Lifestyle

"Donut" think it's hard to quit sugar

How To Quit Sugar

In just 10 days, you can quit sugar for good. You don’t have to be trapped in poor dietary habits that make you feel sluggish, heavy and captive to cravings.

Many people believe they lack the discipline to change their food addictions. But sugar and refined carb dependencies are not emotional conditions. They are biologic disorders, caused by hormones and neurotransmitters. You can reset you physiology by following these basic guidelines:

1. Add Before You Subtract

It’s easier to add food to your diet, than to take it out. When you are properly nourished, you are satisfied. That means you stop looking for fillers to keep you going between meals. If you’re not feeling “snack-y,” then you’re not as likely to cave in to the donuts as co-worker brings to the office or the cookies your partner just pulled from the oven.

So to prime yourself for success, eat the following:

  • Abundant amounts of non-starchy vegetables – even at breakfast! Be sure to include some leafy greens, some sulphurous veggies (broccoli, onion, and mushroom families), and plenty of colored vegetables (including red, orange, and purple) each day.
  • Adequate protein each meal (4-6 ounces) from eggs, fish, poultry, meat, nuts, or seeds. Quality is more important than quantity here.
  • One serving of healthy fat three times per day. Fats help stabilize your blood sugars so that you don’t hit an energy crisis where you need instant fuel from quick (and damaging) carbohydrates. Choose from olives, avocados, coconut, nuts, seeds, and their accompanying unrefined oils. You can also use grass-fed butter.

If you are unsure of what to cook, you can find recipes in Dr. Hyman’s 10-Day Detox Starter Kit.

2. Feed Your Soul

Instead of handling emotions by eating, nurture yourself with healthy  practices, such as journaling, meditation, movement, and wholesome recreation. Spend time on loving relationships. Treat yourself with 8 hours of sleep per night. Practice deep breathing, and enjoy detoxifying Epsom salt baths.

3. Quit Sugar Cold Turkey

You can do anything for a brief time. So commit to yourself that for only 10 days, you will completely quit sugar. Avoid all foods that list sugar as an ingredient. Your success in freeing yourself depends on absolute compliance. Tapering down gradually will keep you hostage to nagging cravings.

Also eliminate the following because they sustain sugar addiction:

  • All processed foods.
  • Grains, starchy vegetables, beans, and fruit (except 1/2 c. of berries per day).
  • Coffee, soda, alcohol, and juice.

4. Give Yourself a Boost

Jump start your 10 days to quit sugar with a metabolic cleanse, like this detox kit from Biotics. It will provide powerful micro nutrients and abundant antioxidants that will kick up your energy so that you don’t miss your daily sugar and caffeine fix.

5. Find Freedom

You will be feeling so much stronger in these short 10 days, that you will not want to return to your old habits. So you can continue for another 10 days, and another. Soon, you will find that sugar and refined carbs do not appeal to you any more. You will be able to use whole grains, legumes, and fruit in moderation. Your un-dieting protocol will become a lifestyle.

nutrient-rich green smoothie

Post-Holiday Detox

After rounds of chestnuts roasting on an open fire, visions of sugar plums, and even figgy pudding, do you need a post-holiday detox? Are you feeling sluggish, heavy and tired? You’ll need more than a green smoothie to regain your well-being. But, there are many simple tricks you can perform at home now and throughout 2019. So throw away those cookie platters and let’s get started!

Support Your Liver

Pamper your liver, since it is the organ responsible for taking toxins out of your body. Stimulate a nourishing blood supply to it by patting your right torso just below the ribs while you are in a hot shower. For extra-special treatment, you can place castor oil packs on it.

Your liver needs specific categories of food to function well. First, give it “sulphurs, greens, and sours.” These foods are tonic to that organ. Sulphurs include all edible mushrooms, vegetables in the onion family, and vegetables in the cruciferous family.  Some dark leafy greens that you might not think to eat regularly are chard, cilantro, parsley, and watercress. For sours, spike your water with lemon juice, or take a shot of a probiotic beverage, such as kombucha, kefir, or sauerkraut juice.

Since detoxification is a process that requires lots of amino acids, feed your liver plenty of protein. It is a myth that you can detox just by juicing. Vegetable juices are cleansing because they reduce inflammation and scrub out the colon. But they don’t provide enough amino acids for liver function.

