The Amazing Story of Janis The Diabetic
Here is a true story from my book, 61 Natural Remedies For Diabetes … Six years ago, my friend Janis* was told she had diabetes. Two years ago her doctors recommended that she start taking insulin – but she refused. I can understand her reluctance to give herself a shot (or two or three or four) every day. Who wants to stick needles in their flesh?
Recently, she scheduled some cosmetic surgery. As they always do, the doctors ran tests before operating. When they received the results, they refused to do the surgery and called her in for an emergency consultation.
With a blood sugar test, scores of 200-300 are cause for alarm; 300+ means DANGER. Janis’s score was 360.
Her husband talked with a nurse who emphatically declared that, with these numbers, Janis was literally damaging, if not destroying, the major organs of her body! My friend’s heart, kidneys and liver – in fact, ALL her major organs – were in serious jeopardy. Further, her retinas were being destroyed and blindness is a strong possibility.
Several times in the past I had mentioned natural remedies to Janis and her husband. They listened politely – and totally ignored these alternatives, continuing to eat rich desserts and fried food. This time was different, though, because Janis was SCARED.
The nurse recommended grilled fish and salad without dressing and I suggested chromium and vanadium. For once, Janis listened and followed these recommendations perfectly.
The result? after only 5 days, her blood sugar dropped from 360 to 130!
Is Janis “cured”? Certainly not. She will have to make major lifestyle changes – and stick with them for the rest of her life or until her diabetes is reversed. Further, she will need to frequently test and discover what works best for her. Whether she has the self-discipline and motivation to persist, once her fear subsides somewhat, remains to be seen.
But Janis’s choices are not the point of this story. The point is that natural remedies absolutely do work for many diabetics. Her eating program and supplements are certainly more pleasant than sticking needles in herself and they are definitely safer because ‘side effects’ and drugs are words that always go together. So read on and discover home remedies that you might use to control or prevent your diabetes.
(*All names have been changed to protect the innocent … Dragnet theme song playing in the background …)
Diabetes Is An EPIDEMIC!
Here’s a universal truth: when our body doesn’t work right, life sucks. And diabetes is high on the Suckiness Scale. It’s not just managing the disease – although that can be horrid, involving multiple needles a day. The terrible part is the possible complications. Like blindness. Amputation. Heart attacks. Strokes. The bottom line: we need every weapon we can get.
Worldwide, diabetes has reached epidemic levels, affecting nearly 350,000,000 adults. In the U.S. alone, more than 11% of adults over age 20-25, 600,000 people, have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most have Type 2 diabetes, which is primarily linked to obesity, physical inactivity, and an unhealthy diet. [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2011-releases/red-meat-type-2-diabetes.html]
This isn’t so mind-boggling if you know that in the USA the consumption of sugar per capita has reached a shocking 152 pounds per year! The vast majority of prepared foods contain lots of sugar even though it’s not always obvious since ingredients aren’t always listed as “sugar”. Here are some of names for these sweet killers:
- Brown sugar
- Cane crystals
- Cane sugar
- Corn sweetener
- Corn syrup
- Crystalline fructose
- Dextrose
- Evaporated cane juice
- Fructose
- Fruit juice concentrates
- Glucose
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Honey
- Invert sugar
- Lactose
- Maltose
- Malt syrup
- Molasses
- Raw sugar
- Sucrose
- Sugar
- Syrup
What Do You Want To Happen With Your Diabetes?
There are clearly only two outcomes to hope for with diabetes:
1. Cure or reverse it, meaning get rid of it entirely so that you are no longer a diabetic.
2. Control it so that the symptoms are reduced. You might be able to take less insulin, or perhaps have a more liberal diet or your diabetes will become almost unnoticeable.
Obviously, everyone would prefer #1 but most people don’t believe that’s possible. Most ‘experts’ talk about “living with” the disease rather than healing it.
It’s important that you define your goal. If you know your destination there will be no “failure”, only “feedback”. This is extremely important because if you can see progress towards your goal you will be encouraged to continue. If you don’t see changes, you will give up prematurely.
And, too, defining your goal helps you to see what’s realistic – and what isn’t. If you expect to take one supplement and be cured in two weeks, you are sure to be disappointed. Of course, that’s silly but we might be indulging in other wishful thinking without being aware of that fact if we don’t clearly articulate what we wish to accomplish.
