Healing Type 1 Diabetes

Healing my Environment First

I wanted to provide an update as to what is going on in my life. I used to think, first I am going to get my diet perfect and heal my diabetes and then I will work on everything else in my life. Well, guess what? I think I had it backwards. I have read about this also in certain raw food newsletters. You need to work on getting your life somewhat where you want it to be, before you switch to a 100% raw food diet. So, I recommend eating a high raw diet while you work on the other big issues in your life. Then when you feel more comfortable and supported, when your instinct tells you that you are ready - then go for it. But as Matt Monarch points out, high raw is good too and the best foods to eliminate are the starchy carbs like breads and pastries. It is better to stick with high raw for life, than to switch back and forth from all raw to no raw over and over again.

The family dinners are still going well. My hubby thinks it was a great idea to start that up again. We had a sit down family dinner 4 times last week. One night I worked late and my daughter fixed supper. One night my daughter was out. And one time we ate in front of the TV while we had a family movie night. We watch "Big". My kids had never seen it before, can you believe it? We have been doing family movie nights off and on for a few months now. I think we'll watch "Groundhog Day" next time.

I have also stuck with the elimination of the majority of my TV series watching and going to bed when the kids go to bed, at around 10:30. I get up at 5:40, so I should have been going to bed that early a long time ago. I have to get up that early to get my daughter to school by 7:15.

Not trying to catch up on my series watching on the DVR freed up so much time for me this weekend that I cleaned up and organized the formal dining room. It was a mess! I cleaned out piles of stuff that had accumulated under my buffets. Then I cleaned off the top of the buffets and moved all of my daughter's art work (mostly clay & ceramic) off the dining room table and onto the buffets. Then I set  out a puzzle on one end of the table and I work on it a little each day. Sometimes one or both of the kids stop and help me. The simplest things are really the most fun.

I feel like we are reconnecting with our kids again. I guess it is never too late since they are 14 and 16 years old. I asked for a gift certificate to help me buy a GPS for Mother's Day and to be given it early so I can buy it and we can go geocaching on Mother's Day. I'm sure the teenagers will complain, but hopefully it will be a fun time.

My blood sugars have been up and down. But I actually feel good and happier than in a long time. I feel like a cloud is lifting. Maybe it is better to eat a less than perfect meal together as a family, than to eat a perfect meal alone.

Getting More Sleep

• 6:20 - 341
• 11:40 - 350
• 2:25 - 332
• 5:00 - 139
• 7:15 - 135
• 9:40 - 101

It's going to take a few days for my body to readjust to the 10 units of 24 hour insulin per day. But even though my blood sugars were high half of the day, my ketones were low and I felt great.

The family dinners are going great. A little resistance from the teenagers, but the interaction with them during dinner has actually been really enjoyable. No withdrawals from TV. Probably because I still watch some of what other people are watching. We have actually been turning the TV off more and the quiet is awesome! Last but not least I am getting to bed earlier and getting more sleep which is really important for my health, especially since I have diabetes.

Here is one of many articles on sleep deprivation increasing the risk of diabetes - http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/results.php?storyarticle=1021,

Seeking Balance in My Life

I feel great today! I think part of the reason is because I had an epiphany. A fight with my daughter made me realize I am unhappy with so many other areas of my life. For example, I am a TV addict and we seldom eat together as a family.

When the kids were little, I never tried to keep up with any shows. If I caught part of them, fine. If not, fine. Mostly I watched Barney or Pokemon or a Disney movie with the kids. I really liked that. But now we have a DVR and I had become obsessive about keeping up with certain shows. I never watched Dallas or Knotting Hill (is that right?) and I don't think I missed out on anything not watching them. So why I am watching Lost and Desperate Housewives?

So starting today I am not watching any shows in particular. If something is on and I happen to be in the room  or we watch a movie together as a family that is great. We actually turned the TV off a few times today and the silence was great!

Then we cleared off the table, the kids helped me set it, and we all ate dinner together. It was very enjoyable. This feels so good and so right. My daughter and I even walked to a nearby grocery store for a few groceries. That was definitely fun!

There is more to healing than just diet and I feel better today because of non-dietary changes in my life. Now if I can just get this house cleared out and organized. Oh well, one step at a time.

I am going to Brenda Cobb's Living Foods Institute in Georgia in November for 10 days. She says some Type 1s have gotten off their insulin, but her approach includes more than just diet. They have emotional healing classes everyday. I am really looking forward to that.

