Today we talk with Shawn Wells about foods that improve blood sugar and Dr. Jonny Bowden about his revised book 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.Here is a Q&A with Shawn:

1. So why is keeping blood sugar in check so important?

Great question. It’s not just diabetes but let’s look at the numbers collected in 2011-2012 and published as a study in the prestigious JAMA:

• 14.3 percent for total diabetes

• 9.1 percent for diagnosed diabetes

• 5.2 percent for undiagnosed diabetes

• 38 percent for prediabetes (glucose intolerance)

Basically, half of the United states has Diabetes or Prediabetes!https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150908112428.htm

1. So why is this so high in the United States and what other issues can this lead to?

That’s the 10,000-dollar question. People are more sedentary, eating a caloric surplus, and having too much processed carbohydrate. Sugar is in 70%-80% of the foods people typically buy in the store. If you include high glycemic carbohydrates like starches, maltodextrin, etc. it can be higher. It’s an addiction as strong as cocaine. If you’ve seen Fed Up, the documentary, you’ve seen how powerful it is. The foods and beverages fill the stores with bright shiny colors of the labels, the beverages. The convenience store is built on addiction of sugar, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and the lottery…right? Convenient addictions. Impulsive addictions at your fingertips. They release dopamine and serotonin, the feel-good neurotransmitters. Food engineers work on the science of addiction manufacturing to what’s called the “bliss point." The western diet is killing our country.

1. So, is there a diet or foods that can help here?

Yes, getting off the Western Diet first off. It’s also called SAD (Standard American Diet). The first step is avoiding processed foods that are engineered for addiction and have way too many compounds in there for you to break the addictive cycle and path to diabetes. Call it primal, paleo, Whole30, ancestral…whatever…just eat real food. Stay out of the aisles of the grocery store and stay on the outside ring. Use products like (this website) to help maintain a health blood sugar level.

1. But actual “diets”?

Yes. So, you know what I am going to say here. Add more fat, and lower the carbohydrate. The Mediterranean diet has great longevity data, and even people doing paleo improve their HgbA1c levels reducing diabetes and cardiovascular risk. Ketogenic diets are ultimately the best way to reduce diabetes risk (and cardiovascular disease because of metabolic syndrome, further it may reduce risk of cancer, Alzheimer’s’, Parkinson’s, etc.). Doling out carbohydrate the whole day in 6-8 small meals is not the best way as the ADA recommends. I’ll have a link in my notes for Dr. Sarah Hallberg’s TED talk on Reversing Diabetes:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da1vvigy5tQ

1. What about supplements?

Yes! You know I love supplements! There’s a study that shows the herbal berberine at 500mg prior to meals was equal to or better than the drug Metformin with patients that had type II diabetes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2410097/Cinnamon standardized for polyphenols has been shown to be quite effective. Some others are the mineral chromium (especially a branded form called Zychrome), Benfotiamine – an analog of thiamin, Bitter Melon, Banaba Leaf, and others all have good results. I’d start with berberine and cinnamon though.

1. Any other benefits to controlling blood sugar even if you’re not diabetic or prediabetic? Yes, beyond avoiding metabolic syndrome (Type II diabetes/glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, hypertension (high blood pressure), and cardiovascular disease risks), you may reduce body weight. A recent study found that the lower the HgbA1c (longer term blood glucose marker) the better the body composition. Also, lower HgbA1c is correlated with longevity/life span via reduced glycation (blood sugar damaging the cells). Lower HgbA1c also means lower CRP (marker of systemic inflammation), increased SIRT genes (longevity genes) and protecting your telomeres (associated with lifespan as well). Therefore, anti-aging folks, diabetic or not often do keto and take metformin. I’d recommend taking berberine and cinnamon in its place.