The following presentation is for informational …...insulin resistance and hopefully reverse...

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Reversing Insulin Resistance Guest: Josh Axe The following presentation is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure your condition or to be a substitute for advice from your physician or other healthcare professional. Dr. Mowll: Hey, it’s Dr. Brian Mowll, the diabetes coach. And welcome back to the 2015 Diabetes Summit. With me today is Dr. Josh Axe. And Dr. Axe and I are going to dig real deep today to insulin resistance. We’re going to talk about some of the root causes, and most importantly what you can do to reverse insulin resistance and hopefully reverse diabetes. So, Dr. Axe, welcome to The Diabetes Summit! It's great to see you again! Dr. Axe: Awesome! Thanks for having me, Dr. Brian. Dr. Mowll: All right! So I’m going to introduce Dr. Josh Axe. And then we will go ahead and get started. Dr. Axe is on a mission to transform the health of millions all across America. In 2008, he founded Exodus Health Center. And it quickly grew into one of the largest wellness clinics in the United States. He's authored three books: The Real Food Diet Cookbook, Super Food, Super You, The Dr. Axe Detox. These books combine the power of advanced nutrition with recipes, super foods, and cleansing to help people reach their optimal level of health. Dr. Axe has been a physician for many professional athletes. He is a syndicated radio show host and hosted the popular Natural Cures Summit. He operates one of the top natural health websites in the world, which is just an incredible website, jam packed full of information, recipes. And he is the cofounder of Burst Fit Interval Training program that’s known as one of the fastest and most effective ways to burn body fat. Dr. Axe has been a regular featured guest on NBC and Fox, as well as CBS in Nashville. And he's been on The Dr. Oz Show.


Dr. Axe has been a regular writer for Beyond Organic and Garden of Life. And he's taught corporate wellness for companies such as Whole Foods, Mercy Ministries, Life Way, and other large churches and corporations. So, Again, Dr. Axe, welcome to the Diabetes Summit. Great to have you with me today! Dr. Axe: Hey! Again, excited to be here. Dr. Mowll: Good. So this concept of insulin resistance, which I think most people with diabetes or metabolic syndrome, prediabetes have probably heard the concept. It's been mentioned to them if they’ve dug around the Internet at all, they've seen information about insulin resistance. But I want to go deeper and talk about what it really is, where it comes from, what causes it, and what we can actually do about it. So before we get into insulin resistance, let's talk a little bit about the hormone insulin. What is insulin? And what's its purpose in the body? Dr. Axe: Sure. Insulin is actually known as a peptide hormone. And it's produced by cells in your pancreas. There called beta cells. But basically what insulin does is it really regulates your metabolism or the metabolism mostly of carbohydrates, also of some fats, and really helps by promoting the absorption of sugar, again also known as glucose. So again it's the hormone that's really responsible and is very much tied to your metabolism. And so for anybody who's trying to lose weight, for anybody was trying to put on lean muscle or anybody struggling with blood sugar issues like diabetes, insulin is maybe the most important hormone that we need to be paying attention to in the body because, again, so many people out there looking to improve their overall weight or their metabolism or the way that their body processes sugar. And, by the way, this is important for even energy. If you're a person that kind of up and down all day, you struggle with in the afternoon you hit the two or three o'clock coma. You’re tired all the time. Insulin is a key player in those,


as well. But, again, insulin is really a hormone that is tied to your metabolism. Dr. Mowll: Yeah, I think people, of course, have heard about insulin. We often test fasting insulin on our patients. We’ll do an insulin response test where we introduce some sort of carbohydrate load and see how their insulin responds to that. A lot of people coming in think they've had their insulin levels checked, but they really haven't. And it's interesting to me that it's not part of the standard package of tests that most doctors run for their patients. Dr. Axe: Yeah. It is surprising because it is so important. In fact—this would be a whole other topic of discussion—but so many of the tests that physicians run today definitely aren't what we would consider the primary tests that should be run, even things that I've run in my clinic, things like food sensitivity testing, organic acids testing, what actual vitamins and minerals patients are deficient in. These things are critical. And those are the tests that most of the time most of these physicians today are skipping over. And insulin is another one that I think really everyone should be tested for. Dr. Mowll: Yeah, I agree. Even if you don't have diabetes, certainly if you're overweight at all or need to lose weight, if you have sluggish thyroid and you have difficulty keeping your weight in check, these are things where we oftentimes see not low but elevated insulin levels. So can you talk a little bit about how high insulin or what's termed hyperinsulinemia can affect weight in the ability to lose weight? Dr. Axe: Sure. Well, it's one of those things where it can either be the cause of weight gain or the weight gain can actually be the cause of what we’re talking about. And I would say when somebody is struggling with hyperinsulinemia, oftentimes we’ll, in layman’s terms, we’ll refer to that, one of the things we’ll reference, as well, his blood sugar spikes. Your blood sugar can spike. And really one of the biggest issues is that is going to cause cravings.


