Diabetes, known also as metabolic syndrome and sometimes "syndrome X" is fairly common in Western nations, but it is also on the rise in other countries as well which have historically been much healthier than the West.

This is an old graph but we can clearly see the increase worldwide. While these numbers are troubling, they also give a glimmer of hope because a trend like this, where the incidence goes up worldwide simultaneously, also means that there is a common factor leading to the rise! And in this case it is lifestyle factors like nutrition and exercise habits that are leading the charge. Since these are largely controllable it is good news for frustrated suffers of type 2 diabetes.

Mainstream medicine often prescribes medications and gives somewhat hazy advice to people who have metabolic disorders. This can often times give the patient a feeling of helplessness; that the disease is out of their hands and the drugs are the only answers. With type 2 diabetes nothing could be further from the truth. This is a disease with very specific and simple issues dealt with through proper diet and exercise.

That being said there are roadblocks that face type 2 diabetics when making natural lifestyle changes. The two main issues are:

1. Making the proper nutrition changes can be more difficult than expected because of the often times insidious practices in the food industry. For instance foods labeled "heart healthy" by the AHA are more often not healthy at all and are filled with sugars. Since refined sugars are the number one cause of type 2 diabetes for most, cutting them out of the diet requires reading and navigating food labels carefully.

2. Not just any exercise is optimal for type 2 diabetics. Weight training is especially helpful for the effects on insulin sensitivity which I will get to in more detail shortly. And when weight training the intensity must be high enough to stimulate this change. Many a type 2 diabetic has been frustrated when light-weight and high-rep exercise fails to get the desired result.

There are other factors that can play into diabetes and what needs to be done including how far along the disease has developed as well as specific nutrients like chromium and vitamin A and even fiber. Most of these deficiencies are addressed through a diversity of the right vegetables, fruits and protein sources.

But for the most part, too much refined sugar and carbohydrates and a lack of insulin sensitivity are the culprits behind this disease.

How do refined sugars impact diabetes?

There's an in depth scientific explanation and a simple version and for the reader let's use the simple (non-headache inducing) one.

When food is consumed there is an insulin response in the body meaning that the pancreas releases insulin to signal cells to uptake glucose out of the bloodstream. This blood glucose is the result of digested sugars being eventually transported into the bloodstream (the food you just ate). Blood glucose has to be kept at a certain level for health. If its too high we have hyperglycemia which causes problems and if its too low we have hypoglycemia which can lead to a diabetic coma and death.

The more insulin is secreted over the time, the more cells become de-sensitized to that insulin. People develop insulin resistance which is a hallmark of type 2 diabetes. So the body has to excrete more and more insulin over time to get the same effect. This is similar to how drug addicts need more of the substance to get an effect over time.

Protein causes a small insulin release, fat produces nearly zero insulin release and carbohydrates, especially sugars produce a massive insulin release. So sugars should be looked at in the diet first and foremost and reduced. I would caution the diabetic not to make a massive change right away because that is hard to stick to. Instead remove the prime culprits like sodas, candy and sweets, all of which are basically just nothing but sugar. This will make an immediate improvement and probably result in some fat loss as well. Then start to slowly check the food labels and remove the foods with more sugar. Replace the soda and nutrient devoid foods with fruits and vegetables.

Step 2: Increasing insulin sensitivity in muscles

Reducing pancreatic stress with the afore mentioned nutrition tips is a good start but getting the body more readily able to handle insulin is the next step. When muscles are insulin sensitive they are more likely to drive nutrients away from fat cells and into themselves, resulting in muscle gain. As muscle is added to the body this effect is multiplied allowing less insulin to be secreted. This is the concept of insulin sensitivity and weight training is the key to achieving this.

When proper resistance training is employed it signals the muscle cells to become insulin sensitive because this is the body's mechanism for triggering muscle growth. This makes sense intrinsically because after a good workout the muscle cells are in need of repair and so insulin is used to force muscle cells to "store" nutrients. That's one thing that insulin does, instruct cells to store nutrients and whatever comes in with the digested food. For those that never weight train or exercise in general the muscle cells are not insulin sensitive because they have no need for the nutrition. So a good chunk of the ingested sugars and nutrients and even toxins go to the fat cells instead and the victim develops another hallmark of type 2 diabetes which is obesity.

Proper weightlifting means creating enough stimulus to cause the muscle to increase in size and this is not achieved by light weights only. Typically a mixture of heavy and moderate weights will stimulate this growth and thus activate the insulin sensitivity.

So before grabbing those soup cans and light bands, try to challenge yourself with tougher weight lifting and resistance exercises such as squats, deadlifts, pullups and pushups instead. There is an added bonus of increasing bone density and thus staving off osteoporosis as well. Weight training has many benefits!

One important note I make with my clients is that this holistic method of weight training, exercise and nutritional control is vastly superior to using a drug like Metformin in every possible way. While diabetic drugs may help to a degree to control blood sugar they will only do so for so long and the drug carries none of the other benefits that come from eating nutritious food and exercises regularly. Also all drugs carry side effects, and over time will fail to control the blood sugar as they cannot possibly replace the human body's natural system of healing and sugar metabolism.

Comment below with any additional resources or ideas you may have on combatting type 2 diabetes, which is becoming a major cause of death and disease in the U.S. and abroad, due to the Western diet spreading its tentacles to other indigenous countries.

Also don't be afraid to email me at [email protected] for a one-on-one consultation on how to treat your type 2 diabetes naturally, along with other ailments and health concerns.