signs of diabetes

The Early Signs That You Are Becoming Diabetic

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Diabetes occurs when the body struggles to regulate the amount of sugar that’s in your blood. This leads to high blood sugars called hyperglycemia, that over long periods of time these sugars start to weaken your blood vessels which causes damage to your internal organs. Diabetes is one of the most common causes of death in the world and is triggered by prolonged poor eating habits.

Your pancreas releases a hormone called insulin which is the key that allows sugar into your cells and removes it from the blood. However, it’s estimated that over 60% of adults suffer with some degree of insulin resistance, a situation where your cells can no longer accept sugar because they have been bombarded with sugary foods, refined carbs, nitrates, or too frequent meals for many years.

In the beginning this doesn’t usually show up on A1C blood test because your body compensates by pumping out more insulin. For this reason, it is important to recognize the top 12 early signs of insulin resistance and prediabetes to watch out for.

Dark patches of skin

You may start to notice darkened areas of velvety or leathery skin in the folds of your body such as your armpits, neck, or groin. When there’s too much sugar or insulin in your blood the skin cells start to reproduce too quickly and at a rapid rate. These new cells have more melanin pigment making it appear darker then the surrounding skin.

Sugar cravings

After you’ve eaten, when your blood sugars aren’t being controlled properly, you will likely crave the sweet or sugary snack shortly after you finish your meal. This happens because your cells aren’t accepting the sugar normally from your blood which tricks your brain into thinking that you’re still hungry and you crave sugar for a quick energy boost.

Blurred vision

At the early stages of insulin resistance you may begin to develop blurred vision. This happens because your cells are no longer accepting insulin and glucose causing the lenses of your eye to swell with fluid. The high blood glucose could also damage the blood vessels connected to your eyes causing distorted vision, blurriness.

Frequent urination at night

If you have too much glucose or sugar in your blood it binds to water causing your body to hold more fluid. Your kidneys also must work overtime to filter this extra sugar in your blood which causes you to pee more frequently especially during the night. This also makes you thirstier during the day and this causes a vicious cycle.

Puffy face

If you’re eating too many carbohydrates or sugars and your body can’t control your blood sugars, you’ll likely develop puffy face especially around the cheeks. The high amount of sugar in your body is causing fluid retention and making your face appear bloated. You also get darkening and puffiness around your eyes and eyelids. You may notice that if you cut out the carbohydrates for a week or two your face starts to shrink very quickly. This is not usually fat loss but simply a loss of the excess fluid.

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Tingling or numbness in the feet or hands

Tingling, burning, stabbing, or shooting pain in your feet, toes, or hands may be a sign of neuropathy. The high insulin and sugar in your blood is damaging to blood vessels and peripheral nerves causing them to misfire and send odd signals to your brain. This can also worsen into numbness and a loss of function if it develops from pre diabetes into full blown type 2 diabetes.

Skin tags

Skin tags can be harmless but if more continue to grow over time then this could be a sign of prediabetes. High levels of insulin causes the skin cells to reproduce rapidly and as it’s an anabolic hormone, it causes the skin tags to grow. Many people who have reversed insulin resistance with natural methods find that their skin tags naturally start to disappear.

Belly fat

When you have high amounts of sugar in your blood for long periods of time your body must convert this into fat to preserve the energy for the future. Too much insulin and glucose causes your liver to become filled with fat and this starts spilling over into your belly area.

Tiredness

After eating a meal, you should feel energized and alert as you’ve just nourished your body with vitamins and minerals. However, if you notice that you feel extremely tired after eating then this may indicate that you have insulin resistance, and the fuel isn’t getting into your cells properly.

Itchy skin

This occurs because high blood sugar and insulin is damaging to blood vessels which supply nutrients to the skin. It can also make your skin more susceptible to bacterial or fungal infections which may cause boils and abscesses. Eating too many carbohydrates and sugars can also deplete vitamin B3 which is very important for keeping your skin healthy.

Slow wound healing

Higher levels of sugar in your blood causes poor circulation so it can take longer for a minor cut, bruise, or a wound to heal properly. This gets progressively worse as you become a diabetic and can eventually lead to loss of limb.

Brain fog

This happens when your blood sugars spike and then fall dramatically leaving you hypoglycemic. This means that not enough fuel is reaching your brain causing you to feel foggy.

