What if diabetes isn’t just about blood sugar?

Before they get thirsty and before they start having frequency of urination. So there is a whole multiple years, probably a decade before they develop diabetes. They have prediabetes, and that's the time when they're gaining weight and the fat and everything else and then getting tired.

Dr. Andrew, welcome to Beyond Diagnosis Podcast. I'm so super excited to be talking about diabetes learning more about your approach through the functional medicine lens. Now, diabetes is considered a chronic health condition, and it has an impact on many systems in the body. What is the difference between type 1 and type 2?

Well, the type 1 is an autoimmune condition, uh, so let me explain the autoimmune. Autoimmune is where the immune system is attacking some part of the body. And in type 1 diabetes, normally when we call it type 1, when it's diagnosed early in life, it is an autoimmune condition where the immune system now attacks the pancreatic insulin-producing cells. And that's— those are the cells that are damaged by this attack. And so it's called type 1 because you need insulin, because insulin-producing beta cells are not able to produce the insulin, so you have to provide the body with insulin. So, it is also called insulin-dependent diabetes. The type 2, on the other hand, is more related to lifestyle, like what, how are you— there are genetic factors as well, but there's a lot of lifestyle, like, you know, your, your even genetically, if you look at it, there's also family history. But if you look at the lifestyle, it's the physical activity, you know, what is your activity level? And what exactly are you eating, you know, your food and things like that, and your stress levels. There's different things that can affect the levels of blood sugar in the body. So, if it goes above a certain level, technically, if your blood sugar is over 126, we call it diabetes type 2. And then, depending on whether or not you have insulin, enough insulin in the body, we call it— okay, if you need insulin to control your diabetes, then it is insulin dependent. Or type 1. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that all type 1 is autoimmune because type 2 diabetes can be so uncontrolled and it can go to the point where now it requires insulin. So, then it will be called type 1. So, type 2 can also convert into type 1. To handle your blood sugar level.

What's exactly happening when someone, say, for the type 2 diabetes, have they had an overconsumption of, like, say, carbohydrates or sugar, and now the, the insulin— the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin anymore because it's been depleted? What, what's happened there?

Right. It's actually very interesting that you asked me this question because this is the biggest misnomer Oh. That people think that you have type 2 diabetes and you don't have insulin, but that's not true. It's the exact opposite. You have too much insulin at times. You have too much insulin, but the insulin doesn't work because there is something called insulin resistance. That means the insulin, even though there is present, the, the cells are not sensitive to insulin. the receptors don't respond to insulin. So, then that becomes insulin resistance. And that's what most type 2 diabetes people have, is the insulin resistance. So, we actually measure the insulin resistance as well. And you can do it different ways. We can talk about the testing, but there is various different ways you can, you can check insulin resistance. I don't, I don't think there is a particular— fantastic test that could be done very simply because there is still a lot of research going on in how to measure the long-term glucose metabolism and the control of glucose, even though we do have, as you know, hemoglobin A1C, very commonly checked, which will determine the insulin— levels of insulin— sorry, levels of glucose in your body long-term. That is a good test. But the insulin resistance is a different test. So if you eat glucose, for example, you eat sugar, the body should produce enough insulin to push this glucose into the cells so that the cells can use the glucose and create energy. But when you give yourself the glucose and the body produces insulin but the sugar doesn't come down, you know it's insulin resistance because insulin is present but it's not working.

Even though I want to get to what are some of the symptoms so people understand if they are starting to experience diabetes, But I would like to know then, why, why does the cell become resistant to the insulin?

Right, uh, these— this is a physiological, uh, occurrence that occurs, uh, because of, uh, various different factors that could be causing that issue. But I think, uh, the, the sensitivity— so basically the sensitivity of the receptors The insulin receptors goes down when you flood the— so, if you flood the body with sugar, for example, then the insulin receptors become less sensitive to insulin. And so, there are many ways to improve the insulin sensitivity. So, what you need to do is not— traditionally, the idea is to create more insulin because insulin is not working. So, traditionally— conventionally, Conventionally, you're trying to increase the insulin levels, but that's the exact opposite of what you need.

But that sort of throws a curveball towards everybody who's actually interesting on insulin, that they're taking insulin for what they think is insulin resistance or not enough insulin. But you're saying that isn't what you need. For anyone who thinks they, or suspect that they may be becoming insulin resistant, which is pre-diabetes, what are some of the symptoms that they might be experiencing so they can go, oh, I better have a look at this?