So if you have somebody who is having that hyperinsulinemia, you start to really crave that sugar. And I know from working with thousands of patients over the years, as you do, Dr. Brian, that some people know what to do. But they can't do it emotionally. They can't do it mentally because cravings overtake you. If you've ever done a fast or ever been in a position where you're traveling and you haven't eaten for five or six hours and your body is screaming and saying, “I need food and I need it now,” I hardly know a person that has the willpower to just say, “Hey, body, listen. Maybe later. Were going to put this off.” I think for so many of us that you cannot overcome these sort of things with willpower. It really has to be you need to change your hormones. You need to change what's going on in your body. But again the question makes me think of those cravings that for some people is unbearable that the experience that makes him continue to go for more and more glucose. And the issue is then that it turns into this vicious cycle in the body. You're actually feeding hyperinsulinemia, putting yourself in a diabetic state over time. And it just continues to get worse and worse and worse. Dr. Mowll: Yeah, it really is a vicious cycle. And as you mentioned, when you are overweight, that can make you more insulin resistant. There’s another hormone called adiponectin. Adiponectin levels can start to fall, which makes you more and more insulin resistant. And you tend to make more and more insulin. So a sort of this vicious cycle. And we eventually start to lose control of sugar and then become prediabetic and ultimately develop type II. So many people have heard that insulin resistance is the cause of type II diabetes. I don't that's debatable. Even doctors will sort of talk about that. But what actually causes insulin resistance to begin with? Dr. Axe: Insulin resistance typically—and someone else may even have used this reference—but it really is what we would call the burning out of your


receptor sites. And I'll give you an example. I would even use the term burning an area. Let’s say you have an area on your finger where you have feeling there. I can actually feel what's going on if I really touch anything. I can have the texture. If I grab an apple or orange I know what the orange feels like because I can feel it. And my body knows how to react to that. Similar thing, if I get close to something hot, my body can feel that. And it knows, “Hey, this is hot. Get away.” It tells my body how to function. It tells my hand, “Hey, get away from there.” Well, essentially what happens if you are becoming insulin resistant, you are burning out your insulin receptor sites. You’re burning an area. You lose feeling. Your body loses feeling. So you can continue to be damaging your body and your body isn't feeling it. And this is actually a lot more complicated and in-depth than I'm making it. But just as a reference, imagine this, that now your body isn't getting those signals. That signal, when I'm burning my finger getting close to something hot, my body in sending a signal, "Hey, get away from there." Well, it's the same thing in your body. You’re burning out those insulin receptor sites. So when you continue to burn that area over and over again, eventually you use lose feeling. You don't even know you're being burnt. And that's sort of the analogy I would say as one of the things that happens is we become insulin resistant. It's from burning out and really losing that function of that area is really the main issue. Dr. Mowll: As you’re talking about that, I'm thinking of callouses. So if somebody, for example, works really hard with their hands, they develop callouses, which is interesting because the body is smart. The body is created in a way to respond and adapt. And it's a self-healing organism. And it protects itself. So the callous is there for a reason, to toughen up the skin and protect it from damage. But the consequence of that is you lose sensitivity. And I think it's sort of a similar thing that happens in the cell, probably not exactly the same way. But as you're describing it, I'm thinking of the cells


