diabetes

Acupuncture for Diabetes

More than 34 million Americans have diabetes, and approximately 90 percent of them have type 2 diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Type 2 diabetes, while its exact cause is unknown, develops when the body becomes resistant to insulin or the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin. Because of this, treatment often involves taking “insulin sensitizers” or medication that helps the body increase its sensitivity and therefore ability to process insulin, keeping the blood sugar from getting too low. Unfortunately, this medication often causes side effects, including weight gain and anemia. continue reading »

How Do I Know if I Have Metabolic Syndrome?

In 2009 the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI, World Heart Federation, American Heart Association, and International Atherosclerosis Society agreed on the following criteria as a way to determine metabolic syndrome.

Elevated waist circumference in men greater than 40”, in women greater than 34”. Also, the ration of the waist and hip measurement is a consideration in men the waist should be equal to or greater than .9% of the waist and in women it should be .
Triglycerides that are greater than or equal to 150mg/dl
HDL Cholesterol that is less than 40 mg/dl for men and less than 50 mg/dl for women.
Blood pressure that is greater than or equal to 130 hg systolic and/or greater than or equal to 85mm hg diastolic.
Fasting glucose that is greater than or above 100 mg/dl

If you have at least 3 out of the 5 listed above then you’re at high risk for having metabolic syndrome.

AIC is a measurement of how much sugar has been in the blood. A1C is also a factor that can be considered in determining your risk of developing or if you are on the road to either metabolic syndrome or diabetes. AIC at 5.2 or 5.3 can be an indication, you are definitely starting to develop metabolic syndrome, if you reach 5.6 or higher then you already have metabolic syndrome and may be headed for diabetes.

Find out about the causes and natural treatment options associated with Metabolic Syndrome in my next article in this series…

____________________________________________________________________

Debi Farley is a licensed acupuncturists, Certified Holistic Health Practitioner and the owner of Acupuncture Clinic of Richmond, Virginia. Find out more about Debi Farley at www.debifarely.com.

Do You Have Metabolic Syndrome?

Research shows that 1 out of 3 Americans are living with Metabolic Syndrome today. And if you’re like most people with the condition, you had the condition between 3 – 5 years when you were diagnosed. If you’re age 65, it’s estimated that 77% of your age group is either diabetic or pre-diabetic. And 35% of adults aged 20 or older have metabolic syndrome.

Now, after reading these statistics you may be wondering how our society is collectively caring for its health – including our prevailing food choices and lifestyle habits.

For those of you not familiar with the term, Metabolic Syndrome is also known as Insulin Resistance, Pre-Diabetes, or Syndrome X. It’s basically a group of inter-related symptoms and disorders that can lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hormonal imbalances such as polycystic ovary disease. When you have insulin resistance, normal amounts of insulin are not able to produce a normal insulin response from fat, muscles, and the liver cells. And if it occurs for an extended period of time it leads to diabetes.

So what’s happening in your body?

When you don’t have a normal insulin response in your body, your entire metabolic system goes into a fasting- state. What this means is that the body doesn’t think it’s getting and/or utilizing the nutrients that it needs in order to function properly – so it goes into fasting mode. When it’s in fasting mode, your body actually reserves energy output by LOWERING some of your metabolic functions. This mechanism was set into our bodies as far back as pre-historic times when we were hunters and gatherers and didn’t know where our next meal was coming from. So what you now have is a body that’s in an over-fed state and can not function the way it should be. The body can’t recognize that it’s being over-fed because it’s simply not able to recognize and process the nutrients.

To better give you a clear picture of what’s happening to your body, I want to talk about a couple of the organs that are involved. I’m going to continue this new series on Metabolic Syndrome over the next month and my next post will cover the liver, its function, and how it is involved in metabolic syndrome. I hope you’ll stay tuned.

Now, before I sign off today, let me share with you a video on Youtube by an endocrinologist named Dr. Robert Lustig. It’s received over two million hits. You might be surprised so many people would be interested, but he explains very well why the overload of fructose is so damaging to our bodies. Consider this video some background information for you as we continue this series…

______________________________________________________________________________