Dear Reader,
I hope your last letter helped you improve what you eat to beat diabetes. Now for the second step: Reconditioning your ability to burn off the sugar.
You don’t need long duration exercises at an aerobic level. Research shows that shorter, supra-aerobic exertion works better for controlling and reversing insulin resistance.
For the best workout for reconditioning your metabolic capacity to handle blood sugar and avoiding diabetes work your leg and back muscles. These are your biggest muscles. Working them demands more energy, this burns more blood sugar.
Plan your workouts to last 15 or 20 minutes and then switch between periods of rest and periods of high-intensity bursts. Remember, intensity is subjective. If an activity gets your heart rate up – making it difficult to breathe and speak at the same time – then you’re working at a high intensity pace.
Try my PACE program with walking, cycling, swimming, or any other activity that you enjoy. Do two minutes at an easy pace, and then raise the intensity for 30 seconds to a minute. You should feel yourself working. Then rest for two minutes, and repeat the cycle. In one study, a single high intensity workout temporarily restored insulin sensitivity.1
Once you’ve adjusted the foods you eat and switched to shorter-burst workouts, you’ll be well on your way to preventing or controlling diabetes. But there’s one more simple step you may need.
There are two minerals and a kind of oil that we are lacking that are also involved here. Anyone with diabetes or at high risk for diabetes should consider supplementing these:
Vanadium, a crucial trace mineral, mimics the action of insulin. This means it helps move glucose from the blood into the cells where it can be used as energy. It works by making cells
more sensitive to insulin, which stimulates the movement of glucose into cells. It also inhibits the absorption of glucose from the gut, reducing damaging glucose and insulin spikes.In one study, people with diabetes took a vanadium supplement for three weeks. After just three weeks the average participant’s blood sugar levels dropped by 10%.2
Chromium is another important mineral to help control and even reverse diabetes. In one study, participants took chromium picolinate for 30 days. All participants had diabetes. After 30 days, participants’ cholesterol had dropped an average of 19 points, with LDL cholesterol (the kind that can contribute to heart disease) dropping by more than 10 points. Even more important, the average fasting blood sugar level fell by 26 mg/dL.3
Lowering fasting blood sugar is our first goal at the clinic in preventing diabetes.
Alpha lipoic acid plays a key role. ALA helps to control and prevent nerve and circulatory damage done by diabetes. In one study, people taking ALA showed improved blood pressure, reduced nerve damage, and better circulation.4
Chromium makes your cells more receptive to the action of insulin. ALA improves your body’s use of glucose. Vanadium mimics insulin, lowering your body’s overall need to produce insulin.
Together, these three nutritional supplements give you a natural but powerful support system to help handle more blood sugar, reverse diabetes and restore your good health.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
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1 Ropelle ER, et al. “Reversal of diet-induced insulin resistance with a single bout of exercise: The role of PTP1B and IRS-1 serine phosphorylation,” J PHysiol 2006; Sept. 28: E-pub
2 Wallach, Joel D. and Lan, Ma. Rare Earths: Forbidden Cures. Bonita, CA: Double Happiness Publishing, 1994, pp 411-12
3 Presented at American Heart Association’s Annual Conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, San Francisco, May 6-8 2004.
4 Tankova T, et al. “Alpha lipoic acid in the treatment of autonomic diabetic neuropathy,” Rom J Intern Med 2004; 42(4): 457-64