develop callouses against insulin because the insulin level has been so high. And one of, I think, the causes is a diet that is too high and processed flour in carbohydrates, sugars. So we get blasted with insulin. And the cells form these callouses and become less sensitive. Dr. Axe: Yeah, absolutely agree. And by the way, I hadn't heard the callous analogy. But that is a perfect analogy of what's going on. Dr. Mowll: So in addition to a poor diet, let's just to say, as you mentioned a diet with too many carbohydrates and sugar, are there other things that can contribute to insulin resistance? Dr. Axe: Yeah, absolutely. One of the biggest things that I've found along with obviously refined sugar, excess grains as you've talked about, is consuming foods that may cause inflammatory reaction or a food-like sensitivity within the body. And this is also why one of the things that I've done four years—and really one of my largest specialties—is looking at the gut and really looking at gut function in trying to heal this condition called leaky gut, which in turn has also definitely been linked to type I diabetes. But in general when you’re looking at or you have a food sensitivity, that's going to cause that inflammatory reaction in the body, which is going to in turn affect insulin. So I would say this can be different for everybody. But obviously I know a lot of people probably have talked about proteins like gluten. Gluten is one of those causative factors and things that can be an issue. Dairy products, specifically I would say. Casein, as well as lactose, many people have sensitivities to, but not everybody. Again a lot of people do have sensitivities to those. And I think that that's important. Also, there's new research showing, I believe, what we would call your micro biome, really the health of your gut and the probiotics and the types of bacteria and viruses and microorganisms that actually are in your gut actually do affect hormones and metabolism. So if you’re consuming foods or


being exposed to chemicals that destroy what we call good flora in your gut, that's another major issue. And today a lot of people… Actually, I just appeared on Dr. Oz about this. I did a whole segment on artificial sweeteners, especially sucralose. And the largest producer of sucralose, of course, is the company who owns the brand of Splenda. And in recent studies that's actually been linked to diabetes. Artificial sweeteners! So you would think, “Okay, sugar is a major cause.” And it is. Grains are a major cause. But the sucralose, this artificial sweetener is because your body is expecting something sweet. There's that sweet flavor. That's one issue that may be correlated with diabetes. The other issue is that in the studies, sucralose was shown to kill off probiotics in the gut. And that is a major, major problem today for gut function, but also what the microorganisms in your gut affect, which is even insulin, hormones, and your body's metabolism. So I would say that is what I would really highlight. And the reason I bring that one up is because that's the one—things like Splenda, and even the company saying early on…Actually, they were supported early on by the American Diabetic Association, which is just crazy. But they started finding that even though there are no calories or sugar in there, it still affects your insulin in a major way. So, again, I've already said, Dr. Brian, sugar is a major factor. But other things that affect the body or cause increased toxic buildup are also a major, major problem that people need to address. So I would say to be getting some food sensitivity testing, looking at some of those common food allergies like casein, like lactose, like gluten, those are important things to monitor. Also like I said the artificial sweeteners, both sucralose and aspartame. And then I would even throw alcohol in the mix. Having a half a glass or maybe even a glass of red wine there if your metabolism to your blood sugar levels are already pretty good, the body can typically deal with that. Because


I've seen a lot of the studies of people saying that red wine is good for you. And in small amounts, if you're sipping on some red wine, it actually can benefit the digestive tract. It's got some good types of acids in there. It’s got resveratrol. It's fine. But really once you getting over even just a half a glass of red wine, and especially anything more than a glass, you're depleting your body of the vitamins. And B vitamins are also really, really important when it comes to blood glucose levels. And this is a whole other topic. And not to ramble on here. Someone was asking me recently, somebody had said—and I kind of challenged it—that you get sick in the winter because it's cold outside and your exposure to cold. As I said, “Well, actually it tends to be more along the lines of your decreased vitamin D from not getting enough sun, along with during the holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas, people start overconsuming sugar and carbohydrates and alcohol. But what those things do, when you're getting more sugar and you're getting more alcohol, it actually is causing you to have a B vitamin deficiency, which in turn also affects insulin. And as you mentioned earlier, the vicious cycle continues there in the body. Dr. Mowll: Yeah, wow. That's really important information. And I agree with that. I don't think there's anything in the weather. Our body certainly knows how to respond to temperature changes. So I think there’s something else going on during the winter months. And I think you’re right on the vitamin D and some of the habits that we fall into around the holidays. Let's talk a little bit more about dairy because I think gluten has become a big topic. A lot of people with diabetes, at least we encourage them to avoid grains almost altogether because of the carbohydrate consumption. But dairy products are ones that are fairly low glycemic. So they can be a little bit more controversy when we’re talking about the typical diet for diabetes or blood sugar control. But there are some other things in dairy products that may not be that great for the body. So can you talk a bit more about that?


