with vitamins, minerals, enzymes and super-sexy oxygen boosts immunity, improves mental clarity, positivity and improves energy levels.
7. Get moving! Exercise helps the body flush out the toxins, kick-start the immune system and get the lymph system pumping. Whether you are a yoga bunny, kickboxing fanatic or just prefer a leisurely stroll, get your body moving!
So whatever journey you are on and whatever health storm just blew into town, ask yourself what you can be doing. You have the power in every moment to make a different choice. Choose to think and act differently. Take positive steps to help your body heal and choose to become an empowered participant in your health.
Polly Noble is author of “The Cancer Journey – Positive Steps To Help Yourself Heal,” inspirational speaker, holistic health coach and raw food coach. Polly coaches people to take back the reins on their health and happiness so they can live a life they love.
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By Guest Blogger on April 10, 2012
When I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1985 at 14 years old, I had just moved away from home for the first time. My hometown in Vermont was so small that we didn’t have enough kids for a high school, so my parents sent me to a private boarding school in New Hampshire. I loved my new school, Proctor Academy. I loved the green fields, white dorm houses and red brick buildings where we called our teachers by their first names. I couldn’t wait to shed my small-town skin and become a sophisticated young woman. So when I started feeling tired and thirsty and kept waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I ignored the symptoms. But when I lost 15 pounds in five days, I knew something wasn’t right.
That afternoon I reluctantly walked to the school infirmary. The nurse weighed me and asked why I’d lost so much weight, and I shrugged; I didn’t have an answer. She put me to bed in the sick room and went to call my parents. I could hear her on the phone telling my mom she needed to come right away, “Your daughter’s anorexic,” she said. I wasn’t anorexic. Mom took me out of school, drove me to our local hospital, and I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
Twenty-six years have passed since that day, and I am still struck by the irony of my initial misdiagnosis. Lillian, the nurse who told my mother I was anorexic, had Type 1 diabetes herself. She was the only other person at my school with diabetes and was not an inspiring role model for a 14-year-old girl.
Personal philosophy
That’s why I wrote my book, “The Smart Woman’s Guide to Diabetes, Authentic Advice on Everything from Eating to Dating and Motherhood.” I knew the real faces of diabetes were out there somewhere. I knew there were women who were living away from home, training for marathons, traveling to different countries, looking for love, getting married, having babies and growing old with diabetes, and I wanted to find them.
Writing this book helped me create a personal philosophy to living well with diabetes that is made up of five basic components.
1. Role models
Having positive role models is a key component to living well with diabetes. In the course of writing my book, I had the opportunity to speak with women such as Mari Ruddy, founder of the nonprofit organization Team WILD, We Inspire Life with Diabetes, who “empowers people with diabetes to take charge of their health by teaching how to be an athlete first, then a person, then an athlete with diabetes.” Women like Ann Albright, Ph.D., R.D., who gave me the idea of having a personal philosophy for living with illness. Dr. Albright, the Director of the Division of Diabetes Translation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has had Type 1 diabetes for more than 40 years and says her philosophy was influenced by her mother, a nurse, who encouraged Ann to experience life to the fullest. These are just a couple of the women whose lives inspire me on a daily basis. Knowing they are out there, struggling with their blood sugars and diabetes care, helps me to keep going, even on the worst days.
2. Translating the language of illness
Accepting illness has a lot to do with being able to communicate. I’ve often asked myself why I have to learn to speak like a medical professional to talk about my disease. If we don’t know how to communicate about diabetes, how can we accept it fully into our lives? The language of illness is often negative and scientific, and as a writer and a woman who searches for the right words every day, I choose to translate negative, ugly words into words that speak my truth. For example:
Instead of following a Diabetes Diet, I call it Healthy Eating.
Instead of using the word Seizure, I say my blood sugar was Low.
Instead of a life filled with Restrictions, I call it a life of Moderation.
Instead of Complications, I take care of myself to avoid future Challenges.
3. Asking for help
I can’t do this alone. For years I kept my illness in the metaphorical closet because I didn’t want to appear weak, needy or different, and I didn’t want to ask for help. Maybe it is my puritanical background or my introverted tendencies; but regardless of the source, I have always struggled to ask for and accept help, especially with diabetes. Being a mother has changed that, and I’ve realized an important lesson for my sons to learn is to know that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of knowing your own limitations. I don’t want to do this alone. I want to have my husband, children, friends and extended family there when I need them, so that I can help others in return.
