Problem-Free Diabetes: Controlling Diabetes With the Help of The Power of Your Metabolism

By Frank Suarez

Practical recommendations for improving diabetes and its related conditions. Includes information on how candida albicans, a yeast, can affect diabetics, the 3x1 Diet® for diabetics, how to find aggressor foods that can spike up blood glucose levels, how to read tricky labels, the truth about cholesterol, what to do when blood glucose levels are resistive and won't go down, natural supplements that can help a diabetic, the sleep patterns that affect diabetes, foods that benefit a diabetic condition and more. This book has hundreds of pages on the subject of diabetes and what practical recommendations you can start applying immediately to improve your condition and get it under control. The intent of the book is to explain in simple terms what most medical or technical books detail in a confusing or incomprehensible way. It emphasizes the metabolism as the principle factor to address and improve in order to improve diabetes. The premise of the book is PRACTICALITY, things to DO and IMPLEMENT immediately to start seeing results and measuring more desirable glucose levels immediately.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9780988221888

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DIABETES AND THE METABOLISM

Understanding people with diabetes

When a doctor tells you for the first time that you have diabetes, the impact of this news can be devastating. Take note that diabetes is a disease for which there is no cure. The good news is that it can at least be controlled. For this reason, being diagnosed as diabetic can feel like you’re being sentenced to a life of imprisonment. All of us have been accustomed to having to face or solve problems that life presents to us; it certainly has its way of putting obstacles in our path for us to overcome when it comes to achieving our goals. But when one knows that a solution exists for some problem in life, one can become motivated to set a new goal of resolving it. However, for the individual being diagnosed with diabetes, it doesn’t take long for him or her to realize that there is no cure and that it will be something they have to deal with for life. It is can be really difficult to accept.

As individuals, we may also react differently to threats or challenges presented to us in life. Some may face difficult situations and problems with more courage than others. A few may react almost illogically, while others may negate the issue and act like there is no problem to worry about whatsoever. Some can even go so far as to ignore the potential threat or problem with the hope that by doing so, the problem will somehow vanish on its own. This is human nature and is, frankly, unpredictable.

Logically speaking, in order to address a problem like diabetes, acquiring an understanding of the nature of the problem (such as the causes and characteristics) as much as possible can help significantly. To understand diabetes, we can start by making note of the claim that diabetes is hereditary, which some scientists believe. The truth is, this point has never been proven. There have been studies performed on rats and identical twins to suggest that, indeed, there is a hereditary factor involved with diabetes, but it still has never been proven conclusively. It makes sense to think that we may end up diabetic if our parents or grandparents were; however, there are diabetics whose parents, grandparents and great-grandparents never had this disease.

From the literature and scientific studies I’ve read, I believe that what is inherited is a predisposition or tendency to diabetes. That is, a person may inherit a predisposition to becoming a diabetic from their parents or grandparents. Inheriting such a predisposition does not mean that the person will inevitably become diabetic; it means that somehow the cells of the pancreas could be more susceptible to damage, which could later develop into diabetes. In this light, we could say that a person could inherit a pancreas that is comprised of more delicate or fragile cells. In other words, if you have close relatives with diabetes, this does not mean you will also acquire this disease. What it does mean is that you are at a higher risk of developing diabetes if you don’t prevent it with a proper diet and a healthy lifestyle.

Diabetes, like hypothyroidism⁵ and hyperthyroidism⁶ (problems with the thyroid gland), appears to be closely linked to the emotions that a person experiences. There seems to be a large majority of diabetics who discovered they were diabetic just after a traumatic life event, such as a cumbersome divorce, the loss of a loved one, losing a job, going through a stressful court case, experiencing a desperate financial crisis, or having an accident or surgery.

Based on my own observations and that of medical doctors like Broda Barnes and Dennis Wilson, both of whom specialize in the thyroid gland, I have found that hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are definitely similar. Something seems to happen to these glands (the pancreas or thyroid) when a person experiences excessive stress in their life. This observation is not scientifically verifiable, but it is observable. Quite possibly, while reading this opinion, you remembered a particularly stressful or catastrophic event happening just before you or a loved one were diagnosed with diabetes.

Once again, it’s important to understand that being told you have diabetes is hard to swallow, as it is not a condition that can be cured, only controlled. What I have found that helps is having the diabetic put together a list of all the things he or she did or didn’t do that could have triggered the condition. For example, a person with diabetes might feel better if they discovered that a diet high in refined carbohydrates (bread, pasta, sugar, rice, etc.), drinking alcohol, high stress levels, never taking vitamins, never exercising or getting too little sleep are all factors that weaken the body and can thus cause damage to your pancreas and lead to diabetes. Feeling like a victim to a situation can make one feel terrible. This is why the idea that diabetes is hereditary will never really help an individual feel better about the situation. However, if I were a diabetic and had the courage to admit that I have actively triggered my own condition by knowingly or unknowingly damaging my body, I’d likely feel better about the diagnosis. It’s like having a car accident and the driver realizing that it was it was he or she that contributed to causing the accident by an error in calculation. Seeing where you might have caused a situation or problem will always feel better than merely being a victim to something.

Individuals whose parents or grandparents were diabetics and may be susceptible due to hereditary reasons, may be able to prevent acquiring diabetes if they are aware of the factors that trigger it. In other words, the cellular inheritance of diabetes does not have to be a final judgment on an individual’s fate if preventative actions are taken in time. Unfortunately, what I have seen more often than not is that an overweight or diabetic individual will wait until they are up to their neck in serious health problems before they start looking for a solution.

About fifteen years ago I was working very closely with a good doctor friend of mine who insisted on promoting preventive medicine. However, he found that most people were simply not interested in the idea. Prevention is not an easy sell because most people are usually so busy with their lives that they have no time for prevention and will only face a health problem when it’s already upon them. Again, that’s human nature.

