Why Not Insulin? My Goal and My Plan

Why not just take insulin?  First, I don't like how its made.  Insulin is made synthetically by adding DNA into bacteria and yeast and letting it reproduce then killing off the bacteria and yeast.  Second, insulin is a inflammatory hormone that progresses disease.  Third, it is the hormone responsible for storing fat.  Fourth,  I don't like to cover up disease with a bandaid.  I really feel that you should fix the problem and not sweep it under the rug with medications. Fifth, it's expensive.  And last,  I hate constantly worrying if I took too much or too little.   Things that used to be enjoyable are painful now.  Going to the lake with my friends is nerve wracking.  I worry that I might have an insulin reaction and pass out with no one knowing what to do.  I worry that I didn't take enough and I'll feel sick.  I worry that the hospital is too far away and how I will get there.  I wonder if I swam too much and need some extra carbohydrates.
  My Goal-  I don't expect my pancreas to heal 100%.  I would just like to feel healthy again.  I would like to enjoy time with my friends and not have to leave early because I feel light headed.  I want to go to school and not worry about taking my glucose meter with me.  I DON'T want to be cured so that I can go binge on donuts and ice cream.  I would like to attend my friends birthday party and not have ask for a nutrition menu and worry if the chef put extra dressing on my salad.  I'd like to occasionally go out to eat and not worry about the effect it will have on my blood sugars.
My Plan- I want to try eating raw vegan for a month to see what happens.  After I plan on staying on a Paleo/gluten free diet that focuses on raw organic.  I plan on adding meats sparingly and avoiding inflammation trigger foods.  I plan on doing this for the rest of my life with the occasional "It's my birthday, I'll have a half cup of frozen yogurt and pay for it the next couple of days."

What Is Impossible?

 It's very ignorant to say that something is impossible.  So you've tried 99 ways that it doesn't work.  Perhaps the 100th try will be the charm but failing 99 times doesn't prove it's impossible.  What it does prove it that you are 99 attempts closer to possible.  People get angry when you try to treat diabetes naturally.  They go on rants about how it is impossible since Type 1 diabetics produce no insulin and will die without it and anyone who seeks an alternative route should be locked up.  I used to believe them because I read it all over the medical reports.   New technology and studies now prove that is false.  73% of Type 1 diabetics still have active insulin producing cells in their pancreas.  If you effortlessly look on the Internet you'll find article after article stating that a Type 1 diabetic pancreas will completely stop producing insulin after a few years of being diagnosed.  New studies show that it doesn't matter how long a person has had diabetes, their pancreas can still produce insulin.  Scientists aren't quite sure why there are still healthy cells.  Two theories are that the cells are either being reproduced or that they are not affected by the immune systems attacks.  I want to talk about the first theory.  There are stem cells found all over our body.   They are in our brains, bone marrow, peripheral blood, blood vessels, skeletal muscle, skin, teeth, heart, gut, liver, fat and reproductive organs.  Our bodies were made to heal!  When we have a wound these stem cells are activated to repair that tissue.  It's easy for stem cells to repair a cut on your hand but repairing a organ is no small feat.  Especially with all of the demands we put on our bodies.  We're constantly feeding it toxins, drinking toxins, breathing toxins and pushing ourselves to the limits.  What if I were to take some of those demands off of my body so that I can let my body focus on what it's made to do?  People say that what I'm trying to do is impossible because they've read old articles that say it is.  Knowing that the pancreas still has functioning cells and knowing that our bodies are stock piled with stem cells tells me there is still possibility.  We know that food can cause disease.  Why is it so hard for people to accept the possibility that food can cure disease?

Day One of Raw Organic Vegan Diet

 

  When I think of Vegan, I think of this guy.  I never would have thought in a million years I would become a vegan, especially a raw organic one.  I saw a documentary called "Simply Raw, Reversing Diabetes In 30 Days."  You can watch it on Youtube.  At first I was disappointed because the applicants were all Type 2.  At the very end its revealed that one of the applicants was actually Type 1 and did indeed reverse his diabetes by eating a raw diet.  That gave me hope.
  I had my appendix out 5 days ago and I wasn't up for grocery shopping.  Instead I hopped online and found a raw organic vegan shake that met all my criteria.  All I ask for is that my shake be GMO free, gluten free, soy free, dairy free, food coloring free, sugar free, artificial sweetener free, multi-level marketing free, no artificial flavoring, raw, and organic.  Within minutes I found this lovely stuff.  It meets all my requirements and I feel like I won twenty times over.  The price isn't too bad either.  It was $22 and I quickly found it at my local health food store.

