Monday, June 8, 2015

Is The Key To Diabetes In The Gut?

 A famous quote by Hippocrates (460 – c. 370 BC"  is “All disease begins in the gut.”  Ongoing medical research is now showing how true that statement really may be. Is it possible that many of our medical issues can be at least partially solved by focusing on ways to heal our gut health rather than trusting in allopathic medicine and drugs? 

New studies and research are re-exploring how our gut flora is linked to diseases ranging from autism and depression to autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s, inflammatory bowel disease and type 1 diabetes.   Dr. David Perlmutter has written a new book on this called Brain Maker.    Dr. Nicholaus Gonzalez of New York says that "The gut has it's own active nervous system and also has an active immune system.  Scientists never used to think of the gut as an immune organ, but now we know that it is."  If this is the case then we had better think about what we are feeding our gut on a daily basis!  


This article from Feb. 2015 suggests that the lack of a gut microbe, Lactobacillus gasseri is tied to type 1 diabetes and possibly type 2 as well.
Dr Mercola addressed gut microbiota in his article:  "Gut Bacteria Differs Between Diabetics and Non-Diabetics"


We are living in a time where drugs are now our medicine instead of food.   For thousands and thousands of years people relied on foods, herbs, Chinese medicine and other natural therapies for healing.  Now, since about the 1940's we have been taught to rely on drugs and eat junk food.  We have been duped into believing that food is not medicine for our bodies but only a emotional comforting and social thing.   The quality of our food and our gut health is no longer considered.  


I am currently reading a new book by Suzanne Somers called TOX-SICK: From Toxic to Not Sick.  It is a great book that discusses how our modern environment full of toxins in our air, our foods, and in our water are causing a whole host of modern epidemics.  Even our children's DNA is being altered by these toxins while they are forming in the womb.   This generation of children is expected to have the diseases of the elderly in their 30's and 40's.  Toxins and GMO's are affecting our gut heath, our immune systems and  our brains.  



I have experienced a change in myself in the past year since I started to make my own fermented vegetables and Ginger Kombucha.   Although I had been on the LCHF ketogenic diet for a year or more I still found my fasting blood sugar to be in the 90's (5-5.5 mmol/l) and after meal daily blood sugars always hovering around the 100 (5.5) mark even 4-5 hours after eating a meal.   I really had no idea why this was continuing to occur but I wanted better results.


I started the fermented foods more for the purpose of general overall health rather than to help correct a blood sugar issue.  I never really thought about the potential effects that it would have on blood sugar.   I still can't "prove" that a change in my gut bacteria had anything to do with it but if not then it is a coincidence that I can't explain. 


When I started eating my homemade Kimchi I had a rumbling taking place in my tummy. It was a feeling like little mice were doing somersaults in there.  It was a bit weird but I knew that it meant something good was happening.   
I added the kombucha to my diet a few months later to introduce a different type of bacteria to my gut.  I had some new and even more aggressive tummy rumbling going on and had to go very slowly with it. 

I began to get morning blood sugar readings from 69-79 (3.8-4.4) at that time.  I also began to lose some weight again which was an added benefit.  See this article from Chris Kresser:  A healthy gut is the hidden key to weight loss. 
My daily between meal blood sugars began to drop.  I was seeing blood sugar readings in the 80's four hours after a meal.  Mostly 90's but some nice surprises.   It seemed to be a new level of normal and I liked it!    In 6 months my A1c went from 5.6 to 5.1 which is closer to my goal of being in the 4.8 range.

I am only skimming the surface of this vast topic.  There is so much more and I wish I had the time to learn it all.   I am very intrigued by it and will continue to study it.   I hope to post more on gut health and it's numerous benefits in the future.  It may well be the key to both our physical and mental heath!  


More Resources: 
GT's Kombucha-  A good store bought brand

Probiotics on Amazon

Studies and articles on Gut health

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2551660/

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/33/10/2277.full
http://bodyecology.com/articles/the-truth-about-diabetes-the-relationship-between-gut-health-and-disease





2 comments:

  1. How much kombucha do you drink a day? I also make ginger kombucha. I used to drink about 6 oz most days, but since becoming aware of my blood sugar problem, I cut back to about 1-2 oz and not every day. I don't know how much sugar my kombucha contains. I also eat other fermented foods that are not sweet. I can't do dairy, so kefir and sour cream are out for me.

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