Lastly, “grease the skids.” Your liver needs Omega 3 fatty acids to make the bile that will carry toxins out through the colon. These fatty acids are highest in mackerel, salmon, cod liver oil, herring, oysters, and sardines.

Open All Your Elimination Ports

Your post-holiday detox should expand beyond liver support. What happens if the liver cleans out the toxins, but the ports of elimination are clogged? Well, all those toxins go right back into the blood and you get sick! Your five ports are:

  1. Skin: You can flush the skin by sweating! That might mean going to the sauna or engaging in an intense cardio workout. A great way to sweat in the winter time is to add a tablespoon of dried ginger powder to your bath water. Ginger is a diaphoretic herb. Unfortunately, some people experience burning on their skin in reaction to the ginger powder. If this happens, add a half cup of apple cider vinegar to the water.
  2. Lungs: Deep breathing is the key to opening your lungs. So, draw your breath from below the diaphragm, making your belly rise as you inhale. If you don’t exercise regularly, take at least 5-10 deep breaths each morning and evening.
  3. Lymph: One of the easiest ways to move lymph without working out is by dry skin brushing. We like this tutorial. Alternately, you can move lymph by switching between hot and cold water in the shower. Stay in water as hot as you can stand for 4-5 minutes, then turn it as cold as you can tolerate for 30 seconds. Repeat two more times.
  4. Kidneys: You have to stay well-hydrated to keep your kidneys happy. If you don’t like drinking water, consider herbal teas as an alternative. The rule of thumb is to daily drink 2 ounces of water for every pound of body weight, capping at 100 ounces of water. However, caffeinated and sugared beverages do not count. In fact, add 2 ounces of water for every ounce of coffee, tea, soda, or juice that you drink.
  5. Colon: You can induce your “river of toxins” to move by including bitter herbs in your diet. For instance, drink peppermint or chamomile tea, serve globe artichoke as an appetizer, or chew fennel seeds after a meal. Additionally, you can use arugula, parsley, cilantro, radicchio watercress, and dandelion greens in salads.

Try A Metabolic Cleanse

To jump-start your post-holiday detox, order a detox kit such as the NutriClear Plus 15 Day Cleanse from Biotics. It includes 30 meal-replacement protein drink mixes, a shaker cup, daily supplement packs with liver-tonic herbs, and a guidebook of recipes and instructions. Moreover, it supports your energy production and is easily digested. It contains abundant anti-oxidants, added fiber, and a powerful blend of micronutrients.

Post-Holiday Detox Smoothie

Finally, about that smoothie. While it won’t detox your body by itself, certainly it does support your efforts by providing protein, sulphurous greens,  omega 3s and a bitter herb (ginger). Here’s the recipe!

Green Pina Colada

1/3 c. frozen pineapple juice concentrate

2/3 c. ice and water

1 c. coconut milk, chilled

2 c. spinach (I freeze mine ahead of time)

1 tsp. grated or minced fresh ginger root

2 scoops protein powder

2 capsules Omega 3 fish oil

Slit open the capsules of fish oil and squirt the contents into the blender along with the remaining ingredients. Discard the empty capsules. Blend the ingredients until smooth and frothy. Serve immediately. Serves two.

 

 

 

 

 

Be Fabulously Fit by following these four tips

Fabulously Fit This Holiday

Gratitude and cheer can turn to dread and anxiety if you fear that holiday parties will ruin your figure and your health. But by following 4 simple tips, you can still be fabulously fit on January 2nd.

Fresh, Fiber-ful Food

To begin with, scan the table before you pick up your fork. Look for unprocessed foods with minimal ingredients. Fruits and vegetables with lots of color are your best bet. Any offering that is live, real, wild, or fresh is going to be more nourishing than foods that are artificial or processed. Nature’s carbohydrates contain plenty of fiber to help you fill up before you overindulge. So, choose to load up on healthier options first!

Also, keep in mind that balance is vital. Even a meal of whole carbohydrates can leave you craving if you don’t eat adequate proteins. A good rule of thumb is to make half your plate non-starchy vegetables, and one-fourth of your plate protein. You can fill the remaining quarter with fruit, legumes, whole grains, or starchy vegetables. If you have the option, dress your foods with traditional fats, such as butter, olive oil, or avocados.

