Search Articles

clear search terms

Deep Dive on Diabetes for Practitioners

Are you confident in your metabolic dysfunction knowledge?

Although you may already be a savvy practitioner, I am certain you will learn something new in this video. You’ll walk away with pages of notes and practical pearls you can use in your practice right away.

Here are some of the things we’ll be discussing:

  • The #1 lab marker that could turn the tide on the Type 2 Diabetes epidemic.
  • Surprising Root Causes that have Nothing to do with Diet
  • The keto craze and the fasting fad. As usual, the Devil is in the detail!
  • A low carb diet may drive Up blood sugar. Huh? Yes! Do you know why?
  • To fat or not to fat for diabetes? An important catch-22 about increasing good quality fats for diabetics.
  • The Resistance continues: from Insulin to Leptin!
  • Are the Microbes in charge again on this one too? Dis-ease begins in the gut yet again!
  • “You can eat a perfect diet, exercise regularly, and ______ can still cause early death.” (and often, Type 2 Diabetes!)
  • Downstream disease: Kidneys, Eyes, Neurons, and then the Liver! Alas, a classic downward spiral.
  • Remedies that work! Even better than medication (true data, not hype).

Thank you ALL for participating and sharing your inspiring comments, learning, and virtual hugs!

With warmth and gratitude to you for sharing your gifts with so many –

 

 

If you haven’t done so already, sign up to receive weekly clinical tips like this via email, and you’ll also get automatic access to a free mini clinical course.

Like us on Facebook to get more great clinical tips and to get notifications on my next Facebook Live!

P.S.  If you are passionate about transforming healthcare through the power of functional medicine, we encourage you to learn more about our training program here.

To receive clinical tips like this one right to your inbox, click here to receive our weekly newsletter.

Like us on Facebook to stay connected to our rich (free!) content and be notified of our popular, monthly Facebook Lives.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
139 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Amanda Sylvie
Amanda Sylvie

I think the most valuable piece of information that I’ll be able to utilize immediately is watching for patients in Stage 2 of insulin resistance. This is such a key time to emphasize with patients that prevention steps are critical to retain insulin sensitivity. Thanks for sharing this incredibly useful information!

Ryan Disotell
Ryan Disotell

The whole webinar was a great clinical pearl for me. Although I did find it interesting about the fasting insulin level. And I like how you broke it down into stages. That is something I will definitely is in clinical practice.

Veronica Worley
Veronica Worley

Oh my goodness! Where do I begin? I have so many clients come to me with insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, prediabetes and diabetes, and I have a tendency to shy away from them. I WANT TO LEARN MORE! So much have I learned today, that I plan to listen to the video again, and again.

Here are my takeaways:

Elevated insulin can contribute to PCOS
Insulin resistance starts in the legs (Wow!)
A sedentary lifestyle leads to insulin resistance
So great to hear your views on these “fad” diets, and that keto isn’t the answer to everything, including diabetes
I found the stages of insulin resistance fascinating!
That a normal HbA1C with high glucose may result in high cortisol upon wakening

Every time I listen to your FB lives, I want to learn more and more. I haven’t taken any classes with you, but really hope to win this one, so I can try one out! I need this course!

Sandy Anderson
Sandy Anderson

As always Tracy, thank you for all the valuable pearls! I was amazed to learn that obese individuals have a different microbiome than lean people, and that this imbalance leads to insulin resistance. Looking forward to doing a deeper dive on this topic! 🙂

Kristel Wiesner
Kristel Wiesner

Biggest pearl to me was the review of the stages of insulin resistance and that it starts in the legs. Very interesting!

Anindita Guha Maulik Rungta

I have been through the Deep dive clinical course on Diabetes, yet the pearls keep coming every time I hear the course again and now the FB live, love the education that takes place every time as a Core 101 student!
It was a revelation for me that insulin resistance begins in the large muscles of the legs first. And also the fact that a high morning fasting glucose can be an indication of our cortisol awakening response

Linda osmond
Linda osmond

I found it fascinating that the fasting blood sugar could actually drop into what appears to be a good range while fasting insulin was on the rise. It makes perfect sense, but I hadn’t considered that a more robust insulin would drop the sugar (temporarily).

I did know that fasting insulin was a good measure of insulin sensitivity. However, I wish this lab could be done without having to ingest a large quantity of unhealthy glucose, especially of the perserved and dyed varieties that are generally available (or used to be years ago). I haven’t done a test like that since my pregnancies decades ago. I imagine a compounding pharmacist could make something that was less unhealthy to consume before the test. If I had to drink or eat a bunch of sugar, I’d rather it at least be the cleanest option I could find. Thoughts on this aspect of the fasting insulin testing?

I always LOVE your pearls!!!

