Monday (Fitness)Massacre - Special Edition: American Diabetes Association Expo 2013 Recap

Monday (Fitness)Massacre - Special Edition: American Diabetes Association Expo 2013 Recap

Diabetes affects 24 million people in the U.S., but only 18 million know they have it. About 90% of those people have type 2 diabetes, a condition that can largely be controlled through diet and exercise.  Furthermore, a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine states a person with type 2 diabetes may spend an average of nearly $85,500 to treat the disease and its complications over his or her lifetime. Might be something we want to get a handle on.

Being diabetic myself, the cause is obviously near and dear to my heart.  As such, I try to get involved as much as possible in order to create awareness and make a difference in people's lives by teaching them how to successfully avoid and/or control this deadly disease which has become a global epidemic. I also tend to get a little fired up when I see it manipulated and/or pimped out for financial benefit as the expense of those suffering from it.

Cue Pittsburgh Kettlebell's participation in this past weekends American Diabetes Association Pittsburgh Expo at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center......

WARNING: NSFW language ahead.

Latest Post-Gazette Appearance

Checkout my latest appearance in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in response to THIS article:

Diabetes successes

October 27, 2013 3:51 PM

Finally, a medical professional who "gets it." As a fitness professional of 12-plus years and a Type 1 diabetic myself, allow me to express my sincere gratitude for rare professionals like Dr. Swarna S. Varma who take the all-too-rare approach of focusing on prevention and the value of weaning people off of medications as opposed to the disturbingly common practice of treating symptoms and prescribing more medications ("Fencing in Diabetes: Endocrinologist Focuses on the Health Benefits of Preventing Disease's Complications," Oct. 21). The latter approach has been wholly ineffective, to be kind.

 

Through personal research and experimentation I, too, have developed my own methods, which are often contrary to "conventional wisdom," in order to achieve similar successes in both myself and clients. I look forward to sharing these strategies at the upcoming Diabetes Expo at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on Nov. 9. The dedication and passion demonstrated by Dr. Varma as illustrated by conducting her own research and compiling her own database and her willingness to meet patients at odd hours mirrors that of my own and others who are personally affected by this deadly disease, yet Dr. Varma is not. For this, she is to be applauded, commended and emulated.

 

RUSSELL DEMCZAK
Health and Fitness Coach
Pittsburgh Kettlebells
Ohio Township

 

 

 

Free-Tip Tuesday Volume LI: Guard Your Goodies

While the possible negative side effects of cell-phone radiation are often discussed in terms of raising your risk of brain and other cancers, interestingly enough we often neglect to think of the negative impact those same emissions from our 'smart' devices can possibly have on other areas of the body they find themselves in close proximity to.

When we aren't talking on our phones, we can typically find them in our pockets; right next to..well I think you can see where this is going.

Having fertility issues?

Follow-up to 5 Strategies for Successfully Managing Diabetes...

Back in January I wrote a post detailing 5 strategies I've used to reduce not just my fasting and A1C blood sugar readings, but also my dependency on various medications by at least 50%.

New research published May 17 by Cell Metabolism seems to put yet another nail in the coffin for small frequent meals and bolsters tip #4 from my post. You'll also see research from 2008 and 2009 bolstering tip #2 - Sit Less/Move More. Credit due to Dr. Mirkin for forwarding this info my way. Bolded parts are my emphasis.

5 Strategies For Successfully Managing Diabetes

As a follow up to last week’s post on my most recent blood work, here is the 5 step system I have used for successfully managing my diabetes.

More Leptin Magic......

Brain Might Be Key to Leptin's Actions Against Type 1 Diabetes, Researchers Find - ScienceDaily.com

"...research by Dr. Roger Unger, professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern, has shown that subcutaneous administration of leptin, a hormone produced by the body's fat cells, can restore terminally ill rodents with type 1 diabetes to full health. The underlying cellular mechanisms that caused that effect, however, have been unclear."

Few More Interesting Headlines...