  The taste isn't too great and the consistency looks like slimy poo (probably due to ground up chia seeds).  However, since being diagnosed eating for me became a survival thing instead of an enjoyment thing.  I purely eat to survive so I could care less about taste, smell and texture.  My friend said that she tried this shake a year ago and it made her sick.  Probably due to the amount of probiotics and the detoxing effect it had on her body.
  I decided today that I wasn't going to take any insulin.  My blood sugar before eating the shake was 140.  After 30 minutes it was 132 and 2 hours later it was 108.  It has 17 carbs per serving and I should have needed roughly 2 units of insulin for the carbs plus 2 units of insulin to correct my blood sugar of 140 when I ate.  I decided to risk it and take no insulin with my shake.  Like I said my blood sugar dropped 32 points.  According to my Doctor my blood sugar should have raised.  Maybe this is proof that my pancreas is still producing insulin.  Boom Baby! I'm surprised that I'm already experiencing results.  I'm excited to see what happens over the next month.  I plan on making vegetable shakes as soon as I feel up to shopping.

The Raw Vegan Diet and Diabetes

  I'm quite happy with the Paleo diet however I would like to explore and see if I can find a diet that will reverse my diabetes.  I've heard about two type 1 diabetics who have reversed their disease by eating a raw vegan diet.  This will be hard because meat, sour cream and cheese are daily staples in my diet.  The raw vegan is suppose to be rich in enzymes which somehow reverse diabetes.  I also wonder if it reverses the disease because it is a anti-inflammatory diet that takes out most trigger foods.  Or if it is because it kills yeast.  I wish I had a lot of spare mula that I could go get blood tests done before to find out all that will change in my body.  All I know is that I'm willing to do what it takes to live a healthy life.  Will keep an update on how it goes.

The Ketogenic Diet

I wasn't too happy that my pancreas was showing signs of the diabetes progressing.  I decided to cut out all carbs.  My theory was that if I only need to take insulin when I eat carbs then I won't eat carbs at all therefore I won't need insulin.  I switched from the Paleo to a Ketogenic diet.  I had beautiful blood sugars for about 3 days and then they started to spike.  I continued to eat very little carbs <10 per day and I added a little insulin to bring my sugars down.  Pretty soon my blood sugars were constantly in the high 200's.   I was so frustrated.  I was eating very little carbs and I was taking insulin so why were my sugars so high?  Turns out that our bodies can break down protein and turn it into sugar.  Our livers can also make sugar and also my ketogenic diet caused weight loss which released fatty acids into the blood stream and spiked blood sugars.  I was afraid to eat carbs because I was afraid that if I added carbs while my blood sugars were still high then it would spike it even higher.  I continued eating less than 10 carbs a day for two months.  I got to the point where I was taking 12 times the amount of insulin that I was suppose to and still my sugars wouldn't budge out of the 270's.  I went on a camping trip with friends and for the fun of it I ate a rice crispy treat.  My blood sugar quickly dropped from 270 to 120.  I was very confused why adding carbs to my diet would suddenly drop my blood sugar instead of raise it.  It was because it took me out of diet induced ketosis.  My body stopped using ketones for energy and used the carbs from the rice crispy.  I immediately switched back to the Paleo diet which I've been doing for the past few months.  I have a ratio of 1 unit for every 10-20 carbs depending on the food.  I've learned that not all carbs are the same.  20 carbs of one type of food may not effect my blood sugar at all while 5 carbs of another food might spike it.  Learning about how different foods effects my body has been quite helpful. 

Grandmas Diet, DKA and Back on Paleo

  My Grandma is a health nut.  She believes every article the government puts out on health.  While living under her roof I was forced to follow her rules and that meant following her government guided diet.  My diet was rich in whole grains because Grandma was and is still convinced that its healthy.  Breakfast consisted of whole grain toast.  Lunch was whole grain bread with peanut butter and jam.  Dinner was always different but consisted of something rich in gluten, whole grains and carbs.  I lived with her 3 weeks then moved in with a roommate for 2 weeks before my house closed.  After 4 weeks of adding gluten back into my diet my blood sugars were sky high and I ended up in DKA.  DKA is a life threatening condition in which the blood sugars get too high because the body isn't able to use insulin and the blood becomes very acidic.  I couldn't keep any food or water down me and I was delirious.  I was able to nurse myself back to health and went back onto the Paleo diet.  My blood sugars improved a ton however this time I did require some insulin for the few carbs I was eating.  I was disappointed that I had to have insulin on the same diet that I did months earlier with no insulin.  They say that once a Type 1 Diabetic is diagnosed they still have some Beta cells producing insulin for about a year before they shut off.  My guess is that I had less Beta cells producing insulin which is why I now had to take insulin despite being on the same diet as before.

The Paleo Diet and Going Gluten Free

  During my first appointment with my Endocrinologist she noticed that my thyroid was enlarged.  She ordered an ultrasound and found that there was damage from my immune system attacking it.  She told me that there was no treatment options and that was why I was sleeping 18 hours a day.    I refused to accept that there were no options for treatment.  I was fed up with being tired and read that the Paleo diet was an anti-inflammatory diet that helped with my Hashimotos Thyroid disease and Diabetes.  I decided to try it.  I also cut out gluten.