So, ultimately, you have to understand the diabetic patient. In my personal opinion, after having worked with more than 10,000 diabetics who have successfully slimmed down with the NaturalSlim system, nobody wants to have diabetes, nor do they want to be obese. All we want is to survive and enjoy life. What I have also discovered is that most diabetics have an extreme degree of ignorance about how to manage their condition and improve their health. It is for this reason exactly that I have written this book, Problem-Free Diabetes, with the focus of explaining, in simple terms, what a diabetic or family member can do to control diabetes and prevent further, more serious problems.

It is true that diabetes is a chronic condition than can most definitely hinder the enjoyment of life of an individual or their family. But I guarantee that it could be a lot worse if corrective actions are not taken to avoid the terrible health problems that can be caused by diabetes if the condition is not controlled.

In the end, it is important not to regret the past or fix your attention on it, but instead, learn from past mistakes. You are here now and can create and control your future with the choices you make from this point forward.

Diabetes and metabolism

There is a close relationship between obesity and diabetes. Over the course of fifteen years, the NaturalSlim System has offered consultation for over 50,000 people who wanted to slim down, 10,000 of whom were diabetic. We could say that obesity and diabetes are close friends. In fact, it is estimated that at least 85% of diabetics are overweight or obese, so the percentage of those with diabetes in a program like NaturalSlim tends to be very high.

In principle, NaturalSlim is a system to lose weight and improve health, using skills that have been acquired on how to improve the human metabolism.

The metabolism is defined as the sum of all movements, actions and changes that occur in the body to convert food and nutrients into energy to survive.

The word metabolism comes from the Greek word meta which means move or change. For example, the word metamorphosis means moving or changing shape. Another examples is "metastasis⁷, which means invasive movement of cancer" and is a description of cancer beginning to invade other parts of the body. Therefore, when we talk about the metabolism, we are referring to the movements and changes that occur in the body in order to obtain the energy that allows us to sustain life.

Just to clarify, this is not a diet book for diabetics, as there are many other books like that available, many of which are written by highly qualified nutritionists, dietitians, physicians and educators on the subject of diabetes. Instead, what this book is about is how to improve the metabolism of a diabetic, so that they can make controlling this condition a reality and thus improve or preserve their health.

Diet and the metabolism are not the same thing. For the purposes of understanding the difference between these two, we can use an analogy (comparison) to help you better grasp what makes them differ from each other. A diet has to do with the food you eat, which in effect would be equal to FUEL for your body in the same way that gasoline is fuel used in the engine of your car. The foods that make up your diet would be the fuel, while the metabolism would be comparable to the ENGINE converting the fuel (food) into ENERGY to survive. If your car’s engine were damaged in any way, surely you would realize that the strength or quality of the gasoline (fuel) would not solve the problem of a damaged engine because, after all, the problem is with the engine, not the fuel.

In my book, The Power of Your Metabolism, what I tried to convey was that the problem of obesity has not had a solution and continues to be a worldwide epidemic, only because the experts who are trying to solve this issue specialize primarily in suggesting changes or improvements to the diet (the body’s fuel) and tend to ignore the existence of a slow metabolism. This is equivalent to having a damaged engine and trying to resolve it by improving the quantity or quality of the gasoline that supplies it.

Other experts will ignorantly insist, although well meaning, that the problem is not getting enough exercise and that the solution to overcoming obesity is simply more physical exercise. What they don’t realize is that the vast majority of people who suffer from obesity also have a slow metabolism, which produces a chronic deficiency of the energy required to exercise. Just as logic dictates that you cannot go out and spend money you do not have, you must first have a metabolism that produces enough energy in order to be able to exercise.

There is truth to improving the diet (the body’s fuel), and doing more physical exercise will increase one’s health, but it is also true that neither of these solutions has managed to stop or reduce the obesity epidemic. Although they are good recommendations, they are not correcting the real CAUSE of obesity, which is a slow metabolism.

I believe that if we were to educate diabetics with the correct information on how to control their condition, we would see improvements in the statistics of diabetes and reductions in medication dependency, both for diabetes and other related conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high triglycerides. We would also see fewer cases of obesity amongst diabetics, those needing dialysis⁸ and fewer amputations⁹ performed. My opinions are not meant to be a criticism of health professionals offering help to diabetics; they are observations that I have made over the last fifteen years while helping thousands of diabetics effectively improve their metabolism and lifestyle.

I dared to write this book because I believe that within the subject of diabetes, the only thing that has continued to increase is the sale of diabetes-related medicine and services to those suffering from this condition, notresults. I have seen that there is a wide variety of modern medicines and treatments to address the symptoms of diabetes, but little or nothing that can be used to manage the CAUSES of uncontrolled diabetes, which has led to so many cases of amputations, kidney damage, blindness and other unfortunate side effects.

As we’ve observed with those on the NaturalSlim program, by improving the metabolism and losing weight, the control of diabetes was also improved. In fact, a few years ago we did a study on 25 diabetic patients in Puerto Rico. The study lasted thirteen weeks and was supervised by Dr. Fernando Alvarez Soto. At that point in time, we had already helped thousands of diabetics with the NaturalSlim diet and program, and also received hundreds of testimonials from our obese, diabetic clients that claimed they were finally making progress and experiencing marked improvements in their ability to control their condition.

As part of this study, we wanted to ensure that the results were formally documented and showed that the lifestyle and techniques taught to improve the metabolism could also help diabetics who were dealing with obesity. So, we hired Dr. Alvarez Soto, who has a comprehensive medical practice and a lot of experience in treating diabetic patients. The results of this study were simply amazing, particularly the improvements in laboratory test results for the 25 diabetics involved. In all honesty, we were equally as surprised as Dr. Soto.