Biologists Discover Biochemical Link Between Biological Clock and Diabetes - ScienceDaily.com

Strong Link Between Diabetes and Air Pollution Found in National U.S. Study - ScienceDaily.com

Chromium Picolinate May Lessen Inflammation in Diabetic Nephropathy; Supplement Linked to Decreased Protein in the Urine of Diabetic Mice - ScienceDaily.com

Some Recent Headlines

Could Diabetes Be in Your Bones? Link Between Metabolic Disease, Bone Mass; Breakdown of Bone Keeps Blood Sugar in Check - ScienceDaily.com

New Role for Master Regulator in Cell Metabolism, Response to Stress: Clinical Implications for Obesity, Diabetes and Cancer Research - ScienceDaily.com

Mice Essentially 'Cured' of Mild Diabetes With Enzyme - ScienceDaily.com

Low Vitamin D Linked to the Metabolic Syndrome in Elderly People - ScienceDaily.com

When Food Intake Stops, Enzyme Turns Off Production of Fats, Cholesterol - ScienceDaily.com

Gestational Diabetes Linked to Serotonin and Dietary Protein - ScienceDaily.com

Mothers' High Blood Sugar in Pregnancy Is Linked to Children's Reduced Insulin Sensitivity - ScienceDaily.com

Well-Defined Quantity of Antioxidants in Diet Can Improve Insulin Resistance, Study Finds -ScienceDaily.com

Poor Control of Diabetes May Be Linked to Low Vitamin D - ScienceDaily.com

Many People With Diabetes Do Not Know or Heed Dangers of Hot Weather - ScienceDaily.com

Fructose Sugar Makes Maturing Human Fat Cells Fatter, Less Insulin-Sensitive, Study Finds - ScienceDaily.com

Circadian Clock in Pancreas Directly Linked to Diabetes - ScienceDaily.com

Bariatric Surgery in Diabetic Adults Improves Insulin Sensitivity Better Than Diet, Study Finds - ScienceDaily.com

Insulin Peptide May Point to a Solution for Type 1 Diabetes - ScienceDaily.com

Scientists Find Hormone Influences Sensitivity to Sweetness - ScienceDaily.com

Diabetic Potential to Create Own Insulin: Type 1 Diabetes Patients Attempt to Replenish Beta Cells - ScienceDaily.com

New Associations Between Diabetes, Environmental Factors Found by Novel Analytic Technique - ScienceDaily.com

Counting More Sheep

One Sleepless Night Can Induce Insulin Resistance in Healthy People - ScienceDaily.com

I briefly touched on the subject of sleep and glucose control here. The researchers in this case state that "just one night of short sleep duration can induce insulin resisitance."

The lead author of the study goes on to state:

"Our data indicate that insulin sensitivity is not fixed in healthy subjects, but depends on the duration of sleep in the preceding night," said Donga. "In fact it is tempting to speculate that the negative effects of multiple nights of shortened sleep on glucose tolerance can be reproduced, at least in part, by just one sleepless night."

Just one more piece of the puzzle.

Related reading:

How Much Do You Need to Sleep Every Night to Prevent Weight Gain? - Mercola.com

Too Much Or Too Little Sleep Increases Risk Of Diabetes - ScienceDaily.com

More on Leptin and extras....

Scientists Unravel Brain-Hormone Circuit That Helps Police Diabetes, Female Fertility - ScienceDaily.com

Although diabetes and obesity often go hand in hand, Dr. Elmquist said the new findings indicate that a group of brain cells called pro-opiomelanocortin, or POMC, neurons help regulate glucose and insulin independent of food intake and body weight. POMC neurons, found in the hypothalamus, a small region of the brain, previously have been shown to play an important role in suppressing appetite and inducing weight loss.

..."There seems to be what I call a functional redundancy in these neurons as it relates to blood sugar regulation," said Dr. Elmquist. "We don't know if the same neurons respond to both leptin and insulin, but it is clear that functionally leptin can compensate for a lack of insulin and vice versa."

Novel Nanoparticle Vaccine Cures Type 1 Diabetes in Mice - ScienceDaily.com

Using a sophisticated nanotechnology-based "vaccine," researchers were able to successfully cure mice with type 1 diabetes and slow the onset of the disease in mice at risk for the disease. The study, co-funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, provides new and important insights into understanding how to stop the immune attack that causes type 1 diabetes, and could even have implications for other autoimmune diseases.

Articles of Interest...

Some Cells in Pancreas Can Spontaneously Change Into Insulin-Producing Cells, Diabetes Researchers Show - ScienceDaily.com

What Insulin (and Leptin) Say to the Brain - ScienceDaily.com

Recent Headlines...

Some recent headlines I thought some of you might be interested in. Enjoy.

Leptin Therapy in Animal Models Shows Promise for Type 1 Diabetes - ScienceDaily.com

"UT Southwestern researchers, using mouse models, found that leptin administered instead of insulin showed better management of blood-sugar variability and lipogenesis, the conversion of simple sugars into fatty acids. Leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells and involved in the regulation of body weight."