Dr. Axe: Sure. And, by the way, talking about the area and diabetes or dairy and any diseases—but especially diabetes—it’s not challenging, but there are so many different answers or so many different things to consider. For starters, there are a lot of different types of dairy products, starting off with milk. You can have milk that is loaded with certain hormones, things like rBGH and rBHGST and some of those things that we know can affect hormones in the body's because they’re hormone-based. You can then pasteurize the milk. So there is no lactase to digest lactose, which is going to cause even more issues. So that's one thing to consider is the type of dairy because just starting off, let’s say we’re not even talking about whether the cow was grass fed or how things were processed. There's also a difference between milk and butter. There are huge differences there in actually what's in that food. But the two biggest things you have to consider in terms of macronutrients are going to be casein and lactose. And casein is that slowly-digested protein in dairy which actually, for most diabetics if it's a healthier form of casein and they don't have an allergy, would be fantastic because it is the slowest absorbed or one of the slowest absorbed proteins out there, which is again ideal for blood sugar. It's really, really great for that. But some people may have some sort of intolerance to it. And I'll tell you what I've seen, Dr. Brian. And this is why with so many of my patients, I do get IgG testing or some sort of food sensitivity because the panels that I run, I can also test between milk. I can test between whey protein. I can test between cow's milk and goat’s milk. And I have been really surprised when I started doing this how many people were not responding well to cow's milk, but actually responded much better to goat’s milk or sheep's milk and other forms of dairy. And this actually goes back to—and this might be a little more in-depth than we wants to get into—but there are actually different forms of casein known as A1 casein, A2. There's even an A3 casein. But when you hear today like


women's breast milk predominantly—even more than whey—contains casein protein. So most newborn babies do amazing with casein early on in life. But it's all A2 casein. Traditional cow’s milk today, the majority of it all has what we consider A1 casein. So it's different. From what we’re seeing, your body is going to respond to it more like something like gluten. And it can cause an inflammatory reaction. So one of the things that I do oftentimes is find that my patients… And by the way, I'm one of those people. I can consume goat’s milk. And I feel great—have no issues—if it’s in moderation. But if I go and start doing cow's milk, I immediately start having a physiological response. So when it comes to dairy, the issue we run into is that ninety-eight percent of dairy that people would typically go to their grocery store and buy, it is cow’s milk. It is pasteurized. It does contain hormones, as all of those issues versus if somebody is doing a grass-fed, raw, organic goat’s milk kefir, it's a completely different food. It's a completely different food. And so that's why answering it when it comes to dairy is a difficult answer. But I would say diabetics should stay away from all conventional milk for the most part and listen to their body. Consider doing something like a grass-fed butter or what I recommend for most of my patients is called ghee or cultured ghee, which they do really well with. Sometimes raw cheeses like a raw sheep cheese or goat cheese, and then possibly even something like a goat's milk yogurt or kefir. I find that most of my patients do well with those with diabetes or blood sugar issues, whereas the cow’s milk, most people, it just wreaks havoc on their body. But I think the important thing for people to do, as well, is really listen to their body, especially that first two hours after consuming dairy and see how your body responds. If your nose starts getting stuffy, if you have phlegm, if you have any of those physiological responses, if your skin gets red, any type of response, that's probably a pretty clear warning sign that you need to stay away from that food.