As part of this book, I have included the results of this study in detail so you may see for yourself the positive impact that our metabolism technology and lifestyle had on the life and health of the 25 diabetics who participated.

I see diabetes as a metabolic disorder that hinders the creation of energy within the body, thus leading to serious damage and deterioration of the body. I never thought I’d be writing about diabetes; I was only interested in helping people like myself who suffered from obesity and had a long list of failed diet attempts and consequently, lost hope. After I was able to overcome my own problem with obesity, as well as my pre-diabetic condition, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high triglycerides, I could only think of helping others overcome their own slow metabolism, which is what I cover in my previous book, The Power of Your Metabolism.

Furthermore, it just so happens that within our NaturalSlim centers, we have not only seen improvements with the metabolism and obesity, but inevitably, the diabetics involved in the program began reporting dramatic improvements in their condition, as well as a reduction in medicinal requirements (including insulin injections) as regulated by their doctors. There are even case reports of diabetic neuropathies¹⁰ that stopped getting worse with our help, which clearly could not be overlooked.

As mentioned earlier, the metabolism is responsible for the creation of energy and movements within the body. Life, in order to exist, needs the ability to move. That movement, in turn, depends on the creation of energy generated by the metabolism. When the metabolism is improved, the ability to create energy in the body is also improved, which then improves the quality and intensity of life within the body’s cells. This, of course, reflects in better health. By improving the metabolism and energy production within the billions of cells that comprise the human body, the emotional well being of a person is also positively impacted, creating a better overall attitude, positivity and enthusiasm for life.

None of us is a machine, nor are our bodies. Without a doubt, we are spiritual beings who have a body. When we feel good spiritually and life is going well, our body and health will reflect that. However, when life starts to go poorly and our relationships or families are negatively affected as a result, our body and health are also quick to reflect just that. Have you ever noticed that most people just don’t get sick if they are having a great time, such as on a holiday or vacation? But when they have problems in life, whether it has to do with finances, their partner, children, work or some other area in life, they are more prone to getting sick. Even being around someone who specializes in sharing destructive constructive criticism can make life miserable. In short, our spiritual, mental and emotional state has a definite influence on our health and ability to really control a hormonal condition such as diabetes.

It is also true that the ability of the body to create energy (what we call the metabolism) also exerts a powerful and continuous influence on the hormonal and nervous systems of the body. This in turn affects our mind, emotional state and spiritual state. It is without a doubt that our health and overall enjoyment of life depends on our spiritual, mental and physical state.

Once again, one of the main characteristics of life itself is its ability to create and maintain movement. Note that everything that is alive has some sort of movement, while a lifeless (dead) object does not. Take a child, for example: their movement and physical activity is much different than that of an 80-year-old person. It’s clear that a child’s body has a much higher ability to move. Science and logic tells us that there can be no movement if we don’t first have a source of power to create it. Therefore, there must always be some source of energy that can be converted into usable energy and thus allow for the creation of movement that characterizes life itself. The sequence of creating energy in the human body would be something like this:

The sequence of energy creation in a car engine follows in a similar order:

Now, if the car engine had problems with combustion, it wouldn’t efficiently release the energy from the fuel (gasoline), which would then cause problems with transportation. At the very least, it would be poor transportation or possibly too slow for your needs. The same happens with the human body, which is dependent upon the creation of optimal movement (not too fast, not too slow) to sustain internal processes, such as digestion, blood circulation, respiration, elimination, and so on. Needless to say, the body depends on an optimal pace or movement in order to function at its best.

For example, a bowel movement that is too fast results in diarrhea, which hinders digestion and the absorption of nutrients. If this continues for too long, the body is weakened as a result. On the other hand, a bowel movement that is too slow results in constipation, which creates a toxic environment within the body and is sometimes associated with intestinal cancer. Prolonged constipation can also cause the body to become very weak.

Another example of this would be the optimal movement necessary to maintain a proper heart rate. A heart that beats too fast, too slow or irregularly is called "arrhythmia¹¹." If the heart is simply beating too slow, heart failure¹² could occur, which could lead to a heart attack. Alternately, if you were severely being affected by stress, your heart may react by beating too fast, which could also put you at risk for heart failure. This is something that happens to diabetics when their blood sugar drops; the heart will begin to race so as to supply more blood to the body to keep it alive.

The body of a diabetic has lost part of its natural ability to transform (change or move) some types of food into energy in order to maintain optimal movement that the body requires.

In my book, The Power of Your Metabolism, I talk about how to improve a slow metabolism, which is nothing other than an inefficient metabolism. People who have such a metabolism become overweight or obese, mostly due to a general lack of energy that is characteristic of a slow metabolism. Diabetes is a problem closely related to the metabolism and body’s use of refined carbohydrates and starches (bread, flour, rice, potatoes, sweets, fruit juices, sugar, etc.).

Our experience with diabetics on the NaturalSlim program has always been positive. The doctors they worked with for their diabetic condition would not only congratulate them for losing weight, but also for successfully lowering their glucose levels and blood pressure. To top it off, in most cases, they were able to reach normal cholesterol and triglyceride levels. We also found that the doctors of many of the diabetic members of the NaturalSlim system reduced or eliminated the medication they were once taking for diabetes. There are even dozens of cases where their doctors asked them to stop using their insulin injections, as it was no longer necessary to reduce their glucose levels. I’ll never forget one of our male, diabetic members who was suffering from impotency (one of the many side effects of diabetes) who was able to restore normal sexual function as part of the diet that also helped him control his diabetes.

This book makes no promises; it is only meant to pass along what we have learned and observed over the last 15 years working with thousands of people who needed to improve their metabolism. Over these years we have found that a few key actions were effective at improving the quality of life and health of an individual with diabetes. As they say, The truth is known by the results it produces. Therefore, I invite you to apply the concepts I present here, with the coordination, supervision and approval of your doctor, and see for yourself the results that can be produced.

