The 5 best herbs and foods for diabetes

if you're a diabetic in this video I'll share five of the best foods and also herbs from traditional Chinese medicine for diabetes this might seem surprising that ancient doctors in Egypt India and China going back to the BC era had noted that certain people had this illness where after urinating ants would actually try to drink the urine because of the sweetness in it and that was one of the actual diagnostic parameters that led them to diagnos but today we call diabetes so let's jump in and we'll talk about what those foods and what those herbs actually are hey guys I'm Dr Alex hin board licensed doctor of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and author of the health book master of the day so let's get in you know recently in the clinic I had a few patients come in that had high A1C as well as high blood glucose so high blood sugar now in particular for two of them just this week we heard back from their updated labs and by changing nothing about their diet nothing about their life style just taking the formula that I gave them their blood sugar actually went down about 20 points in 3 weeks without dietary change without exercise change so there is fascinating research on how these herbs and formulas from traditional Chinese medicine can actually lower your blood glucose even if you change nothing else and we'll talk about what exactly those herbs and those formulas are but first let's talk a little bit about the history of diabetes because it's actually really interesting so check out this neat research paper it's called milestones in the history of diabetes now at one point they say around the 5th Century BC the famous Indian surgeon sushruta in his work Sam identified Diabetes by using the term honey like urine and pointed out not only the Sweet Taste of the urine but also the sticky feeling to a touch and its ability to attract ants and in ancient China Jang Jong Jing referred to as the Chinese hypocrates describe polyura or frequent urination and loss of weight as symptoms of a specific disease and mentioned the characteristic symptoms intense thirst copious drinking and large amounts of urine which is tasted sweet now while diabetes has always existed we obviously have seen a steep rise in it particularly for modern people because of the amount of processed food the easy access to high calorie high carb and refined sugar for example so what are those foods that are very very good for diabetics and also what are the herbs and herbal formulas that have been critically studied to improve the symptoms of diabetes as well as A1C and your blood sugar now the first best food number one are really the leafy greens we all know we should be eating more greens but some of the research behind them is pretty interesting in general leafy greens are nutrient-dense they're high in something called antioxidants and have a very low glycemic index now one study found in a journal called Diabetes Care increasing the consumption of green leafy vegetables was associated with significantly reduced risk of type 2 diabetes by 14% food group number two is whole grains now I know people are told they shouldn't be eating grains or they're on Paleo diets or carnivore diets but going from let's say eating white bread to eating whole grains still is a big shift for a lot of people and still is a better shift in terms of nutrition so the value of whole grains is that they have fiber they have vitamins they have antioxidants all of these can potentially regulate your blood sugar one study found that consuming whole grains is associated with a 21% lower risk of type 2 diabetes Now what's also important is that the fiber in whole grain versus like white bread prevents the spiking of your blood sugar when you have meals important food number three is fatty fish so fish like salmon and sardin are very rich in something called omega-3 fatty acids which have anti-inflammatory properties and are beneficial for heart health which is something really important for diabetics now a study done in the American journal of clinical nutrition showed that regular consumption of fatty fish improved your blood glucose levels after your meal and also lowered your cardiovascular risk factors in people who had diabetes the best food group number four is nuts now when we talk about nuts like for example almonds and walnuts nuts in general are rich in healthy fats fiber and magnesium and they've also been shown to lower your blood sugar and reduce insulin resistance one study published in the Journal circulation research found that higher nut consumption was linked to better blood sugar control and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease among people who are diabetics the fifth food group is legumes so for example beans and lentils now the value of legumes is that they're high in protein and fiber which again can help manage your blood sugar levels one trial published in The Archives of internal medicine found that incorp orating more legumes into your diet significantly improved glycemic control they also lowered the risk of coronary heart disease in people with diabetes Now if you guys aren't sure where to begin for diabetes or high blood sugar or maybe your lab said you have high A1C I would highly recommend to start by downloading my free root cause quiz get some of the symptoms you already have under control by taking the quiz it's the first link right below this video and what it is is it is a 10 or 12 page thing we've taken a lot of time to put together that will help you figure out what organ system what physiological pathway is most likely related to your symptoms and we've also taken a lot of time to hyperlink to related videos and articles that we've put together that will give you specific advice on that actual Condition it's the first link right below this video check it out it's very very helpful now let's talk about some of the best herbs for diabetics in general so number one is ginsing or renen now ginsing particularly the compound the ginsenosides as they're called have been shown and research to improve your insulin sensitivity and also glucose metabolism there's been an interesting meta analysis of several randomized controlled trials that found that Jensen can improve your fasting blood glucose and also your blood glucose after eating if you have type 2 diabetes the second herb is something called bitter melon you know I'll never forget as a kid when I moved to a new neighborhood we had a family next door that was Chinese and one day we went over to the house and the Grandma had brought this weird kind of certain sort of melon and I asked what it was was and she said oh try it knowing that it was bitter melon so I bit into it and it was incredibly bitter and I asked what she was making this tea for because it was disgusting frankly and she said it's helped me a lot with my blood sugar my diabetes sure enough there's lots of research on bitter melon itself what researchers have found is that bitter melon contains compounds that actually mimic insulin and may help regulate your blood sugar levels so one clinical study in the Journal of ethn pharmacology found that bitter melon significantly lowered blood glucose levels in people who already had type 2 diabetes the third compound is actually from many different kinds of herbs and plants in traditional Chinese medicine but it is berberine lots of the bitter yellow herbs in Chinese medicine Copus hangan and even Hangin scaria are very high in burine and when you taste them in the formulas they're very very bitter and they often make the formula come out this deep yellow color now Studies have shown that burbine regulates glucose metabolism and also can reduce your insulin resistance one study done in a journal called metabolism showed that bourine reduced fasting blood glucose and it also improved lipid metabolism comparable to medications like metformin which is absolutely insane if you think metformin is dished out every single day probably to tens of millions of patients with diabetes and that there's potentially an herb that can potentially do the same absolutely shocking the fourth herb is called a straggas or wangi now straggas has been used traditionally you might be surprised traditionally for 1500 years to treat the symptoms of diabetes ancient Dr sunsum knew 1500 years ago it was one of the key herbs used to treat the symptoms of what they call chiao like this wasting thirst this thirst that could not be quenched with polyurea frequent urination today we identify that as diabetes what's interesting is that in certain studies they've shown that astragalus has a anti-hyperglycemic and an insulin sensitizing effect in patients with type 2 diabetes it also improves your glucose metabolism and can reduce oxygen ative stress now the fifth herb is called cinnamon typically we use cinnamon twig or cinnamon bark this is not the same cinnamon you're sprinkling in your oatmeal cinnamon bark and cinnamon twig we often use for anxiety nervous system regulation the HPA AIS what people call adrenal fatigue palpitations it's extremely effective for that but also it works well for diabetics and for people with high blood sugar in certain studies it's known to enhance insulin receptor sensitivity and improve your glucose uptake so one particular Med analysis found that cinnamon significantly reduced your fasting blood glucose levels and this is really important because for lots of diabetics the number that the physician focuses on is the hemoglobin A1c this study found that cinnamon improved both A1C and insulin sensitivity in people with diabetes now most of the time when we're clinically treating diabetes of course changing diet and exercise will probably be much faster and much more efficacious than just supplementing with these things alone but these are an integral part of what I do clinically in my practice now I work with a limited number of new patients in my clinic in Los Angeles or virtually via tele medicine so if you guys want to reach out and work oneon-one just go to Dr Alex hind.com clinic or check out the information right below this video and call or email us to book that way as well and again before you go I have another great video on diabetes and blood sugar regulation right up here