I am eating fruits, veggies, and salads now. I've decided to gradually work on making it more alkaline.

• 7:20 - 289
• 10:30 - 344
• 12:15 - 283
• 1:30 - 369
• 3:10 - 131
• 4:30 - 81
• 6:30 - 128
• 9:00 - 150

I made my decision to trade TV for family dinners in the afternoon. This is crazy, but I think it improved my blood sugars!

I'm having a hard time trying to decide how much 24 hour insulin to take tonight. I used to take 10 and then I reduced it to 0 on the juice fast. I think I will go back to 10 now that I am eating and see how it goes.

Juice Fast vs Juice Feast - I Did it Wrong

Looking back I realize that I did a juice fast instead of a juice feast. Being Type 1 Diabetic that led to high ketones and could have sent me into ketoacidosis. So if anyone else reads "The pH Miracle for Diabetes", I recommend not doing the juice feast unless you have the time and appetite to eat and drink as much as he says and truly make it a feast instead of a fast. Otherwise, it would be better to go straight into the eating plan.

I was still struggling with high ketones today so I made and drank grapefruit juice most of the day to bring them down. Then I was still hungry at night, so I made lettuce wraps with tomato, cucumber, and avocado. Sure hit the spot and my cravings went away too. I plan to stick with eating alkaline raw foods and see how it goes.

I still reduced my 24 hour insulin from 10 units to  1 unit in 1 week so that is good. If I wake up tomorrow with high blood sugars again, I am going to take 1 unit of slow acting insulin tomorrow night.

Yesterday's blood sugars in the evening:

• 7:20 - 125
• 9:05 - 177
• 9:45 - 169

Today's blood sugars:

• 9:00 - 354
• 11:00 - 291
• 12:15 - 428
• 1:00 - 364
• 3:20 - 136
• 5:00 - 88
• 6:00 - 196
• 7:45 - 134
• 10:30 - 46
• 11:30 - 64

Day 6 & Nearing the End of my Juice Feast

When I went to bed I had a blood sugar of 87. I woke up with a 358 bs, nausea, and diarrhea. As my endocrinologist taught me, it takes 3 days for my body to adjust to a new slow acting insulin dosage. She said to ignore high levels until those 3 days are over and just take more fast acting insulin. Tomorrow is the 4th day without any slow acting insulin at night, and I used to take 10 units. So if my levels are still high tomorrow, I will start taking some slow acting insulin.

I took 3 units of insulin to bring down my morning bs. My ketones were also high again. I hoped the insulin would bring that down too. At 9:15 my bs was still 243 and insulin should definitely work within 3 hours. So I took 2 more units.

At  12:15 my bs was better at 175 but my ketones were still high. So I made & drank 8 ounces of fresh oj and took 5 units of insulin hoping to get my ketones down.

At 3:15 my bs was 215 so I took another unit. I drank 4 ounces of oj at 4:20 and took 2 units.

Here is my response to Claire today on her blog:

Yes, I think I haven't been eating & drinking enough either and the avocado soups are gross to me now too. The idea of drinking and eating as much as Dr. Young recommended just seemed too much to me. I just can't eat that much when I'm not hungry. But maybe you have to drink & eat that much to do this and not go into ketoacidosis.

Remember that blog you found of Charly who juiced to heal his Type 1? After one week he said his stomach felt bad and he switched back to raw food.

I think I'm about at that point. Maybe because of my very high ketones, even veggie juices sounded gross to me today. So I have been making and drinking orange juice all day and taking insulin. I find the only sure way to bring my ketones down is to get some sugar in me like orange juice and take insulin.

I'm thinking about drinking orange juice one more day so I can figure out my slow acting insulin level and then start eating alkaline foods on Sunday.

I know what Dr. Young wants us to do is retrain our bodies to burn fat for energy instead of sugar. So I know drinking orange juice won't work. I cannot stand the idea of avocados in a soup anymore, but I think if it was in a salad or squished onto some lettuce leaves I could eat it.

I'm so sorry you are having a tough time. I'm glad you are checking your ketones and blood sugars a lot. Maybe you should start eating right away. We should listen to our bodies like Charly did. If I had to do it over, I think I might just go straight into the eating plan and maybe other people with tough to control diabetes should skip the juicing part too.

I had diarrhea today and had to call in sick today again. I think it's partly due to the drainage. I want to feel good next week and not miss any work, so I am definitely going to start eating by Sunday at the latest.

