How I Reversed My Dad's Diabetes.
“There’s no cure for diabetes! If there was my doctor would’ve already cured me.”
Don’t be fooled, there is a lot of money to be made keeping you sick.
Now don’t get me wrong I’m not having a go at doctors, it’s pharmaceutical companies who are crafty and cannot be trusted.
I’m not a doctor, nor do I have any “official qualifications” when it comes to health and nutrition but I love my dad and that was enough to put me on the path searching for answers.
So for legal reasons it’s best to consult your doctor about the information I present here.
There are three main factors which has massively helped my dad with lowering and balancing the sugar levels in his blood.
These three things are the staples of health and if you can master all of them you will be on the road to great health whether you have diabetes or not.
DIET: CARBS=
SUGAR
Many studies have shown that high carb diets will increase the risk of diabetes as well as other modern diseases and are much worse at treating/reversing diabetes when compared to a high fat low carb diet.
Diabetes rates have in fact tripled since the low fat movement started in 1977.
“But I thought we need whole wheat or some sort of carbs to have a balanced diet?” This is simply not true, there is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate.
Cut the carbs and eat natural, organic, unprocessed foods.
Minimise vegetable oils and replace them with high quality animal fats. e.g. Raw Butter, Ghee, Lard etc.
Eat lots of high quality meat, fish and organ meat. Organ meat is one of the most over looked foods in modern society and also the most nutritious so I suggest you include some in your diet, whether or not you have diabetes.
The benefits of good food is really underestimated and I can’t stress its importance enough. It affects everything about you from mood to digestion, physical performance, mental health, sleep and the list goes on.
I believe the biggest cause of all modern diseases is down to the foods we have been eating and particularly over the last 60+ years after the increase of grain consumption and processed crap.
As soon as my dad changed his diet to high fat, low carb his blood sugar levels lowered and balanced out.
If you want to reverse/prevent diabetes for yourself or someone you love I can’t stress enough the importance that food has on health.
MOVE: NOW!
Our bodies are built to move, so sit less and move more.
Movement is an essential part of human nature and unfortunately we don’t do enough of it.
I don’t necessarily mean high intensive movement, I’m talking about doing as much throughout the day as possible.
Whether that’s going for a stroll in a park, on your own or with your dog (its always nice with a companion) or even just getting up from the sofa and walking to the kitchen or up the stairs and back.
If you work in an office you can get up from your desk and get a drink every 20 minutes or go to the restroom.
A better solution could be to request a stand up desk.
Although if you get a stand up desk you still wanna make sure you’re moving around and you’re standing at it correctly. I will go into that in more detail in a future blog post.
The idea is to move your body consistently throughout the day. (ideally more time spent moving than time spent inactive) It can be as low intensity as you like, as long as your body is moving and blood is flowing you’re golden.
Now saying this, some high intensity interval training (HIIT) may also be beneficial for you. My dad has been doing a HIIT workout on a bike at the gym for 6 months. Now he claims that if he has a day without it he doesn’t feel the same.
I wouldn’t promote that everyone do this but if you feel that you’re at the level where you’re are able, do some more research to see if it is right for you.
Either way it’s still important to stay moving, it’s no use going to the gym in the morning to do a high intensive workout and then being inactive for the rest of the day.
Keep moving in short intervals throughout the day and this will accumulate over time and you will feel much better physically and mentally.
SLEEP: DEEP
Sleep is a magical process and although there is still a lot of mystery on the subject in mainstream science, we know that good sleep Is beneficial to all areas of our life, including:
- Reducing stress
- Lowering blood pressure
- Promoting weight loss
- Improving memory
The list goes on…
In today’s world we are surrounded by “sleep stealers”. From the screens we watch, which emit blue light, to the excess of caffeine we consume throughout the day.
Our homes and work places are engulfed in dangerous micro waves (from wifi and mobile phone towers etc.) They inhabit the air around us, however most people are unaware of the dangers because the problem is… we can’t see them.
With all the modern tech in our faces and entertainment available at our finger tips it becoming harder to shut them off.
When we watch screens late at night out brain thinks it’s day time and has a hard time shutting off. This is part of the reason it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a bit of shut eye and enjoy some deep sleep.
Lack of sleep has negative consequences all throughout the body, in particular less sleep has been associated to insulin resistance.
Tips for having better sleep is:
Having a set bed time to stick to every night and create a night time routine.
Not using screens 30 mins before bed
Not drinking caffeine too late (ideally none after midday)
Meditation also improves sleep and can help with brain function among other things. If you’re are new to meditation consider checking out these easy to follow exercises.
Another thing you can do is get a plug timer so that the wifi in your home isn’t frying your brain as you sleep. (the low frequency radiation emitted from your router isn’t helping you sleep at all, so this tip is actually really important)
To follow up on my recommendation of introducing more movement into your life, studies have shown that less sitting and more exercise actually promotes deeper sleep.
So there you have it!
Those are the three main changes which helped my dad reverse his diabetes and the three things I recommend that you focus on implementing/improving in your life.
As you may have noticed, these three health staples are closely interconnected and they all work in unison so that by correcting one it is likely to help the others and will set you on the road to live a healthier life.
I wish you the best of luck with your journey and hope my information has helped you in one way or another.
Healing is a matter of time, but it is also sometimes a matter of opportunity.
