Diabetes with Dr. Jeffrey James: Rational Wellness Episode 007

01:45    Obesity and Diabetes are both caused by insulin resistance.

05:42    I asked Dr. James what is the biggest factor in our society that contributes to the increase in the rate of Diabetes and Prediabetes?  Dr. James said that there is not one thing, but it probably  started in the 80’s when everybody got so scared of saturated fats and we went to the high carbohydrate, refined carbohydrate, and margarine diet. That didn’t help things. As the advent of  computers and cell phones got bigger, we started sitting around more, living a sedentary lifestyle, and this contributes to increased mortality.

06:58   Dr. James explained the role of stress and cortisol and cortisol functions to elevate blood sugar when it is low.  He explained the risk of low blood sugar and how diabetics that he’s worked with are more fearful of low blood sugar than high blood sugar.

07:48  Dr. James explains that while sleeping, since you are not eating, if your blood sugar level dips, your body will secrete cortisol to elevate the blood sugar.  But if you have been under stress for a long period of time, instead of the adrenal cortex releasing more cortisol since you have depleted cortisol levels, then the body goes into DEF CON II and it uses epinephrine and norepinephrine.  These are hormones that will stimulate your liver to release glucose into your blood stream but they have the added effect of stimulating your sympathetic nervous system and waking you up.  So folks who wake up at 2 or 3 am, that may be a blood sugar dysregulation issue that results from being under so much stress that their cortisol levels are depleted.

09:35  Dr. James explains that we are not just talking about emotional stress but the stress of emfs and electricity of modern life that humans never had to deal with before.

12:32  I brought up the role of toxins in metabolism such as BPA.  Dr. James mentioned a recent patient who’s numbers were not making sense and she tested positive for immune responses to Bisphenyl S and A, Formaldehyde, and Benzene rings. We know that some of the plastic chemicals are endocrine disruptors, but we’ve been told that if we get rid of BPA that we will be fine. But the other plastic chemicals like BPS that are often substituted for BPA in BPA free containers are also endocrine disruptors.  Dr. James talked about how to detox these chemicals, including using infrared sauna.

15:06  Dr. James talked about the BPA coating on cash register receipts and I mentioned that even though I buy BPA free paper, just because it doesn’t add BPA to the paper, because the paper starts with recycled paper, some of which has BPA on it, it will still contain BPA. And of course money all has traces of BPA on it from those who touch receipts and then touch the money.

16:18  Dr. James noted that the problem is not just BPA, but the onslought of chemicals that are endocrine disruptors that we get exposed to.