The Type 2 Epidemic
By Rudy Mueller, DC, IFMCP I
n 2012, the American Diabetes Association cited 29.1 mil- lion Americans or 9.3% of the population as having type 2 diabetes, of which 21 million were diagnosed leaving a staggering 8.1 million undiagnosed. These numbers continue to increase every year. The Department of Health and Human Services of Maine put out a report in 2011 indicating that 11.4% of the population or 119,469 Maine adults had diabetes. This is a shocking number especially when considering that type 2 diabetes is preventable, and in some cases reversible. I personally have seen the effects of what type 2 diabetes and its disease process can do to an individual and to a fam- ily. My father was severely overweight and developed type 2 diabetes in his 50’s. As I grew up and became more aware of his health I watched it decline rapidly until he passed away from cardiovascular disease when I was a senior in high school. In between his diagnosis and his death my father had multiple strokes, was in constant pain, lost his mobility and ability to function and ended up in a nursing home. As a 16 year old I drove 30 minutes to visit him and watched his health decline even more as he lost weight and his ability to communicate, at one point having to resort to pointing to letters on a piece of paper.
My father followed the recommendations of his doctors and diligently took the prescribed medication and doses. Unfortu- nately, he did not experience health from these recommenda- tions; he only developed more and more complications and fur- ther life-shortening conditions. We were unable to have the type of relationship that I know both of us wanted. Knowing what I know now, and helping others make the necessary changes, if I could have gotten to him years before, perhaps the story would have ended differently. Unfortunately today the same holds true, most physicians are unable to take the necessary time to devote to finding and addressing the underlying cause(s) of chronic diseases and
8 Essential Living Maine ~ November/December 2014
instead use a cookie cutter approach, pile on medication after medication and increase dosages in an attempt to affect lab values such as blood glucose and Hemoglobin A1C. This lack of addressing the individual and the causes of the chronic disease will only continue the type 2 diabetes epidemic throughout the great state of Maine and the United States. If you are one of the many individuals throughout the United States who has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, or even pre-diabetes, let me tell you that there are options that can end the need for pricking your finger multiple times per day, decrease the risk of developing further disease and help you reduce the amount of medication you rely on daily. These other options are interventions that address the underlying causes of diabetes and help reverse the disease process.
The Foundational Problem: The Standard American Diet and Insulin Resistance
In short the foundational problem begins with the Standard American Diet, more properly referred to by the acronym, SAD. Unfortunately the majority of Americans consume this diet, which is high in carbohydrates, high in processed foods, high in sugar, and high in preservatives. This diet stresses our body in many ways, the most detrimental of which is the glucose and insulin response. As our blood glucose increases secondary to this diet, it triggers the release of insulin from the pancreas. Excessive and prolonged stimulation of this pathway by habitual consumption of a high carbohydrate diet eventually results in insulin resistance, one of the major contributors and causes of type 2 diabetes. The standard American diet sets the stage for type 2 diabetes by constantly stimulating the insulin response and secondarily
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