Finally, beware of triggers. Sugar, alcohol, caffeine, MSG, hydrogenated fats, and refined flours can all stimulate overeating. Stay on the fabulously fit side of life by avoiding sweetened beverages and by limiting desserts, rolls, pastries, and other baked goods.

Focus

No one ever got fabulously fit by accident. Therefore, be deliberate about your objective. For example, you might decide ahead of time whether your purpose is to connect with people, feel the joy of the season, or simply eat your next meal. If you intend to meet your body’s nutritional needs, then set an intention to feel comfortable and energized after the meal, not sluggish and bloated. You can meet this aim with several strategies.

First, eat regular meals throughout the day. The “skip and save” approach to caloric intake only makes you grouchy and starved. Then, you are extremely vulnerable to eating too much of the wrong kinds of foods.

Second, allow yourself a smart snack before the party so that you can keep your portion sizes down. Smart snacks are fruits or vegetables eaten with a little bit of protein or a bit of natural fat. Baby bell peppers filled with cottage cheese, celery spread with nut butter, and carrots dipped in hummus are a few examples.

Third, mind your eating hygiene. Take a deep breath before you begin your meal to set yourself in the present. Avoid gulping your food, savor the flavors, and put your fork down between bites. Notice when you have reached a 6 or 7 on the hunger/fullness scale, with 10 being so stuffed you are sick. Stopping before you reach an 8 or 9 insures that you are satisfied but not miserable.

Lastly, hold yourself accountable. Find a friend, family member, or health mentor to report back to on your success in meeting your intention. We all perform a little better when we know we will be sharing our results.

Family & Friends

If your life were to end tomorrow, what you had for dinner would be immaterial. But how you interfaced with people would be highly significant. While the purpose of a holiday may be to express gratitude or commemorate a special event, that purpose is much more meaningful when shared. So, make the most of the occasion by focusing on loved ones rather than food.

In addition to stimulating and happy conversation, shared activities are a good means of connecting with others. Why not put together a puzzle, do the dishes together, go for a walk, drag out the ice skates, or tell stories around a fire instead of just sitting at the table? Physical activities have the added benefit of revving up your metabolism and keeping you from picking at leftovers.

Fabulously Fit and Free

When you give in to instant gratification at the buffet table, guilt and remorse follow. It does not feel good to have blood sugar swings, to carry excess weight and to lose your health. What does feel good is the freedom that comes from nourishing yourself with nutrient-dense food. However, it is important to remember that we are all human. None of us eats perfectly 100% of the time. As a result, you might occasionally give in to a tempting food that is not part of your plan.

You can stay fabulously fit and free by forgiving yourself and moving on. There’s no sense in flattening the other 3 tires on your car just because one of them got punctured. In other words, don’t allow yourself to make excuses to eat lousy for the rest of the season because you made one un-wise choice. Choose to make the season one of gratitude and cheer.

 

 

Don't let spooky high blood sugars ruin your healthy Halloween

5 Healthy Halloween Tips

Don’t let spooky high blood sugars and a hypoglycemic hangover ruin your healthy Halloween this year! Try these 5 tips to avoid sugar overload.

1. Load Your Candy Bowl With Toys

You say the candy is for the kids, but before you know it, you’re dipping into the bowl yourself! That gooey chocolate, the fun colors, and the tricky triggers from your childhood sneak up on you. Even if you intend to refrain, pretty soon urge overcomes willpower. Your next thought is, “Just one won’t hurt.” Then you can’t stop because you’ve awakened your brain’s pleasure center.

So, why not give stickers, bracelets, glow sticks, super balls, spider rings, glow-in-the-dark fangs, and other well-loved trinkets instead? You will help others have a healthy Halloween as well, and I’m sure many moms will thank you!

2. Host a Harvest Party

You can shift the focus of the evening from treats to whole foods by staging a potluck. Roast a turkey and invite friends to bring seasonal garden side dishes. Or stir up a delicious soup  which you can serve in a pumpkin. Games such as hunting for mini-pumpkins and tossing rings around pumpkins will keep the kiddos entertained. End the evening by telling stories around a campfire with steaming buttered apple cider.

Make it a healthy Halloween by including loved ones, time outdoors, laughter, and nourishment.