Dr. Mowll: What about a full fat Greek yogurt or other yogurts? Where does yogurt fit into that puzzle? Dr. Axe: It’s a difficult question to answer because I would say it really depends on the person. If you're doing, let's say, an organic Greek yogurt, it is cow's milk. It's not grass-fed. But it's going to be much lower in lactose. Probably when we’re talking about diabetes or at least how your insulin is affected, if we're talking about how your insulin is affected, I would say more people would do well on an organic Greek yogurt than definitely per se milk. Much better with the Greek yogurt than, let's say, a milk. Dr. Mowll: Okay, great. All right. So as we get back to insulin resistance, we were just kind of going through some of the causes. What does it do to the body? We've talked a little bit about weight. Are there other effects from having either high insulin for being insulin resistance on health? Dr. Axe: Oh, absolutely. It's one of these things to where it causes a cascade. It’s the domino effect. One thing affects the next thing affects the next thing. And we know that insulin can without a doubt affect estrogen levels within the body. And I'll tell you, Dr. Brian, I've seen this a lot in practice. My practice has predominantly over the years many young families and mothers and a lot of women coming in who have struggled with things like infertility. And I have seen an absolute direct correlation between the insulin response in their body or insulin levels are and fertility because we really see it affects the estrogen and progesterone balance. And if you are continually having these insulin spikes, I really believe that it can cause estrogen to get too high, progesterone to get to low in many cases, and cause some hormonal issues. And for men, there is an epidemic of men today struggling with low testosterone. And when you increase the estrogen in man, lower testosterone, which I believe is one of those parts of that domino effect that happens, when you have insulin resistance or imbalanced insulin or insulin issues within the body, it can cause low testosterone in men.


And, men, if you are struggling with low strength levels, low libido, low energy…And really the big thing that I would say with most men with low testosterone, the biggest warning sign is just lack of motivation. As men we should feel like, “Hey, we’re going out and conquering the world. We're out there!” That's how we should feel. And so many men today, especially when they start getting into their forties, they lose that. They stop feeling that. And that is a big warning sign that you have low testosterone. So, yes, insulin—as I know you've covered, Dr. Brian, and you're an expert in as much as anybody I know—is that, yes, insulin affects every hormones in some way in the body. It can even affect melatonin. It can affect sleep. Yeah, this could be a really long topic. But it affects everything. But, again, in my practice I've seen men, it can really affect testosterone. With women, those estrogen/progesterone levels, causing fertility issues, PCOS in women, polycystic ovary syndrome, which is really growing, and a number of other health conditions. And if you actually look at some of the warning signs and symptoms of other things it’s connected with, I’ll also mention insomnia, a number of other hormone-related issues. Dr. Mowll: Yeah, it's really amazing that one hormone can have such a devastating impact on the body when it's out of balance. And I don't want to make it sound like insulin is bad. Insulin is obviously an extremely important hormone for the body. Ask anyone with type I diabetes and they'll tell you how important insulin is. Without it, we would die within minutes. So we need insulin in the body. And it’s a protective hormone that helps us store energy. The problem is when you take our hormone profile that’s built for a particular type of diet and lifestyle and then you mix it with the diet and lifestyle that we lead today in today's world, I think it's the perfect storm for problems, in particular insulin resistance. And diabetes, I think, is a sort of the pinnacle of that. Dr. Axe: Yeah, absolutely.


Dr. Mowll: All right. So what can we do about it? That's the ultimate question. Let's say we know we have insulin resistance or we've developed pre-diabetes, type II diabetes, or just one of these other manifestations. How can we reverse insulin resistance? What are the steps we can take? Dr. Axe: Sure. Well, the first thing I would recommend is—and as you and I both know—there are certain foods you want to get out of your diet. And I think a lot of people have covered those. But, again, just in general, getting those forms of carbohydrates that quickly turned into sugar, reducing those. Again sugar in general, replacing that with something like doing some Stevia in moderation. Grains, reducing your intake of grains. If you are going to do with grain, something that is sprouted and easy to digest. Eliminating conventional milk and switching over to something like a goat's milk, goat’s milk products or even butter. And then the things that would cause food sensitivities. I'll get into my five what I would consider five foods or food categories people should really focus on getting in their diet. One is high-fiber foods. Fiber has been shown to do several things. But, one, it's been shown to reduce cravings, which is very important. It's been shown to balance blood sugar. And it’s also very important for detoxification and for feeding good bacteria in your colon and the gut. The average American probably gets in between fourteen to maybe eighteen grams of fiber a day. And we should be getting probably thirty to forty grams of fiber a day. Some we’re getting about fifty percent of our fiber. So incorporating into your diet things like sprouted seeds like chia and flax and hemp seeds are fantastic. Avocados are actually loaded with fiber. Getting more vegetables. And then if you are going to consume fruits, berries in moderation in small amounts is what you'd want to do. But really increasing your fiber intake I