Today, there are hundreds of doctors who refer their overweight, diabetic patients to the NaturalSlim system simply because they truly have a desire to help. Many of these doctors have also observed a marked improvement in their patients’ ability to control their diabetes with our help, and have consequently lowered their medicinal doses as a result of improved lab tests. Not all doctors are in agreement with the idea of continuing to increase the dose of prescription drugs or continually having to prescribe additional medications to their diabetic patients.

Many other doctors have noticed that their patients, who follow the recommendations within my book The Power of Your Metabolism, not only lose weight, but also reduce their need for diabetic medications. This, of course, suggests that a lifestyle that helps improve the metabolism can also help an overweight diabetic lose weight and even reduce their glucose¹³ levels (blood sugar).

As covered in this same book, the diabetics that follow the 3x1 DIET that is recommended have reported such a marked improvement in their diabetes that their doctors asked them to stop using insulin injections, as they were no longer needed. In other cases, their doctors would reduce their medication by half or more, whether it was for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high triglycerides. This was all due to simply applying what they learned in The Power of Your Metabolism.

I, Frank Suárez, am not a doctor or a nutritionist. I specialize in obesity and the metabolism. I do not pretend to treat diabetes or any other condition or diseases that doctors or other health care professionals may treat. When an individual with diabetes arrives at a NaturalSlim center, the first thing we do is inform them not to ever make changes to the dose or use of their medications or diet without consulting their doctor first. Diabetics that use insulin are required to bring in written medical clearance to participate in our program before we can proceed to offer them help or guidance.

I am dedicated to promoting health and teaching people how to follow a lifestyle that has proven to work for thousands of people in our NaturalSlim centers. The emphasis of NaturalSlim is to EDUCATE them, which helps them become aware of their own health and how they themselves have participated or contributed to the creation of their own health problems due to a lack of knowledge. Nobody wants to be overweight, ill or diabetic, so we know that those who seek help must not be aware of many of the factors that triggered their condition in the first place, and so we are dedicated to guiding them. What I use are mostly common-sense recommendations that are based on what has worked for the vast majority of those who have requested our help in losing weight and controlling their diabetes since 1998, when the first NaturalSlim center opened.

I have very little interest in theories. I do, however, have a very strong interest in what produces observable RESULTS. Occasionally what we recommend to a person trying to lose weight or control their diabetes may not align with traditional recommendations, like counting calories or eating several small meals throughout the day. What we do recommend are actions that produce measurable and desirable RESULTS.

This book, Problem-Free Diabetes, which also could be called Controlling Diabetes Using the Power of Your Metabolism, is intended for those who have diabetes, as well as those who care for a diabetic. With this book I hope to make a modest contribution to the control of this condition, which today is considered a worldwide epidemic. Remember, if you have diabetes, you should always check with your doctor prior to making any changes to your diet, medicinal doses or level of physical exercise.

In principle, anything that improves or stabilizes the METABOLISM (the ability of the body to create energy for itself) will also help improve control of diabetes. Doing so will also help with improving other health conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides and even depression. Therefore, the advice provided in this book is centered on the topic of the METABOLISM.

The metabolism is responsible for efficiently creating the energy needed to maintain the health of the body. Optimum health and the control of diabetes or any other health condition is simply not possible when the energy the body needs is deficient or missing. A healthy person is someone whose body has the ability to create energy in a stable and continuous manner. They have an abundance of energy to support proper hormonal balances, the assimilation of nutrients, reproduction and the capacity for the body to adapt to the environment. Behind every health condition, including physical or emotional ailments, you may find a problem in life that may be causing stress, but also, a lack of control of the factors that make energy available to the body.

Without a doubt, we are spiritual beings who also possess a body and a mind. As eternal spiritual beings, we are neither our body nor our mind. These three elements (being, mind and body) are closely related and influence one another in a marked and continuous manner.

For many years, we have observed and documented the impressive results and improvements in the health for those who sought our help using the NaturalSlim System. While improving the efficiency of their metabolism, these people not only became thinner and gained control of their diabetes, but their once low or non-existent energy levels had also returned! There have also been some who suffered from depression prior to following our program who found that they had an interest and enjoyment for life once again.

In short, the metabolism is responsible for producing the energy necessary to live a healthy life. It is also something that is closely related to your own happiness and that of your family.

What is diabetes?

In order to discuss any topic, it is necessary to define the issue in advance so that you understand what it is that is being discussed. Having helped thousands of people suffering from both obesity and diabetes, I dare to express my definition of what the disease called diabetes is:

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which the body has lost its ability to adequately process and use refined carbohydrates¹⁴, starches¹⁵ and sugars.

Although this definition of diabetes may seem too simple for some with medical training, what I like is that it works, because as soon as a diabetic begins to take control of their consumption of refined carbohydrates, starches and sugars, they automatically begin to have better control of their diabetes.

Carbohydrates, by definition, are composed of sugar molecules. So the first step to controlling diabetes is to reduce the consumption of sugar in all its forms. This includes fructose¹⁶ in fruit, lactose¹⁷ in milk, grains, cereals, bread, pasta, flour, rice and other foods high in starch such as potatoes and other tubers¹⁸.

I could have created a far more complex definition than the one previously stated, which would include all the other factors that characterize diabetes. However, for purposes of achieving practical results and improvements in the control of diabetes, this definition simply establishes that diabetes is a problem concerning the control of refined carbohydrates (bread, flour, pasta, sweets, sugar, fruit juices, etc.), starch (potatoes, rice, etc.) and sugar (glucose, fructose, lactose, etc.). This is also based on experience with over 10,000 diabetics who have been members of the NaturalSlim system.