3. Choose Healthy Halloween Snacks

Plan ahead so you don’t end up in a hunger crisis that will have you diving for the treats. Fueling throughout the day with a combination of complex carbohydrates, natural fats, and high quality proteins will keep your blood sugars level. Then, you won’t have an emergency to eat just as you are donning costumes to go trick-or-treating. Here are just a few ideas:

  • guacamole and spicy chicken wings
  • cottage cheese and vegetable dippers
  • fruit and cheese
  • nuts, pumpkin seeds and dried fruit
  • hard-boiled eggs and grape tomatoes
  • olives, hummus, and whole grain pita bread
  • crackers and smoked fish

4. Indulge Deliberately

If you choose to eat sweets, why not select something like an 85% cacao dark chocolate bar? One study suggests that individuals will consume less junk food after eating dark chocolate than after eating milk chocolate. You’ll feel you are eating something decadent, and getting the antioxidant health benefits all at the same time!

5. Learn From Your Mistakes

Don’t use a slip-up as an excuse to dig a deeper hole! Human nature says, “You’ve failed; there’s not use even trying now!” Instead, you can use your experience to plan how to do better next time. Remember, we’re all on a diet continuum, not a diet plan! Your healthy Halloween last year likely will look much different from your healthy Halloween next year if you keep applying what you have learned and keep making the effort.

 

 

chubby cheeks are a clue to metabolic syndrome

Metabolic Syndrome and You

Metabolic Syndrome is possibly the most dangerous health condition you will encounter. Yet, you probably haven’t even heard of it. The real tragedy is that you can reverse it with just diet and lifestyle changes. But, uninformed, you will ask your doctor for prescriptions to treat your symptoms and will never solve the root cause.

What is Metabolic Syndrome?

This deadly imbalance of your metabolism shows up as a trio of problems. First, there’s weight gain – especially around the belly. Next, you notice  disturbing changes in your blood lipid profile. HDL’s begin to sink and LDL’s rise. Triglycerides climb alarmingly! Finally, your blood pressure begins to creep up. But these are just the telltale signs of Metabolic Syndrome. It is, in fact, a result of making too much insulin all the time.

Insulin is necessary. You can’t live without insulin. But when you have an excess, you store fat not burn it. Also, you make more triglycerides than you should. Your body creates smaller, denser LDL particles, which are the most treacherous kind, promoting to arterial plaque. Lastly, with higher insulin levels, your blood vessels constrict more, driving up blood pressure.

Metabolic Syndrome, called MetS, is your clue that your insulin has been elevated long enough, that your own cells are turning it away. Insulin can no longer keep blood sugars low. So your body makes even more of it in an effort to get the job done.

Why is Metabolic Syndrome Dangerous?

This cluster of abnormalities is a clear predictor of the top killers in America: stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. But because it is really a disease of insulin, it also puts you at risk for fatty liver disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. Less threatening perhaps, you become a candidate for obesity, infertility, PCOS, and certain autoimmune conditions, too.

You may think there’s not much harm in a little extra weight, or a blood lipid test that’s just above normal. In reality, your body is sending you a red flag that your metabolism has changed. You are like a ship with a gaping hole in the side. If you do not fix the hole, your ship will lean off balance more and more, until finally it cannot keep itself up!

Do You Have Metabolic Syndrome?

Check this list for clues to Metabolic Syndrome. A doctor will diagnose you with MetS is you have three of these signs.

  • Measure your waist at the belly button and at your hips around the widest point. Your waist measurement should not be greater than your hip measurement.
  • Request a cholesterol density test. You should have large, fluffy particles, not small, dense ones.
  • Know your blood lipid results. Expect triglycerides less than 100 and HDL’s greater than 50.
  • Calculate your the ratio of triglycerides to HDL’s. It should be less than 4.
  • Order a fasting insulin test. Look for a result of 5 or below. Many online labs offer this test for less than $50.
  • Check your hemoglobin A1c, which measures blood sugar over the last 6 weeks. If should be less than 5.7

Reverse Metabolic Syndrome

The first and foremost thing you have to do is prevent insulin surges. Since you produce insulin when your blood sugars rise, take these actions to keep blood sugars low:

  • Eat SLOW carbs. These are plant foods that enter the blood stream slowly because they contain lots of fiber and complex starches. Steel cut oats, asparagus, and lentils are some examples. They do not contain an abundance of simple sugars, like FAST carbs. Fruit juice, table sugar, and white bread are examples of foods that raise blood sugar rapidly.
  • Eat good quality protein, fibrous non-starchy vegetables,and unrefined fats with your meal. These will slow digestion and keep carbohydrates from entering the bloodstream too quickly.
  • Keep your carbohydrates less than 50% of your calories. No matter how clean you eat, if your meal is predominantly carbs, you will still produce insulin.
  • Practice stress-management techniques throughout the day. Stress can raise blood sugars even more than a high-carb meal. No one can avoid stress, but you can take steps to lower it.
  • Make a point to get 8 hours of sleep per night. You body produces cortisol to raise blood sugars when you are tired. A poor night’s sleep and flagging energy can also instigate sugar cravings.

Of course, if you need nutrition counseling or help with nutrient deficiencies, you can work with me.

Tips for Healthy Dining

Guide to Healthy Restaurant Dining

Here are 5 ways to make healthy choices when you eat out.

Visit a Local Health Food Venue

These small, independently-owned establishments specialize in farm-to-table offerings. They pride themselves on whole, unprocessed, simple food. You are likely to find keto, vegan, and gluten-free options, as well as local, homemade dishes.

Choose a Chain that Touts Fresh, Organic Ingredients

They may be fast food, but it’s fast food with an emphasis on natural foods. If you opt for a salad, bowl, or soup, rather than a sandwich, and add extra vegetables, you’ll be getting the best possible combination.

Go for the Salad Bar

It’s a great idea to fill half your plate with vegetables, then add a high quality, lean protein on the side, such as fresh trout. Watch those carbohydrates, and select fibrous, colored options. For example, pick sweet potato cubes instead of rolls, or quinoa instead of mashed potatoes.

Try Ethnic Food

Cultures with a rich food history usually incorporate many antioxidant ingredients in their traditional dishes. Use these guidelines to stay on track:

  • Thai – go crazy for coconut to cool inflammation.
  • Asian – choose steamed or stir-fried vegetables and request the sauce on the side.
  • Indian – order anti-oxidant curries laced with turmeric, cumin, and ginger.
  • Mexican – say yes to salsa, guacamole and seafood!
  • Greek – load up on tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, and spinach. Opt for grass-fed lamb.

Be Mindful

Wherever you eat, watch portions, sip water with lemon instead of soda, avoid fried foods and sauces, and pass on the dessert.

Skin tags are a sign of insulin resistance.

Insulin Grows “Funny Things”

“First you grow up, then you grow out, then you grow funny things!” That’s what my sister said to me when I observed an odd bump on her skin below her chin. She pretended to be a toad, and we all laughed. Now, I am haunted. If only we had recognized the weight gain and the skin tags as signs of insulin resistance.

I wish we had known that what heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases have in common is insulin resistance. What hope it would have given us to understand that insulin resistance can be reversed. My sister might have taken a second look at her diet. She might have made changes before the doctor found leukemia. She might have lived past 65.

It’s easy to think that diet choices don’t make a big difference in our health. One Pepsi, or one more cookie don’t matter that much. So, one pop becomes a pattern and one cookie becomes a chronic splurge. The frog is swimming in the proverbial pot and the water is hot. He is getting cooked, but he doesn’t even know it.

You cannot eat modern foods and avoid modern disease!

The first step back to better health is awareness. Please wake up to the fact that insulin resistance is the most common disorder worldwide. Roughly half of the adults in the United States are insulin resistant! You are most likely insulin resistant if you have two or more of these symptoms:

  • a waist that bulges over your belt a little
  • difficulty losing weight
  • rising triglyceride levels
  • a high blood pressure reading
  • inability to free yourself from sugar cravings
  • chronic tiredness, especially after meals
  • facial hair or gestational diabetes (female) or low testosterone (male)

Why do these symptoms matter?

According to Dr. Ronald Rosedale, a forerunner in insulin research, insulin initiates the aging process. The higher your insulin, the more susceptible you are to diseases of aging. Your quality of life is at stake. You become a candidate for migraines, early Alzheimer’s, stroke, dementia, fatty liver disease, and even osteo arthritis. The symptoms of fatigue and weight gain are only markers for serious health issues.

How can you reverse insulin resistance?

To prevent or to reverse insulin resistance, you must avoid repeated spikes of insulin throughout the day. What triggers a rush of insulin? Rising blood sugars.

