“Diabetes has now reached the point in America
where it is truly an epidemic. If you or someone you care about
has it or is at risk, please read this carefully.” — Dr. Stephen Sinatra

Dear Friend,

According to the American Diabetes Association, there are approximately 20.8 million people in the United States, or 7% of the population, who have diabetes. They estimate that while approximately 14.6 million have been diagnosed, there’s another 6.2 million people (or nearly one-third) who are unaware that they have the disease.

Are you shocked? Honestly, I’m not. Genetic pre-disposition is a factor in type 2 diabetes but to a large extent it’s a self-inflicted disease. And when you consider the typical American diet, full of sugar (the average American eats over 100 pounds of sugar each year, 7% of which comes from sodas!) and carbohydrates, coupled with a sedentary lifestyle, these discouraging numbers really should come as no surprise at all.

I also believe that the rise in diabetes cases may be attributed to our society’s increased dependence upon prescription drugs. You may not know this, but there are some medications that are known to raise your blood sugar levels. Click here for a listing of some of the most popular ones.

Diabetes is affecting people of all ages, even young kids. And while people of all nationalities are being affected, it is an especially troubling issue within the African American and Hispanic communities, where the percentage of people affected is even greater than the overall national average.

Treating diabetes can be tricky. The conventional methods certainly help, but there are other, more natural things you can do, as well. For example, did you know how effective magnesium has proven to be? Click here now to learn more about this and other little-known natural methods for controlling this disease.

It's important that you learn all you can about diabetes, so I’m going to dedicate this (and future) e-letters to recent developments surrounding this growing epidemic. If you’ve never passed any of my letters along to your family and friends, I hope you’ll do so—starting today. This is information that everyone, especially those dealing with diabetes or who are insulin resistant, needs to know and act on.

The Los Angeles Times Article

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times brought to light an important point related to diabetes that I don’t think we emphasize nearly enough. It’s something I’ve known for years, but I don’t write about as often as I probably should.

Did you know that if you’re diabetic, you’re at a very high risk of having a heart attack? Two-thirds to three-fourths of people with diabetes die from heart attacks or some form of heart disease, regardless of how well they manage their blood sugar.

Several of the risk factors for the two diseases are the same. People with diabetes are often overweight and don’t get regular exercise, which leads to hypertension and a thickening of the artery walls of the heart. In addition, diabetes raises your LDL level and makes it more prone to oxidation (which makes it the “bad cholesterol”) and plays a major role in clogging your arteries. Once that happens, the heart can’t get the blood it needs. (For a more detailed look at the cholesterol profile, see the July issue of my newsletter, where I provide more information and introduce you to the important BAP test.) These scenarios all describe situations ripe for some sort of cardiovascular episode, most likely a heart attack or a stroke.

The bottom line is this: If you’re dealing with diabetes, you MUST take precautionary measures to keep your heart as healthy as possible. For starters…

• Watch your blood pressure carefully. Purchase one of the convenient monitors you can use at home to help you keep track. Take your pressure at the same time each day and record your numbers.
  
  
• Monitor your cholesterol levels on a regular basis. Understand what your HDL and LDL numbers mean and where they should be.
  
  
• Eat right. You’ve heard me say it before, but my PAMM diet really is a smart way to go. (I write about it often in the pages of my newsletter, Heart, Health & Nutrition.) It supports balanced blood sugar and insulin levels and is the very foundation of my approach to natural health and healing.
  
  
• Get regular exercise. If you haven’t exercised in a while, ask your doctor to help you to safely add it to your daily routine. I don’t want to overdo it, but I want you to “just do it!”

And let me give you some advice that I give patients I see in my private practice: Take time to address the needs of your mind as well as your body.

Take Ray, a 44-year-old, stressed-out corporate executive who was a patient of mine. Despite numerous attempts to reduce his blood pressure with conventional drugs, Ray’s blood pressure was soaring out of control.

Although calm, cool and collected on the outside, Ray was tighter than a drum on the inside. His jaw was clenched, his shoulders were raised and his breathing was shallow. I could feel Ray’s anger as I sat across from him, and I feared that his stress was eating him alive!

I asked Ray, “Do you realize how much anger you have?” He responded, “Yes, but I can’t get it out, and I surely can’t let it show!” He told me that he had never shared these thoughts with anyone. As I dug in a little deeper, Ray began to soften and to open up to me, and as he did he began to cry.

Thankfully, the dam had burst. Ray had taken the first—and often the most difficult—step toward controlling his high blood pressure. He acknowledged his feelings and began seeing a psychotherapist to explore the underlying emotional causes of his hypertension. He also got on the PAMM diet, began a walking program and took daily nutritional supplements, including the ones I mentioned earlier.

The point is, only when Ray began to put his “whole” heart into healing himself was he able to tackle the challenge with an open mind, addressing not only the physiological aspects of his condition, but the psychological and emotional factors as well.

There are other, lesser-known things you can do, as well. My newsletter subscribers read about them each month in my newsletter, Heart, Health & Nutrition. For an abbreviated listing, click here.

What You Should Do Now

If you’re a diabetic, ask your doctor if he/she wants you to take a stain or any other drug that could help your body better manage the cardiovascular risks associated with diabetes.

Yes, it’s fairly complicated, my friend. But I really understand the tragedy of diabetes. My mother suffered with it and one of the key reasons I became a doctor was to help people with diabetes. So you can rest assured that through the pages of my newsletter, Heart, Health, & Nutrition, as well as communications such as this e-letter, I’ll share with you what I know.

I hope you’ll be kind enough to pass the information on to your family and friends. Please do your part to stop diabetes in its tracks.

To Your Health,

Stephen Sinatra, M.D.

P.S. If youíre not a current subscriber to my newsletter, please click here now. I donít want you to miss any of the pertinent information I share about diabetes and other health issues important to you and those you care about.