The symptoms of diabetes— I mean, if you have type 1, it's very, uh, very strong symptoms. Immediately you feel very thirsty, you urinate a lot, you can be very hungry. And with type 1, you can also lose You can lose weight very rapidly, which is unexplained, or you can be very fatigued. You can have blurred vision. Some people will even have nausea or vomiting, various different things that can happen unexpectedly. Your, your wounds can heal slowly. There's lots of things like that can happen with insulin type 1, and that happens in children, in young adults. They lose weight suddenly. Okay, we should check their blood sugar, see what's happening with that. On the type 2, on the other hand, it's, it's in the beginning stages where there is something called prediabetes. So when we are working as functional medicine doctors, we are not waiting for the body to develop diabetes, whether it's type 2 or type 2 becoming type 1. We are talking, and we are looking to prevent the development of diabetes. So, there is a long period of time between the prediabetes and diabetes. So, you have time to change that course. So, usually, in my practice, when I have patients, I'm looking for prediabetes. So, in the prediabetes, I think the only one thing that's very prominently seen is central obesity. So, you can have belly fat, for example, and you can't get rid of it. And that just means the body is not breaking down the fats in order for it to burn the fats in order to get energy. And that's one of the sick side effects of, of having diabetes. People who are diabetic usually are obese, and the obesity means they're not breaking down the fat. So the beta oxidation of fat is compromised, and so they, they build more fat besides converting the, the glucose that they're eating in the food converting into fat and inability, inability of the body to break down the fat.

The body isn't using the fat as fuel, it's using the excess sugar, and whatever sugar is left over, it's Turning into fat.

Exactly. So that when, when the insulin receptors are not sensitive to insulin, blood glucose doesn't enter the cells to be burned.

Right.

And it keeps going up in the bloodstream. So the blood, blood sugar levels keep going up, but the cells don't get enough, enough of the glucose to be burned. So then the sugar that's in the blood gets converted into fats. Also.

Well, it has to go somewhere.

Yeah, it has to go. It has to be put away. How do you put it away? What do we put away? And so that, that becomes triglycerides, and then the fats, and then that could, you know, deposit the adipose tissue. And then, then it's like a vicious cycle. It's a vicious cycle, and it keeps on, you know, you gain more weight and you gain more, you know, the blood sugar goes up and it goes on and on, and you gain more and more weight, and it's just The, you know, and, and you're not breaking down the fuel into energy. So these people are very fatigued. They don't have energy.

Yes.

Even though, yeah, they may not be saying that, you know, that this is the main thing, but people, before they get thirsty and before they start having frequency of urination, so there is a whole multiple years, probably a decade before they develop diabetes. they have prediabetes, and that's the time when they're gaining weight and the fat and everything else and then getting tired. Uh, so this is like a long time between the development of prediabetes and diabetes.

Exactly, it is. And that's where I think functional medicine catches it earlier. So we spoke about, um, it's not a matter like, um, Conventional medicine gives insulin, and you're saying that is not the answer. You don't want more insulin. So can you just touch on why that's a problem and what's the different approach that your functional medicine side, the way you look at it, and what you— how you go about treating this prediabetes or insulin resistance?

The blood sugar levels and the insulin sensitivity. So, what we are trying to accomplish is improving the receptor's sensitivity to insulin. So, the insulin can attach to the receptor and make the body— the cell create what it needs. Like, for example, cyclic AMP is a second messenger within the cell that carries that signal from the receptor into the nucleus and the mitochondria, where it converts into proteins and other chemicals that will facilitate the metabolism. So, if that is not happening, then that's where we need to attack this problem, not give you more insulin. Because look, it's like, uh, what is— could be the analogy of this is like you have, uh, somebody, you know, you're trying to open a door that's, that's completely jarred, like it's not opening, it's not opening. And then there is the, the whole thing, like they're inside this room that is full of treasure, but you're trying to get the treasure.

Yeah.

But any kind of key that you're using is not opening the key, and so you can't get to the treasure. So instead of getting the right key that is sensitive to the keyhole, you are just banging the door and banging the door, or just pushing more and more different things, hammering it down. That's not what you do. If you were smart, you would try to find out where's the right key.