think is very important. And again my favorite is sprouted chia and flax are fantastic. The other thing I'd recommend is focusing on foods that are higher in chromium, and specifically green leafy vegetables, as well as cruciferous vegetables. Now, broccoli probably might be one of the best, if not the best, food for people with insulin issues because it is so low on the glycemic index. And it is packed with minerals. Specifically it is your highest food in chromium, which can balance or improves something in the body called glucose tolerance factors, GTF, which that’s another supplements I will hit on here any minute. But in general broccoli, broccoli rabe, spinach, kale, cauliflower. But those green leafy vegetables and cruciferous vegetables are crucial if you're going to balance insulin levels because it's really giving you those minerals and vitamins you need for a healthy metabolism. The next thing would be I would say getting more short chain and medium chain fatty acids. And this is why coconut oil is great. I know a lot of people talk about the benefits. But those medium chain fatty acids that your body can start to burn as fuel. And there's some really good research on diets like something called the ketogenic diet. There's even a type of ketogenic now, I believe referred to as the coconut ketogenic diet where it's really working on your body burning fat as fuel, not just sugar. So that kind of rests those damaged insulin receptor sites. So doing things like adding coconut oil into your diet I think can be important. That would be my third one. The next thing I would say is getting more wild-caught meet things that are high in omega-3 fatty acids. We know that those really reduce inflammation. And one of the best is wild caught salmon. It is another ideal food. If somebody asked me, “What is your ideal meal for a diabetic?” it might be wild-caught salmon with a side of steamed broccoli. Wild-caught salmon is


fantastic because of the omega-3 fats, because of the protein. So I would say that's great, along with things like grass-fed beef, bison. And again anything that's grass fed or wild-caught is great for those omega-3 fats and the protein. And then last but not least, one of the things I think people should really consider or focus on in their diet is adding and herbs. There are some great herbs that balance blood sugar. I had a patient who years ago, she started consuming one teaspoon of cinnamon with every meal. And I was shocked. She tested her A1C levels. We really checked her blood sugar on a regular basis. And that was actually the only thing she changed to start. And I was surprised at what a big difference it made. So, again, you want to do way more than that. But adding in herbs, especially cinnamon and turmeric and a few other herbals, can actually make a noticeable, significant difference in your blood sugar levels. So those are the two big ones I would consider adding in are cinnamon and turmeric. They’re two of my favorites. Cinnamon, you can add a teaspoon into a smoothie. Turmeric, if I want to make any sort of meat, I add some in there. I sprinkle turmeric on a salad. But I would say cinnamon and turmeric are two people really should consider adding in if they're looking to balance out those blood sugar levels. And then really getting into supplements here I think is important, as well. And what I would recommend in terms of blood sugar is considering the following. Number one is chromium picolinate. And I know a lot of people have talked about chromium probably. But I really think from what I've seen in terms of an immediate difference, I’ve that make an impact more than anything. Now, it really is dependent upon some people aren't chromium deficient. So then it really only helps a small amount, where if somebody is severely deficient, it is like a night and day difference. So that really gets to looking at


your body. Try chromium. Also, as I mentioned, cinnamon with your food. Fish oil, reducing inflammation may be important, as well. And then there are certain other supplements. Alpha lipoic acid, there's some good research on that. Taking a good quality fiber supplement in the form of especially a sprouted chia or flax of really two of my favorite things or something that's more acacia powder. Even in organic psyllium husk with fiber really can help support it. And a few other things you may consider: adaptogenic herbs like Rhodiola and ashwagandha. They can actually help in balancing cortisol. That's another hormone we didn't get into. But it definitely relates to insulin levels. Also magnesium. Magnesium is important for so many different functions in the body. And if somebody has not only blood sugar issues or insulin issues, but also, let's say, fibromyalgia or pain syndromes or struggles with anxiety or really tight and tense muscles, that's a definite, immediate warning sign that you may be magnesium deficient. And that's contributing to the issues. There are a lot of supplements. Remember this when taking these supplements. They’re for supplementing an already healthy diet. So I would really number one look at those positive food factors: the sugars, the grains, some of the things that you mentioned, Dr. Brian. Number two, start adding in some of those foods that we know support blood sugar. And then add in some herbs. And then the next step would be take a few supplements that you know can help balance things out. Dr. Mowll: Wow. I hope you guys were taking notes on that. Or if not, at least get the transcript because there was a lot of information. Just real quickly, I know there's a couple of other things that people can do. Can you talk briefly about how exercise impacts insulin resistance?


