Early warning from fasting glucose....

Today's post: Tuesday, 7-29-2008

As some of you know, when I got my cholesterol panel done once a few years ago, my doctor included fasting glucose. He knew, as I did not then, that high fasting glucose readings were as bad for my heart and health as super high LDL or super high triglycerides or super low HDL.

He also knew that the reading I got then, 115, despite being in the so called “normal, non-diabetic range” was way too high to be safe or desirable. (Just 11 points higher is now diagnosed as type II diabetes, 126 & up.)

When he told me that, I already exercised regularly including strength training and interval cardio; drank no soft drinks; & rarely ate refined grain foods. I also already took 200 mg a day of chromium polynicotinate.

But, I had recently begun to eat a lot of apple sauce that had sugar added. And, I still ate a good bit of brown sugar on my breakfast cereal.

I then did three things. I immediately went back to ONLY buying apple sauce with NO sugar added. I still love brown sugar; but I cut the amount I added to my breakfast cereal in half. And, I began taking 200 mg a day of alpha lipoic acid. (Alpha lipoic acid & chromium polynicotinate & exercise, particularly, strength training and interval cardio, all tend to improve your body’s ability to process sugar properly.)

The result on my next test was a fasting glucose reading of 87. And, I made those changes permanent.

Today, I got the news that fasting glucose readings of 90 and above, even 90 to 99 are also numbers you should act immediately to bring down. (As you can see, my previous 115 reading was even scarier than my doctor then knew.)

These numbers act as an early warning that you might be headed where I was at 115 or even higher. The wonderful thing is that they do it at a low enough level, your chances of bringing it down and preventing it from going up to dangerous levels are still quite good.

The article was one of the better articles from the Total Health Breakthroughs emails I get.

I post that article below & then will add my comments below that.

"This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise's Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription,
visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com"

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Blood Glucose -- Know Your Number!

By James LaValle, RPh, ND, CCN

When it comes to blood sugar, the closer you can keep it to the normal range of 80 to 89 mg/dL the better. For years I have been warning that blood sugars even in the 90 to 100 range show that you are becoming insulin resistant and on your way to diabetes. A recent study done on 47,000 Kaiser Permanente patients validated this observation.

The study, published in the American Journal of Medicine found that blood sugar, blood glucose (BG) levels in the 95-99 range more than doubled a person's risk of becoming diabetic. In fact, for every point over 85 mg/dL the risk of becoming diabetic increased 6%, even when they controlled for other factors.1

Accordingly, the study noted that there was more incidence of cardiovascular disease and hypertension in those with higher BG. Why is this research so important? It flies in the face of currently accepted medical guidelines that for years have used 100 as the magic number for diagnosing "pre-diabetes."

At LMI, I've been seeing red flags for years when patients come in with BG levels even in the 90's, because these levels are often accompanied by being somewhat overweight or over fat, having a thick waist, or the spare tire of dangerous belly fat. These are signs that the body can no longer efficiently process the sugars that come from complex carbohydrates in whole grains, starchy vegetables, fruits, and simple sugars.

In other words, they are signs of insulin resistance. Insulin is the "key" that unlocks the door to each cell in the body, letting glucose into the cell to be processed for energy. If the insulin key is faulty, the glucose remains in circulation, raising triglycerides, lowering HDL, and usually ending up at the waistline.

Anytime you see your doctor for a routine physical, fasting blood glucose is tested along with other blood labs. If your blood sugar comes in less than 100 mg/dL, you will likely get an "all clear," when it comes to diabetes risk. If you're overweight, have elevated blood pressure and are sedentary -- other risk factors for insulin resistance -- your doctor may suggest you lose a few pounds and add a few days of walking to your weekly routine.

But typically that won't happen unless your blood sugar levels come in greater than 100 mg/dL, but less than 126 mg/dL -- the pre-diabetes range -- then you will get a more stern warning regarding diet and exercise. However, it's not until your fasting blood sugar levels reach over 126 mg/dL that you are diagnosed with type II diabetes or non-insulin dependent diabetes.

By the time you get the "true diabetes" diagnosis -- your body is so insulin resistant that it may need much more than the "diabetic diet" and a walking routine to get your blood sugar levels under control. This is when you may need an oral hypoglycemic medicine, which comes with a nice little set of nutrient-depleting side effects.