Ultimately, all that matters is that we achieve positive results and improvements in the health of those who have diabetes. So, once again, my intention is to keep the information in this book simple and easy to understand. There are dozens of books written by top diabetes doctors and specialists in the field. However, one of the primary disadvantages is that many of these books about diabetes, most of which I have read, are far too technical and excessively use specialized medical terminology, which makes them difficult to understand for a reader who is not a healthcare professional. I have also seen that these books completely omit the important issue of improving the metabolism itself, which is vital when it comes to achieving and maintaining good health and energy levels.

This book, ProblemFree Diabetes, must be easy to understand so that everyone can take advantage of the information. Therefore, my intention is to pass along the KNOWLEDGE of what I have learned over 15 years while helping thousands of diabetics lose weight with the NaturalSlim program. I also want to ensure that you can easily APPLY this information and actually get the positive RESULTS you deserve. As I’ve said before, you cannot solve a problem you do not fully understand. Therefore, the solution to any problem, including diabetes, is to always acquire more KNOWLEDGE about it.

In my opinion, diabetes can only be controlled by significantly reducing one’s consumption of refined carbohydrates and starches (bread, flour, pasta, pizza, rice, potatoes, sugar, etc.). This topic, however, will be discussed more in detail when you reach the chapter titled USING THE 3x1 DIET TO CONTROL DIABETES, which will cover a method where you can easily proportion your meals using different types of food. This same method has been used to help thousands of people lose weight and has been found to also help control a diabetic condition.

History of diabetes

The term diabetes is a shortened version of its full name, diabetes mellitus. The word diabetes was derived from the Greek word diabetes, which means, to pass through, while the Latin word mellitus means sweet. It was named as such because those with diabetes will urinate frequently, which is the body’s way of removing excess glucose that is not being used by the cells.

The first historical references to diabetes are very old. For example, in the Ebers Papyrus¹⁹ discovered in Egypt (dating from 1550 BC), the symptoms of diabetes were described. Around that same time, practitioners of traditional medicine in India used a rudimentary test with patients to check for diabetes by having them urinate on the ground and watching to see if ants were attracted to the urine. As a diabetic’s urine is high in glucose (sugar), ants will undoubtedly be attracted to it. In ancient Indian texts, diabetes was described as a condition where the patient had honey-flavored urine. By the year 129, Galen of Pergamum²⁰, one of the most prominent physicians of ancient times who had learned from the writings of Hippocrates²¹, described the characteristic symptoms of diabetes as excessive urination, thirst, hunger and weight loss.

The ancient Greeks described diabetes as a disease that caused the body to melt and turn into sweet water. As diabetics can lose quite a bit of weight and have fairly constant urination due to the body’s difficulty in utilizing glucose from the blood, this was a pretty descriptive observation of what happens to the body of a diabetic.

In ancient Persia (present-day Iran) around 1020 A.D., a medical practitioner by the name of Avicenna created a voluminous writing called The Canon of Medicine, in which he described the symptoms of diabetes as abnormal appetite and the collapse of sexual functions. Today, we know that impotency is one of the most common adverse effects in diabetic men.

As mentioned earlier, you may sometimes see the term diabetes mellitus used. Again, the word mellitus comes from Greek word mel, which means, honey. Thomas Willis, an English doctor, added the term in 1675, when he noticed that the urine of a diabetic patient was as sweet as honey. And yes, he did make it a point to actually taste the urine of a diabetic patient, hence his discovery.

Even by the late nineteenth century, Apollinaire Bouchardat, a famous French pharmacist who is considered the father of diabetology (the study of diabetes), said that diabetes was closely linked to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. By 1880, Bouchardat was recommending a diet low in glucides (a technical term for carbohydrates) to control diabetes.

As a note, the word sugars is actually a more correct term than carbohydrates. However, as I have written this book for those who are not necessarily health professionals, I prefer to use the term carbohydrate, as it is a more familiar term.

The proper treatment of diabetes took thousands of years to reach a point where science obtained a better understanding of the condition. Until then, no one was really sure what part of the body was failing, although there was suspicion that it was related to the stomach or kidneys due to the frequent urination characteristic of diabetes. Others suspected it was related to the liver.

It wasn’t until 1889 that these suspicions were finally clarified. During that year, German scientists Oskar Minkowski and Joseph von Mering were researching how fats were digested. They knew that the pancreas was somehow involved in the process of digesting fats, so part of their experiment involved surgically removing the pancreas from two dogs. To their surprise, these two dogs became diabetic shortly afterwards. This is how it was discovered that diabetes was related to the pancreas.

The next step was to discover what part of the pancreas prevented people from developing diabetes. As it turns out, Paul Langerhans, a German physician, had written an article 23 years earlier that described a group of cells produced by the pancreas for which he was unable to determine their function.

Soon after, a couple of Canadians named Frederick Banting (a surgeon) and Charles Best (a medical student), were able to extract the same pancreatic cells that Langerhans had discovered and inject them into diabetic dogs, successfully reducing their blood glucose levels – they had discovered insulin! In January of 1922, Banting and Best tested it by injecting the extract into a 14-year-old diabetic boy who was dying of diabetes; they saved his life as a result. It was at this point that diabetes was no longer a death sentence.

As you can see, diabetes has a long and interesting history and has been with us for thousands of years. The problem, however, is that diabetes is still a disease that is continually affecting more and more of the world’s population as the years go by. Modern medicine has greatly improved in its ability to treat the symptoms and complications of diabetes, but this fact still remains: We are losing the battle against diabetes. There are an ever-growing percentage of diabetics amongst our population, not to mention the continual growth of childhood diabetes.