Yes.

And unlock the door. And so that the door can be open, now you can get the treasure out.

What do you do specifically that's different then in treating the diabetes, or the diabetes, or the, the prediabetes, from a functional medicine perspective?

Totally. I love treating prediabetes because that's where the most fun is, because that's before you get into trouble, right? And that's where the most— I think if you, if you detect the prediabetes earlier on, then you have a better chance of not— I mean, my patients don't become diabetic. That's like, oh my gosh, that's not where I want to go, right? So the easiest— so the first step is to improve the metabolism, to get the body to produce, you know, get some metabolism going in the body. So Lifestyle is really important, right? Lifestyle is so important. Exercising— if you just increase your exercise 20 minutes a day, you can make those insulin receptors sensitive to insulin. I mean, this is like a basic common sense. Yes, anybody that comes in has any kind of problem, let's exercise, because there's so much things that happen during the metabolism. If you can make those things more sensitive, then you can utilize all these substrates. So we call it substrate or food that is going in. It could be metabolized better because the insulin sensitivity is improved.

That's— well, that's a simple thing to do. Everybody can just start walking. I mean, some people have a lot of pain or chronic pain or whatever, but even just some floor exercises, or even, you know, they've got chair exercises now, you know, they're all over YouTube and everything. Why is it that Exercise makes it easier for the sugar to get into the cells. What is it? What is it about exercise that can help you so much?

I think it just improves insulin sensitivity, right? Just exercise, you can improve the insulin sensitivity and you can break down the fat cells. You can just improve the body's ability to burn the fuel. I think that's, that's the easiest way to describe this, is basically that Uh, you are improving. How do you improve the insulin sensitivity is the big question.

Yes.

Right, because if the insulin sensitivity is improved, then insulin will work. So it's not that the insulin is not there. First of all, that's false data. That means there is enough insulin, and this is insulin resistance. Type 2 is insulin resistance. So there's enough insulin, we don't need to give insulin. But the second part of that is that we have to make the body more sensitive to insulin so that the insulin can be effective. So what could we do? There is obviously exercise is a first step. The second step would be to change your diet. You know, don't eat crap. Don't eat like, you know, preservatives. Don't eat chemicals. Don't eat all these things that are artificial, synthetic. that basically I think it may be lowering the insulin sensitivities, you know.

Right.

So those are the things that might be doing that. So why don't we just get rid of these and just eat something that's natural, you know, whole foods and natural, and there's nothing that's processed. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised to, to see studies on the, on the plastics That we have in food.

That's interesting.

Yeah, every food is covered with plastic.

Yes.

And I know I wouldn't be surprised if I start researching, looking at it, there is plastics that could be interfering with the insulin sensitivity. So, you know, how about eating whole foods?

Yes, I mean, that is key, isn't it? And what do you— what's your opinion, Dr. Andrew, on the If you have prediabetes, um, or diabetes, like, stay away from carbohydrates, don't eat any carbohydrates?

I have a little bit of different concept of it. Yes, um, obviously if a person is, uh, obese or overweight, that means it's very obvious that they're not able to break down the fats. They're not able to break down, so the beta oxidation is not happening. This is the metabolic, uh, reactions and the pathways inside the mitochondria that burns the fuel into energy. And so that's obviously not happening. So that person, every time he eats the carbohydrates, converts it into fat, and then goes on and on. It's a vicious cycle.

Yes.

So, but also I've seen, uh, it's not very common, but I've also seen patients that So, so if you eat high-fat, high-carbohydrate, high-fat, high-protein diet, then you're not giving the body a chance to convert the carbs into fats. And so you would be able to, uh, to lose the fat because now the body is going to be forced into breaking down the fat because there's no carbs to burn pretty fast, right?

Yes.

So the carbs are going to be not available, so then the fats will have to be burned down. So we have a system called metabolic typing that we do where we find out what pathways in your body are dominant that are affecting the way the food is broken down, like how is it metabolized in your body. And so we find it's very interesting, a lot of diabetics, you know, maybe it's not necessarily true. that every diabetic or pre-diabetic person has to eat very low-carb diet. When we say carb, that's another thing. I think the definition of carbohydrates is a bit confusing in people's mind. They don't really know what carbohydrates really mean. I want to clarify that a little bit because I think that would be a big help to people, uh, knowing what is a carbohydrate.