Causes of Prediabetes/Diabetes

Why do refined, highly processed foods cause prediabetes? The nutrients in these types of foods have been stripped away leaving you with only the energy portion which is glucose. Without these nutrients like B vitamins, for example, your body struggles to process the sugars properly causing insulin resistance.

The second cause is high levels of mental stress. When you’re stressed your body makes more of a hormone called cortisol. Problem is that if you have too much cortisol it breaks down your muscle and fat and turns it into blood sugars which overtime can cause insulin resistance and diabetes.

Another cause is having too frequent meals throughout the day which bombards your cells with so much fuel that they cannot handle anymore. Every time you eat you raise insulin, and our bodies weren’t designed to be eating all day which is why fasting really helps to reverse prediabetes.

Can You Prevent Diabetes?

The answer is yes and here are a few tips to start incorporating into your daily routine.

  • Cut out refined carbohydrates, sugar, flour, and grain-based foods.
  • Replace refined foods with healthy fats to keep your hunger levels down.
  • Consume nutritional yeast to supply B vitamins which reduce cravings and reverse nerve damage.
  • Eat lots of organic, cruciferous vegetables such as kale, collard greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower. These leafy greens are loaded with potassium and magnesium, two key minerals which help to reverse insulin resistance and regulate your blood sugars.
  • Soluble fiber in vegetables also helps to stabilize your blood sugars.
  • Start taking the daily supplement of chromium picolinate. This is a very powerful trace mineral which helps insulin and glucose become more sensitive in the body so that it can be moved into the cells. Chromium also helps your liver to produce the master antioxidant glutathione which also helps to prevent diabetes and oxidative damage.
  • Stop snacking between meals.
  • Try taking a teaspoon of MCT oil at the end of your first meal. This is made from coconuts that keeps you feeling full for longer by providing an alternative fuel source to your cells which are called ketones instead of glucose.
  • Manage your stress levels and get at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night.

https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/supplement/chromium#:~:text=In%20one%20well%2Ddesigned%20study,than%20those%20who%20took%20placebo.

Diabetes – The Hidden Cause Of Alzheimer’s?

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diabetes

In today’s society, diabetes is now so common that it’s rare for someone not to know a relative or friend who has it.  There are 30 million people living in the United States alone with diabetes.  2.3 million (roughly) in Canada.  It’s an epidemic health crisis to say the least.  But, before we get into a deep discussion let’s start with explaining exactly what diabetes is.

What Is Diabetes?

When we eat carbohydrates, most are broken down into simple sugars in our bodies.  Our cells then use these sugars for energy.  However, they are not able to get into our cells on their own.  They are shuttled there by insulin.  Ketones on the other hand can also produce energy without the assistance of insulin but we’ll get to that later.

There are two types of diabetes that people are generally aware of.  However, adults with diabetes could benefit from better treatment if the condition was categorized into the full five.

Type 1 Diabetes

This is the conclusion of a new study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. (1)

Type 1 diabetes is the body’s inability to create enough insulin.  The pancreas is responsible for creating insulin but can no longer do so sufficiently.  Type 1 is thought to be caused by genetics or viruses that early in life infect and break the pancreas’ ability to do its job of creating insulin.

People with type 1 diabetes need to inject themselves with insulin to match what the body would have created to process the sugars.  Because this is a tricky matching process, there is a danger of too much or too little insulin.

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is considered a lifestyle disease or an illness created by the standard American diet.  It is also termed insulin resistance.  Diabetes occurs when the body is unable to make enough insulin or use it makes properly.  Insulin is a hormone used by the body to control glucose levels (the amount of sugar in your blood).  Glucose is one of the main sources of fuel for the body.  Providing the body with the energy needed to perform all necessary functions. (2)

Sugar And Its Affects On Our Bodies

After many years of inappropriate levels of sugars in our diet, our pancreas isn’t able to function as it should.  It’s either no longer able to quickly match our bodies sugar intake and/or our body is no longer accepting the insulin that our pancreas is creating to shuttle sugars into our cells.  This leads to rising levels of unprocessed sugars in our blood stream.  Increasing damage excess sugar has on our bodies.  For further reading, click here to read, “These Food Additives are Linked to Cancer, Diabetes and Obesity”.

I could go into detail about what that excess sugar does to your body (one thing is it is stored as fat) but I want to get to the main reason for this article.  What excess sugar does to your brain!

Type 3 Diabetes

Type 3 diabetes is not a common term that people have heard of unless you read a lot about health.  It is however becoming more mainstream.

