Are You Headed Towards Diabesity?

1. Do you crave snacks? If so, it could be a sign leading to diabesity.

   Do you crave a sweet, a chip or a caffeinated beverage at least once a day?
   -->If so you may have unstable blood sugar, which is a sign leading to diabesity.* 
   
   

2. Do you have to eat snacks in between meals to prevent your blood sugar from crashing?
   -->This is also a sign of unstable blood sugar, which can lead to diabesity*.
   
   

3. Do you carry extra weight around your belly, hips or thighs?
   -->This is a sign leading to diabesity*.

Diabesity is caused by the combination of unstable blood sugar and weight gain which can result in diabetes*.

Don't be a couch potato! Regular exercise helps prevent diabesity (we never said you had to get off the couch to exercise...!)

Not many of you are likely to have diabetes now but new research indicates that this life threatening disease may be silently brewing as we speak(3*).  I don't mean to scare you.  My intention is only to motivate you to take action and address these issues now while they are easy to resolve.

Fortunately, there are many simple steps you can take to avoid  what experts are calling the largest epidemic the world has ever faced()*.  Diabesity is predicted to affect 366 million people by the year 2030(2)*.

>>> Read the recent Yoga Journal article, Serene Healing, 

The Cause of Diabesity:  Inflammation

New research has linked the cause of diabesity to inflammation(4). Excess fatty tissue or damaged tissue from stress causes cellular congestion.  Your body perceives this as a life threatening emergency and produces inflammatory cytokines (lymph congestors) as a first and necessary response to healing.  These cytokines impair blood sugar hormones from properly metabolizing fats, sugars and proteins (5).  When the lymphatic system becomes congested with lymphokines (a type of cytokine), the immune system becomes weak because it is housed in the lymphatic system.  

Too much stress causes too many cytokines which causes too much inflammation.  The lymphatic system becomes congested, the immune system gets stuck in traffic and a host of cytokine or lymph congested diseases ensue.  In addition to diabetes and diabesity, these include cancer, fibromyalgia and all diseases ending with "itis" such as arthritis, prostatitis and dermatitis.

Turmeric:  the Breakthrough Herb For Obesity, Diabetes and Diabesity Prevention

Turmeric root also prevents cancer, cardiovascular disease, alzheimers and more.

Turmeric has taken the lead in research for diabesity and experts are now calling it "the obesity herb".  Many of the studies used the extract of turmeric called curcumin, but I prefer a natural extract made by combining the whole turmeric root with black pepper, which enhances absorption by 2000%*. 

>>> Read about more benefits of LifeSpa Turmeric Plus and the importance of using whole herbs instead of extracts.

Turmeric (curcumin) has been shown to:

• Support healthy blood sugar levels(6).

• Restore a healthy inflammation response at a cellular level and block AGEs (7) (Advanced Glycation End products),   which  are now thought to be as damaging as Free Radicals and are responsible for many health concerns.*
  

• Normalized appetite (hunger) receptors in brain(8)*.

• Supports healthy  blood pressure and  blood vessels (9)*.

• Support insulin production(10)*.

• Support healthy blood lipid levels(11)*:

  • decrease cholesterol by 21%*.

  • increase HDL ( good cholesterol) by 50%*.

  • reduce LDL (bad cholesterol) by 43%.*

• Boost antioxidants such as glutathione and super oxide dismutase(12)*.

• Normalizes inflammatory cytokines(7*).

• Supports weight loss(10).

Turmeric and  Pharmaceutical Drugs

Perhaps most impressive is turmeric's ability to lower blood sugar in the liver by increasing sugar storage and decreasing sugar production - and doing it better than the drug Metformin, a  common diabetic drug(13). Turmeric matched the effectiveness of Liptor [Lipitor?] in improving endothelial (blood vessel lining) function in diabetic patients(14).

While I do get excited about the research on Turmeric, I do not see these profound effects clinically. I believe it to be great blood sugar, intestinal health and liver support.*

Vitamin D3 Deficiency

Please read and watch my video on vitamin D3  in my series on Deficiencies That Effect More Than Half the World's Population. Vitamin D3 deficiency may be  linked to diabetes and diabestity.*

Lifestyle and Diet

Take the leap!
Small lifestyle changes can help prevent diseases like diabesity.