4. I’m no expert
After 26 years of living with diabetes, I’ve realized that I am not an expert, and I’m never going to be. When I was writing my book, one piece of advice almost every woman told me was, “Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t try to be the perfect patient because you’ll just get frustrated.” Diabetes is a very demanding disease with daily opportunities for making mistakes. Perfection is not all it’s cracked up to be, and there is more to life than living in fear of “failure.” Sometimes the biggest mistakes have taught me the most, and accepting that I am not an expert has helped me to embrace the dark side of living with illness.
5. Putting myself first
As a mother to three fabulous boys, this one is the hardest for me to maintain; but it’s also the most important. If I don’t put myself first, I won’t be around to watch my boys grow up. Taking care of me first doesn’t mean I am ignoring the needs of my family but that I am placing value on my health and well-being. As women living with illness, we need to say no We need to tell our children that we will get their glass of milk after we test our blood sugar, we will take them to the park after we’ve done our daily run/walk/swim/yoga, and they will just have to be patient while we chat for a few extra minutes with our doctor. When we ask our children/husbands/jobs/parents/boyfriends, etc. to wait while we attend to our needs, they will be reminded of how much we value ourselves, and they will value us, too.
Create a philosophy to living well with illness, and find role models who will inspire you to keep going, even on the hardest days.
Amy Stockwell Mercer is a freelance writer living in Charleston, S.C, with her husband and three sons. She likes to write about people, art, and living with diabetes, and her work can be found in a variety of publications including Diabetes Health, Literary Mama and skirt magazine.
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By Guest Blogger on January 31, 2012
It’s 1982, and tomorrow I am donating my bone marrow for my 9- year-old brother, who has leukemia. I am his only hope. I’m scared for him and truthfully just plain scared because tonight will be this first night I have ever stayed in a hospital.
I have never felt so vulnerable. Hospitals do that. Make you feel vulnerable, and in this state we often give away our power.
A nurse’s aid waltzed into my hospital room and tossed down my chart and flipped it open. She then excused herself and left my chart unattended.
Did I peek at my open chart? Hell, yeah. And what did I see, but instructions to shave my posterior. This made sense as I knew that they had to extract my bone marrow from my ileac crest, i.e. tale bone.
The aid returned and carefully unwrapped her razor and got out some medicinal form of shaving cream and began to shave … my anterior! Yes, she shaved my bush clean off, this before it was fashionable to remove all of one’s coverage leaving women to look like 3rd graders.
She then, of course, had me flip over and shaved my backside for good measure.
Here’s the thing: I clearly knew the difference between anterior and posterior. Anterior=front; posterior=back. But I felt so vulnerable that I didn’t have the courage to speak up, even to an aid, who clearly isn’t as intimidating to question as a doctor!
For weeks after, I would try to discreetly rub my itchy pelvis into anything I could find for relief. I actually had fun entertaining my co-workers with my various ways to scratch my itch. It added levity to such a grave situation, and for that aspect, I was grateful.
Unfortunately, my brother passed away five weeks into the transplant process. As you can imagine, immense grief ensued.
Fast-forward two years. I have just received a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. My left collarbone is full with a softball -sized tumor, and my chest has a tumor a third of its size attached to my heart and lungs.
As I lie under the cobalt machine, radiation technicians are attempting to align me just right for my treatment. As I’m being positioned, I am informed that I will be receiving an extra dose of radiation on my right side.
Huh? Right side? Even in my heightened state of anxiety, I knew this was an error … one with potentially serious consequences for me!
Alas, a breakthrough. I speak up, albeit a bit too politely, and maybe even a tad apologetically, but I do it.
“Excuse, me. Don’t you want the added dose of radiation to go to the side where the softball-sized tumor is located?”
All of a sudden there is a huddle of professionals, including the radiologist, in the safety zone. That closed room off to the side to keep workers administering radiation safe. It’s not at all comforting when everyone runs for cover from what you’re being doused with, but I digress.
The time-out is over, the huddle breaks, and the officials on the field have issued a penalty. The play will be re-done, this time with the extra radiation going to the left clavicle!
Although I was scared out of my wits, I did find the courage to speak up, which is a good thing considering the stakes were much higher this time than just having an itchy vee-vee.
Now, nearly 30 years after my initial diagnosis and 20 years since my own bone marrow transplant, it’s still a work in progress to stand up for myself. On occasion, I want to kick myself for a question I didn’t ask or a test/treatment that I didn’t demand when leaving the doctor’s office. However, I have come a great distance, and I’m now much more cognizant of that fact that I am in charge of my own health and body. That translates into a much happier and healthier me!
Jennifer Warden makes veggies fashionable, one bite at a time. She is a plant-consuming, peace-promoting, animal-loving, compassion-spreading, environment-protecting, mother, daughter, friend, cook, photographer, psychotherapist and lover of words.
Photo credit: Howard Lake
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