Can Home Remedies Truly Improve Diabetes?
It is clear that diabetes is an extremely serious disease. The question is: can home remedies truly affect blood sugar and diabetes?
The answer is: it depends.
There are two kinds of diabetes. The first is called Type 1 and it almost always affects young people, especially children. Blood sugar in the human body is balanced with insulin from the pancreas but Type 1 diabetics manufacture no insulin at all.
It’s only been in the last hundred years or so that we have been able to preserve the life and quality of health of a sufferer of Type 1 diabetes. Generally, these patients died young and often with terrible complications.
Now, however, by taking insulin shots, this kind of diabetes can at least be controlled. Home remedies can help to steady blood sugar but they usually will not be able to totally eliminate the need for insulin from an outside source.
The second type of diabetes, Type 2, is developed over time and approximately 95% of the diabetics in the world suffer from this type of diabetes. Most Type 2 diabetics had a normal childhood and young adulthood (although, sadly, this type of disease is occurring more and more in young children).
In this case, the pancreas does produce insulin but the body doesn’t use it properly and develops a resistance to insulin. The pancreas, desperately trying to do its job, will kick into overdrive and produce large quantities of insulin and will eventually exhaust itself. When this occurs, diabetes is a full-blown disease and, left untreated, may lead to stroke, heart attacks, kidney failure, blindness, amputation and other horrible complications.
There are certain factors that increase the likelihood of Type 2 diabetes. Some of the most prominent are:
- A sedentary lifestyle
- Overweight
- Aging
- A diet and that is too high in both fat and sugar
Obviously, making changes in all of the above factors, (excluding aging, of course, since we have no control over the calendar) will reduce the possibility of contracting diabetes, reduce the amount of insulin necessary or possibly even send this terrible disease into remission.
There is huge disagreement about diabetes treatment. The American Diabetes Association states “Our free program shows you how to live well with Type 2 diabetes”. The important words are “live well with” diabetes, indicating a different mindset from such nutritional leaders as Dr. Gabriel Cousens.
Cousens is a well-known author and teacher who began the Tree of Life Center in Patagonia, Arizona. He has a program for reversing and even eliminating diabetes.
To quote the description of this paradigm-breaking book: “Dr. Cousens’s method, widely tested at his famous Tree of Life centers, is to reset the DNA through green juice fasting and a 100% organic, nutrient-dense, vegan, low-glycemic, low-insulin-scoring, and high-mineral diet of living foods in the first twenty-one days. Both practical and inspirational, the book explains how to abandon the widespread “culture of death”–symbolized by addictive junk food–that fosters diabetes in favor of a more natural, nurturing approach. The program renders insulin and related medicines unnecessary within four days as the blood sugar drops to normal levels; and the diabetic shifts into a non-diabetic physiology within two weeks. The third week focuses on live-food preparation, featuring 100 delicious raw recipes. Dr. Cousens emphasizes regular consultations, monitoring blood chemistries, and emotional support, and includes a one-year support program to help maintain a diabetes-free life.”
Cousens’ results even include Type 1 diabetics who have given up their insulin.
“As a doctor who has treated diabetes for nearly thirty years, I can tell you with certainty that the standard medical protocols and management of this illness are not only inappropriate, they’re absurd. In sharp contrast, Gabriel Cousens, MD, has developed a protocol for successfully restoring the health and well-being of diabetics, sparing them the pain and agony of unnecessary and inevitable amputations, obesity, blindness, and premature death. If followed, his advice in There Is a Cure for Diabetes provides diabetics freedom from their illness and enriches the quality of their lives.”
Daniel Nuchovich, MD, director of Jupiter Gardens Medical Center and Jupiter Institute of the Healing Arts
When interviewed many of the patients are emotional, even euphoric, feeling great for the first time in many years. There are always a couple of drop-outs, though, because some people are simply unwilling to make the necessary lifestyle changes. Their junk food was simply too important. Which leads us to …
The Biggest Downside/Upside of Using Natural Remedies
YOU are in charge of your life, your treatment. With standard medical care, the doctor makes most of the decisions while the patient follows that advice.
Natural healing, however, assumes that you are an adult, fully capable of deciding your own fate. Is that a plus or a minus for you? Your own views of yourself and the world will determine which path is right for you.
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