I look forward to the possibility of the information in this book not only helping to raise awareness, but helping you or a loved one control a diabetic condition or even prevent a child in your family from becoming a victim to this disease. In the vast majority of cases, it can be avoided. Yes, there are hereditary factors that can be linked to the development of diabetes, but these hereditary factors are not a final and firm declaration that you will get diabetes. In other words, hereditary factors only establish a predisposition to developing diabetes, which can make it more of a possibility. But it does not mean that you will, without a doubt, become diabetic. Of course, if an individual has parents or grandparents that are diabetic, they are more likely to develop it, but once again, that does not mean that you will as well.

In short, diabetes can be avoided by following and maintaining a healthy lifestyle where refined carbohydrates, starches and sugars are not abused.

Meeting the actors in the play called diabetes

Before we talk about diabetes and how to control it, it’s important to understand the different terms, words and elements that are associated with it. Some of these subjects may be new to you, but they all play a part in this condition. In fact, please make it a point to give special emphasis to this chapter because if you cannot understand all of the terms I explain here, you definitely will not be able to take advantage of the rest of the information in this book. If you are trying to manage your own diabetic condition or help another with theirs, it is vital that you understand this information.

In the same way that it would be important to understand the participation of each character in a play, it’s vital that you understand the different terms, words and body parts that are associated with diabetes. As with anything, if we can understand all sides to an issue, we can understand the entire problem. Since you cannot control something you do not understand, it is only appropriate to clarify the words and concepts related to diabetes.

Managing diabetes is like learning to drive a car for the first time. If you were to let someone drive a car who has failed to understand how the different parts of a car work (gas, brakes, steering wheel, etc.) before driving, it is almost certain that they will eventually have an accident, wrecking the car or their own life. The diabetic who does not understand or master the different factors that affect their diabetes is heading straight for disaster. It is the responsibility of the diabetic and their loved ones and family who support them to know and understand the issues explained below in order to effectively control diabetes. If a diabetic does not control his or her condition, it will control them. You simply cannot have positive control over something if you don’t first have KNOWLEDGE about it.

Within the following pages, I will describe the different factors that you should understand if you really want to control your diabetes or that of a loved one. Having a poor understanding or feeling like you understand these points more or less will not cut it, because the consequences of not understanding what is at stake can be serious and regrettable, at the least. Diabetes is not a game; it can cost you your life if you are not able to control it.

GLUCOSE

Glucose is sugar that is present in the blood. It is also the main fuel used by all cells in the body, in the same way that gasoline is the fuel for the engine of a car. Foods like refined carbohydrates or starches (bread, flour, rice, potatoes, sugar, sweets, etc.) are converted into glucose very easily. Proteins (meat, chicken, turkey, fish, seafood, cheese, eggs, etc.), on the other hand, are also converted into glucose, but at a much lesser degree than refined carbohydrates or starches.

Diabetes is characterized by excess glucose in the blood and in most cases is the cause of a large number of other health problems such as obesity, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, cardiovascular problems²², kidney damage, nerve damage/loss of sensation in the nerves (diabetic neuropathy), high blood pressure, vision loss or blindness (retinopathy), sexual impotence, leg ulcers that can lead to amputation, premature aging due to cell damage and even premature death. Indeed, in the presence of high glucose levels, the human body will decay and the person’s metabolism, energy and health will be destroyed.

GLYCOGEN

The human body is a creative masterpiece. Through evolution, it has created ways to store your primary fuel (glucose or blood sugar) for use in times of scarcity. This stored fuel is glycogen, which is what your body uses to survive, even if you have to go through long periods without food. Glycogen is a type of fuel storage that is stored mainly in the liver and in small quantities within the muscles. In fact, the liver could be considered a reserve fuel tank, where glycogen acts as a fuel to keep your body alive through times where you are unable to eat.

Glycogen is a cluster of glucose molecules that surround a protein molecule, similar to how branches and leaves extend out from the trunk of a tree. A single protein could be surrounded by up to 30,000 glucose units, which extend out around the protein molecule. At all times, the liver is releasing glycogen little by little, which is used by the cells as food to keep themselves alive while the body isn’t consuming food.

Glycogen could be compared to heavy fuel (similar to diesel fuel) in that it is able to be used at all times by the body’s cells, even if you have forgotten to eat or haven’t been eating for many hours.

About 8-10% of the liver’s total weight consists of glycogen. I wanted to explain this in the best way possible because it is vital that you have a good understanding of the important role glycogen plays in controlling diabetes. If you really want to control episodes of hyperglycemia (blood glucose levels too high) or hypoglycemia (blood glucose levels too low), both of which can cause irreparable harm to your health (such as amputations or loss of eyesight), you will need to not only stabilize your blood sugar levels, but the production of glycogen in your liver. There is no other way to control diabetes.

An interesting fact to note is that if the protein in the center of the glycogen molecule didn’t exist, it would be impossible for your body to produce glycogen, which would leave you feeling constantly hungry, even if you had just eaten a couple hours earlier. What I have noticed is that when a diabetic does not consume enough protein (meat, cheese, eggs, etc.), they tend to have a low production of glycogen, thus causing them to not have the energy reserves necessary for stable blood sugar levels. The more glycogen that is produced and stored in the liver, the longer you will be able to maintain physical activity without experiencing weakness or sudden increases or decreases in glucose, both of which can really damage your body.

As mentioned earlier, glycogen is primarily stored in the liver, while some is stored in the body’s muscle tissue, as well as in the brain. It is the only type of stored glucose that is available long-term that can meet the needs of all of the body’s cells and stabilize the blood sugar of a diabetic. Without a steady supply of glycogen, it is impossible to control diabetes, episodes of hunger and low/high blood sugar that will slowly destroy a diabetic’s body and health.