Dr. Axe: Yeah. It's really, really important that people stay active. The truth is we were created to move. We were not created to sit at a desk all day long. I had someone recently come in. Actually I was flying on an airplane. And I had a woman who recognized me and she started asking me questions about she had a frozen shoulder. She's had shoulder issues and tightness and stiffness there. And I asked her, I said, “Tell me what your typical day looks like.” And pretty much she didn't exercise. She sat at a computer all day. She had a child that she was carrying with her. I said, “When you look at what your daily routine looks like, it’s like this. It's crunched over, tight all day. And then you do zero movement. You do zero stretching.” All of those things make a difference. And so again with diabetes we know that exercise does affect your blood sugar. It really helps with absorption. It acts the helps with balancing hormones. We've all heard of things like getting your runners high from when you go out and run. Well, that happens not just when you run. It actually can even start to happen when you walk in smaller amounts. It starts to happen when you weight train. But there are a lot of different forms of exercise out there. And if somebody is looking to balance blood sugar levels—from the studies we’ve seen in terms of fat burning and hormones—without a doubt we know that a combination of what's called interval training or burst training along with even some weight training is probably the best combination to do. And I actually have a program of developed called Burst Fit. It's an at-home fitness program. And exercising in your own home, you don't have to give a gym membership. Twenty minutes, three times a week. And not even every day, just every other day, twenty minutes in the comfort of your own home. You can get in incredible shape. You can help balance out those blood sugar levels. And, again, his doesn't have to be one of those P90X or INSANITY workouts


where you're jumping up and down, touching the ceiling, hurting your joints. It's simply doing pulsing squats and things that are simple that anybody can do. In fact, when I developed my Burst Fit program, we have different levels. We have somebody who's national ranked CrossFit athlete who's really in shape. But then we also have another person who's doing something that my mom who's in her sixties can do and follow along with easily. So you just need to go at your own pace. But I would say number one, consider doing first training or that interval training. And number two, if you can't do that type of exercise, then just do something you enjoy. I think the fact that you just need to get out there and move is probably one of the most important things to remember. Going on a twenty-minute walk, even though you're not going to be sweating, even though it's typically not the number one form of exercise to help with blood sugar, it still is better than nothing. It is still good. You need to get out and move on a regular basis. And from a scientific standpoint, we've seen that interval training without a doubt to does affect Hgh. That's human growth hormone, which in turn can also affect insulin sensitivity within the body. So again I really think incorporating even just a few days a week some form of exercise without a doubt is definitely going to be beneficial for those blood sugar levels. Dr. Mowll: Yeah. And I would agree completely with everything you just said. I love the Burst Fit program that you have because it's a great way to get some anaerobic training in, which depletes the stored glycogen in the muscles and liver without having to do anything super strenuous. So it's a short intervals, which pretty much anyone can do. And you're really depleting that stored sugar, which then your body is going to absorb the sugar right out of your bloodstream to replenish that. And the more you do that, the better your body gets at it. So you're improving that glucose tolerance and glucose absorption into the cell.