Wouldn't it be nice if your doctor had warned you of your increased risk way before you even reached the 100 mark for blood glucose? For years, I have been warning my patients that a blood sugar of over 90 is a sign they are becoming insulin resistant. But because medical guidelines give an "all clear" at anything under 100, too many patients don't want to believe they could be at risk -- even with fasting BG's of 98 and showing every sign of insulin resistance.

At LMI, we go to work on the insulin resistance by giving our patients blood sugar support nutrients like chromium and having our dietitians provide instruction on a lower carb diet. Ironically, we sometimes receive calls from their primary care physicians questioning our course of action because they think these patients "are fine." But our philosophy is, don't wait to become diabetic -- take action well ahead of time.

Hopefully, the medical community's eyes will be opened with the newly published article in the American Journal of Medicine. This phenomenal research has hit the nail on the head and may finally spur new guidelines to be issued for the management of blood sugar.

Medical news can take a while to trickle down into actual practice, so in the meantime, you may need to become more proactive on your own. If your blood work reveals a high-normal fasting blood sugar level, cut down on carb-heavy sugars, starches, and fruits, up the organic vegetables and proteins, and get your body moving. You may be saving yourself from becoming a diabetes statistic.

Reference Am J Med. 2008;121:519-524

[Ed. Note: James LaValle, R.Ph, ND, CCN, is the founding Director of the LaValle Metabolic Institute, one of the largest integrative medicine practices in the country. He was named as one of the 50 most influential pharmacists in the US by American Druggist magazine. Dr. LaValle is the author of more than a dozen books including the bestseller, Cracking the Metabolic Code: 9 Keys to Optimal Health…...]

X* X* X* X* X* X* My added comments:

What if you get a reading well over 90 for your fasting glucose when you get tested, perhaps in the 96 to 115 range?

1. If you don’t already do it, be sure to begin both strength training and interval cardio. Three days a week of each is ideal. If you can, it also helps to add small exercise breaks throughout your day of less programmed exercise. Play a game of Ping Pong with your kids. Take a 10 minute walk if you arrive 15 minutes early for an appointment if the location permits. Sweep your front walk with a broom instead of a leaf blower. Do as many of these each week as you can.

People who already have type II diabetes and have to measure their blood sugars several times a day will tell you this is the most effective way to get to desirable readings.

2. Almost as important is to eliminate the worst foods and drinks. This includes all regular soft drinks or even fruit juices that have extra sugar added. It specifically includes ANY food with high fructose corn syrup in it. It includes eliminating refined grain foods. And, as you can see from my case, it includes being very sparing about eating foods with sugar added.

(Note: A huge number of foods common in grocery stores still are loaded with this stuff. Almost the entire cereal aisle except for Old Fashioned Quaker oatmeal is made of refined grain and sugar and very little else. Virtually all jams and jellies still have ONLY high fructose corn syrup and no sugar. Almost all packaged snack foods & commercial baked goods and breads are based almost entirely on refined grains with mostly unhealthy flavoring agents like sugar, high fructose corn syrup and excessive amounts of salt. Many still have trans fats and partially hydrogenated oils too.)

Though diet soft drinks seem intuitively to be a good choice to replace regular soft drinks, research shows that even if they don’t boost your blood glucose readings as much as regular soft drinks, they are just as effective at making you fat and harming your health.

3. Eat and drink more health OK choices instead.:

Club soda (water with carbonation only); tea; green tea; clean water; unsweetened cocoa; coffee with no sugar or nondairy creamer added; and small amounts of real juice with no sugar added, particularly if you also eat food at the same time; are much better choices than sugar added “drinks” and soft drinks.

Eat more health OK protein foods, such as beef fed only grass, wild caught fish, eggs; beans, and nuts -- and health OK fats like nuts, avocados, and extra virgin olive oil; LOTS of non starchy vegetables; & whole fruit in moderation.

4. It will also help to take 200 mg a day of the supplements chromium polynicotinate and 200 mg a day of alpha lipoic acid.

5. If your fasting glucose is well above 90, it’s even worse for you if your HDL is low (Readings of 50 and above are much better than readings of 40 & less) or your triglycerides are above 100 or so.

Mercifully, many of the things that bring down high glucose move those measures in the desirable direction.

But you can also take specific supplements we have covered in earlier posts to increase your HDL levels even more. And, moderate drinking raises HDL levels. (But more than one or two drinks a day can increase blood glucose and make you fat – plus other problems.)

And, eating onions and garlic and eating wild caught fish and taking DHA & omega 3 supplements from refined and purified fish oil will lower triglyceride levels.