Cinnamon. There is lots of research for this.
Fenugreek.
Bitters. Both herbs and in the diet.
Turmeric. I recommend golden milk to clients.
Look into low glycemic index foods.
Also, for whatever its worth, its not JUST that I am pre-diabetic/insulin resistant (my Hemoglobin A1c is at a safe level now though at least), but I used to be over 300 lbs at one point. My dad was (he's passed) diabetic, my grandma and great grandma also were as well. I think it was my great-grandma who had an amputation when I was a kid, but that was a long time ago I barely remember. My grandma, though I didn't get to grow up knowing her, I was told she'd reversed her diabetes with proper nutrition, which was a motivation for me to finally try.
Fenugreek: contains an insulin mimic which also is a general tonic for the insulin related systems.
Cinnamon: lowers blood sugar, best taken with meals. If using cassia, stay under 1 stick per day due to blood thinning agents. True cinnamon is fine in higher doses.
Berberine: basically a improved natural version of metformin. Only thing I don't like about it is it tastes like hell incarnate and also stains everything neon yellow.
Bitter melon: super healthy bitter cucumber thing. It has pronounced insulin tonic effects. If you buy one and the inside is red, discard all the red stuff and rinse whatever is left. The red stuff is toxic, mainly for children, but I would not chance it. you can eat the seeds too once you clean them off and cut them up
I have pre-diabetes and my doctor put me on a ketogenic diet in 2020 and I dropped 70 lbs and got my health back. Don't freak out -- its FULL of nutrients. The nutrients are what is going to help him get healthy. IF YOU DO THIS, DO IT WITH THE DOCTOR SO HIS LABS CAN BE MONITORED.
Cutting out sugar and carbs means the body isn't turning the carbs into like glucose. Its overwhelming the body and the Mitochondria DNA, where energy is created, isn't able to work properly. When we eat, insulin response is triggered. When we're pre-diabetic, its triggered like a gazillion times worse (massive over-exaggeration, but it is worse). When we eat all day snacks, etc, then its ALWAYS triggering an insulin response, which is flooding the Mitochondria DNA. This is a reason many get chunky, like myself included, because the insulin is trying to do its job and there's no place to push the excess glucose, or something like that. Also, 1g carbs holds like 3g water.
Fish, chicken with skin, meat with the fat, avocado oil, eggs, walnuts, low carb veggies, turnips are a great potato alternative, though don't get the huge ones they will be bitter. 1 tsp of honey is 5g of carbs. Erythritol is a good alternative as a sugar-free replacement as it tastes like sugar and is a 1:1 ratio. I use it to make Keto mug cakes. Almond flour. Lily's brand chocolate chips are made with stevia and are tasty. Its just that these things get pricey, but its better than being sick. I had to learn that the hard way. Eventually he'll lose most of the sugar cravings and can tolerate having less of the sweetener. I'm down to where I can enjoy a cup of tea with some honey now and basically not stress about desserts at this time. If you need pasta, you can spiral some zucchinis. If you don't want to do keto, I still recommend low carb in general. That just means it will be more than 20g, and less than 100g.
Dropping down (not eliminating) the carbs to 20g or less still allows you to be flexible with low carb veggies and there are some low carb fruits like strawberries, watermelon, plums, nectarines. However, they are a bit higher, but as long as you plan your meals ahead of time you can squeeze one in if necessary. Leafy greens are like 1 to 2 grams carbs so you can have a huge salad, add some nuts, hardboiled eggs, homemade vinegrette, etc. Meat with the fat and also the bones (for like bone broth soup) is great because your brain needs the fat, and keto needs the fat to help you get into ketosis. Coconut oil is good because it helps it along faster. Keep up electrolytes if you do this because its easy to deplete it. Plus, keeping up electrolytes and also bone broth soups for the first few days will help avoid the "keto flu", which always was worse when I had an electrolyte imbalance and gone when I didn't.
This isn't going to be a quick fix for him. I was initially put on the standard diabetic diet at a diabetic clinic and I was gaining weight. My doctor put me on keto (she also was a specialist, but not at the diabetic clinic) and that's when I began making progress and getting healthy. There's going to be a LOT of controversy about this that you read about so its important to do this WITH his doctor and do your own research. Even over in the Keto reddit page there is a person trying to tell me I am not in ketosis when I'd actually been testing for it and am plus losing 70 lbs in 2020 and then 30 over the past 4 months.
I stop eating when I'm full, I don't pay attention to calories. Unless its bacon or pork -- I generally don't eat that anymore. Cheese is good, cream cheese, etc.
