Prevent Diabetes Risk with a Few Simple Steps

By Dr. Len Lopez
Nutrition and fitness expert

CBN.com – The inability to properly regulate our blood sugar leads to Hypoglycemia, Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome and eventually Diabetes. They are a progression of problems that continually get worse, but we can easily change that if we take a few simple steps.

All of these problems, along with many others, are a result of blood sugar levels going too high and low throughout the day. This triggers various hormones such as insulin, cortisol and adrenaline, primary hormones that we can not live without to throw off our metabolism, hormones, mood, energy, sleep, heart rate, etc. In my opinion traditional medicine doesn’t emphasis the importance of diet and exercise and that any of these problems can be overcome if we change our diet, get some exercise, along with control our stress hormones. It’s not that difficult, we just need to be willing to change some of the things we are doing.

The fact is, if you eat a meal loaded with refined white flour and sugar (processed, refined, fast foods) it causes your blood sugar to skyrocket up and causes a NEED for more insulin than a meal eating without those refined foods. Insulin is needed to move the sugar (carbohydrates=glucose) out of your blood stream into your cells so your body can utilize it for energy. Insulin is considered a storage hormones, so the more insulin you have racing through your body the more your body is storing ‘fats’ than ‘burning’ them, which none of us want. Let’s not forget the continual demand for more insulin can make it almost impossible for your pancreas to keep up that rate of production, which is why medications are needed.

To lessen the spike of your blood sugar and lessen the amount of insulin produced.

Eat more fruits, vegetable and 100% whole grains.
Stay Away from as much processed, refined foods as possible.
Make sure you have protein and good fats with each meal.
Don’t SKIP meals or wait to long to eat between meals.

These simple steps will help reduce the amount of insulin you produce, which will make it easier for your body to handle your blood sugar levels, without the need of medications. It will also help your body burn more calories instead of storing them. The continual spikes and rapid falls of your blood sugar is what make diabetes and these other problems so difficult to control.

Keep in mind insulin isn’t a bad hormone, The Good Lord didn’t make a bad hormone, but if you produce too much, it causes one set of problems. If you don’t produce enough it triggers another set of problems.

FYI... If you can’t keep your blood sugar stable it will throw off your metabolism and you will always struggle with fatigue, weight gain, cravings, mood swings, PMS, hormonal imbalances, hot flashes, ADD and the list goes on.

Exercise to the Rescue...
The reason exercise is so critical for any of these blood sugar problems are simple. Exercise causes your cells to be more receptive to insulin and makes it easier for your body to remove the sugar out of your blood stream and into the cell. The best time to eat a meal that may have more than the normal amount of carbohydrates is after your workout, when your cells are most receptive.
It doesn’t matter what type of exercise you do as long as you regularly exercise. I recommend everyone do a combination of both aerobic and anaerobic (strength) training. I am not trying to make anyone an athlete! I only want to encourage you to get some ‘physical’ activity. I like the “Super Seven Workout” because it incorporates both types of training. The overall benefit of exercise is that it helps you keep or add lean muscle tissue to your body, which is metabolically more active and stored body fat!
FYI… The number one bio-marker to determine how well we age is the amount or percentage of lean muscle tissue. Those who have a higher percentage of lean muscle usually have less health problems as they get older.

The Stress Connection...
The reason stress has to be looked is very simple to understand. Stress does the exact opposite to what exercise does. Stress and the increased production of your stress hormone cortisol - makes your cells resistant to insulin, which triggers a need for more insulin. This causes a vicious cycle because all that additional insulin will cause your blood sugar to drop very quickly. This than causes your adrenal glands to produce additional cortisol and adrenaline, and will continue that way until you break that cycle. This is why stress and our stress hormones also need to be addressed.

When your blood sugar drops and you don’t eat, your adrenal glands will come into action and produce cortisol and adrenaline to raise or stabilize your blood sugar. This is a normal response! What isn’t normal is depending on your adrenal glands to always stabilize your blood sugar and act as a backup, because you skipped a meal or ate the wrong foods.

If you keep forcing your adrenal glands to manage your blood sugar you can quickly begin to deplete and exhaust your adrenal glands, which sets off another cascade of problems. What eventually happens is that your adrenals become fatigued or unable to meet the demands you are placing on them and this sets up a huge domino effect of health problems.

FYI... You can never balance your hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone) and overcome hot flashes, night sweats, PMS, loss of libido or infertility if your adrenal glands are exhausted.

Where to Begin - Test Yourself...
If blood sugar has been a problem it will throw off your metabolism and make it harder for you to lose weight and keep your energy up. Begin by testing your blood sugar and metabolism with our Online Health Quizzes to see if that is contributing to your problems. I would also take the “Stress Test” to see if stress is a contributing factor that needs to be addressed.

If your diet is a problem, let me also suggest a healthy snack or meal replacement that will help you control your blood sugar...try the NatraLean Health bars. They are a low-glycemic meal replacement that is Dairy and Gluten FREE. Similar products are nothing more than a glorified candy bar with additional protein.

If stress is part of your problem, begin with a bottle of Adrenal Fuel to help re-nourish those exhausted adrenal glands. Stress is a major problem that is commonly overlooked by mainstream medicine, other than to say “you need to reduce your stress.” So many people don’t understand the negative consequences of stress and how it connects to their health complaint. If you would like to learn more about the “STRESS Connection…” send us an e-mail and we will send you a complimentary booklet to help you understand how stress could be affecting your energy, weight, cravings, hormones and overall health.
Remember the benefits of exercise. You might want to consider something like The Work Horse to help you with your strength training if you workout at home.

Most importantly, you have to change something if you want tomorrow to be different than today, otherwise it will look like yesterday. If that means changing your diet, adding exercise, learning about stress…those are all steps in the right direction that you need to commit to if you want to change your health.

Dr. Len Lopez is a nutrition and fitness expert and creator of The Work Horse Trainer. He speaks extensively on diet, exercise, and how stress can affect your overall health and wellness.