There are a few things that will kill a good deal, aptly called “deal breakers”.
We utilize these deal breakers when determining who we want to do business with, date, become friends with, etc.
The same is true for health care. There are certain health conditions that really hinder a person from healing.
If you have these deal breakers, you are going to find it almost impossible to get rid of other health problems.
One of the biggest deal breakers is having blood sugar problems.
How do you know if you have blood sugar problems?
For every patient we see, we ask them the same questions in a questionnaire. They rate the answer on a scale of 0-3. 0 – you never have the problem and 3 – you have the problem all the time. It is amazing how many people answer mostly 2 and 3’s.
Here are the questions:
Low Blood Sugar
1. Crave sweets during the day
2. Irritable if meals are missed – I know you are thinking doesn’t everyone, no not everyone does. I used to until I switched how I eat.
3. Depend on coffee to keep going/get started
4. Get light headed if miss meals
5. Eating relieves fatigue
6. Feel shaky, jittery, or have tremors when you haven’t eaten
7. Agitated easily, upset, nervous
8. Poor memory, forgetful between meals
9. Blurred vision
High Blood Sugar
1. Fatigue after meals
2. Crave sweets during the day
3. Eating sweets does not relieve cravings
4. Must have sweets after meals
5. Waist girth is equal or larger than hip girth
6. Frequent urination
7. Increased thirst and appetite
8. Difficulty losing weight
What Your Answers Mean
How did you do? Lots of 0’s and 1’s or mostly 2’s and 3’s.
Lots of 2’s and 3’s, you need to do something!
These are symptoms that something is wrong with your body but so many people suffer from these problems that everyone thinks this is normal. It’s not! These are signs of a problem and if you don’t do something about it, you will develop more problems and find it almost impossible to get rid of them.
Just ask anyone who is trying to lose weight that has high levels of insulin. It’s never going to happen. Insulin is there to make you put on weight!
There are many reasons why someone would have blood sugar issues, from having a poor diet, to eating the foods that we are told are healthy (processed grains), to autoimmune conditions, to even exposure to heavy metals and toxins.
It is not easy to figure but it is definitely possible. There are many things you can try on your own and there are tons of great resources out there to help. I highly recommend checking out Dr. Jason Fung’s “Obesity Code.”
Finding a Practitioner
You may need to see a properly trained practitioner who can help solve your problem. I am not talking about a doctor who will look at your fasting blood sugar of 110 mg/dl and just tell you to eat less sugar. I’m talking about going to a doctor that knows that ideal blood sugar is between 85-100. That really knows what raises blood sugar and how significant it is to get your blood sugar under control. A doctor who will dig deep to help you solve their problem. That is our focus at Valeo, get to the root cause.
So where do you start. The first thing is to get your blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c, triglycerides, cholesterol and LDH tested. Unfortunately, not all these tests are done routinely. Many times the only thing tested is blood sugar (which is better than nothing). The problem is you don’t get the whole picture.
I just had a patient who had their blood checked and his glucose was 132. They told him it was okay because he wasn’t fasting. Even when you are not fasting, your blood sugar shouldn’t go up to 132. The proper thing to do is to get it rechecked when fasted plus measure all the other markers.
Another great tool that we all have access to is to buy your own personal glucometer and check your blood sugar about an hour after you eat to see how high it goes.
The Glycemic Index
More than likely you have heard of low glycemic and high glycemic index foods. These were foods categorized by how fast they raise your blood sugar. The lower the glycemic index, the better. Research is now showing that for some people low glycemic index foods are actually worse than the high glycemic index food.
What?! Now what am I supposed to do? Use a glucometer and learn more about your body.
During the month of August we will be doing physicals where you will have the opportunity to get blood testing that measures all the metrics mentioned above plus many more critical blood markers. Check out the details at our website.