So basically There is—

so there is— we call it something called good carbohydrates, and there's something called bad carbohydrates.

Good and bad, right?

Good and bad. So you can have bad carbohydrates, which is basically processed, you know, white, and they are either fried. This is all bad carbohydrates. So if you have French fries, even if it is vegetable, which is a carbohydrate, but when you fry it, it's not a good carbohydrate. It's a bad carbohydrate. Yeah, like a hamburger bun.

Yeah, yeah.

That's another example of a bad carbohydrate. It's not a good carbohydrate. It will convert into your body into fat. It's not gonna burn. So, and that's, that's the problem. And also the fat will come about when you eat too much carbs because the carbs now have to be— you can't use all the carbs because let's say you eat 100 grams of sugar or carbs that convert easily into sugar, then all of that sugar is not used immediately so that whatever is remaining converts into fats and then you gain more and more weight. So when you eat those carbs, the bad carbs, you know, french fries, buns, bread, You know, sourdough bread. People love sourdough bread. And any kind of bread in my mind is a bad carbohydrate. Not only that, unless you— I say, okay, if you want to eat bread, make your own bread, because then you are controlling the ingredients. When you purchase it outside, you don't know what is in that bread.

Yes.

So we, you know, my patients are very amazing and they just, they create the recipes, they do all sorts of things. To keep themselves, you know, healthy. So I would say, you know, stay off of bad carbohydrates as a rule, whether you are diabetic or not. Just don't eat bad carbohydrates because they're not good for anyone. Like processed sugar, okay, it's— there's no way it's going to be good for anyone.

That's right. Yes.

It's just chemicalized, processed. It's just, just not good. And so those— now there's good carbohydrates, which I think are amazing. So some people who are diabetic, doesn't necessarily mean they have to cut out all carbohydrates. It's not true. They have to cut out the bad carbohydrates, but they need to be eating— some of them need to be eating a lot more carbohydrates than normal. Because depending on the metabolic typing, they need to be eating Good carbohydrates, for example, vegetables. So people don't know that vegetables are carbohydrates. So if you are eating spinach or you're eating cauliflower or you're eating broccoli or you're doing— eating Brussels sprouts or eating asparagus, whatever you're eating, this vegetable that you can see and feel with your hands is real. Now that's a good carbohydrate, right?

Yes, yes. And there is so much information out now about eating a whole food diet, isn't it? That, you know, the answer to a lot of our problems that we're experiencing, well, our modern-day health issues, the big move away from the whole food diet.

Yes, that's right. It's processed, it's refined, it's chemicalized, preservatives, you know, pesticides. I mean, these are all things that are processed.

Yes. Yes. And I'm interested, just so our listeners know. If they want to see a functional doctor like yourself about their diabetes or their prediabetes, what is this, uh, did you say metabolic mapping?

Yeah, it's called metabolic typing.

Typing, that's it.

Or metabolic typing.

What's that about?

That, that's really, really cool system of finding out what's the right diet for you. It was originated by Dr. Donald Kelly. in the 1970s. He did a lot of research to figure out what— how does food metabolize in people, different person. One person is different than the next. So, it's not— even if I take 5 pre-diabetic patients, my advice to them will be unique to them. So, it's not necessary that every person has to cut out all carbohydrates or They have to take— I don't know, it depends. If some people may need even 60% carbohydrates, but they don't need bad carbohydrates. So it all depends on their autonomic nervous system, depending on the sympathetic and the parasympathetic system, how it deals, or how is it dominant in the body. And depending on that, you have to eat the correct diet for you. That's interesting.

Yeah, I would never have actually thought of the nervous system and how that is related to you getting or managing diabetes.

Yeah, I know.

So is that where we go? Is that where we talk about the mind-body connection and our connection to stress? Is that all That all plays a huge part on whether we get diabetes or not.

Oh, for sure, for sure. See, the mind does control the body, and whatever happens to the body also affects the mind. It's, it's bi-directional. It's both ways. The stress— if there is a mental and spiritual stress, it does affect the body. And if the body is in bad condition, then that affects the mind. So they go both ways, and it can affect your health in many different ways. And who knows, you know, it may be affecting your insulin sensitivity. But the metabolic typing, what we are trying to accomplish— for example, different parts of the world, the indigenous people require— their requirements for food is very different. So if you take Eskimos, for example, Their food is so much fats, high fats, and, and that's all. They don't have any vegetables there, so that's the correct diet for them. But if a person and they come to Los Angeles and they eat that is available in the supermarket here, I am sure they will develop diabetes.