Lisa Beckstrom

Thank you for sharing information on Diabetes – Type 2, Tracy. One huge take away for me today is that you can have sustained elevated blood sugar not equated to food, but chronic elevated stress or “perceived stress.” After having a day of stress where I couldn’t calm myself down (and I kept wondering–why am I stressed today?), this “pearl” hit home for me about the important of engaging my parasympathetic nervous system. I took a yoga class this evening because I knew that would help me calm down. Just a good reminder that eating healthy (which I do regularly) is not enough.

Melanie
Melanie

I learned so much today, but one thing that I need to remember is there is nothing that will work for everyone. We often see someone who has had success and the first thing we ask is how they did it, then get discouraged when it doesn’t work. There is no one fix-all plan. I also liked any amount of diet that creates a tremendous amount stress will not be beneficial. What is easy for one person may be extremely difficult for another.
Thank you for sharing.

April Johnson
April Johnson

Thank you again Tracy for all your knowledge. SAFM semester 101 student that just passed my level 1 exam and moving into 202. I found it interesting about intermittent fasting and surges of adrenaline. I now see how this can affect our blood sugar levels. So many pearls as always! Thank you again! Love learning FM. ❤️

Claudia Lisle-Worner
Claudia Lisle-Worner

So many pearls …

My #1 and something I will definitely focus on: Catch IR at stage 2!
So important to realize that BGL may be normal but client behavior i.e. getting that sugar fix tells a whole other story.

Roberta McMaster
Roberta McMaster

Loved the Live today!! I have been an RN for many years and I am constantly amazed at how much we are learning from functional medicine and getting to the root cause of so many dis-eases. The pearls shared today were exceptional! The two that struck me the most were: Fasting Insulin vs Fasting Glucose and the use of Bernadine. I will definitely be suggesting both to my clients! Thank you Tracy for sharing your knowledge with us, it is truly appreciated!!

Mridu Shepard
Mridu Shepard

I was not aware of that type 2 diabetes patients can have GAD antibodies positive? Is it reversible?

Kerry
Kerry

I love these facebook lives, thankyou. I’ve been studying so much about insulin resistance in my efforts to reverse my teen daughter’s PCOS. I often listen to them on repeat. Fasting insulin as a marker and large muscle groups being a driver were noteworthy to me. Though soooo much to learn.

Anna
Anna

Thank you for sharing yet another valuable training! Love learning from you and appreciate your generosity.

This content was particularly interesting to me as I have diabetes running in my family (a few family members lost to complications of type 2 diabetes) .

The biggest takeaway is the destructive effect of elevated levels of chronic stress, seems like an upstream root cause of many modern day diseases, how it can wreak havoc in your body despite our efforts to exercise and eat well.

Lee Connelly
Lee Connelly

Wonderful presentation, as usual! My brother has DMII and I thought a lot about him throughout the presentation. I had no idea about insulin resistance beginning in the quads and large muscles of the legs first!
Or that a sedentary lifestyle can lead to insulin resistance. The additional information you shared will help me help my brother more fully. Very much appreciated!

Heather
Heather

I really enjoyed the deeper dive into insulin resistance and Type II Diabetes.

My favorite pearls that were very helpful:

1) The fact that a sedentary lifestyle increases insulin resistance and that insulin resistance starts in the legs
I did no know that building muscle helped insulin resistance until watching the video and I was a diabetic educator. Great to learn!!

2) Loved the review of the different stages of insulin resistance. Very helpful!!

3) Seeing how dis-ease is so multifaceted. Benefited form the review of stress and cortisol and its affect on blood sugar and insulin resistance.

4) Liked the picture of how elevated sugar is packaged by the liver as fat in the form of triglycerides

Thanks so much for sharing this information!!!

Desiree De Vries
Desiree De Vries

Fasting Insulin above 5-8 is an indicator of the beginnings of insulin resistance. Fasting Glucose can be 80 but unknowingly fasting insulin can be 20! This is crazy scary and so good to know!

When there’s a disconnect on what you expect to see, run fasting insulin! I have seen this actually and thought “oh, well this person must just be able to keep up with their diet”. Oh no! I knew it didn’t make any sense 🙁 I’m so glad I know now so I can help stop insulin resistance BEFORE it turns into pre-diabetes. Yikes!

Most interesting yet, that if a client has a normal HbA1c with a high fasting glucose then this is likely indicative of a morning cortisol spike and signs that the HPATG axis could need support. This I had never heard before and is super interesting!

I really cannot wait to take the Diabetes course!

Shelly Bergeron
Shelly Bergeron

A great pearl for me was that fasting glucose levels may be influenced by the morning cortisol awakening response. I just love the interconnectedness of it all! AND that insulin resistance starts in the large muscles of the legs!

manorama gupta
manorama gupta

so good to hear that keto is not the only solution for diabetes. thank you and it is so relieving to know. and first time in my life I understood why walking is important for insulin resistance, as I never knew this connection that insulin resistance begins in the large muscles of the legs first. Thank you for this and many more pearls Tracy.