Day 5 & Struggling a Little Bit

Here are my blood sugars today:

• 7:30 - 282
• 8:00 - 324
• 12:30 - 188
• 1:30 - 188
• 2:30 - 192
• 4:00 - 148
• 5:00 - 112
• 6:30 - 158
• 7:30 - 204
• 8:30 - 173
• 9:30 - 175
• 10:30 - 133

I took 2 units at 7:30, but my blood sugar went up instead of down (one possible sign of ketoacidosis I think). I had a dentist's appointment at 8:00, so I tried to drink some carrot juice before going in and took some more insulin but I threw up a little in the parking lot. So I went inside and cancelled my appointment and came home and called in sick to work. Part of it may be because I have a fair amount of drainage going down to my stomach also.

Today, I found out that you can buy Ketostix without a prescription (at least here in the U.S.). But you just have to ask the pharmacist for them because they are behind the counter. So I bought some and my ketones were at the highest range. I had already tried more carrot juice, salt water, and insulin and it was still high (and at the time my blood sugar was pretty good, below 150). So, I finally juiced myself two oranges and drank them. I also took 3 units. That did help. Now when I check my ketones they are at the moderate level. Then later I drank some carrot/green juice too.

I really recommend Ketostix for any diabetic trying a juice feast and checking your blood sugar often. I am going to try to make it one week at least and then I may switch to the alkaline eating plan.

Day 4 & We Don't Need Meat for Protein

After taking no 24hour insulin last night, my blood sugar was 183. Not bad!

I had a blood draw at the lab. I'll get the results Monday. I'm not expecting them to be too great since my blood sugars were going very high before I started on this juice feast.

At 8 am my bs was 192. I thought I'd wait and see if it came down, since I am not supposed to take insulin unless my numbers are over 200 if I'm not eating right then.

My stomach was feeling quesy, so I checked my bs again at 9:30 and it was 197. Close enough, so I took 1 unit of insulin.

I only sneezed once today and there isn't any drainage. My eyes are a little blurry though, so they must be healing something.

At noon I finally felt up to drinking my green powder drink. I just wasn't hungry. At 12:30 my bs was 109.

The sneezing and drainage started up again this afternoon. The bad thing is that even though my bs was pretty good - at 4:00 it was 167 & at 4:30 it was 154 - my stomach got very quesy. I felt like I was on the verge of throwing up. I know what this means for me - I am probably going into ketoacidosis. I don't have any Ketostix to check, because mine expired and they require a prescription. So I drank 6 ounces of undiluted carrot juice (all I had left) and took 1 unit. I hope that will snap me out of it.

I think I am feeling better now at 5:00. I will ask someone to smell my breath at home and make sure it doesn't have the fruity ketoacidosis smell. I have been to the hospital twice before, a few years ago, for keto and I don't want to ever do that again. I have some carrots with me to eat, in case I get desperate. I will try salt water at home. I could also juice some oranges and take insulin, that would probably work too.

Here is some information about why too much protein is bad for you and why we get enough protein on a raw food diet.

excerpt from this article - http://chetday.com/kidneyhealth.htm

By Dr. Ben Kim
DrBenKim.com

The link between eating too much protein and developing kidney disease is one that is not often talked about by supporters of a high-protein diet. While it is important to keep your blood sugar and insulin at healthy levels by avoiding sugar and other simple carbohydrates, please know that a high-protein diet poses many dangers to your health, especially if most of your protein is cooked. Your health is best served by replacing simple carbohydrates with lots of high quality fat, and moderate amounts of healthy protein and non-starchy vegetables.

Excerpt from a video by Jim Carey “Dispelling the Raw Food Myths” - http://www.chidiet.com/blog/free-stuff/dispelling-raw-food-myths.htm

Myth #7: You Don’t Get Any Protein

• Americans consume, on average, 5X the protein their body needs.
• Protein-induced calcium depletion is the leading cause of osteoporosis.
• Leafy greens, fruits and veggies contain protein.
  • – All the protein your body needs, even for athletes.
• Consider – Where do cows and horses get their protein? From grasses and grain.

Day 3 & Excerpt from a Dr. Young Interview

I woke up at 5:30 this morning sweating profusely. My blood sugar was crashing. I went downstairs and checked my blood sugar - it was 46! So I poured an 8 oz glass of carrot juice and drank it. By 6:30 I was okay with a blood sugar of 72. Because of this drop though, I am going to lower the 24 hour insulin from 3 units to 1 tonight. If I end up taking more fast acting insulin, that is fine because the lows are scary.

