Depression… Obesity… Type 2 Diabetes. It sounds like almost one third of every patient I have ever seen. Now the kicker… mostly women. Middle aged women are more at risk for all 3 before mentioned ailments. We need to do something now and stop this cyclical pattern!

Go get yourself some anti depressants you say? Now although I do agree with and absolutely stand behind the use of such medications, they are not always the answer.

Certain SSRI’s and many other anti depressants, not to mention atypical antipsychotic medications (AAP), have side effects such as weight gain, glucose intolerance and metabolic changes. Ugh!!!

It really comes down to lifestyle changes.I strongly believe you need to modify your life in conjunction with medications if needed. Also, one anti depressant is totally different from another. Find what works for you. I have said this a bazillion, as my kids say, times before… Be your own advocate. Be persistent, in their face, ask questions and demand to be listened to. Remember to say please and thank you though ’cause us nurses are really big on that, haha.

Here is a tidbit of research out of the Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, China that goes along with the whole lifestyle change idea…

“Lifestyle intervention and metformin alone and in combination demonstrated efficacy for antipsychotic-induced weight gain. Lifestyle intervention plus metformin showed the best effect on weight loss,” the authors conclude. “Metformin alone was more effective in weight loss and improving insulin sensitivity than lifestyle intervention alone.”

via Center for the Advancement of Health and JAMA and Archives Journals

Leave it to the Swedes… A study at Lund University has proven that the cave men were dog gone smart! The foods that were consumed during human evolution are the best form of a diabetic diet that is out there. Yes, for real, the pre-historic men and women had it down pat, fish, fruits, nuts and vegetables. Who would have thunk it?

In a clinical study in Sweden, the research group has now compared 14 patients who were advised to consume an ‘ancient’ (Paleolithic, ‘Old stone Age’) diet for three months with 15 patients who were recommended to follow a Mediterranean-like prudent diet with whole-grain cereals, low-fat dairy products, fruit, vegetables and refined fats generally considered healthy. All patients had increased blood sugar after carbohydrate intake (glucose intolerance), and most of them had overt diabetes type 2. In addition, all had been diagnosed with coronary heart disease. Patients in the Paleolithic group were recommended to eat lean meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, root vegetables and nuts, and to avoid grains, dairy foods and salt.

This isn’t a huge news flash. It is basically what every dietitian and nutritionist teaches diabetics. What’s so ironic is that with evolution, we have lost our “diet way”. So channel your loin cloth wearing ancestors and get moving in the right direction. Your blood sugar will thank you for it!

“If you want to prevent or treat diabetes type 2, it may be more efficient to avoid some of our modern foods than to count calories or carbohydrate,”

via Science Daily

Do people have different types of fat in their body? Is one better than the other? Well, yes and yes. You see, we are all born with brown fat, the good guy, and white fat, his enemy. Brown fat is used by the body to generate energy and produce heat. As we get older, the amount of brown fat in our bodies decrease. The white fat, you can picture a container of Crisco, is stored primarily under the skin in the buttocks and belly and stores energy for future use. Unfortunately, this increases as we age. Even my ever so truthful little girls have loudly and inappropriately commented one too many times on this fact. My face can get as red as a stop sign! Everybody is built differently. This makes some of us more predisposed to gaining weight, which can lead to diabetes. Thanks Mom! If we could figure out a way to expend more energy and store more brown fat, would we be able to fight obesity? This is just what a study at The Joslin Diabetes Center is currently researching.

When placed on a high-fat diet, the B6 mouse,white fat, develops severe obesity, high blood glucose and insulin resistance with extremely high insulin levels. By contrast, the 129 mouse, brown fat, gains on average 30 to 50 percent less weight on either a high-or low-fat diet than the B6 mouse and has been considered resistant to dietary induced obesity and glucose intolerance. In the new study, Dr. Kahn and his colleagues showed that this difference is due to the higher basal energy expenditure in the 129 mouse. When searching for the source of the energy expenditure, the researchers found unexpected clusters of brown fat cells stuck between bundles of muscle fibers in the leg of the mouse. In this case, the 129 mouse had over 100 times more brown fat in muscle than the B6 mouse.

Can we assume that the same is true in humans? Let’s hope so. If the study does correlate to humans, would scientists be able to produce a magic drug to stimulate the good ol’ brown fat and aid in the prevention of diabetes? I know my fingertips would appreciate it!

via eMaxHealth