Controlling diabetes with diet, exercise and pills: Part 2

Author’s note: This is the second of a three-part series about diabetes. Part 1 offered a basic overview of the disease and its different types. Part 2 discusses ways to control it with pills, diet and exercise. Part 3 considers the new treatment possibilities, including medicines, as well as the Spanish names.

By Garnett Stewart

In part 1 of diabetes, the vital fact was explained. The problem is not refined sugar. All food breaks down into glucose, water, and functional components. Poisons from this breakdown must be eliminated. Diabetes occurs when cells cannot get the needed blood glucose to metabolize and survive. Simple yet with many advanced steps and checks. This part 2 focuses on Type 2 diabetes. Type 1 patients are very knowledgeable and are welcome to write privately.

For more information, click here.Protect kidneys and your liver, which eliminate waste and poisons. The kidneys never heal. Born with hundreds of thousands of filters, human kidneys cannot repair themselves. Kidney failure is permanent. Kidney failure causes slow, terrible death. Dialysis is simply a static condition with numerous problems and transplants are hard to acquire.

If wounded, the liver may regenerate and self-heal. We die in days if our liver fails, yet it can regenerate.  Liver death is horrific. Your belly swells called ascites and you turn yellow orange. You smell of ammonia. The liver sponges up poisons and expels them through many organs and systems. All alcohol, recreational drugs, prescriptions, and chemicals can affect the liver in diabetics. Medical marijuana works when utilized appropriately.  Overuse strains these essential organs. Drugs, anesthetics, contrast dyes, alcohol, cigarettes, and other ingested, breathed, and applied compounds can cause permanent injury. The saying “you cannot live without your liver” is true.

Exercise: it is essential for diabetics. It is essential to keep our bodies is good working order. It involves daily bodywork. Walking is the finest workout if done regularly for 20–30 minutes. Steady gentle exercise is appropriate. No requirement for strenuous workout. Some exercises can be replaced with isometrics. Even chair exercises can meet the diabetics needs. Keep hydrated and bring a water bottle when you exercise.

The Mayo clinic says: Physical activity
Everyone needs regular aerobic exercise, including people who have type 1 and 2 diabetes. First, get your provider’s OK to exercise. Then choose activities you enjoy, such as walking or swimming, and do them every day when you can. Try for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week, with no more than two days without any exercise. That is a quote from Johns Hopkins.

Below are isometric floor exercises but I do these on my soft bed with a bad knee:

Diet: it is vital; the ratio of fats, proteins, and carbs at each meal must be carefully considered. Too many carbs and too little protein are consumed by many diabetics. I don’t think the suggested food plan by the ADA is a good one.

ADA Diet Pyramid
Too many cereals and breads! What are all those desserts doing on the top shelf of the American Diabetic Food Pyramid!  NOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Low Carb No Carb Pyramid This pyramid is better for diabetics and to control weight.

Discipline!: ¡Ya gotta be disciplined!

Patients have cheated their way to amputations, blindness, heart attacks, and strokes. They blame desires, which is serious. How to curb cravings? I like diets with vitamins, supplements for cravings and more water! My trick- when I am craving pizza instead, I get a spinach salad and eat a fruit. I am full and since I fed the cravings exactly the best foods, they dissolve. I am disciplined almost all the time so when I do cheat it is corrected immediately.

Unlike the parental advice to “clean your plate,” leaving food on your plate can save your life.

Coffee and Empanada y Bolon for breakfast in Ecuador. Bolons and empanadas with plantain and fresh cheese provide less than an ounce of protein.  Where are the fruits and vegetables? Possible carbohydrate and fat overload.

The Ecuadorian high-carb, low-protein diet stinks. Control your diet with quadruple carbohydrates? Even if rice, corn, and bread are unnecessary, our Ecuadorian lunch and dinner include them.  An inadequate protein serving! Here’s a mobile measure: a strong fist. A tight fist size of protein is usually enough to deliver enough protein.

Why not buy extra protein? Extra cheese or eggs. Crumble white maize kernels into cholo grits. A typical meal comprises fresh cheese, eggs, choclo, rice, a roll, coffee, and fruit juice.  Ecuadorian meals rarely include bacon or sausage, so adjust your intake. Pick all the protein on your plate. Enjoy one carb. Choose a fat you like.  Satiety and fat-soluble vitamin absorption come from fat. This is why butter always beats margarine.  Margarine sold abroad may include trans fats. Read the label! Lipids increase heart disease risk. Natural, organic butter in reasonable portions is fine. Texans use lots of everything, including tablespoons spoons of butter. Stuffed potatoes with 2 teaspoons of butter and extras can work. Refer to this.

Again, in my experience, the ADA diet, drug recipe, and guidelines do not prevent or reverse diabetes. Consumers must be smarter than such misinformation because diabetes is BIG business.

Breakfast at Sunrise Café in Cuenca.

American breakfasts are adaptable. Bacon, eggs, toast, butter, coffee, and juice are usual. Above are many fresh fruits. Excellent for diabetic diets. Eat 1⁄2 a bagel or English muffin.

Because juice contains concentrated carbohydrates, I offer it to someone who might appreciate it. Three to four fruit servings and sugar are typical. Eating fruit is preferable to drinking. Test your blood sugar 2 hours after eating blueberries and strawberries, then compare drinks for fun. Unbelievable that juice may double blood sugar while fresh fruits hardly affect it!

Like everyone else, you may need pancakes, so eat one or two size dependent without syrup. One tablespoon of marmalade beats half a cup syrup. You enjoy sweetness without unnecessary calories. Sugary syrup and sugar-free syrup are excessive calories without value.

Oatmeal Pecan Pancakes.

Change your diet that day -if you prefer pancakes and syrup then cut out all carbohydrates that day. Eat greens, chicken, and fish instead of carbohydrates!  Enjoy the huge cheat, then transform your day. Follow the recommended diet for a few days. Then your 90-day hemoglobin A1c will be normal.

Ya gotta be disciplined!

Pills and injections
The first choice in early Diabetes Type 2 or prediabetes is radical diet changes and changes in lifestyle. This can delay or stop the need to medications. If you have been told that you have prediabetes, act fast and make the needed changes!

But often the insulin resistance and insufficient insulin do need a boost.

Below are both oral medicines and injectable medicines in Ecuador.

These are these current types of oral and injectable medicines:

• Metformin
• Thiazolidinediones(Glitazones)
• Insulin-Releasing Pills (Secretagogues)
• StarchBlockers
• Incretin-BasedTherapies
• AmylinAnalogues

I think this list is correct and complete. Of course, you can save 20-25% on the discount days at the pharmacies. Make the list on your calendar to save money.

Note Eloy Alfaro Farmacia owner by Roberto Benavides is my go-to pharmacy. He is bilingual, extremely knowledgeable and even delivers.  I pay about $8 for a box of metformin and not as much as $25. He will sell generics but only the quality ones.

There are combination drugs not listed that big pharma renames and considers to be new medicine. But we all recognize it is a mixture of convenience at a much higher price.

Part three will be about the newest trends and the newest ideas for diabetes type 2.
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Garnett Stewart is a permanent resident of Ecuador. She is a retired Adult Medicine Nurse Practitioner with a specialty in Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery and is the author of several published articles. She holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in nursing. Her undergraduate university studies focused on biochemistry and biophysics. She can be contacted at Ecuador.advice@gmail.com