Chapter 14.
The 6 Stages of Diabetes
Control & Reversal
Body
Spirit Mind
The 6 Stages
This diabetes wellness program will guide you from a state of no blood
glucose control and sick cells to complete glucose control while reducing
your cells’ insulin resistance and inflammation to repair your sick cells –
as you move from Stage 1 to Stage 6. However, it is your choice to stop
at any stage if you are happy with your health at that point. Hopefully,
you will progress through all the stages or as far as you possibly can in
order to optimize your health. As you continue through each stage of this
wellness program, your body will reduce its insulin resistance, oxidation,
inflammation, and toxicity as it detoxifies and rebalances itself
biochemically, hormonally, emotionally and spiritually. Your degree of
success will depend strongly upon how much you really want to modify
your behavior after several decades of poor eating habits and a sedentary
lifestyle. It will be imperative that you develop and maintain a positive
attitude because behavior modification is the most difficult challenge
that you will face during this journey. Also, you must maintain an open
mind to these new ideas about health and nutrition. After all, your
current ideas about health and nutrition aren’t working that well.
The previous chapters reviewed the eight “living” elements of diabetes
control and reversal; and, now, it is time to put some structure around
these eight elements. The following six stages provide a defined structure,
a set of metrics, and a systematic approach for utilizing the eight “living”
elements – in order to track, manage, control and reverse your diabetes.
Being able to track and measure what stage you are in and knowing what
you need to do to move forward will provide the necessary motivation to
continue on your journey to better health.
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THE 6 STAGES DEATH TO DIABETES
If you find that you need structure and guidance in your planning, work
with an experienced wellness coach that understands diabetes.
The six stages are as follows:
x Stage 1 No Blood Glucose (BG) Control
x Stage 2 BG Control with Drugs
x Stage 3 BG Control with Reduced Drugs
x Stage 4 BG Control without Drugs
x Stage 5 BG & HbA1C Control (without Drugs)
x Stage 6 BG & HbA1C Tighter Control (without Drugs)
6 S ta g e s
S ta g e 2 S ta g e 3
BBGG CCoonn trtrooll BBGG CCoonn trtrooll
wwiith
th DDrruuggss LLeessss DDrruuggss
S ta g e 1 B G : 8 0 -1 2 0 B G : 8 0 -1 2 0 S ta g e 4 S ta g e 5 S ta g e 6
N
Noo BBGG BBGG CCoonn trtrooll BBGG &&
H BBGG && H H bbAA11CC
CCoonntr HbbAA11CC TTi igghhtt CCoonnttr
r ooll
t rooll NNoo DDrruuggss CCoonnttr
r ool l
BG >126 B G : 8 0 -1 2 0 B G : 8 0 -1 1 0 B G : 8 0 -1 0 0
H b A 1 C < 5 .5 % H b A 1 C < 5 .3 % H b A 1 C < 5 .1 %
B M I d e cr e a s i n g B M I: 2 0 -2 5 BP < 120/80
TC < 200
H e a lth & W e l l n e s s • H e a l t h y c el l s
• B G co n tr o l
M an agem en t
8 “ L iv in g ” E le m e n ts
BG D r . V is i ts / D ru gs/ M in d &
N u tr i ti o n E x e r c is e
T e s tin g T e s tin g M eds S p ir i t
C lea n s in g / R e c o rd - K n o w le d g e /
D e to x K e e p in g E d u c a tio n
Figure 13. The Diabetes Control & Reversal Model
The six stages, depicted in the diagram above, are based upon the
following targets/ranges to evaluate your blood glucose control and
progress:
x Average fasting BG level: 80 to 120 mg/dl; Optimum: less than 100
mg/dl.
x Postprandial BG level: less than 130 mg/dl; Optimum: less than 120
mg/dl.
x Hemoglobin A1C of 4.2 to 5.5%; Optimum: less than 5.1%.
248 CHAPTER 14
DEATH TO DIABETES THE 6 STAGES
Timeline and Expectations
Because of the many factors that affect your blood glucose control, it is
difficult to define the exact number of days/weeks that it will take to
progress from Stage 1 to Stage 6. But, as you progress through each
stage, you will obtain enough data to estimate how long it will take to
reach the final stage. As depicted in the following chart, increasing the
number of super meals, the frequency of exercise, and the amount of
testing will decrease the recovery time, especially from Stage 1 to Stage 4.
