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Hypoglycemia & Diabetes:
How to Avoid the Nation’s
Fastest Growing Epidemic
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By Steven E Whiting, PhD., Director, The Institute of Nutritional Science
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©Copyright 1998 The Institute of Nutritional Science
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Hypoglycemia, the “undiagnosed epidemic”, affects an estimated one third of the population. Obesity, a condition with numerous potential health compromising side effects, involves over 50 million Americans and about 20% of the population of many European countries. Yet, only 25% of these overweight people eat too much food. Adult onset type II Diabetes is the single greatest epidemic chronic disease in most so-called
civilized countries. A new case of this devastating degenerative disease is diagnosed every 60 seconds, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Alone, the United States Government spends 25 billion dollars annually on this one disease and that figure is expected to double before the year 2004!
What do all these serious and potentially life threatening health challenges have in common? Their cause of course!
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In each and every instance, the initial cause of the above named problems is a condition called hyperinsulinemia - excess insulin in the bloodstream. Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas in response to the presence of glucose or sugar in the body, is a very powerful chemical that can either preserve life or in excess, destroy both the quality and quantity of life.
Sadly, in the management of these conditions, no one ever considers the level of insulin in the patient’s body and the fact that this is direct cause of their problem.
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While the overweight epidemic is at its greatest proportions in the United States, as the
‘typical American diet’ of fast food spreads around the world, similar problems, as a result, are steadily on the rise. In spite of 15 years of low-fat diet mania, we have more overweight people today than at any time in recorded history and to make matters worse, the greatest increase in the number of overweight individuals occurred during the last 15 years of the low-fat diet!
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In dealing with obesity professionally for over 10 years, we have found that only about 25% of those people overweight actually have the problem due to over-eating. The remaining 75% consume what would be called normal caloric intake and, in many cases, they actually eat less than their normal weight counterparts. What then is the answer to this epidemic? Hyperinsulinemia.
When excess insulin circulates in the blood stream, it converts all available carbohydrate to the simple sugar called glucose and then, in turn, to stored body fat called triglycerides. These are placed carefully into the fat cell for later use. Since there are no times of reduced carbohydrate intake, these stores of triglycerides in our body fat are never called upon for fuel. Consequently, we continue to add more and more to the storehouse as the years of over-consuming refined sugar-forming foods continues.
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Low calorie diets, the standard method for treating obesity, have failed the majority miserably because excess calorie consumption is not their problem. Until the 75% who are carbohydrate sensitive understand how their body deals with food and begins to restrict the consumption of sugar-forming foods, they cannot hope to effectively gain control of the escalating weight problem. This is why most people who go on the standard low-calorie diet as prescribed by physicians and dieticians have little or no luck. Those that do succeed, in painfully, losing some weight only regain it and more after they stop the starvation diet.
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It’s been called the greatest undiagnosed medical condition of modern times. Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, affects an enormous percentage of the population in all modern countries. The actual figures of the true number of persons affected remains speculative since most physicians, even today, refuse to acknowledge its existence.
For many, the consumption of sugar-forming foods is a way of life. As the years go by, the pancreas loses its ability to judge the amount of insulin to produce for the amount of sugar formed in the body through digestion of carbohydrate. When this occurs, often times, excess insulin is produced, driving our blood sugar lower then normal. This produces a variety of temporary yet annoying symptoms.
Classic symptoms of low blood sugar include shakiness, feelings of weakness, cold sweats, irritability, depression & mood swings, fatigue, falling asleep (especially in the afternoon), and the increased craving for sugar type foods, to name but a few. For some, these little annoyances are so commonplace that they simply learn to live with them. When seeking advice from the physician, they are often told that “everyone has these occasionally, don’t worry about it”, or “ it’s all in your head, your blood tests are fine.” Neither of these evaluations serves the patient.
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What is the cause of hypoglycemia? Hyperinsulinemia! The only way to alleviate these symptoms is to reduce the amount of insulin produced at any given time. The only way to reduce insulin production is to curtail the consumption of foods that rapidly transform into simple sugars. It is important to remember that all refined carbohydrates or starchy foods convert into simple sugars in 15 to 30 minutes. For the sensitive person, this is not enough time to regulate the body’s production of insulin and the hormone floods the bloodstream converting too much blood sugar, often times causing the levels to fall far below what is necessary for a comfortable lifestyle. In extreme conditions, blood sugar can plummet so low that the patient actually becomes light headed and can even lose consciousness, increasing the danger of injury to oneself immensely.
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Adult onset type II Diabetes is the single greatest epidemic in the United States. It is on the steady rise in all countries who have adopted the so-called ‘American way’ of eating. As more and more fast food chains open around the world, the diet of many people is compromised. This along with other dietary changes brought about through convenience, is causing diabetes to escalate in virtually every industrialized nation on earth. Even the Chinese, a people who virtually never knew what diabetes was, have thousands of new cases diagnosed every year.
Here, in the United States, diabetes is so common that almost everyone you talk to either has the disease or knows someone who does. This is astounding if we consider that just 100 years ago when we were about to celebrate the last millennium, diabetes, then simply called ‘sugar’, was so rare that a patient would have to be sent to a very large city or research institute for diagnosis and treatment. Today even the lay person understands and can recognize the symptoms and signs of this insidious disease. I have frequently called diabetes the non-infectious leprosy of modern times.