That is so true. That is so interesting because here in Australia we have a very high percentage of the Asian population being so close to obviously China, Japan, etc. And we do see that the, uh, the people, the Asians that live here who adopt more of a Western diet are so much more overweight.

Yeah.

Than they are in their home country.

100%. 100%. 100%. I have patients that come in, they moved to, uh, you know, LA or moved to the US, and I always ask them, when did you move? And they tell me. And so it's—

When did you start eating that stuff?

Yeah, including myself. When I came to America, I started eating the hamburgers. Yes, like that changes immediately. I'm like, okay. There is, there is a big difference. The processed food is a big difference. The way it's processed, how it's processed, it just adds so many additives to it that we don't need that.

Mm.

We don't need that. It interrupts our insulin sensitivity and the other metabolic pathways. So we don't need that. We, we want whole foods. And I, I really want to stress that is whole foods are so important. And the more raw you eat, the better it is because you are getting the nutrients in this natural state.

As opposed to trying to get everything through a— make up the difference through a supplement. Like, having them— you can't supplement your way out of a bad diet.

No, not at all. I mean, the bad diet will create bad effects. The supplements maybe help, uh, mitigate some of the bad effects of diet, but not all. Not all. So that, like, if you're putting plastic in your body, that a supplement is not going to remove the plastic.

Yes, yes.

Like if you drink water from a water bottle that's plastic water bottle, you are getting all the BPAs and, you know, other chemicals, the plastics, the microplastics that are going to go into your bloodstream, and that's not going to be removed with supplements. So it's, um, yeah, it's, it's a problem with industrialized nations. We are facing that a lot more Than the third world countries.

Yes, yes, absolutely. So when you talk about pathways, how important is our detoxification and, and whether that plays a big— whether you're heavily toxic or your detoxification pathways, which I'll let you explain what they are, may be, uh, blocked, right?

So the biggest Detoxification organ that's really important in the body is liver.

Hmm.

Uh, so liver has different biotransformation, uh, phases. There's phase 1, phase 2. And the phase 1 basically makes the toxic, uh, element more toxic. Uh, and then the phase 2 add to— basically, uh, binds to it and it removes it from the body through the colon and through the urine. So I think liver is all clogged up. People, most people's livers are not really functioning at the top level because they are so— the liver has to now work harder because if you eat processed food, your liver is under a lot of stress because it has to process those chemicals, somehow get rid of them. So if they are like inundated and, you know, bombarded with these chemicals, Hmm. then the liver kind of can't keep up with it, sort of. Yes, they can't keep up. So it kind of— so yeah, detoxification is the first step, actually.

And is that what you look at when you— when someone comes in to see you and they either suspect that they might be experiencing, uh, insulin resistance or they do have diabetes? Is that the first step that you look at with them?

It's one of the first steps. What I do is I— what we do is, here's the thing, the body is a multi-system organ, I mean organism. There's multiple systems and it all cohesively works together. So if you only do one thing at a time, 2 things are going to happen. One is it's going to take forever. Let's say it takes 10 years. to actually do each step one by one. And then nobody has the patience for that. So what we do is we start with some of the basic things that we need to start, which addresses multiple systems, and then get it synergistically moving so you can get to your target faster. For example, within 6 months. So my programs run usually between 4 and 6 months. Where we kind of overhaul the body. It's not just open-ended. I don't like it because I have— it's like we kind of make a target. So this is our target. We want to get well within 4 to 6 months, and we want to feel like awesome within 4 to 6 months. This is, this is a concept that I have. Also because I don't have a lot of patience, you know, even though I have a lot of patients. but not a lot of patients because I wanted— I don't wanna see people suffering. I don't like that. So, I wanna help people feel better as fast as I can. So, what we do is we kind of start the people first. Of course, we want the testing first. We wanna see what you have, right? So, we do functional testing, which is more kind of to the bottom to find out the root causes. And then whatever the root causes are that's contributing to your current state of health, then we take— pick the ones that are the most important first and we handle those. And then once they're handled, we go to the next step and the next and the next until you feel like yourself again. And that's the process. Functional medicine shouldn't be looked at as something that's open-ended. I don't think so. Yes, I think it should have a pathway. It should have protocols, exact protocols, to get somewhere from the beginning to the end.