In general, it will take more time to get from Stage 1 to Stage 4 than from
Stage 4 to Stage 6 because it will take more time for the body to repair
the cells and reduce the insulin resistance/inflammation during the early
stages. Once the body has started to heal, it accelerates the timeline for
the remaining stages. Additional health problems (besides the diabetes)
and any additional drugs you may be taking will increase the amount of
recovery time, especially from Stage 1 to Stage 4.
P rofile # 2 :
3 t o 5 s u p e r m e a ls /d a y
6 P rofile # 1 :
4 to 6 s u p e r m e a ls /d a y
S
5
t
a
4
g
e
3
s
P ro file # 3 :
2 < 3 s u p e r m e a l s /d a y
1
0 20 40 60 80 100 12 0 14 0 160 18 0
N o. of D ay s
Figure 14. Timeline from Stage 1 to Stage 6.
As you progress through each stage of the wellness program, your body
will repair and rebalance itself, while preventing further damage and
complications. It is imperative that you wean your body off as many
drugs as possible. How long it will take will vary from person to person,
but the degree of your success will depend primarily upon your health
state and drive to overcome the odds. Once you see how your body
responds to the changes to nutrition, exercise, and testing, it will be easier
to estimate your personal recovery timeline.
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STAGE 1 DEATH TO DIABETES
Stage 1 No BG Control
This is the stage where most diabetics usually find themselves in the
beginning, with excess insulin production and an average fasting blood
glucose (BG) level that is greater than 126 mg/dl or an oral glucose
tolerance reading of at least 200 mg/dl.
The biggest challenge that you face at the beginning is the range of
emotions from shock to denial, anger, and frustration. Once you face the
reality that you have a disease of excess insulin (not a sugar problem), this
becomes the first step to recovery. Remember – you cannot solve this
health problem unless you accept the fact that you have a serious disease
that needs your full attention. Whether you get your insulin/glucose
under control and in the normal range is largely dependent on how you
handle your emotions during this initial stage. The second biggest
challenge is acquiring the motivation to change your behavior – changing
human behavior is one of the most difficult challenges to overcome. As a
result, some Type 2 diabetics never get out of Stage 1 because they are unable
to get their emotions under control or they are unable (or unwilling) to
change their behavior. Consequently, they are unable to get their insulin/
glucose under control with proper nutrition and exercise. Unfortunately,
this leads them to try to fix the problem by taking diabetic drugs, but
they still do not make the changes that need to be made to their
nutrition, exercise, and testing. In the meantime, the disease continues to,
slowly and without detection, cause deterioration of the small blood
vessels that feed the kidneys, eyes, heart, feet, and brain. This
deterioration is a microvascular disease and is part of an accelerated
biological aging process. You may even feel good and look good on the
outside, but inside your body is silently “rusting away”.
Some diabetics are fortunate to get their blood glucose under control
with minimal changes to nutrition, exercise and testing, but they usually
relax thinking the disease has gone into remission. So, instead of making
additional changes to nutrition, exercise, and testing to reduce the insulin
and eradicate the disease, they underestimate the disease and end up
regressing to a state of higher insulin/glucose levels within several years.
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DEATH TO DIABETES STAGE 1
Other diabetics rely heavily on the drugs to temporarily control their
blood glucose levels but not their insulin levels. Unfortunately, the excess
insulin increases the toxic load within the body, requiring additional
energy to get through the day. And as a result, these diabetics end up
missing a major opportunity to actually eradicate the disease before it
takes a stronghold in their bodies.
Caution: If your doctor has diagnosed you as “marginally diabetic” or
“pre-diabetic”, your doctor has noticed a high blood glucose reading
in your most recent blood tests. You should heed this warning from
your doctor who is trying to save you from a life of torment and
serious health complications that diabetes brings with it. Instead,
make the changes to your nutrition and exercise regimen to prevent
the disease from progressing to a more serious state in your body.
Specifically, read the information in Stages 1 and 4 to prevent yourself
from progressing from pre-diabetes to full-blown diabetes.
Overall Planning
Planning will be the ultimate key to the success or failure of your journey.
If you fail to plan, then you are planning to fail. It is also imperative that you get
rid of the so-called “diet mentality” – this program is not a diet. Despite
all the TV infomercials, books and marketing gimmicks, diets just don’t
work. The low-fat diets, the high carb diets, the high protein diets, and
low cholesterol diets all failed and left us heavier, fatter and sicker people.
