Raise your hand if your doctor has ordered a blood test to check your glucose. Most do, whether or not you have symptoms of diabetes.
If your fasting blood sugar is 125 mgm/dL or above you are considered a diabetic. But if your number comes in between 108 and 125 they’ll say you have “prediabetes.”
That’s a condition where your cells have a resistance to the hormone insulin. Your body uses insulin to put glucose into your cells where it can provide energy. But with insulin resistance, your cells are slow to take up glucose. It builds up in your blood.
Over a lifetime, 70-75% of people diagnosed with prediabetes will progress to diabetes.
If your doctor tells you that you’re prediabetic, he or she will almost certainly put you on Big Pharma’s metformin. You may know it as Glucophage. It’s a huge blockbuster drug. Over 120 million people take it to try to control their blood sugar.
But like so many of Big Pharma’s “cures,” metformin creates more problems than it solves. In fact, it makes it even more likely that you’ll develop full-blown diabetes!
Let me explain…
Metformin has a load of side effects. One of those side effects is especially worrisome. Research shows that metformin leads to lower levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) for people with an underactive thyroid.1
Researchers studied data from over 74,000 people taking metformin over 25 years. Compared to another diabetes drug, metformin was linked to a 55% higher risk for low TSH levels.
And here’s the most ironic part…
Low TSH levels increase your risk of diabetes.
A new study proves it. Researchers in the Netherlands looked at 8,452 people without diabetes. They found that those with the lowest TSH levels had a 20% higher risk of developing diabetes than those with the highest levels. But for people with prediabetes, the risk of progressing to full diabetes was a whopping 40%.2
In other words, metformin — the same drug your doctor prescribes for prediabetes — lowers your TSH levels. And that INCREASES your risk of getting full-blown diabetes.
For decades I’ve been helping my patients not just manage diabetes symptoms. I help them reverse their diabetes for good.
And I don’t prescribe metformin.
The first step in controlling blood sugar and insulin is to follow a primal diet, low in sugar and carbs. Calories from fat and protein won’t spike your blood sugar. Look for grass-fed beef and dairy products, wild-caught coldwater fish, and poultry and eggs from pastured animals. Choose healthy fats like olive oil, butter and coconut oil.
And when it comes to carbs, a primal diet relies on low glycemic foods that are slower to spike blood sugar. Click here to check out my glycemic guide.
I also help my patients use specific nutrients that naturally improve the body’s insulin response and cure diabetes for good.
3 Nutrients That Knock Out Diabetes
1. Take This Little-Known Insulin Mineral. Vanadium is a crucial trace mineral but most people have never heard of it. It mimics the action of insulin. It helps move glucose from the blood into the cells where it can be used as energy.
In one study, people with diabetes took vanadium supplements daily. After just three weeks, average blood sugar levels dropped by 10%.3 Take 500 mcg three times daily. Just don’t exceed 10 mg in a day.
2. Enjoy this tropical fruit. Traditional healers in Bali showed me how guava controls blood sugar and diabetes. The stems, leaves and fruit block the digestion of carbohydrates. So you have fewer sugar spikes and need less insulin. That makes you less likely to develop insulin resistance.4
You can find fresh guava in local markets. Also look for guava tea made from the dried leaves at your local health food store or online.
3. Get more vitamin D. Low vitamin D3 levels are directly linked to insulin resistance, prediabetes and full-blown type 2 diabetes. In fact, one study revealed that even a minor D3 deficiency can increase your risk of diabetes by 91%.5
You can get plenty of vitamin D3 from just 10 minutes a day in the midday sun. Or eat vitamin-D-rich foods like salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines, pastured eggs, and grass-fed beef, liver and dairy. But for diabetes I recommend supplements to be safe. Take 8,000 IUs per day.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
1.Karimifar M, Aminorroaya A, Amini M, et al. “Effect of metformin on thyroid stimulating hormone and thyroid volume in patients with prediabetes: A randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial.” Journal of Research in Medical Sciences: The Official Journal of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. 2014;19(11):1019-1026.
2. Chaker L, Ligthart, Korevaar TIM, et al. “OR33-2: Thyroid Function and type 2 diabetes risk: a population-based prospective cohort study.” Presented at: ENDO 2016; April 1-4, 2016; Boston, MA.
3. Wallach, Joel D. and Lan, Ma. “Rare Earths: Forbidden Cures.” Bonita, CA: Double Happiness Publishing, 1994, pp 411-12.
4. Eidenberger T, et al. “Inhibition of dipeptidyl peptidase activity by flavonol glycosides of guava (Psidium guajava L.): A key to the beneficial effects of guava in type II diabetes mellitus.” Fitoterapia. 2013;89:74-9.
5. Huang Y, Li X, Wang M, et al. ““Lipoprotein lipase links vitamin D, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional epidemiological study.” Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2013;12:17.