Of course there are MANY dietary and lifestyle guidelines that need to be understood here. For now I refer you to my books, The 3-Season Diet and The Yoga Body Diet, and my archive of videos and newsletters  on my site that covers this area in great detail.

When under any kind of excessive stress - even stress due to too much exercise or a blood sugar crash  - the body produces degenerative stress fighting hormones that do the following: 

1. Cause the body to store fat, rather than burn it is a calm, stable source of detoxifying fuel.
2. Congest the lymph.

◦     Cause inflammation.

◦     Shift the body's PH from more alkaline to more acidic.  >>> List of alkaline foods.

3. Trigger sugar cravings so that sugar and carbs can be used by the body as fuel instead of fat.

◦     Blood sugars are forced to spike and fall excessively during the cycles of crave/burn.

◦     Pancreatic insulin and digestive enzyme production lags due to blood sugar stress.

◦     Blood sugars rise which creates insulin resistance.

4. Excessive toxic stress hormones are produced.
5. Fat storage accelerates.
6. Excessive stress inflames intestinal mucosa which compromises detoxification and fat metabolism.

◦     Reactive intestinal mucus causes bowel inflammation and Gut Associated Lymph Congestion.

7. Lymph congestion causes systemic inflammation and weight gain.

◦     Additional weight gain causes further cellular and lymphatic congestion.

8. Digestion, assimilation and detoxification pathways are compromised.

◦     Increased inflammation overwhelms liver function.

◦     Bile thickens and bile ducts congest.

◦     Pancreatic ducts, which share bile ducts, congest and cause more pancreatic stress and insulin imbalances.

◦     Congested bile cannot neutralize stomach acids.  To prevent the digestive tract from being burned by stomach acids that are too strong, the body produces weaker stomach acids, leading to indigestion.

◦     Undigested food irritates intestinal villi and mucosa.

9. THE RESULT:  Inflammation, lymph congestion, weight gain and blood sugar issues cause diabesity.

Don't ignore symptoms. Take action now while they are easy to heal.

This process can take years to develop.  Often it happens so slowly we are not aware of it.  We continually make slight adjustments to our diet to offset one aspect of a digestive system going south.  How many of us have stopped eating wheat, dairy or fatty foods?  The bottom line is that a robust digestive system should be able to tolerate these hard to digest foods.

Diabesity, according to the studies, is happening now.  Don't sweep these digestive imbalances under the rug. 

References

Some of the information in this article was excerpted from an article published in the August 2010 issue of Life Extension magazine called, "Combating the Diabesity Epidemic."

1. Zimmet. Diabesity - The biggest epidemic in human history. Med.Gen.Med. 2007;9(3):39.
2. Wild S, Roglic G, Green A, Sicree R, King H. Global prevalence of diabetes. Dianbetes care. 2004 May;27(5):1047-53
3. Gastaldi G, Ruiz J. Metabolic dysfunction and chronic stress: The diabesity pandemic. Rev Med Suisse. 2009 June 3;5(206):1273-7
4. Schmidt MI, Duncun BB. Diabesity: an inflammatory metabolic condition. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2003 Sept; 41(9):1120-30.
5. Leiter EH, Reifsnyder PC, Xiao Q. Adipokine and insulin profiles in mice. Obesity. 2007 Aug;15(8):1961-8
6. Kuroda M. et al. Hypoglycemic effects of turmeric. Biol Pharm Bull. 2005 May;28(5):937-9
7. Jain SK. Effect of curcumin on protein glycoslation, lipid peroxidation. Free Radic Biol Med. 2006. July 1;41(1);92-6
8. Seely KA. Et al. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2009 Jul;330(1):31-9
9. Majithiya JB et al. Effect of curcumin on diabetic and non-diabetic rats. J Trace Elem Biol. 2005;18(3):211-7
10. Jang EM et al. Benefits of curcumin on hyperlipdemia and insulin resistance. Metabolism 2008 Nov;57(11):1576-83
11. Arafa HM. Curcumin attenuates diet-induced hypercholesteremia in rats. Med Sci Monit. 2005 Jul;11(7):Br228-34
12. Seo KI et al.  Effect of curcumin on blood glucose and insulin. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2008 Sep;52(9):995-1004
13. Kim T. et al. Curcumin activate AMPK. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2009 Oct16;2:377-82
14. Usharani P. et al. Lipitor and endothelial function. Drugs R D. 2008;9(4):243-50