Diets are too focused on restriction, deprivation, negativity, “falling off
the wagon”, and special foods. With this program you cannot “fall off
the wagon” because you will include the foods and events that would
cause you to fall off the wagon in the first place!
But you must first (temporarily) stop eating “dead” food just because it
tastes good! Would you consume arsenic because it taste good? Identify
your weaknesses (e.g. cravings for pasta, bread, sweets) and develop a
strategy to include them as part of your overall plan. If you ignore them
they will only come back to bite you in the future.
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STAGE 1 DEATH TO DIABETES
For example, eating rice, ice cream and drinking bottled juice were three
areas that I had to address. I initially addressed these areas by adding
kidney beans to my rice (for the extra fiber) and eventually moving to
organic brown rice; adding blueberries and walnuts to my ice cream (to
provide protein and fiber), and adding grounded flaxseed to my bottled
juice. Almost any so-called “unhealthy” food can be turned into a
“healthier” food either by adding something or switching to a healthier
alternative. Refer to Figure 16 in the Appendix for a list of favorite foods
and their more nutritious alternatives to help you through your transition.
Events such as picnics, holidays, birthdays, reunions, funerals,
graduations, weddings, and other celebrations tend to be our downfall.
Instead of dreading them or ignoring them, embrace them and develop
your own strategy so that you will be successful and not feel “bad” after
the celebration. Feeling “bad” or disappointed is counter-productive and
causes the release of stress hormones, which is not healthy. During most
celebrations, we are usually celebrating a happy (or sad) event. And, what
do most people do when they are happy (or sad) and celebrating an
event? They eat! Unfortunately, they usually eat too much of the wrong
foods. So, how can you address this without putting a damper on all the
fun or the event? There are so many creative ways to handle this – all you
have to do is select one that fits you.
For example, if you ensure that you eat a fiber-rich super meal the night
before and a vegetable-based super meal for the breakfast the following
morning, this will prevent excess insulin production and provide you
with the sustenance that will reduce your capacity to overeat a lot of the
sweets and other goodies at the celebratory event. Although this strategy
may not prevent you from eating the sweets and other goodies, it will
definitely reduce the amount you consume, which should make you feel
happy the next day. Also, if you ensure that your next meal at home is
full of fiber and other “live” foods, this will help your body get rid of the
waste from the sweets and other goodies instead of them sitting in your
gut rotting away. And, if you perform a cleansing/ detoxification of the
colon and liver, this will ensure that the waste and its toxic byproducts
don’t accumulate in the body.
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DEATH TO DIABETES STAGE 1
By embracing these challenges instead of dreading them, you will be
more successful and happier because you will realize that you cannot fail!
No matter what happens, there is always a fallback plan of some kind to
get you through any possible scenario – as long as you customize the
plan to fit you. With this program, there is no such thing as failure – only
opportunities to be even more successful than you had ever dreamed
possible. Do not dread failure -- plan for it and be prepared to handle it.
Proactive planning, organization and consistency are the foundation of a
solid diabetes wellness plan. Therefore, you should try to eat, exercise,
and test at the same times every day. In order to acquire relevant and
useful data to determine what changes to make, it is important that the
data is being collected within some consistent boundaries. This also
prevents the accidental introduction of other variables that may affect
your data and corrective actions. Even with all of this planning and
positive attitude, accept the fact that you will make mistakes. We all make
mistakes, but it’s how you respond once you make that mistake. As
Oprah Winfrey once said: “All mistakes happen in our lives to teach us
who we really are. . . and, how we respond to failure is what determines
our real character.”
Note: If you need help with your planning, contact our wellness center
to obtain health coaching and a customized nutritional program.
Nutrition
During the first stage, you will be making the most significant changes
relative to what you’re currently eating and drinking. Unfortunately, many
diabetics only make a few changes because they don’t want to give up
their “favorite foods”, even though those are the very foods that are
killing them one day at a time.
If you have multiple health issues, during the early stages, it may be
critical to stop eating wheat and other conventional grain-based
foods for breakfast -- because of the gluten protein and embedded
chemicals. It may also be necessary to temporarily stop eating fruit, and
replace it with vegetables. Once your body has cleansed, detoxified and
begun to heal, you can gradually re-introduce some organic grains such as
oat, barley, and quinoa, or gluten-free foods, during Stage 4 or Stage 5.
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