Call Us (219) 531-1234Valentine’s Day, Fat Tuesday, and Fat Brian
This past weekend was Valentine’s Day. We went to West Lafayette to take the college students, our oldest daughter who works in Columbus, IN, and the high school boys out to dinner. We went to a French restaurant in Lafayette called Bistro 501.
I do like trying specials or recommendations from the wait staff, so when the owner came up to our table telling us about the menu I was all ears.
She said her twin daughters were the chefs. One creates the desserts and the other creates the dinners from scratch while locally sourcing everything and they have their own honey bees. Her recommendations were Crab Bisque and Duck Confit Cassoulet. Cassoulet is a white bean dish with meat. Think ham and beans but with duck instead. It was delicious and I was stuffed. Then comes dessert. I ordered the Sunday for two with Meringues. Gentlemen if you’re reading, this was a great move.
However, I was up half the night. It was too much food, too much fat, too much something. Why do we over eat like that? It was a new restaurant for me, and I am learning what portion sizes means. Was it the stress of driving and being there on time? Or was I too hungry and I just ate too much? Did I mention everything tasted really good?
We all do it, but why? If we can find the why we can control our appetite and take better care of our health. Weight gain in the United States is becoming a real health issue. It is about controlling the need to eat and better management of stress.
High Blood Sugar and Type II Diabetes
I was having a conversation with someone with high blood sugar. He was resigned to having high blood sugar the rest of his life and dealing with the negative health issues associated with it.
I asked him, “What if you could get rid of the diabetes?” He said, “I was never told I could.” It was gratifying to talk about the changes in diet, exercise, and what was needed nutritionally to repair the body.
When we eat, starches are converted into sugar. Healthy food breaks down at a steady slow rate. Insulin is released by the Pancreas as the blood sugar levels rise. There is a channel on the cell wall called an Insulin receptor. Insulin will attach to the receptor sending a signal to the governor of the cell, the nucleus. The nucleus sends out a protein called the Glucose Channel and this opens up the cell wall to allow in the sugar molecule.
Healthy eating allows this process to be done as an even paced event over time. When we eat pure sugar, there is very little metabolism needed. The sugar goes straight into the blood stream at a very rapid rate. The sudden rise in sugar creates a knee jerk reaction with insulin output. We get a huge surge of insulin.
If there is too much sugar all the time and insulin is constantly being released, the insulin receptor stops responding.
Sugar stays in the blood stream and begins to break down causing artery damage. The lack of sugar in the cells causes early cell death. As we run out of cell energy from a lack of sugar, we lose the ability to repair our body.
I do want to mention that another cause of high blood sugar is chronic high stress. Stress causes the Adrenal Glands to release stored sugar from the liver. The constant stress means a constant release of sugar and this follows with insulin. This is usually felt in the beginning as Hypoglycemia eventually leading to a high blood sugar situation as insulin resistance sets in. This is an FYI for you out there who have high-stress situations and now you have blood sugar issues.
The insulin resistance begins slowly. It is measured with the blood test Hemoglobin A1 C. We want this number to be 5.5 or lower. As this number creeps up, it means that more and more sugar is staying in the blood stream and it is not in the cell. The cells are starving as our waist line increases. This lack of cell energy leads to the cells losing their ability to repair and function properly.
Our inability to repair begins an inflammatory cycle. If you cannot repair at a cellular level the white blood cells begin attacking the weak areas of our body. Whole body inflammation begins and amplifies the weakened insulin receptor response.
The connection between whole body inflammation and the dysfunction of the insulin receptor results Type II Diabetes an autoimmune disease. The auto immune connection is why we are seeing more and more children and non obese adults with diabetes.
Individuals with blood sugar problems have lost the ability to function normally at a cellular level. We have to stop the whole body inflammation that is preventing cell repair. Then we work on cell function and restore a healthy insulin receptor response.
If your blood sugar is higher than it ought to be there are some things you can do today.
For men upper body exercise burns the greatest amount of stored sugar in muscle. A weight routine or push ups will work. For women it is any form of aerobic exercise. If we use stored sugar in the muscle with exercise, we can start burning fat. Burning fat gives off a lot of energy and it signals the brain to eat less. Fat burn helps remove stored toxins reducing overall inflammation in the body. You may or may not feel inflamed because the inflammation is at a cellular level. It is all amount getting out there and moving.
The best thing you can eat is homemade food. The fewer chemicals the healthier you will be. Many chemicals today are hormone disruptors. They add to weight gain and increase inflammation.
Get healthy dream sleep. I want you to wake up happy. We are after a balanced lifestyle to minimize the damages of stress.
The good news for individuals who have diabetes is the laboratory testing is better than ever in directing help where it is needed. The Delayed Onset Allergy Testing is the best test to stop inflammation. Further testing will aide in targeted nutrition to correct deficits to begin cell repair.
Now, getting back to my delicious Valentine’s Day Dinner. It just tasted too good to stop eating. Fat Tuesday is coming up. Before I just give up, there is a solution for over eating and chasing cravings. The Adrenal Glands use Vitamin C under stress. Ascorbate Vitamin C mirrors the sugar molecule. The next time Brian is stressed and he thinks the dessert for two is really for himself he should remember to feed his Adrenal Glands with Ascorbate Vitamin C.
Thanks for reading,