When people come into my office for their first visit, we discuss their current health concerns as well as their medical history. After sharing a list of symptoms which may include body aches, inflammation, skin irritation, digestive issues, or the like, they often explain that they have a certain condition or believe that they have a genetic predisposition towards these symptoms.

While a clear diagnosis can be helpful to understand symptoms and develop a treatment plan, often times these labels lead people to believe that there is little they can do to improve their situation. The same is true when people believe that a symptom “runs in their family.” 

There is a certain level of resolution built into these beliefs - like an underlying conviction that there is nothing they can do about the situation. This is especially true when it comes to conditions like diabetes.

What Is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or respond to insulin properly, resulting in elevated glucose levels. Instability in blood sugar increases the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, vision problems, neuropathy, infections, and inflammation.  

Diabetes has long been thought of as a chronic, progressive, incurable disease that simply needs to be managed. As Dr. Sarah Hallberg notes, “You get this disease, and there's nothing you can do about it. There’s no going back...that paralyzes people. It takes away their hope, and it takes away their control.” 

But is the conventional perspective really true?

Can Type II Diabetes Be Reversed?

Dr. Hallberg recently published a large clinical trial regarding the impact of a low-carb, high-fat diet on type II diabetes. The findings of this study were remarkable!

• Reversal of type II diabetes in 60% of participants 
• 100% of participants were able to get off the main diabetic medication which has been linked to heart attacks
• 94% of participants were able to get off or dramatically lower their insulin
• Average weight loss was 12% (or 30lbs.)

This is groundbreaking research that needs to be shared with every patient dealing with blood sugar issues. According to Hallberg, “Just allowing people the knowledge that this is something you can reverse, you can back out of type II diabetes, empowers people.” 

Resources On Reversing Diabetes 

If you or a loved one is dealing with blood sugar issues of any kind (insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, etc.), you may want to check out the following resources.

• Dr. Hallberg’s Reversing Diabetes 101 video series.
• Virta Treatment Program - for ongoing intense support in reversing diabetes.
• Dr. Hyman’s article on his book The Blood Sugar Solution

What Else Can Be Reversed?

The results of Hallberg’s study are encouraging because it challenges the belief that certain conditions cannot be reversed through natural means. I believe that many of the chronic health challenges facing people today are also reversible. I believe that our bodies want to be healthy. And while many people who are diagnosed with certain conditions feel like their bodies are working against them, I know that our bodies are always working for us. The problem happens when our bodies do not get the ingredients that they need to support the healing process (proper nutrients, sleep, stress reduction, lack of chemical & toxic exposures, etc.). Once we give out bodies the right ingredients, we inevitably move toward health!

Since many of the studies on health are funded by the pharmaceutical industry, we may never get studies for many of these natural approaches to healing or treating disease. There is simply not much money to be made through these natural methods, so the industry does not fund this type of research.

Let’s not wait for more clinical trials to prove what many of us know in our gut to be true: diet and other lifestyle choices have a great impact on our health!

You have more power than you think. Use it! - Mark Hyman

 

Dr. Jamie

 

P.S. If you want our help in providing your body with the ingredients it needs to heal, check out our Nutrition Bootcamp, and keep an eye out for our upcoming new and improved Lifestyle Bootcamp!