Type 3 diabetes is what excess sugar does to your brain’s ability to keep itself fueled.  It is like saying Type 2 diabetes but the brain edition.  Your brain’s ability to run requires that it be given constant energy.  Much like a car needs X litres of fuel per 100 KM.  That is unless you own a tesla / run your brain on ketones.

Your brain needs a steady source of energy.  For most of us, that is coming from carbohydrates (sugars).  However it would be great if we could use ketones …. Oops, getting ahead of myself ….

As we constantly expose our bodies to excessive simple carbohydrates and thus simple sugars our bodies begin to take notice.  It then creates a safety mechanisms to protect us from the excess damaging sugar.  One of these mechanisms to protect the brain is called the blood brain barrier.

Alzheimer's Disease OR Diabetes Of The Brain?

Internal Special Forces – Brain Security

Our brain is protected by our body and the blood brain barrier is like Brain Security (special forces level, not mall security).  This barrier only allows what it thinks is the most important nutrients, fats and energy sources into our brain cells (neurons, etc.)

As we constantly expose our bodies to excess sugars, our body’s resist the insulin/sugar energy source and we get Type 2 diabetes.  Our cells want energy but our body’s security “protects us” from the excess onslaught.  So much so that our cells are actually getting less energy than they need.

The excess sugar that is not allowed past is stored as fat.  So the more security turns away sugar, the more fat is stored.  The more the body needs energy, the more carbs we eat to give it that energy.  That cycle continues until we are fat and tired (and sick).

The brain’s security guard does the same thing.  It starts to turn away insulin/sugar because it is protecting the brain.  However, this security guard doesn’t care that the brain needs all that energy.  It is designed for short term protection, not constant protection.  Thus, the brain gets less energy than it needs to function properly.  It’s like putting your foot down on the gas pedal and your car starts to slow down.  The engine is not getting enough gas to keep your speed let alone speed up.

Health Issues & Risk Factors Of Diabetes

Researchers believe that Type 3 diabetes (Type 2 diabetes of the brain) plays a strong role or is responsible for mental health issues such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), dementia, and other brain illnesses.  Studies have shown that type 2 diabetes can be a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and other types of dementia … (2)

We conclude that the term “type 3 diabetes” accurately reflects the fact that AD represents a form of diabetes that selectively involves the brain and has molecular and biochemical features that overlap with both type 1 diabetes mellitus and T2DM. (3)  Type 3 diabetes occurs when neurons in the brain become unable to respond to insulin, which is essential for basic tasks, including memory and learning. (4)

If your brain isn’t getting fueled properly, it only makes sense that it won’t run properly and that it will manifest itself in some noticeable way.  In the beginning it could be fatigue, brain fog or memory issues.  However, in the end it could become a serious mental health issue.

The Superior Solution For Sourced Energy

So, you are wondering, Keto Jack, when are you going to get to the Ketone part?  Ketones are the other superior source of energy that your body can use to fuel your cells and to fuel your brain.  Ketones can be derived from the breakdown of fat in your body which will occur only when levels of insulin is low enough.  Your body likes to concentrate on using one fuel at a time or they can be ingested.

A ketogenic diet is one way to generate ketones.  However, it’s a very hard way.  Intermittent fasting gives your body small windows of no sugar intake and therefore your body doesn’t need to produce insulin.  Rather, it can generate ketones from your fat.

Another way is to drink pure therapeutic ketones.  There are naturally fermented and bioidentical versions available that your body sees as no different than if you had burned fat and made ketones.  For a great keto recipe, click here to for a great keto brownie recipe!

The bottom line is that excess sugars in our diet is causing not only damage from the neck down, but just as importantly damaging our brains!  So, cut back and/or eliminate added sugars.  Eat whole foods!  Save your brain so that when you are older you can still remember the advice I just gave you.  Your children and grandchildren will really appreciate it when you remember their names…For further information, click here to read, “Keto Diet and Chiropractic – What Do They Have in Common?”

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As always, if anything I have written resonates with you, leave a comment.  If you have any questions or would like more information about drinking ketones, making ketones or healthy eating, feel free to send me an email ([email protected])

I am here to serve! (I just won’t serve you dessert ? )

Follow me on Facebook: facebook.com/therealketojack/ and Instagram @ketojack
Jack Lauzon, B.Sc. Honors Physics, Health Educator

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