ALTERNATIVES TO TREATING TYPE 2 DIABETES

If you currently have Type 2 Diabetes, don't make the mistake of thinking it can only be treated and not cured. Medication, however, will never cure the problem. It only makes you a lifetime customer.

Take the Right Supplements

Take a good multivitamin/mineral supplement every day. There's been a lot of press over the last few years on the dangers of vitamins and how they are a waste of money. It's all a bunch of baloney.

Herbs and nutritional supplements are a major pain in the posterior for the pharmaceutical industry. Every time they introduce a new "breakthrough" treatment instead of a cure, they feel obligated to explain why the natural therapies are inferior and dangerous. Expect to see a lot more of this propaganda in the future, and remain steadfast in taking your supplements. You're doing something right when it upsets the pharmaceutical industry.

Strengthen Your Thyroid

I keep repeating the dangers of an under-active thyroid because correcting this one problem is so simple and can dramatically change your life in a matter of days. Trying to fight obesity or reduce fat levels in the body while you have an under-active thyroid is like trying to light a fire without a spark or match. Check and correct your thyroid function as I've outlined in the box at page 94, and you can check your weight problems at the door.

If your water supply is fluoridated, you need to be particularly vigilant about making sure you get adequate amounts of iodine. Individuals who are iodine-deficient (which is a large percentage of the population) are more susceptible to the ill effects of fluoride.

Fluoride was used from the 1930s through the 1950s to treat an overactive thyroid. Daily dosages as low as 2 to 10 mg were sufficient to reduce a patient's basal metabolic rate and treat the condition. Adults in fluoridated communities receive between 1.6 and 6.6 mg of fluoride per day from all fluoride sources combined. Clearly, fluoride-treated water can depress thyroid function.

Separate research has indicated that individuals with adequate iodine levels begin to see detrimental effects to their thyroid at 3.5 mg of fluoride a day, but, in those with an iodine deficiency, the effects begin to appear at levels as low as 0.7 mg a day.

My wife and I both take 1 to 2 drops every day of the liquid iodine product Iosol. I can't recommend it highly enough. You can get Iosol from TPCS, at 800-838-8727 or www.tpcsdirect.com. They'll give Alternatives subscribers or even former subscribers a $2 discount per bottle.

Boost Your Digestion

Take a good probiotic supplement, and regularly eat sulfur-rich foods. Probiotics help keep harmful bacteria in check in your gut, and they promote the health of the walls of your intestines. This allows your gut wall to pass the proper digestive products through into your bloodstream, and keep the harmful ones out. Fermented foods such as sauerkraut are excellent sources of probiotic bacteria, particularly if you make them yourself. (Recipes are available in the Subscriber Center of the Alternatives website, www.drdavidwilliams.com.) Probiotics are the natural antibiotics of the future, without the side effects.

Fiber Keeps You Fit

Don't forget fiber. It helps feed the good digestive bacteria and has many other "unsung" benefits as well.

The latest food technology "breakthrough" is called "resistant starch." It simply refers to portions of the fiber that don't get broken down easily in the digestive tract. This is just another potential marketing concept. Moms have known about it forever, and understood the importance of eating fruits and vegetables. Don't forget beans of all kinds. They're great sources of fiber and nutrients.

Part of the benefit stems from more regular bowel movements, which helps remove toxins and waste material from the body. Fiber also feeds the beneficial bacteria in the lower bowel, which has rightfully been called the body's second immune system. Individuals who are able to survive even the worst epidemics and pandemics have the strength of their secondary immune system to thank.

In the study mentioned earlier where researchers were searching for ways to help prevent cancer, one finding totally blew me away. Roughly half of Americans eat virtually no green, leafy vegetables at all—none. These are some of the least-expensive, most "bang for your buck," high-roughage, protective foods available for preventing cancer. I don't know what else to say.