                                                    Before and after one week of Paleo/Gluten free diet
Within a week I was sleeping only 10 hours a day instead of the 18.  Even more miraculous, I was able to stop taking insulin.  My Dr. told me that if I went more than a week without insulin then I would die.  I went a month without insulin and my A1c dropped from 11 to 8 in 30 days.  My blood sugars were between 70-140 with no insulin!  The only carbs I ate were small amounts of fruit or vegies mixed with high fiber/high protein foods.   I was stoked!  My green eyes turned brown,  My skin was glowing.  I lost 15 lbs.  I had energy.  I felt great. However that diet was interrupted when I moved into my Grandparents.

Following my Endocrinologist suggested diet

  Soon after leaving the hospital I met with my Endocrinologist.  She put me on a strict diet of 75 carbs per meal or 60 carbs per meal with three 15 carb snacks in between.  I found it hard to eat 75 carbs.  I kept having to add things to reach that goal.  Also I was on 1 unit of insulin for every 15 carbs I ate. For one month I followed this diet to the T.  Despite taking the carb to ratio of insulin and following the diet, my blood sugars were constantly running into the 300's then dipping to the 40's and I gained 30 lbs in 31 days.  I started sleeping 15-18 hours a day because I was so exhausted.  After several appointments with my Endocrinologist I realized that she didn't know crap about nutrition.  Most Drs. are only required a semester of nutrition classes and what they learn in those classes is what the government tells them is healthy.  Sleeping 18 hours a day wasn't working for me.  Gaining 30 lbs on a "low carb diet"  wasn't working for me.  My blood sugars spiking and dropping wasn't working for me.  Something had to change.  I trusted my Dr.  I trusted that the information she was giving me was correct.  I trusted the governments guidelines.  After following their advice and getting sicker that trust was broken.  I decided to get educated.  I decided to become my own physician.  Don't get me wrong.  I think Drs. are great.  After all they've been through strenuous school but when it comes to nutrition they've been deceived.  The only way to know the truth is to find out for yourself. 

The Day I Was Diagnosed

  November 4th, 2012,  I was living with a friends parents and I was feeling exhausted and a little nauseous.  I had been drinking gallons of water daily over the past several months but thought nothing of it because water suddenly tasted deliciousness to me and I thought I was just craving it.  I was sitting on the porch swing when I became agitated over being so fatigued and I decided to go into the house get some tennis shoes on and go for a run.  Before leaving the house I had a strong impression in my mind that I needed to borrow my friends moms glucose meter.  I turned around and embarrassingly asked if I could check my blood sugar.  The meter wouldn't register.  It would only read "High Glucose, seek emergency care."  I fought going to the hospital for about an hour because I had no insurance and I felt "fine."  Finally I agreed to go to the Emergency room.  They had me pee in a cup which is when I noticed the bottom of the sample was covered in red sand which turned out to be Uric Acid kidney stones.  They tried taking glucose samples but none of the hospital equipment could detect my levels.  Finally after three hours on an insulin drip the lab was able to record it at 643.  The emergency immediately put me in ICU and told my Grandparents that I might not make it through the night.  I thought I was being punked because just a few hours before I wanted to go for a jog.   After a night in the ICU my nurse handed me a menu and told me to order my lunch.  I ordered a chicken salad.  The kitchen staff informed me that I had not met the carb requirements and needed to add more to my meal.  She offered me juice.  Still not enough carbs and so I added a bowl of fruit and crackers.  Every time I ordered a meal they said I needed to add more carbs to reach the dietary requirements.  I remember sitting there thinking "Do you think I'm an complete idiot?!!  I'm in here fighting for my life because of sugar and you're telling me that I need to eat more of it.  How come they think 75 carbs per meal is healthy for a diabetic?  Who sets these guidelines?"  The answer is the government sets the nutrition requirements.

My Mission

  I'm on a mission.  A mission to reverse Type 1 Diabetes.  I refuse to believe that injecting myself with synthetic hormones is the only way.  I refuse to believe that God didn't create another way.  Call me crazy, tell me that I'm in denial.  We all know there is no cure......... or is there?  My Endocrinologist personally told me I would have this disease the rest of my life and that I would require insulin or I would die.  She has 10 years of schooling so who am I to think I know more than her?   However of that 10 years of schooling she was required only a semester in nutrition.  Those "facts" she learned in her nutrition classes were based off what the Government deems is healthy.  I've always believed the Government would do no harm and thought they knew what they were talking about.  For every article you read on the Internet there are thousands of articles that claim the opposite. The only way to know the truth is to try it out for yourself.  I've tried several diets in hopes to reverse my diabetes.  One was successful for a short run.  Here I'll document my personal experiments.  My journey isn't over.  I'm going to keep searching till I find out what works.