Following the Iceman

In the stream of medical science and research articles I’ve set to feed to my android phone, I usually look for anything related to diabetes or auto immunity. So when this Science Daily article scrolled by last April, it caught my eye: Research On 'Iceman' Wim Hof Suggests It May Be Possible to Influence Autonomic Nervous System and Immune Response. This guy is mostly known for being able to raise his body temperature. His stunts include: up to 90 minutes buried up to his neck in ice cubes; running a marathon above the arctic circle in just a pair of shorts; swimming under arctic ice, etc. He taught himself a Tibetan form of meditation called “tummo”. Buddhist monks have apparently been doing cold-defying feats using this “fire meditation” for centuries. But the article is about Hof’s claim that he could also affect his body’s autoimmune response. The study, using an immune-response producing endotoxin, certainly looks legitimate. Hof was able to lower his body’s immune response by 50% compared to 240 other subjects by using concentration and meditation.

I thought, pretty darn interesting!
Because in the autoimmune flavors of diabetes like Type 1 and my LADA, it’s always seemed to me that ANYTHING that hints at a way to stop my body’s attack on my pancreas is worth a look. Even the regeneration of beta cells isn’t going to do me much good if they’re just going to get killed again. It’s one of the reasons I avoid insulin. It doesn’t fix the problem or the root of the problem. And I worry it’d damage my remaining capacity.

In reality, the odds that I could actually teach myself the secret tradition of tummo are slim. Hof may have done it, but it’s supposed to take 12 years in a Himalayan temple. Still, the idea of it was still enough of a hook to get me started. And there’s plenty of evidence that any meditation is good for you. Being the typical restless-minded westerner, I’m only managing 15 minutes a day for now. But I know for a fact it lowers my stress. And who knows, maybe this winter I can don a lighter weight parka when I hit the slopes.





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Refusing The Needle: A Diabetic’s Natural Journey To Kick-Ass Health by Russell Stamets
ebook available for all devices at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/145608
and for kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007P6L5C4
tags: type 1, type 2, autoimmune, diabetes, lada, natural, alternative, diet, supplements, acupuncture, meditation, lifestyle

Diabetes Tips With Captain Russ - testing

"Captain Russ is going to tell it as he sees it." I haven't lived with diabetes for that long. I'm still able to look at it from outside of the box. As for testing, I'm just suggesting a more sane approach.

Diabetes Tips With Captain Russ - alcohol

"Captain Russ knows his IPAs from his ESBs" I think quitting alcohol is a deal-breaker for some. It's embedded in our whole personal and social fabric. But weighed against life and the FSIS, it was an easy decision for me.

So Exactly How Am I Lowering My HbA1c?

My posts and replies so far only give a few specifics. It’s quite a laundry list. I don’t know exactly what’s working. It’s certainly some combination of what's listed below. I have some “science” that supports (for me) each of these things. You can find most of them in my online bookmarks. Everything is intended to either help with the autoimmune (type1),  insulin receptivity (type2), or stress (huge driver for both). But here’s a quick rundown of what I’m doing/taking:

-quit all alcohol (my acupuncturist said stress on liver = stress on pancreas)
-quit almost all caffeine (one study suggested it and saturated fat spike BS)
-quit animal saturated fat (no dairy, fatty meats have to be grilled, i.e. no pot roast)
-other than those, eating the kind of lean, low carb diet you see posted often. Slight differences from some, including limitless fruit and nuts, especially flavanoids like strawberrys and blueberrys, lots o cinnamon.
-eat constantly, every 3 hours or so, nothing after 7pm
-extremely strict adherence to all the above.
-15 minutes meditation daily (besides the stress relief, google Wim Hof - autoimmune)
-weekly acupuncture (stress, getting the pancreas “burner” going)
-perpetual motion (especially after meals, like 20 min walk after lunch, standing at work computer, stairs)
-supplements include: fish oil (autoimmune, inflammation), Alpha-Lipoic Acid (type2, BS control), B complex (stress, biotin source), Vitamin D (type1, autoimmune), NAC (type1, inflammation), GABA (type1, autoimmune - one mouse study showed both beta cell regeneration and reduced immune attack on them), Zinc (type2, amylin prevention)
-still taking metformin, quit the glipizide in August