Well, that sounds very comprehensive, and I think also very encouraging for people who have maybe type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, and they don't want to live like that. They don't want to be on the metformin or whatever other medication that they're on when it's unnecessary. If you have a process like yours in place That it goes from, you know, identification to detoxification to, you know, becoming more sensitive to insulin to— I'm sure you talk about the diet, lifestyle, and mindset and stress factors. It's more a holistic approach as opposed to you have this, here's a medication, which maybe in the beginning some people may need straight up.

Oh, sure.

But then it's a choice. Do you want to stay on it, or do you want to do something about it?

I totally agree. I mean, I get patients every day who are on multiple pharmaceutical drugs, multiple, and those are obviously causing side effects, right? Adverse effects. Even if you take them in the right doses, they create side effects. Side effects means You take a drug in the recommended dose and you're still getting adverse effects, and that somehow has become normal.

Yes.

And it's acceptable. Yes.

Yeah, like I heard someone once say, there's no such thing as side effects, they are effects. They are just effects. They are affecting you. They might— they may be from the drug, but they're still affecting you, you know. And I think people sort of can be a little bit complacent around, oh, it's got these side effects, it may not affect me, right? There's still effects, they're still affecting your body, right? Yes, that's right.

Totally. I mean, you may not see it in the short term, but in the long term, I can— I promise you, they are there. They are there. And not only they're there, they're there even the ones that are not mentioned in, uh, in the pharmaceutical, you know, the handouts and everything about drug information. And they always say something like there could be more than what are being mentioned here that are not mentioned. So you may be experiencing something that may not be shown in the drug information. It doesn't mean that's not a side effect.

We spoke about the, um, symptoms. So the importance to get on top of your— if you feel you're insulin resistant, to come and see someone like yourself, for example, Is that if you're experiencing— because it does have devastating effects, you know, people do lose their feet, they go— can go blind, you know, their hearing can go down. There are so many things that can happen, you know, you can lose your teeth, you know, from all the— it is so important to get on top and not be complacent around. What would you say to someone who feels, oh, I'm on diabetic, I'm on medication, it's okay, you know. And they just keep eating the way they're eating or the way they did eat.

No, it's true. It is true what you just mentioned. You know, you could go blind, you could get cardiomyopathy, you could get heart attacks, you know, you could lose your limbs. And people, a lot of, uh, people who are like, uh, Spanish-speaking, you know, Mexican people that are here in LA Uh, they, they know, and they, they have— they lose their toes and the fingers. They, they know, they know of someone who has lost their toes, so they know as soon as you say that, they're like, oh my gosh, I don't want that.

We have to kind of be shocked into doing something though, don't we? If you just warn people, it's like, ah, I'll be okay, just one more, I'll do it tomorrow. You sort of need to be hit by a hammer with With the fear of, of losing something.

Yeah, I mean, diabetes can even cause dementia, Alzheimer's. So it's not like you can lose your mind and your control over your own memory. It's not a fun place to be.

To finish up today, we've talked about, you know, that if you're insulin resistant, you know, type 2 diabetes can be reversed through lifestyle changes. And exercise, and what you were saying through the testing to make sure that you're going down the right path. Um, stress is a big player. So for someone who may suspect that they do have insulin resistance, or they may have— they do have type 2 diabetes, what would you encourage them to do starting today?

I would say start walking at least half hour twice a day. At least half hour if they were not exercising. So let's say they were exercising before, they need to double up.

Yes. Oh, that's interesting.

Well, common sense, whatever you're doing is creating that condition for you. So you obviously have to bypass that. And you have to do something different that is effective to control your condition. So if you were exercising 30 minutes a day before, you need to double it up to do 1, 1 hour a day. And if you were doing nothing, you start with 30 minutes, and you can do that twice a day. It's fantastic. But you start once a day and you go up to twice a day. The next thing you do is remove all the junk food from your food intake. Anything that's processed, refined, white, just get it out of your pantry and from your kitchen so you don't even— are not tempted to eat that food. And third thing is, if you drink alcohol, That also contributes to this problem. So I encourage my patients actually. Yeah, none of my patients drink. It's just simple. They they say you know why why bother? Why you want to put something in your body that's hurting it? Why would you do that? No, and just me, I've never drunk. I mean alcohol my entire life, so it's easy for me to say.