I am experiencing a little detox today. Sneezing and stuff draining down the back of my throat. Not a lot, but any detox is great!

My bs at 8:45 was 191. Not high enough to take any insulin. At 10:00 I drank a green powder drink. At 12:20 my bs was 205. Borderline high enough to take insulin without food. But I decided to drink a green/carrot juice (6oz/2oz plus water to make a quart) and not take insulin. I will take it later in the afternoon if my bs is still high. It will take my body 3 days to adjust to the changes in the slow acting insulin, so I will have to put up with the roller coaster ride for now. But it is still a better, more level roller coaster ride than when I eat cooked food or even a high fruit raw food diet.

At 3:30 in the afternoon my bs was 244, so I took 1 unit of insulin. Normally, one unit of insulin brings my level down by 80. So before this juice feast I would have taken 1 1/2 or 2 units. But I am trying to avoid those lows. It worked. At 5:15 my bs was 167. I drank a green powder drink and at 7:30 it was 160. I ate a raw soup and at bedtime it was 212, so I took another unit of insulin.

I tell you, I am really getting sensitive to the highs. When my bs is in the upper 100s or lower 200s my legs start to hurt. I used to go up to 300 or more before that happened. I think that is good though.

Tomorrow morning I have a fasting blood test and I can't eat anything in the morning before it. Since I really want to avoid a blood sugar crash, I am not taking any slow acting insulin tonight. I will just take extra fast acting insulin during the day. In fact, I am going to try that for 3 days and see how well my body adjusts to that. Then Saturday night I will take some slow acting insulin if I need it.

Here is an excerpt from a 2003 interview with Dr. Young. His CDs & supplements are available for purchase at www.innerlightinc.com.

We’ve had great success with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic challenges. I’m reminded of what Thomas Edison once said. “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will involve the patient with proper use of food, fresh air, and exercise.” My book focuses on a holistic approach to Type 1 (insulin dependent) and Type 2 (diet related, not insulin dependent) Diabetes.

The wonderful thing we have found in the control studies that we have done, is we have had success in one hundred percent of the cases when they apply what Thomas Edison was talking about. When they apply the principles of alkalizing and energizing their body holistically, when they apply the principles of not treating the pancreas but providing the proper alkaline pH around the fluids that surround the insulin producing Beta cells - we’ve been able to reduce insulin usage by over 50% in every case. And in many cases in Type 2 Diabetes over 90% of them have been reversed.

The pancreas is a shock organ. It has to deal with the food that’s coming out of the stomach. So if the food is highly acidic, the pancreas’ front line is releasing bicarbonate to bring the alkalinity anywhere from 1.5 up to 8 or 8.2, a jump of over 1 million times. A pH of 6 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 7, 5 is 10 times more acidic than 6, etc.

When the pancreas hasn’t got enough bicarbonate, it pulls it from the blood. In fact it will pull it from any source it can to alkalize that food. Because if that food is not alkalized, it will end up damaging a very sensitive and important part of our body - the intestinal villus.

It’s in the intestinal villus that the food is biologically transformed into new blood and then into new body cells. If that food is improper, and it hasn’t got the proper pH, and the pancreas is stressed everything can get out of balance. The pancreas is on the front line in the preparation of that food, in order to provide new cells that will eventually become body cells.

If you take a diabetic, someone who is doing Diabetes (and I say this literally, you don’t “get” Diabetes, you do it, with your lifestyle and with your diet) and you teach them how to not do Diabetes, then you get phenomenal results. A woman in Texas had been doing Diabetes for twenty-two years. She was taking 120 units of insulin a day, in 30 days she’s off all her injections.

Why? Because it wasn’t about the pancreas, it was about maintaining a proper internal environment so that cells can operate and function at their highest level.

If you put any matter into acid it's going to break down - it’s not going to be able to perform. When the context (i.e. the environment) is overacidic and you make that significant change - then we find that everything starts functioning better, functioning normally! That’s what we’ve found not only with Type 2 diabetics, but now also with Type 1 diabetics which is a miracle.

Yes, and I believe I am experiencing that miracle right now!