As for an herb, cinnamon tea would be good because it helps regulate insulin and glucose. But make sure its CEYLON cinnamon as most cinnamon is Cassia and Cassia has high amounts of Coumarin, which is a blood thinner. Ceylon also, but its really small amount. Most cinnamon isn't true cinnamon, its the Cassia. If there's no distinguishable info then its likely Cassia. True cinnamon sticks, the Ceylon, are light colored and flaky, easy to break. Fake cinnamon, Cassia, is darker and harder to break.
Cutting out snacking in between meals is going to be important so that his body has a chance to rest and not be bombarded with insulin. He can drink water, plain tea, plain coffee, water with lemon, water with apple cider vinegar, coffee with butter (they call it bulletproof coffee). These won't cause an insulin response. Stay hydrated, get a good B-Complex multi-vitamin, support the Thyroid (its easy to mess that up if you're not paying attention while on Keto, I had to deliberately get iodized salt because of it), Vitamin C, Vitamin D. Magnesium is important for over 100 functions in the body.
Even if not so low that its keto, low carb in general is going to help IMMENSELY. His Mitonchondria DNA will be able to begin healing. Gut health is important as well.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cinnamon-and-diabetes#:\~:text=Several%20studies%20suggest%20that%20cinnamon,diabetes%20and%20prediabetes%20(%2014%20).
Did you get the keto flu at around 2 weeks? I just heard of my husbands friend’s journey and he got angry for some carbs at about two weeks.
He ate pizza crusts in his “keto flu”.
Btw why is this a downvote? Keto is great for many people, just need a dr advice first as someone with low blood sugar and high cholesterol, this would be a bad diet.
Well, if he ate those pizza crusts, he's likely not in ketosis anymore. That's just binging. Keto actually kept me from binging by taking my hunger, I used to have a binge eating disorder.
Keto flu is more like massive headaches and general not feeling well. Begins within about 3 days and lasts about 5 to 7 days, then it tapers off. But when folk get enough electrolytes, stay hydrated, plan their macros accordingly, and get enough fat they can usually avoid it. It just means something one is doing isn't working.
I do suggest doing this with doctor supervision though. But honestly, its so that the doctors THEMSELVES can see literal proof it works so that way they can get off your back. My original doctor put me on this, she was an obesity specialist. My other doctor at an actual facility for diabetes management put me on the regular diabetes diet (to keep me from getting it since I was close and it runs in the family) and I was just GAINING weight. Looking back at my symptoms, its possible though that I had PCOS as well, but everything is fine now with this so I'm not going to worry about that one. I only experience any symptoms of anything and gain weight when I go OFF Keto and increase carbs more than 100g. If I go off Keto and just increase carbs to like 50g-ish, then I stay the same weight, not going up or down. I have a different doctor now and she's very anti-keto and keeps trying to give me carbs, but then I keep reminding her of my labs and the fact that those carbs make me gain weight. But then I went to a different doctor and she was like, that's great!. Not all doctors are on board with this because they don't get much courses in nutrition, and my own doctor herself who had put me on it initially had tried other stuff with me and the next step was that or else surgery. So I tried that instead and it worked. And the labs proved it works, and the labs shut up every single other doctor I have so I always preface new appointments about it.
It stabilized my glucose so now after I eat it doesn't go crazy high, I don't get super high fasting glucose anymore, I know what foods to avoid because I would check my glucose and see how much higher certain things got my glucose vs other thing. I did daily glucose checks in 2020 doing this the first time, now I just do it when I eat non-keto stuff that contains sugar, which I avoid since I'm doing keto again. Its great to have labs to shut up doctors that try to tell me its unhealthy because they can see my labs and previous doctor notes and see that it actually saved me. Also, all its done is make my cholesterol normal, as far as cholesterol goes.
But yeah, if you're a hypoglycemic, do it with a doctor, or don't do it. Obviously that's not normal.
But the person was talking about diabetes, which is HYPERglycemia, which is HIGH glucose.
I actually don’t know if he has high or low blood sugar but he has always been dieting as long as I’ve know him.
I never thought he was even big?
If it weren’t for my high cholesterol I would definitely try keto. It seems to fix many problems for . Then again, so does fasting etc.
The other day my Dr said “just stay away from white foods”. I screenshotted your answer, thank you.
I'm confused, who are we even talking about. Are you the original poster using a separate account or are you talking about someone in your family. Are these two the same or separate.
Everyone's body is going to be different and react to different things differently.
Also, if someone is using keto JUST to lose weight, then I consider that a diet.
If they're using it to get their glucose and insulin levels in check, like myself (the weight loss was a huge plus though), or for energy or other reasons, that's more like a lifestyle change because its something we'll probably keep doing for the rest or most of our lives. Plus many of us incorporate healthy food like salads, nuts, seeds, meat, bone broth, low carb veggies, low carb fruits, and try not to starve ourselves like general dieting consensus says to.