I don't drink either.

Yeah, so it's easy. And I say, you know, you don't have to drink alcohol to live your life.

Yes.

So that's the other thing. And then of course, eat more fresh foods. Even if you are eating more fats and proteins, you could still make it fresh. Like even if you're buying, you know, if you buy fresh meats, for example, it is better than the processed meat.

So, so that's what— Yeah, keep away from the chemicals, the plastics. the preservatives, all of that, just go natural, exercise. It sounds— it's, it's kind of just 101 health, isn't it?

It's very simple, and it is true for any chronic disease. So yes, people with chronic diseases, because of— not because of their, their being bad people or bad person, they're just being exposed and inundated with commercials about food that is bad for health. So it's not necessarily— that's why I tell my patients, not— you just have to become educated and aware of what is going on. Why are people so sick in the Western Hemisphere more than anyone else? So why? Because we are being inundated with foods and with commercials about those foods, you know.

That's right.

Your crispies, your chocolates, or whatever. that they are promoting your cereals, you know.

Yeah, and so, and true, and it's education as well. I think education plays a big part in whether you develop these diseases or not, because some people don't really understand the impact of eating those foods, you know. They're just, okay, I have a chocolate bar once a day, you know, so what sort of thing. But it's the cumulative effect. Or they say, you know, I have I only have one glass of wine every day. You know, it's just that they're not quite educated on the impact of those foods because we're, like you said, we are absolutely bombarded through the media on the complete opposite of why you should be having this and why this gives you a fun life or a fulfilled life. Would you say to finish off, Dr. Matu, Do we require a reset in our emotional attachment to these things, these foods, and a mindset shift on what constitutes a good lifestyle?

Yeah, I think, uh, people have to— people really understand that they are suffering. Yes, if you are suffering, then you are suffering. There's no other, uh, buddy— there's no other person needed to convince you if you are suffering. So my idea is that if you are suffering, you have a choice.

Yes.

I don't want them to feel there's no choice. There is a choice, and you can make it. It's very easy. You make the choice, and— but you have to make the choices that are correct. And so you make the choices, and then you reap the rewards of a great lifestyle and a great health that you Love. I mean, most of my people, my patients tell me, I've never felt this good before in my entire life.

Amazing.

Amazing. These are like 75 years old, right?

Oh, wow. But that's the, that's the key though. That's the key. You said it right there. It doesn't matter the age. It's the fact that you've made the choice.

Yeah. You know, it's, it's up to you. It's in your hands. You decide, okay, I want to be well, I want to feel great, I don't want to drag myself out of bed every day, then I have no energy, I don't, you know, I don't feel like doing things, my motivation is so crashed, I can't sleep well. All these things are not just good, you know. I go to the bathroom 5,000 times a day. I mean, that's literally exaggeration, but, uh, the idea is like you don't want that, is that's not a good, you know, quality of life. I mean, of course, it's my idea that's not a good quality of life. But I want to ask you, is that a good quality of life for you? And that's the question you have to answer for yourself. That is that something acceptable to you, or that's not acceptable to you? And if it is not acceptable, then you make the choice. And then we are guiding you. And that's what we are doing in this podcast. We are just guiding, we're just giving you the knowledge and the help of what you could do about it, but it is your choice. You make that choice.

That's such a good point. Thank you so much, Dr. Andrew, for coming on and educating my audience around diabetes, you know, prediabetes, the difference around it, and how easy it is to actually do something about it, to just start Eating better, exercising, lowering your stress, getting some better sleep, and like you say, the most important one is making the decision and choosing that you want something different. You want to feel better because that is what it is. That's the main point.

Absolutely. I agree with you, Rita, 100%, and I thank you for inviting me into this podcast and share my ideas with people. I hope. It— that people listen to it and I'm willing to have any questions. You know, if they ask any questions, you let me know and I would like—

Absolutely. And in saying that, Dr. Andrews, all her details, her website, all her socials, everything will be in the show notes. So please reach out to her. And if you've liked what you've heard, you know, she is the person to see. Do contact her. You won't be sorry for it. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.