Posted by bleauberry on February 12, 2008, at 16:37:58
In reply to What kinds of supplements should one take..., posted by Jamal Spelling on February 11, 2008, at 9:58:39
Good question. Don't know of any concrete answer. Basically though I believe a multipronged approach with two goals in mind would probably provide a good defense.
The first would be to keep blood sugar steady and normal. That is done mostly through diet. Mostly proteins and veggies, especially low sugar veggies. Carbs should be mainly complex carbs, not the simple ones that digest quickly and cause rapid peaks in insulin response. You want a nice slow gradual insulin response after every meal. Frequent eating. 3 meals plus snacks inbetween. Again, the focus is on proteins and veggies. Avoid as much sugars as possible. Limit fruits. When consuming sugars or fruits, balance them out with proteins and complex carbs. A diet like this takes a couple months to get used to. You really will get to a point though where you know longer miss those things you used to eat, or the ways you used to eat. You will actually prefer your new way of life when given a choice.
The other thing is to keep stress levels down. When there is stress the hormone cortisol goes on a wild ride. It is intricately linked to insulin. Too much stress, or prolonged stress, can desensitize or oversensitize insulin receptors and completely screw up the works. Hard to fix once it happens. Whether stress control is by attitude, medications, herbs, yoga, deep breathing, whatever, doesn't matter. Do not let the stress activate the flight/fight response. If feeling good and doing all kinds of physically demanding projects (stacking firewood, cleaning basement, building a shed, etc) or doing exercise or running, don't overdo it. Even if you feel strong and energetic, force yourself to slow down, take it easy, and pace yourself. Whether the stress is physical or mental, the effects on cortisol and insulin cause wild peaks and valleys and eventually misalign everything.
Supplements that might help.
Chromium. Helps to balance blood sugar levels.
Adaptogenic herbs such as siberian ginseng, ashwagandha, astragalus help to balance the whole stress/cortisol response.
The AP itself should provide calming and antistress if it is working the way it is supposed to. If not, consider something else.For anyone concerned about pre-diabetes or diabetes from APs I think the best safeguard is to keep doses as low as possible, take very seriously the type of food and the schedule of food, and take chromium supplementation.
> ...when using APs so as to minimise the risk of TD, diabetes, etc. that comes with these drugs?
>
> I'm thinking: fish oil, vitamin B combination. Any other suggestions?
poster:bleauberry
thread:812015
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20080110/msgs/812305.html