This is because once you are diagnosed with the disease you are sure to have it for life and the side effects of diabetes destroy the body one part at a time. The circulation is compromised, the sight is destroyed, amputations due to gangrenous infections are common. It slowly eats your body up from the inside and rarely has the compassion to kill quickly.
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Yet, if we look at diabetes and its devastating symptoms we find that many of the side effects of this disease are caused or certainly exacerbated not by the condition, but rather by the method in which the disease is being managed. Conventional management of diabetes has changed little over the last decades, yet our understanding of the disorder is immensely greater today than even a decade ago. We are still treating the effect of the illness and ignoring the cause. What is the cause of adult onset type II diabetes? Hyperinsulinemia!
In the presence of carbohydrates, which all have been converted to simple sugars, the body must produce a steady supply of insulin. As the years of this excess consumption march on, the insulin receptor sites of the body become hyposensitive and lose
ability to respond to insulin. As this situation worsens, more and more insulin must be produced by the pancreas in order to do the job of converting sugars to triglycerides. As the amount of insulin in the blood increases, all the side effects of its excess such as obesity, fluctuating blood sugar and damage to the pancreas itself, begin to escalate.
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Eventually the body cannot produce enough insulin to cope with the situation and the blood sugar begins to rise and stay elevated. Upon examination the person is diagnosed with diabetes. In order to understand how to control this problem, one must understand the cause. Excess insulin is the problem. The cause is the failing of the insulin receptor sites. The only way to reverse this situation is to reduce and control the amount of sugar-forming foods in the diet. When less sugar is present, less insulin is needed and the failing receptor sites are not called upon to perform a task for which they are no longer effectively capable.
It should be evident by this discussion that the underlying cause of all these problems is excess insulin in the bloodstream. So far, there is no pharmacological method of reducing insulin levels in the bodies of these individuals. The only way is by reducing the consumption of foods, which will form sugars and thereby start the vicious cycle of excess insulin.
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Through diet and exercise, we can greatly improve our ability to deal with hyperinsulinemia and its many side effects. Yet, in the practical sense, many who should control food intake and exercise find it difficult because the very substance that is causing their problem, namely sugar-forming foods, are so highly addictive. Carbohydrate addiction has been compared, rightfully so, with alcoholism. The symptoms and signs of both addictions are very similar and both are equally as difficult to curtail once an addictive pattern has been established.
Fortunately, science has been able to come to the rescue for many of those suffering from hypersinsulinemia. There are several nutrients and nutrient combinations that when combined with proper diet and exercise, can curtail the addictive cravings and make balancing the diet more attainable.
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The body uses several nutrients in high amounts in the presence of sugar-forming foods. Many of the B-Complex vitamins, several specific amino acids, as well as two specific minerals, all play a vital role in helping the body to regulate insulin levels and protect insulin receptor sites.
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Most of the known vitamins fall under a grouping called the B-complex. Many of the
members of this important family are directly involved in the conversion of carbohydrate foods into glucose, stored glycogen and triglyceride balance.
Nutrients like Vitamin B-1, B-2, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, and B-12 all play an important role in this process. A deficiency of any one of these nutrients can wreak havoc in a person with hyperinsulinemia.
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In our work with individuals suffering from one or more of the aforementioned health challenges, we constantly find that they are deficient in certain amino acids. This is, primarily, because they do not consume enough high quality protein. Protein foods are, generally, high in calories and since most people with excess insulin are constantly fighting the battle of the bulge, these foods are restricted or avoided altogether. This lack of protein, from which all amino acids are derived, sets up an imbalance, which places further strain upon the internal biochemistry. Further, diets low in calories and, subsequently, low in protein are always high in carbohydrates, which in turn convert to sugars, which in turn increase insulin production, which in turn leads to the disorders and diseases we are discussing.
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The process of converting carbohydrates to sugars and then storing them requires two specific minerals, namely chromium and vanadium. During the refining of grains into white flour, almost all of these minerals are lost, setting up a situation where as our intake of sugar-forming foods rises, the amount of necessary chromium and vanadium actually decreases. Chromium is necessary to keep the insulin receptor sites functioning properly and its deficiency is directly responsible for the epidemic rise in diabetes. Through taking these many nutrients into the body in the right amounts, we can reduce our craving for the very foods that are killing us.
Where do we get all these helpful nutrients in the right quantities and ratios? Countless clinical studies have shown that you cannot get adequate amounts of nutrients from foods. Due to over-processing, preserving, and cooking, most nutrients are destroyed or lost before food is eaten.
What then is the answer? For those who suffer from one or more of the hyperinsulinemia disorders we have discussed, the only answer is proper dietary supplementation. Fortunately, you do not have to go out and buy each nutrient separately and attempt to combine them properly on your own. The Institute of Nutritional Science has conducted considerable research into nutrient combination, specifically, for those suffering from excess insulin and these well-researched supplements are currently available in many countries around the world.
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If you are sick and tired of being tired and sick, if you have one or more of these health
Conditions, either personally or in your family tree, or if you know someone who is suffering with one of these conditions, they are suffering needlessly! There is hope and there is an answer. Consult the person who gave you this report and they will be more than happy to assist you in starting a program of dietary supplementation designed to support your body’s needs, whereby it can begin to heal you of these life compromising conditions through re-balance and equilibrium.
Chronic degenerative disease need not be a permanent condition that will rob you of both
quality and quantity of life. There is an answer and it is at hand. But you must take responsibility for your own health.
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For more information on nurtritional protocols that give the body what it needs to begin to heal and rebalance, contact the company listed below.
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