CAUTIONS: It’s doubtful that any 2 individual’s lists will be the same. My doctor and nutritionist see no risks in this approach for ME. Don’t forget I’m LADA and have to work on both Type 1 and Type 2 aspects. Some things, like the fact that animal saturated fat spikes my blood sugar may be completely unique to my genetic makeup. Nobody else seems to have seen this. Don’t forget that I started skinny and that the activity increase and lean diet try to make me skinnier. I’m eating more fruit carbs along with my pounds of almonds to keep the weight on. Many of you Type 2’s probably wouldn’t mind the weight loss my regimen generates without those added carbs. But that’s mostly a quantity thing.

Please keep asking questions. This conversation will take time to tease all the details out. I believe the hardest parts are the mental changes. Giving up beer was hard, but truly being happy about it is harder. That’s why you here me saying things like “if you play the victim, this won’t work”. Stress is probably my biggest driver. It would take books worth of explaining to get at all of just my issues. Everybody’s different. For me, a lot of the stress was because I’ve a talent for being a bit of an a**hole. Learning to instinctually become a kinder person is MUCH easier said than done.

Is that any help?




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Refusing The Needle: A Diabetic’s Natural Journey To Kick-Ass Health by Russell Stamets
ebook available for all devices at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/145608
and for kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007P6L5C4
tags: type 1, type 2, autoimmune, diabetes, lada, natural, alternative, diet, supplements, acupuncture, meditation, lifestyle

Canary in a Coal Mine

photo by Bill Bouton

The millions of us whose diabetes is not completely hereditary, which would include Type 2 and LADA, have our environment to thank. Some of it we can control, but it’s the same environment that the non-diabetic world lives in. And we die of pretty much the same things as the rest of the world. It’s just that the heart attack or stroke might come sooner because of the diabetes. I have to keep reminding myself that it is NOT diabetes that kills anyone. It’s the complications. We diabetics not only die from the same things as everybody else, we have the same inputs that contribute: stress, diet, alcohol, and activity level.

The onset of the diabetes epidemic is just the harbinger of a dying-too-early epidemic for the whole human race. But unless fate, or the fairly weak set of known facts, lulls us into inaction, we can be the canary that leads the rest of our grubby miner earth-mates to fresh air.

I’m sure people often think it’s just a line when I say, “Diabetes is the best thing that ever happened to me.” But the point is that this wake up call has mandated lifestyle changes that will extend my life. What I’ve done to control my diabetes is the same stuff that would extend anyone’s life. What a claim, huh? You may not know me well enough to know I don’t make it lightly. My assumption that there’s some good to come from this major life-twist also helps my head. And so... I believe I’m a canary, mapping the tunnel-maze, finding a reasonable path to a sustainable life for myself and anyone else.




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Refusing The Needle: A Diabetic’s Natural Journey To Kick-Ass Health by Russell Stamets
ebook available for all devices at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/145608
and for kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007P6L5C4
tags: type 1, type 2, autoimmune, diabetes, lada, natural, alternative, diet, supplements, acupuncture, meditation, lifestyle

Diabetes Tips With Captain Russ - Don't make them do it too

How are your nuts?

wonderful walnuts in my oatmeal at 7
first fist-full of almonds with banana around 10
salty sunflower seeds suffuse lunch’s wrap at 1
more almighty almonds with dried mango at 3
perhaps pistachios arriving home at 5
or curry cashews for cocktail hour
and walk the wild side with wasabi almonds in dinner’s salad

I love my nuts!

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Refusing The Needle: A Diabetic’s Natural Journey To Kick-Ass Health by Russell Stamets

ebook available for all devices at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/145608

and for kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007P6L5C4

tags: type 1, type 2, autoimmune, diabetes, lada, natural, alternative, diet, supplements, acupuncture, meditation, lifestyle