Dr. Axe: Yeah, absolutely. And if people want to check it out. The website is BurstFit.com. And we've got several DVD series on there, as well. In fact, my wife and I do the fitness program and teach that together. And we have different levels, three different levels in every video. Some really anybody from your avid fitness fanatic to somebody who is going from the couch, hasn't exercised in years, and somebody that has even arthritis in their knees and joint issues, they can still really follow the program. Dr. Mowll: That’s great. And, of course, another big thing about breaking down insulin resistance is if you need to lose some weight, if you've got a lot of stored fat around the middle, adipose tissue, particularly around the viscera or the organs, it’s important to lose some weight. And doing a Burst Fit program were really any exercise and combining that with some of the dietary recommendations you just went over, I think, will help with that, also. All right, great. So I think we’re going to wrap up. Any last comments about insulin, insulin resistance that you want to throw in here? Dr. Axe: Yeah. I would say this. I know that we covered a lot of information on this interview. And the important thing is I would say is to write down some simple steps for yourself. It is so easy to get overwhelmed and for some people to just give up and say, “Nothing’s working. I can't do anything.” But remember it's a journey. It's not a destination. You don't have to fix everything tomorrow in one fell swoop. But I would write down some key things that you're going to start changing. Number one, what I would do is write down what you're going to try and you for breakfast and for lunch and for dinner. That really is one of the biggest places to start. So for breakfast, start doing a healthy super food smoothie, getting some may be coconut milk as your milk base because it has those medium chain fats, adding in a good quality protein powder or collagen powder or something so you're getting some protein.


And then something like a tablespoon or two of a sprouted flax or chia meal for that fiber. And then even a teaspoon or just a quarter teaspoon of something like cinnamon. And then in terms of another base if you want something else, I would probably only recommend probably a half a cup of fruit, ideally varies, maybe half a cup of blueberries in there. But doing something like that for breakfast, that super food smoothie, that would be a good place to start. And then for lunch and dinner, starts trying to do a form of organic meat with a double serving of vegetables, maybe a salad with some chicken breast with some olive oil and vinegar over that for lunch. For dinner, grass fed bison burger, salmon, chicken with some steamed or sautéed vegetables there, as well. That would be an ideal meal plan if you're trying to change things around. But even if you just changed breakfast, hey, you're changing a third of your diet. That's a great step. But I would write down what you think your meals to get planning those ahead. And that I would pick a couple of supplements. Like I said, chromium is a good one to consider, as well, along with some of those others. But, again, start with just diet. Start trying to change your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you can do that, you're going to notice an impact. And I know you've seen this, Dr. Brian. We've seen people within two weeks go from being considered diabetic to non-diabetic. It can happen that fast in the body if you start doing the right things. And again don't overcomplicate it. Really just focus on eating some of those foods we discussed. Dr. Mowll: Yeah. A little planning goes a long way, especially when it comes to meal planning. And you look for resources. Go dig up some recipes that you like. And I know you've got a bunch on your website that are excellent. One of the things I love this you've got fifty-one healthy snack ideas. And we didn’t have time to get into it today. But I went through those. And a lot of them are very good for people with diabetes and blood sugar problems, most of


them actually. So I recommend people check out your website. How can people find out more about you and what you're doing and how to get some of the resources you have? Dr. Axe: Sure. Well I'd encourage everybody check out my website. It's DrAxe.com. I've got several resources you may consider looking at. We've got a lot of healthy recipes on there, most of which are diabetic friendly. In fact, we've got a whole category on metabolism, which are recipes that are good for fat loss, as well as diabetes. Also I've got an article called “How to Reverse Diabetes Naturally in 30 Days or Less.” So if you go to DrAxe.com just do a search for diabetes. Many of the things I talked about you can actually find a lot of those tips, the best food. I even have a diet plan of there of what you can follow. And I've got a free e-book on my website: Super Food, Super You: Gluten-Free Recipe Plan. So if you want access to that, it's typically $25. We’re giving it away for free. You can check that out, as well. But, Dr. Brian, I want to say it's been a pleasure. I'm a huge fan of the speakers you've brought together, this summit you’re putting on. And I just applaud you for leading the charge in helping people with insulin levels because it is so important. If we really looked at the issues that insulin is causing, a lot of the things we talked about on the phone, even things from cancer to obesity to depression and a number of other things, infertility. These things, so many of them are linked to insulin. So it's of huge importance that everybody—not just those with diabetes—that everybody looks at improving their insulin levels. Dr. Mowll: Absolutely. I one hundred percent agree. And, Dr. Axe, I'm a big fan of what you're doing, as well. And I appreciate you being on. That's why ask you to join us today. So thank you for taking the time to be here.


Dr. Axe: Awesome! Thanks, everyone. Thanks, Dr. Brian. Dr. Mowll: All right. And for those of you watching, stay tuned for the next session. Thanks for being part of the 2015 Diabetes Summit. Remember to keep climbing and to never give up.

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