So, ask yourself what increases your blood sugars. If you answered food and stress, you’re right, but let’s qualify which foods cause blood sugars to rise.

Carbs get a bad rap, but not all carbohydrates are villains. If a carbohydrate converts to glucose more slowly, it will have less impact on blood glucose levels. Therefore, eat fibrous, nutrient dense options moderated with fat or protein – such as asparagus with butter. Avoid “quick” carbs, such as white flour and white sugar products. Certainly, don’t drink your calories. Beverages are one of the top causes of high insulin. Eat whole foods, as close to nature as possible. Real food rarely comes with a bar code.

Be proactive about managing your stress, too. Did you know that just one anxiety-causing incident can raise blood sugars 200-300 mg/dl? Gary Scheiner, author of Think Like a Pancreas, details how this happened to him not only with a flat tire on his way to work, but also with a thriller movie. So, take the time to decompress. I detail 50 ways you can do this in just a minute or two in my Stress Hacks course.

Be conscientious about sufficient sleep and regular exercise as well.  Weight training and interval training are both effective ways to improve insulin sensitivity.

Eat Probiotics When Cravings Strike!

Have you ever eaten something sour when your body cried out for sweets? It seems counter-intuitive, but the probiotics in a cultured food can alter your cravings in the long run by improving your gut health.

In this video, you can see how easy and inexpensive it is to create your own probiotic foods from your garden.

You can find recipes for culturing your vegetables online at Cultures for Health. If you are purchasing naturally fermented foods, look for phrases such as “contains live cultures” or “never heat-treated” on the label.

Other benefits of probiotic foods, aside from helping with cravings, are that they:

  • Bolster your immune system and help fight infection.
  • Strengthen your gut and help relieve conditions such as bloat, indigestion and IBS.
  • Make your food more digestible and help your absorb your nutrients better.
  • Manufacture B vitamins, which you are likely to have a deficiency of if your are under chronic stress or sugar overload.
  • Are an economical way to boost your health.

Did You Want to Be Sick, Tired, Fat, and Depressed?

There is a deadly epidemic in America, and odds are that either you or your buddy has it. It is making you fat and sick, but there’s a 90% likelihood that you don’t have any idea it’s there.

I’m talking about insulin resistance, a totally reversible condition that is the single most important phenomenon leading to premature aging, heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer. In its early stages, it triggers weight gain, inflammation and oxidative stress, high blood pressure, abnormal blood lipids, anxiety, and depression.

How Do You Know You Have It?

Key indicators of insulin resistance are:

  • difficulty losing weight
  • belly fat
  • fatigue
  • hunger
  • carb cravings
  • hormone issues
  • irritability when you don’t eat
  • difficulty with memory or concentration
  • water retention
  • facial hair if you are female, erectile dysfunction if you are male

If too many of these symptoms are familiar, you will want to ask your doctor for a fasting insulin blood test. If your results are double digits, you are on the path to diabesity – those metabolic issues that create diabetes and obesity, along with other chronic diseases mentioned.

In Case You Don’t Want to Be Sick, Tired, Fat and Depressed

The good news is that insulin resistance is reversible! But you need to be dedicated to all five pillars of diet and lifestyle:

  1. Choose good food. There are no if’s, but’s, or and’s about it. Sugar is out if you’re serious about getting your body’s metabolism back to healthy. Refined foods and products made with flour get the boot, too. Fill your plate half full with vegetables. The other half of your plate should be divided between good quality, lean protein and slow-burning, high fiber carbohydrates, such as berries, black or red rice, quinoa, green plantains, or cassava root. Use natural, unprocessed fats for cooking and dressing your meals. Foods that don’t require labels are best!
  2. Get plenty of sleep. Even one night of poor sleep can increase insulin resistance. You are much more prone to overeat and to have sugar cravings when you are tired, so getting 8 hours of shut-eye per night has to be a priority.
  3. Take appropriate supplements. As much as I support properly-prepared, nutrient-dense, whole food, your body may be so out of balance that it cannot heal itself without the assistance of some high-grade nutrients. It is common for individuals with insulin resistance to be deficient in vitamin D, Omega 3’s, chromium, B vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants. But taking supplements is only part of the story; absorbing them is the rest. For that reason, it is critical to work with a practitioner to make sure you are getting what your body needs.
  4. Get moving. Aside from diet, exercise is probably the single best medication for insulin resistance. Start with walking for 30 minutes a day. Add in 10 minutes of HIIT (high intensity interval training) and resistance training with weights or bands as you are able. Spending hours is not important. What matters is that you work vigorously, getting your heart rate up to 70-80% of its maximum.
  5. Take time to relax! In the face of chronic stress, insulin output increases, driving insulin resistance even higher and creating even greater inflammation in your body. Passive downtime watching movies or surfing the internet is not enough. You must actively connect your body and brain to each other and to the present, through sensory stimulation, through breathing, and through mindfulness and gratitude activities. If you need some help, check out my stress hacks that can be performed in two minutes or less, anywhere, anytime!