Glycogen provides the body’s cells with a STABLE source of energy. Thus, what we want to do is help those with diabetes take the steps necessary to naturally produce a greater amount of glycogen to allow for better and longer-lasting control of their diabetes, making for a more enjoyable life.

Dr. Ludwig Johnson, a Venezuelan medical specialist in diabetes, described glycogen as glucose tablets produced by the liver, which I personally liked, as that is precisely what glycogen is: long-lasting fuel for life.

THE PANCREAS

The pancreas is an important hub of the subject of diabetes. It is a gland²³ about the size of your fist that is located right next to the stomach and around the upper abdomen. The pancreas produces the hormone²⁴ insulin, which is what allows the body cells to use glucose as food, while reducing glucose levels in the blood. The pancreas also produces various digestive enzymes to help the body digest carbohydrates, proteins and fats. In addition, the pancreas produces another hormone called glucagon, which has the opposite effect of insulin, as it increases (instead of decreases) glucose levels in the blood.

INSULIN

Insulin is an essential hormone for life. You could say that insulin is the key to the front door of the cells, allowing them to open up and receive glucose as food. Without insulin, the body’s cells would starve and blood glucose would continue to increase limitlessly, unable to be used by the cells.

In the case of Type 1 diabetes, where the pancreas’ ability to produce insulin has been destroyed, you will not typically find someone who is overweight or obese. The reason for this is that fat cannot be created without the help of the insulin hormone. However, it is still possible for a Type 1 diabetic to have excess body fat if they do not make it a point to control their glucose levels enough to avoid having to inject large amounts of insulin.

Insulin is also involved in building muscles and, as mentioned earlier, producing body fat. In fact, too much insulin causes obesity and excess body fat, as insulin converts glucose into fat when there is too much of it in the blood. Insulin also increases hunger, causes the kidneys to retain sodium (salt), increases the production of triglycerides (fats in the blood) in the liver and has other powerful effects on the human body.

Basically, insulin is a storage hormone. Diabetics who suffer from obesity have accumulated fat in the body due to the excessive production of insulin that has forced their bodies to store fat. So, in order to lose weight, the primary technique used is following a diet that reduces the production of insulin from the pancreas, allowing the body the opportunity to reduce the stored fat.

When insulin levels in the body are too high, it makes it impossible to reduce body fat, which is one of the reasons why diabetics who inject high doses of insulin are unable to lose weight.

Furthermore, diabetics who consume large amounts of refined carbohydrates, starches or sugars (such as bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sweet fruits, etc.), need a larger amount of insulin to counteract the excess glucose produced by these types of food. The sequence looks like this:

GLUCAGON

In the same way that insulin is a storage hormone that stores fat and builds and grows muscle and tissue, there is another hormone produced by the pancreas that has the opposite effect. The name of this hormone is glucagon, which could be called a distribution hormone. For example, insulin stores body fat while glucagon removes body fat. Insulin also lowers blood sugar (to feed the body’s cells or convert it into body fat), while glucagon increases it (also as food for the cells).

Glucagon is also considered a stress hormone because it is produced only when glucose levels are below what they should be. Having a low level of glucose puts stress on the body. As glucose is the primary food of the body’s cells, glucagon is produced in order to increase blood glucose. The glucagon in turn instructs the liver to release glucose from its stored reserves.

If a diabetic goes for too long without eating, the body will become stressed due to the danger that low glucose levels impose on the cells. The same happens if a diabetic exercises, as doing so causes the cells to consume larger amounts of glucose in order to keep the body moving, resulting in a depletion of glucose. Basically, having low blood sugar is considered a type of emergency or danger to the body, similar to the concern you would feel if you were driving somewhere important and your car’s gasoline tank was almost empty.

When a diabetic reduces their consumption of refined carbohydrates and starches, their glucose levels will also reduce. If the glucose reduction is significant, the body will react by increasing its production of glucagon in order to reach the proper level of blood glucose. This is precisely the mechanism that overweight diabetics can use to lose weight.

By reducing the consumption of refined carbohydrates and starches, glucose is reduced and the body reacts by producing a larger amount of glucagon. The glucagon then extracts stored glucose from the liver, thus normalizing blood sugar levels. In addition, the glucagon also gives the signal to the body to use its fat stores to feed the cells, thus allowing the diabetic to lose weight.

For those that want to lose weight, glucagon would be a friend, as it helps mobilize body fat, while excessive insulin would be an enemy, as it will add fat to the body. In short, if there is a high level of insulin in the body, stored body fat will not be used.

THE LIVER

The liver is the body’s largest internal gland. It has quite a few functions that are vital to life and the management of diabetes. A few of its important roles include detoxification, the creation of protein and hormones, production of cholesterol²⁵, triglycerides²⁶, and various substances that are necessary for digestion. The liver also works in conjunction with the thyroid gland, which is what controls the body’s metabolism. Many people who suffer from obesity also suffer from thyroid conditions like hypothyroidism, which is one of the most common causes of a slow metabolism that can lead to obesity.

The subject of a slow metabolism and its solutions are detailed in my previous book The Power of Your Metabolism. People with a slow metabolism seem to gain fat just by looking at food, as their bodies are lacking energy. So, instead of body fat being used as fuel for the body, it is stored.

What has been found to be quite common amongst those who are obese is something called a fatty liver, which is simply a condition where the liver is full of fat (triglycerides). When this is the case, the ducts of the liver are clogged with fat and the liver cannot detoxify the body properly, nor can it perform its other vital functions, thus leading to various health problems. Having a belly or potbelly is a clear symptom of a fatty liver.

With regard to diabetes, the liver plays a role of central importance. Diabetes is, essentially, a hormonal problem. The liver itself produces at least four different hormones that are essential to health. When diabetes is not controlled well, especially when combined with obesity, the metabolism and health will be affected and thrown off balance.

