“Lucy, Ethel and Insulin Resistance”
The linked video* is on the right track, but two things are missing here. Insulin resistance is not due to the suitcase being full. It’s more like trying to put more clothes into a locked suitcase. Sugar (glucose) is to each cell in the body what gasoline is to a car – a fuel source to be burned in the presence of oxygen and a spark plug to create energy. Imagine trying to put gasoline in while the gas cap is still on…. Two hormones are required to unlock the suitcase in order to put more clothes into the suitcase. Two hormones are required to remove the gas cap to put more fuel into the tank. In my diabetes paradigm, it’s Lucy and Ethel that are both required to get the candy (sugar) off the conveyor belt (bloodstream) and into the wrappers (your cells). Lucy and Ethel are insulin and thyroid hormones. Doctors know about insulin. We were not taught about thyroid.
You info-maniacs should look up “Glut 4 receptor/thyroid hormone.” Hormones are biological keys that unlock doors leading inside cells. These doors are called receptors. Each receptor on a cell requires a specific key. You can’t open the testosterone door using the thyroid key. Thyroid hormone has its own door, just like vitamin D, progesterone, adrenal hormones, etc. Only thyroid hormone unlocks the thyroid door. If both thyroid and insulin are present (Lucy and Ethel) you’re better able to remove candy and get it into the wrappers.
We’re going to abandon the suitcase analogy because it doesn’t cover enough physiological bases. Let’s talk Lucy, Ethel, and chocolate candy! (**link below for visual.)
Type 2 diabetes is Lucy and Ethel (thyroid and insulin) not being able to get the candy into the wrappers fast enough as the candy is passing by on the conveyor belt. So, they deposit it in other places, or it gets past them. Your body will do the same. Too much sugar/simple carbohydrates (grains) will be deposited as more fat in your belly, hips, thighs, breasts, etc., even if both “ladies” are working. The candy that gets past Lucy and Ethel is what creates type 2 diabetes.
What if we slowed down the conveyor belt? If both Lucy and Ethel are present, they can effectively package the candy efficiently, if they are not overloaded with sugar. This is where the doctor’s analogy works. By choosing foods from the BALi Eating Plan® list, you slow down the conveyor belt, and you don’t overload Lucy and Ethel with candy.
The other part of the equation the doctor in the video fails to mention is exercise. What if there was one more worker there whose job was to eat chocolate candy? This would help get rid of candy even better. This is where exercise comes in . By incorporating regular exercise you burn up more sugar, and it also helps reverse diabetes – both types.
My (Roby Mitchell, M.D.) expert medical opinion about the cure for type 2 diabetes:
1) Put Lucy back to work by replacing thyroid hormone. Most people do better with an NDT (natural desiccated thyroid). These thyroid products are derived from other mammals that produce the same thyroid key as humans. Synthetic thyroid hormone (Synthroid/Levothyroxine) is a poorly fitting key with the side effect of causing dementia.
2) Slow down the conveyor belt. Choose foods/drinks with a glycemic index (GI) of 55 or less. The GI tells you how quickly your food/drink turns into candy. This candy will stick to your red blood cells. We test how “candy-coated” your red blood cells are by testing hemoglobin A1c. A hemoglobin A1c of 5.2 or above indicates you have excess blood sugar. Call it what you like but excess blood sugar attracts critters. Critters turn on immune cells to start the process of inflammation. It’s inflammation that causes “heart attacks”, strokes, cataracts, macular degeneration, kidney failure, breast cancer, prostate cancer and autoimmune conditions seen more in type 2 diabetics. There are many GI apps for your smartphone. Before any food or drink goes into your mouth, look up the GI.
3) Exercise. Most of you think you can ignore this part of the equation. You can’t. Ask me how I know. Trying to be optimally healthy without exercising is like trying to type sitting on a two-legged stool. You’re going to revert to MSU (“make shit up”). This is where things like diets and artificial sweeteners come in. Two recurring pieces of the longevity puzzle that show up in every Blue Zone (cultures where people live vigorously beyond 100 years of age) are a BALi®-type meal plan and routine “exercise.” However, it’s not necessarily exercising in the way we think about it. Think of the people that must still walk just to get water each day or that still wash clothes by hand and hang them out to dry. Some people in this world still don’t drive cars or use robot vacuum cleaners. Bottom line … you must move your body routinely enough to help Lucy and Ethel get candy off the conveyor belt.
If you do not currently have an exercise/movement routine, start with walking. At least FOUR TIMES EACH WEEK, take a three-mile walk that is completed within a 45-minute timeframe (that’s a pace of 15 minutes per mile), or do something comparable.
This article contains the expert medical opinions of the late Roby Mitchell, M.D. All copyrighted works, as well as the use of Dr. Mitchell’s name, image and likeness are the property of Dr. Fitt, LLC. This article was edited for clarity and is published by permission from Dr. Fitt, LLC. It was originally written in response to the linked video about insulin resistance. *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMymMf3-LSc
**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkQ58I53mjk
Original Article by ROBY Mitchell MD (aka Dr. Fitt®) originally published March 2019.
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