Day 2 & Article on Regenerating the Pancreas

After eating that bowl of raw soup, without taking any insulin, my blood sugar at bedtime was 140. Awesome! I had taken one unit less of the 24 hour insulin the night before and only one unit of the fast-acting insulin all day. Great for the first day!

I reduced the 24 hour insulin another unit last night to 8. At 7:00 this morning my bs was 120. Fantastic! I drank a quart of green drink at around 10.

I started feeling like my blood sugar was going down at around 11:30 and checked and it was 64. So I made a juice to drink with a little more carrot juice than normal to help bring my levels back up. I brought a glass jar each of green juice and carrot juice with me to work that I made yesterday and put them in the frig in the breakroom. Then I poured 6 ounces of green juice & four ounces of carrot juice into a pourable measuring cup and put it in my stainless steel bottle. I added 5 pH drops and water to fill it up and drank on that all afternoon. I immediately felt like my blood sugar was coming back up.

I checked my blood sugar at 3:30 and it was 102 - whoo-hoo!!

I found an interesting article today - Reams Biological theory of Ionization. It totally supports our pH & raw food approach to healing that Claire & I are taking. Here are some excerpts that specifically apply to Diabetes & the pancreas:

The liver
This is where the liver fits in. The liver produces huge amounts of bile to aid in the digestion of the food, but more important to balance the cations in the food with the anions in the bile. Besides that, the liver produces about 6 billion enzymes, which are used by the organs in our body. Let's take the pancreas as an example. The pancreas produces primarily three things: Insulin, alcohol and pancreatic enzymes that metabolise protein. Where does the pancreas get its input ? From the liver enzymes. Without the correct amount of liver enzymes, the pancreas can't do its job. Result: Diabetes (insulin), cold hands and feet (alcohol) and cancer (digestive enzymes). When any organ in your body is malfunctioning, you should always look at the liver first. If the liver was running at 100%, it would supply the right enzymes to all organs, so that the organs can heal themselves.. i.e. This means: No kidney transplants are ever needed anymore. Problems with the thyroid or the adrenals ? Again: Check the liver !

The article goes on to provide a liver regeneration protocol that uses lemon juice but warns to only follow this protocol with a doctor's supervision:

Why can it be fatal ? It's because the pancreas gets a lot more enzymes that it was used too and all of a sudden starts to produce a lot more insulin. You can imagine what happens. When bloodsugar levels fall too low, due to excessive insulin, you can fade or fall into a coma, which might very well prove to be fatal.

It also includes a pancreas rebuilding protocol:

Pancreas rebuilding protocol
This is a very easy one. Get yourself a vegetable-juicer machine and make 4 ounces of juice twice a day. Use good green leafy vegetables. Again, use distilled water to make the juice.

Based on this article, my last experience with lows on a juice feast, and Claire's successful tremendous reduction in her 24 hour insulin dosage - I am going to reduce my nighttime dosage to 3 tonight. I may not be using lemon juice, but I think the pH drops, green drinks, and raw veggie juices might still have the same effect. I will take more fast acting insulin during the day if I need to.

I drank another green drink at 6:00. Then at 8:30 my blood sugar was 74. So I ate a bowl of raw soup. At bedtime my bs was 91. Another great day!

Day 1 of the pH Juice Feast

I slept in today, Sunday, and got up around 9:30. My blood sugar was 160. A little high, but I'm not going to take any insulin for it since I know last time I experienced a lot of lows on my juice feast. Besides, my endocrinologist told me not to take any insulin unless my blood sugar is over 200 if I am not eating right then.

At 10:30 I made myself a green drink - 1 quart of filtered, distilled water in my stainless steel bottle, 15 pH drops, and 1 teaspoon of green powder. At 3:00 in the afternoon my blood sugar was 188. Still not high enough to take any insulin. My bs may be running high because I reduced my 24 hour insulin (lantus) by 1 unit last night. But I'm not going to worry about it because it takes my body 3 days to adjust to a change in my lantus dosage (as my endocrinologist warned me).

I drank some juice - 6 ounces of green juice (dandelion greens, celery, & cucumber), 2 ounces of carrot juice, 5 pH drops, and water to make a quart's worth.

I checked my blood sugar at 5:20 and it was 240. I took 1 unit of humalog. At 8:30 I ate a blended soup of avocados, tomatoes, dandelion greens, water, and tarragon. My blood sugar was 100 before I ate the soup. I made a bunch, but got full after one bowl so I saved the rest for another day.