TYPE 2 DIABETES: GAIN UNDERSTANDING & HOW YOU CAN HEAL COMPLETELY (This is for you, Dad ❤️)

What is it?

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a state of chronically elevated blood sugar levels. More than 20 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes leading to consequential damage such as: kidney failure, lower extremity amputations, vision loss, & death. Type 2 is different from Type 1 in that Type 2 results when the body has become resistant to insulin’s effects, whereas Type 1 is the condition where one is born without the ability to produce insulin entirely.

What exactly is going on inside your body?

Let’s start from the very beginning. I want to make this easy to understand so that you have all the knowledge you need to help yourself and your loved ones…

When you eat a meal that contains carbohydrates your body must break down the carbohydrates into their most simple form: glucose. You need glucose to power all your cells. As aerobic beings, we use sugar and oxygen to make energy. Energy that is used to do all things from making your heart beat to allowing you to walk down the street.

So once we have taken in glucose from our food, we must shuttle the glucose from our blood into our cells. If we can’t get the glucose into our cells, our cells can’t do the tasks they are designed to do. So how do we do this… we need INSULIN.

Every time we eat, our pancreas releases insulin. Insulin is this magic hormone that acts as the key to moving sugar from the blood into our cells. Without it, sugar stays in the blood stream causing intense damage to our blood vessels (this leads to things like blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, & stroke). Another result of blood vessel damage common among Type 2 diabetics is nerve damage leading to neuropathy (lack of feeling in the hands and feet from poor blood circulation).

The Case of the Type 2 Diabetic: How did we get here?

So how does a type 2 diabetic all of a sudden become insulin resistant (a.k.a. insulin is not working properly)? An over accumulation of fat inside the cells of the muscle & liver is what actually interferes with insulin action. Think of it like this: if insulin is the magic key to opening up the cell so glucose can get in, fat is like taking a big wad of bubble gum and jamming it inside the lock. The fat I’m referring to comes in the form of saturated fat, from the consumption of animal products, excessive amounts of body fat, or the overconsumption of processed sugars (which actually form into fat inside the body).

The most important message I want to convey to you is: THE PREVENTION, TREATMENT, AND REVERSAL OF TYPE 2 DIABETES IS ALL POSSIBLE THROUGH CHANGES IN DIET & LIFESTYLE!

Even if you’ve had this condition for decades, I’m here to give you utmost confidence that you CAN heal. It has been shown that eating a whole food plant based diet reduces diabetes risk by 78%. When you eat saturated fats (from animal products) your insulin action and secretion is impaired within hours. I’d also like to note that unsaturated fats, from plant sources, are protective and do not cause damage like saturated fats do. Another study displayed that a whole food plant based diet improved neuropathy symptoms in as little as 9 days! Now, that’s pretty astonishing!

* Very important: if you are going to adopt a plant based diet and are currently on blood sugar lowering medication (i.e. Metformin, insulin injections) please work along side with your doctor. In some cases, the diet change can be so powerful that if in conjunction with prescription drugs, blood sugar can drop too low too quickly. Thus, medications may need to be lowered and blood sugar/ blood pressure may need to be monitored.

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BIGGEST TAKE AWAY: EAT WHOLE PLANT FOODS… pair this with a consistent exercise routine (one that emphasizes long duration low intensity exercise) and you are on the road to ZERO MEDICATIONS AND THE ABILITY TO LIVE A LIFE FREE OF DISEASE!

I hope you found this helpful. This topic is close to my heart because I’ve seen loved ones struggle immensely with the complications of this condition. My mission is to spread knowledge and give you the power and possibility to live a life of health and vitality.

With so much love,

Ally

Resources: How Not to Die, by Dr. Michael Gregor