Together, we can upset the odds. Let’s take your 50% chance of having insulin resistance down to zero!

Open Letter To My Grandson

Dear Grandson,

The other day, you asked me, “Why don’t you believe in eating sugar?”

I told you that I used to be a sugar addict once, but now that I’m on the other side of it, I can see that it simply is not worth it. Yet somehow, that answer isn’t enough. How do I tell you the unseen impact of sugar on your body and your unborn children that does NOT show up for 20 or 30 years?

It’s not about the sugar. It’s about the insulin your body makes every time you eat sweeteners and refined carbohydrates. Insulin is stealthily changing your life – without you even feeling it!

How could you know that insulin makes you anxious? Yes, one of the strongest stimulants of the sympathetic nervous system – the part of your body responsible for putting you into flight-or-flight – is a high level of insulin.

Oh, insulin is definitely needed. While your liver is converting stored fuel to glucose to make sure you never run out of energy, a trickle of insulin circulates to carry that glucose to the cells that use it. But for the first time in the history of mankind, insulin is flooding the body in waves higher than ever before. But since it doesn’t show, how could you know that more than half the population is already insulin resistant, meaning that their cells have “quit listening” to this important messenger.

How could you know that cells which won’t admit insulin’s glucose cargo can’t admit minerals either –  the very minerals that build bones, relax muscles, trigger chemical reactions, and support organ function.

How could you know that high insulin causes cell proliferation? That means it causes cells to multiply abnormally fast. So, it feeds cancer.

How could you know that insulin-instigated cell proliferation creates plaque by causing the cells in your arteries to multiply rapidly? Or that excess insulin causes the blood to clot too readily? Then It changes certain white blood cells, called macrophages, into foam cells – the kind that fill the fatty deposits in your arteries. Step by step, high insulin is giving you heart disease, clogging your arteries, then squeezing them shut.

How could you know that too high insulin keeps your body from making the hormones you need to be a mature young man? That’s because DHEA is needed to produce testosterone, but if there’s too much insulin, a condition called insulin resistance develops. The greater the insulin resistance, the lower your DHEA levels.

How could you know that high insulin will slow down your body’s processes – the rate at which you burn your fuel, warm yourself, grow, and eliminate waste? That’s because your liver is responsible for converting the inactive thyroid hormone into active thyroid hormone. But when the liver becomes insulin resistant, it doesn’t “hear” the instructions from the brain very well, so you become deficient in thyroid hormone.

How could you know that too much insulin causes you to lose important minerals – calcium and magnesium – through your urine? That sets you up for brittle bones, more anxiety, and heart pains called angina.

How could you know that when insulin has been high for a very long time, and insulin resistance has set in, the glucose left in your blood stream makes all the proteins sticky? If those proteins happen to be needed for nerve cells, your nerves won’t function well and you will lose feeling. If those proteins are needed for the collagen that forms muscles, bones, tendons, and skin, these tissues will be weak.

How could you know that chronically high insulin levels reduce your life span through a complex web of processes? One of these is by increasing inflammation in your body. That kind of inflammation is like having a sprained ankle inside your organs all the time.

Finally, how could you know that if you are insulin resistant, your child is many times more likely to be insulin resistant from birth – and if that child is a girl, even her eggs have a higher chance of being insulin resistant?

No, my boy, sugar is not worth it! I don’t believe in eating sugar – and that goes for all modern forms of sweeteners, including high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners. We didn’t have them or need them a thousand years ago. Why now?

I don’t want you to lose your life without knowing your foe. If you believe in eating sugar, then at least know the unseen processes it triggers.

With much love and hope for your future,

Your adoring grandparent.