The liver is involved in over 500 different body processes, including the activation of vitamins and minerals, producing hormones, manufacturing cholesterol and triglycerides, filtering bacteria and toxins from the blood and detoxifying the body from harmful substances such as alcohol, drugs, medicines, pesticides and artificial dyes that we consume in one way or another.

Diabetes cannot be controlled without taking into the account the proper functioning of the liver. The liver also serves as a glucose reserve tank for the body. In fact, at least 10% of its total weight is the glucose that is stored in it. After each meal, a portion of the glucose stored in the liver (as well as in the muscles, but in much smaller amounts) serves as backup storage for any moment that your body lacks enough glucose for the cells. The glucose that is stored in the liver is stored as starch (same type of starch as mashed potatoes) also known as glycogen, which I covered earlier.

When the body needs to increase the levels of blood glucose, the glucagon hormone (produced by the pancreas) will tell the liver to release glycogen (stored glucose). The liver will then quickly convert the glycogen into glucose when the body needs it. It is in this way that the liver acts a reserve fuel tank for the body, by providing glucose to the cells when levels are low.

A diabetic who can effectively control their diabetes will have very few abnormal glucose spikes or dips (hypoglycemia²⁷, or low blood sugar). This is only true if the metabolism (which creates energy for the body), diet and liver’s ability to accumulate glycogen permits it. The sequence of events that occur hormonally when blood sugar is reduced in a diabetic body that is in good condition is as follows:

A diabetic is subject to the liver’s capacity to store glycogen, which allows him or her to maintain stable blood sugar levels and not get hungry in between meals. If the glucose reserve tank (a.k.a. the liver) of a diabetic fails to store glucose (glycogen), the diabetic would constantly experience low blood sugar, which would lead to dizziness, cold sweats, weakness, mental disorientation and even fainting. A properly functioning liver is important for anyone, especially diabetics.

Obesity and diabetes are closely related. Statistics show that approximately 85% of diabetics are overweight or obese. The NaturalSlim® System specializes in helping people improve their metabolism in order to help them lose weight and keep it off. NaturalSlim® is not necessarily dedicated to addressing diabetes, as diabetes is such a devastating disease that always requires the intervention of a medical professional. However, having had the opportunity to help more than 10,000 diabetics lose weight, we were able to observe what really worked.

We have accumulated thousands of testimonials by various diabetics who were able to lose weight and stabilize their blood sugar levels by implementing a healthier lifestyle with our help. Consequently, they were also able to control their diabetes.

There were even hundreds of diabetics who were not only congratulated by their doctors for their positive improvements, but were also instructed to reduce their medicinal doses. Even some with Type 2 diabetes were asked by their doctors to stop their insulin injections, as they were able to naturally maintain normal glucose levels with our help.

Obese diabetics also have what is called a fatty liver, which is simply an enlarged or inflamed liver. This condition can make diabetes management quite difficult. By losing weight, the fatty liver will lose excess fat, which will reduce the inflammation. In turn, its performance will also improve. It is for this reason that diabetic members of the NaturalSlim® system also saw impressive results in their ability to control their diabetes when they lost weight, as well as an improvement in other related health conditions, such as high blood pressure, triglycerides, cholesterol, and diabetic neuropathy. It was these types of results that piqued my interest in writing this book to share what could be achieved in terms of improving the metabolism and controlling diabetes.

THE THYROID

The thyroid gland, like the liver, is important when it comes to controlling diabetes, as the thyroid is responsible for controlling the body’s metabolism. In fact, the body’s energy and health depend entirely on the thyroid doing its job in harmony with the rest of the body.

The thyroid gland is shaped somewhat like a butterfly with its wings open and is located in the neck. It is in control of the use of oxygen and is vital for the body’s metabolism, which is why those with thyroid problems begin experiencing a slow metabolism, become obese, have a lack of energy, insomnia, constipation, hair loss, depression, cold hands and feet and hormonal imbalances, as with diabetes.

If the thyroid is not functioning well, there is no way to control diabetes, as doing so requires that the thyroid is doing its job of directing the metabolism to produce energy. One of the primary characteristics of a living organism is that it must have MOVEMENT. Living things move, while dead things do not. Without ENERGY, there is no possibility of MOVEMENT. Once again, the thyroid controls the metabolism, which is what produces energy and, in turn, allows for the movement and life of the body itself.

When a diabetic has extremely high levels of glucose, the pancreas is forced to produce an excess of insulin, which then interferes with the hormones produced by the thyroid. This, in turn, reduces the metabolism and energy that is responsible for maintaining the hormonal balance and health of the body.

Various researchers on the topic of the metabolism, such as Dr. Guy Schenker, have stated that excessively high levels of glucose and insulin create a state of hormonal imbalance, resulting in the creation of nodules (abnormal tissue growth, which is sometimes cancerous) in the thyroid gland. The hormonal imbalance is due to the thyroid working to produce more of its hormones when they are unable to reach the cells. I have even seen hundreds of members of the NaturalSlim system reduce or even eliminate the nodules on their thyroid once they managed to normalize their glucose levels and insulin in their blood, in addition to overcoming their slow metabolism and losing weight.

As an additional note, thyroid medication (Synthroid, Levothyroxine, Eutirox, etc.) will also increase glucose levels. Therefore, the higher the dose is for a diabetic taking these, the higher their glucose levels will be and the harder it will be to control their diabetes. For this reason, I recommend that you adopt the recommendations I make in this book to improve your metabolism and the function of your thyroid gland, but only with the approval of your doctor. In short, if the thyroid is out of control, diabetes will also be out of control.

ADRENAL GLANDS

The adrenal glands also play an important role in the subject of diabetes. Your body has two of these glands, each located above one of the two kidneys. They are