Came across this great explanation of Diabeties from an Ayurvedic perspective on Ayurvedaonline yesterday.
Besides diet-
> exercise is the best way to re-sensitize the insulin receptor sites. I
> have observed that those who try to resolve insulin resistance with
> herbs without altering diet do not have much success.
For some reason many of the basic facts of type 2 diabetes areforgotten by many. What is the major population group that develops type 2 diabetes? It occurs in those cultures in which people have very little physical activity and this combined with excess of diet for energy and repair needs means that millions of people eat many times more calories than they need – such people have large amounts of nutrients circulating in the blood that are not used in repair and
energy – this means excess carbohydrates, proteins, and fats – this excess nutrition creates much mischief in the body. Leaving aside the fact of stress on the liver and other organs such excess nutrition creates – the important issue in regard to diabetes is the damage done to the Isle of Langerhans (the insulin producing cells in the pancreas) and to the Insulin receptor sites in all tissues.
When the blood has excess sugar the pancreas releases Insulin but if the cells do not need the sugar for energy then the cells can not use it – and one is left with high amounts of circulating unused sugars and Insulin – yet because there is so much sugar present the pancreas
keeps on releasing more Insulin – the cells only have one way to deal with this excess – the Insulin receptor sites shut down – this is Insulin Resistance – if this becomes bad enough it will develop into hypoglycemia – and if this continues on (many people eat large amounts of rapidly digesting carbs throughout the day) the pancreas will become exhausted and we will develop hyperglycemia because Insulin production is depleted and we have Insulin Resisitance – this is type
2 diabetes. Breaking of that pattern can be done but it is not easy especially if Insulin production has become severely exhausted.
Obviously the logical starting point for resolving this viscious cycle is to stop eating that excess of carbs. In fact there is no scope to cure this disease if one is not able to stop eating large amounts of excess carbs. Excess means more carbs than the body can possibly use – eventually this excess gets converted into fat (the major cause of obesity in modern people)but before it does it creates havoc throughout the body. This excess circulating sugar is implicated in many of the most serious diseases of modern society – since it is the major player in the development of Ama (excess sugars and proteins form into agglutinated substances through the glycation process – this is mucus)- this Ama collects acids and other toxins and poisons the blood and all tissues – metabolism is inhibited locally and generally – setting us up for many disease processes like heart disease (local sclerosis-but this sclerosis is occuring not just in the heart but throughout the body) – the liver is stressed by this process as are all organs and tissues – this sticky substance (Ama) coats the mitochondia inteferring with metabolism creating generalized mitochondria disease which is the cause of the world wide epedimic of on thyroid hypometabolism – a very common syndrome in modern people- many individuals have severe hypometabolism (low body temperature and high acid conditions-caused by severely compromised metabolism). This is the underlying mechanism in many diseases of ineffecient metabolism like many so called autoimmune processes, sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, etc. When the cells function ineffeciently becuase of this accumulation of
a thick sticky substance (Ama)- then every cell is effected. If severe stasis develops in any group of cells then severe errors in metabolism can occur leaving us open to the development of diseases like cancer.
Excess carbs of all kinds but especially those that are rapidly digesting are a major contributing factor in the creation of all of this havoc. These disease syndromes are all related to excess food, ineffecient digestion, pollution of the blood, etc. The solution of this problem is simple in theory – simply stop taking all of this excess nutrition – but because of addictions to sugars -the Ama has created fatigue and some take sugars in a futile attempt to give more energy-but as sugar addicts know it does not matter how many rapidly digesting carbs one takes it does not solve the energy problems in any way in fact in the long run it makes the problems worse. Human body is not meant to process thousands of excess calories every day year after year – it eventually will destroy us. This issue is obviously more
important in those who are lethargic and who do little physical activity and or who are overweight. If we exercise we first use up some of that excess for energy but also exercise makes the cells function more effeciently breaking the problem at the Insulin Receptor sites – thus helping to resolve Insulin Resistance.
Dr Vinod Kumar