"Benefits of letpin's glucose-lowering action appear to involve the suppression of glucagon. Normally, glucagon is released when the glucose level in the blood is low, thanks to supervision by insulin release from neighboring cells. In insulin deficiency situations, however, glucagon levels are inappropriately high and cause the liver to release excessive amounts of glucose into the bloodstream. This action is opposed by insulin, which tells the body's cells to remove sugar from the
bloodstream."

How Weight-Loss Surgery Reverses Type 2 Diabetes: New Study Offers Explanation - ScienceDaily.com

"It has been thought that reduction of blood sugar, which indicates a reversal of type 2 diabetes, in patients following bariatric surgery was due to post-surgery weight loss," Havel said. "This study, however, supports the observations from a number of earlier clinical studies reporting that diabetes is often improved prior to substantial weight loss. It also suggests that endocrine changes in hormones produced by the gastrointestinal tract may contribute to the early effects of bariatric surgery, in addition to the later effects of weight loss."

"In addition, results from the study also demonstrated that the ileal interposition surgery increases production of bile acids, which are involved in fat metabolism and can increase the production of GLP-1, the hormone that improves insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity," Havel said. "This could contribute to the delay in the onset of type 2 diabetes that we observed in the rats in this study."

New Form of Insulin Can Be Inhaled Rather Than Injected - ScienceDaily.com

You are getting verrrrrry sleeeepy.....

In the past 24-36 hours I have seen a substantial increase in both fasting and post-prandial glucose readings. Only two things have changed in that time frame.

• Not ingesting my usual ~3g/day of fish oil
• Only getting ~ 5 hours of sleep the last 2 nights

The fish oil could have a role - although I would believe it to be very minor if anything - due to upsetting the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. I tend to believe that was more at play a week back or so where I had a ~48 hour window of elevated readings after ingesting a serious amount of bacon the few days prior to those readings - but not so much now.
I think the larger culprit may be - hopefully - the lack of sleep I have gotten in the past 48 hours. Then today in my inbox I find this - How Much Do You Need to Sleep Every Night to Prevent Weight Gain? (Mercola.com). The article states:

In one study, researchers found people who received
only four hours of sleep a night for two nights experienced:

• 18 percent reduction in leptin
• 28 percent increase in ghrelin

Well, if such a short period of sleep deprivation can effect these two hormones to such a degree - and knowing how inter-connected the endocrine system is even in our current feable understanding of it - then it's not far fetched that it would also have a marked effect on other hormones such as insulin, glucogon, etc.
Some may see these changes in leptin and ghrelin as unhealthy or some defect at first glance - but maybe not?
If you put stock in the premise that food is medicine - maybe this is simply the bodies' acute response to compensate for the sleep deprivation in order to maintain homeostasis?
"You aren't getting enough rest and repair through sleep, so I am going to increase your appetite to ingest more nutrients to try and make up the difference!"
Just as it is a normal, healthy response by the body to release insulin after ingesting carbohydrates - maybe these leptin and ghrelin changes work in a similar fashion? Maybe it only becomes unhealthy or damaging when we never remove the underlying stimulus for their occurance...and the changes progress from being ACUTE - to CHRONIC?!
And then - Frequent Napping Linked to Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Older Adults - ScienceDaily.com. Again, maybe the napping is a natural response to compensate for a lack of sleep? Maybe the correlation with diabetes stems from a variety of factors - ones that would be common in a lifestyle with sleep deprivation?
Too often it seems we mistake and misunderstand the workings of the bodies' responses in terms of acute vs. chronic!
I will be concentrating on getting back to a full-nights sleep tonight and see what happens.

Stomaching Diabetes

Just thinking out loud for a bit...

Two articles I came across today:

Georgetown Hoyas' leading scorer has diabetes - ESPN.com

and

Book deal is sweet success for Stacey Harris a local 'Diabetic Pastry Chef' - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

What I found interesting about the above articles is that in both cases the people in question were originally admitted/treated for a "stomach virus", and a "stomach ailment", respectively. Go in for a tummy ache; come out with diabetes. I found the similarity odd, as I have never had a stomach issue in the 3+ years I have dealt with high glucose/diabetes. I have no idea what significance, if any, there is to this...just food for thought I suppose.

UPDATE: Thinking back, I did have one 3-4 day stretch where I DEFINATELY had a stomach bug ( I had the super-flu!) - but it was at least 2 years after I first already had noticed my blood sugar issues. I want to say it was last year actually. It was something passed around at work. That is the last time I remember being sick at all in years; and I seem to remember not being effected as severely as some of my co-workers. Completely un-related in my opinion, but I figured full-disclosure(well, as much as you wanted about the specifics about what happens when you have the flu on steroids) was best.