My father’s diabetes is cured

High blood sugar or diabetes is a symptom which receives maximum treatment with incomplete understanding. To compound to the problem, doctors have turned dieticians and recommend some unscientific dietary practices. Furthermore, insulin dependence is increasing by the day. Unfortunately, it is being marketed as a safe alternative. More study needs to be done to ascertain the efficacy of medicines on human biology because none of the medicines are absolutely safe to take. Diabetes is a symptom which has various causes. It could be stress induced diabetes, lifestyle induced diabetes, or it could be a genetically predisposed diabetes that you have. This requires the patient to study their condition in detail and then report to the doctor rather than blindly listen to what the doctor has to say. An interaction of this sort will surely benefit the patient.

What caused high blood sugars

After retirement, my father took on service activities. He would tour different districts of Southern Indian states and deliver lectures of human values. He was a known personality and so he received invitations to deliver lectures. My father developed diabetes when he was 40 years of age. His condition was stress induced at work combined with uncontrolled food habits. Some days, his lectures ended at about 2:30-3pm. This got him very hungry. At times, his blood sugars would go down and he needed a sweetener immediately. Unmindful of the consequences, dad sometimes took to soft drinks to raise his low blood sugars. When he returned from his tours, he often seemed very tired and sleepy which indicated that everything was not alright. My father asked me to take him to a specialist.

A visit to the endocrinologist

I took my father to an endocrinologist and diabetologist. After the appointment, dad received a prescription for Insulin injections. He had to be insulin dependent. He was also advised to split his meals into 5 portions that he had to consume during the day. My father loved food. Hunger had nothing to do with his eating. If food was present in front of him, he would serve himself a good filling.

So, my father began his journey of insulin dependence and was eating 5 times daily. He was under the impression that this new schedule and the new medicine will cure him. Most allopathic practices are not meant to cure your symptom. They help manage the symptom. Only in certain uncommon cases are symptoms completely cured.

3 Months later

3 moths after his new life of insulin dependence and eating 5 split meals daily, I checked his blood sugar readings. There was a surprise waiting for us. His blood sugars hadn\’t changed. It stood between 400-450. We had reasons to be concerned about his health, but he was adamant that he would only listen to the doctors whom he was consulting.

We visited the specialists again. This time, my father was asking the questions. The doctors suggested change in medication. My father wasn\’t convinced with their answers. He turned to me and asked me whether I could help him. This question brought such relief to me and I said; Yes, and my work began.

Are you hungry or do you give into food cravings?

The first and foremost correction he needed to take was on food. Food must be eaten when hungry. Don\’t just eat. The body produces hunger because it needs nutrition. So, common sense suggests you to eat when body expresses hunger. Again, there are few restrictions about when you can eat and when you mustn\’t. I have written an article on this earlier. You can read my article on eat to stay healthy. I asked my father when he was hungry and when he was eating to satisfy mental cravings. He did his self study very patiently and responded to me after 15 days. He said he was hungry only 3 times daily but was eating 7 times daily in small bites.

What to eat and what not to eat

Dietary recommendations is another important part of a diabetic diet. Usually in Bangalore, doctors ask diabetic patients to reduce rice and eat chapatis. I tour Ludhiana, Punjab on work. When I was consulting there, It was hilarious to note that doctors there suggest you to stop chapatis and eat rice instead. There is no science behind this suggestion. You can\’t just stop what you are eating and begin eating what you haven\’t been eating. You don\’t have to do it this way. Chew your food instead and necessarily be vegetarian.

I asked dad to eat rice because we are rice eaters. Just that he had to chew his food well. Masticated foods digest well. There weren\’t many restrictions. Although dad had asked me to help him, somewhere in the back of his mind, he needed to get his blood sugars tested. He was a scientist and he needed proof.

After following his new diet for a month and a half, he went back to the diabetologist and endocrinologist to get his blood sugars checked. The doctors checked him and found that his blood sugars had come down drastically to 140. They were amazed with the results and enquired with my father what he had done to bring his blood sugars down. Here is a list of what I did with him.

What you need to know before you take action

1. All diabetics do not feel hungry frequently. Every body behaves differently. So, there is no rule book. Go by what your body needs. People with stress induced diabetes have different symptoms compared to people who have lifestyle induced diabetes.
2. Stress induced diabetes can be cured when you release stress from your psychology. People who are stressed are often compulsive eaters. Cure the psychological problem and you will begin to see results. I used only a few powerful psychological practices on my father to bring down his blood sugar levels. You too can choose to bring your blood sugars down.
3. Genetic predisposition of diabetes can become a possibility only when the father or mother has been a diabetic even before the child has been conceived. Lifestyle induced or stress induced diabetes are transient health conditions. They cannot induce a diabetic gene! I suggest you read the book The Biology of Belief to understand this better.
4. Synthetic Insulin is not a saviour for all! If you are insulin dependent, you need to see if your body can get better care so that you can survive with lesser medication. Don\’t mess with your body with the thought that at few extra calories taken and a few extra units of insulin will save your body. Insulin dependence is not always good.
5. Snoring is not a good sign. Diabetes usually gets compounded and may cause multiple health issues. Stop snoring before it gets you.
6. Family members who are treating patients need to undertake a session on counselling for caretakers. This is not because the family surrounding the patient get tired listening to the same thing or because they are going through the same routine everyday! It is because caretakers need to know how to take care of a patient. That helps the patient immensely. When I helped my dad without imposing myself upon him, he was so happy with me that one day he called me and said; \”You are my strength\”. It still rings in my ear and makes me feel happy.

5 things you can do if you are the patient

Most people with diabetes , if not all, choose to take decisions all by themselves. So, if you want to help yourself, here is my suggestion to you.

1. Work with yourself to see what foods are good for you and what is not. You can choose to consult an Ayurvedic Practitioner. They study dietetics. Modern medical doctors don\’t. I will go one step further an ask you to consult an Ayurvedic practitioner who knows pulse diagnosis. That practitioner can tell you what is going on in your body and mind without you having to tell.
2. Whether you are an industrialist or a government employee, stress is a part of your life. Don\’t leave anything to chance. Get to know the potential health risks your body might manifest so that you can take steps now to prevent its onset.
3. Exercise regularly. Yoga can be a very good part of your lifestyle to reduce your blood sugar levels. Consider learning practices that are right for you. Consult a yoga therapist today.
4. If you were a diabetic before your children were born, there is a fair chance that your children might be potential carriers of diabetes. Get your children to go through a pulse diagnosis so that this potential health risk can be avoided by making appropriate lifestyle decisions.
5. Ask your partner or spouse whether you snore. If you do snore, then take steps to stop snoring. Snoring is an indication of an impending heart condition.
6. Emotionally reacting to any situation can cause your blood sugars to fluctuate. Seek help to be emotionally stable so that you can maintain a healthy blood sugar balance in your body.

In conclusion

Though most doctors say diabetes is not reversible, I have worked with so many people with stress induced diabetes and lifestyle induced diabetes as well as genetically predisposed diabetic conditions. Their blood sugars have come down to clinically normal levels. When they consulted their diabetologist and endocrinologist, they have been advised to stop medication. You too can choose to live a normal life without necessarily being insulin dependant. The choice is yours to make.

–Mahesh Krishnamurthy