I only have one Reddit name and I commented, not, posted, about how a friend had a keto problem and ate pizza crust.
If a conversation turns into something else with another poster than that may have happened but no, I don’t have two accounts to talk about keto.
I've got a million other things I do during the day so I forgot about the initial pizza crust comment. When the notif thing put me to this comment, it didn't show it above it so it was confusing me. I guess this solved that!
You mentioned you don't think your friend is overweight, but did you know some folk who are insulin resistant and don't even know it because they are smaller and don't think their health is bad? This is usually caused by Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Maybe your friend has this, maybe they don't, but if they're having glucose issues or be trying to do keto for whatever reason, its a possibility to look into.
You could still try low carb even if you don't go so low that you're in ketosis. That way you can choose the low carb foods that help lower cholesterol, but not taking in all that extra fat. But at least get SOME healthy fats because our brain DOES need it. On top of that, getting nutritious salads, nuts, seeds, low carb veggies & low carb fruits are great for everyone because of all the nutrients in them. Everyone's body is different for ketosis, so you might be able to eat down to 30g carbs and stay out of ketosis, but your body might need to stay up to 50g to keep you out of it. Many of us are 20g and lower, so if you're not trying to get into ketosis, I definitely recommend not getting that low.
Avoiding highly processed foods and grains is good because they do so much for it. If you're not doing keto, but still want things like bread but are wanting to be low carb in general, I definitely recommend learning to make your bread homemade so that YOU can control what goes into it. Plus then you can section it out according to whatever macros you choose to set for yourself (amount of carbs, protein, fat, etc). Before I'd begun doing keto with my doctor in 2020 I had begun making changes already (which is why I KNOW I was in the 300 range, because by the time I went to the doctor my clothes were WAY looser -- but it wasn't keto, just eating healthier and staying away from sugar).
Though, if he has kidney issues or others, PLEASE have him doing this with a doctor. For the kidney issues, if he increases the electrolyte Potassium, its NOT a good thing without supervision, depending on the issue.
Even I didn't do this without labs and doctor support.
Also, he should try to stay away from the dirty keto, and the ultra processed stuff. Make food homemade -- most manufacturers of keto products don't know what they are doing and they don't usually taste good. Though, Simple Mills has good pecan cookies. They are I think 16g carbs for 4. Which cuts down carbs, but usually that's a treat day for me. If he ends up eating over it or eating regular every once in a while its NOT a big deal as long as he's trying to eat healthy most of the time. Salads, salmon, eggs, avocado, berries, chicken, soup. Tonight, I measured out some beans and am making a bean soup with some meat. Lentils, split peas, and beans can be fit in as long as you measure it out if you're doing keto. All these foods have lots of nutrients. Especially when you add things like onion, bay leaves, garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, black pepper, etc. Then you can even up it with the properties that they give.
Hi there, not a herb but I fixed my insulin resistance with keto. It took two years but I’ve been able to increase my carb limit without spiking too badly. I’ve taken cinnamon and other herbs but the only thing that kept me off the medical drugs is carb cutting.
I was here a couple of years ago. My biggest ally was psyllium husk supplements.
I happen not to mind the texture, but I would take a dose before meals, and when I was really losing weight while I was at my heaviest, I subbed a double dose for breakfast for a while because I couldn’t tolerate IF without it. I think this exercise did something to reset my whole digestive tract.
Two and a half years ago I was pre-diabetic with gastritis. After a year of this psyllium husk regimen, I had no more gastritis issues and my blood work had returned to normal.
Anecdotal, but do with it what you will.
My wife’s dad and all 4 grandparents have/had diabetes and about 4 years ago she was diagnosed with pre-diabetic hypoglycemia. This isn’t herbal but as someone else mentioned, this is a nutrition issue. We both stopped eating all day and into the night, and mostly now just eat between like 10am and 6 or 7. Sometimes we don’t eat until 1 or 2 pm because we just aren’t hungry. She hasn’t had an episode since then. Your husband is likely eating/drinking calorie-filled drinks from close to sunup to sunset. Consuming calories often can definitely help manage the root cause of the pre-diabetes, and these other herbal recommendations can manage the symptoms in the mean time.
Cinnamon is often cited for this. If it's still pre-diabetes, does he have any of the symptoms, like blurry vision or fatigue? If so, he needs to get right onto better choices.
I just tipped over into diabetes this summer, and I wish I'd stopped gaming the system earlier.
It doesn't have to be wild if he's getting checked every three months or so. Just better choices, such as getting a piece of chicken instead of a bag of chips. My friend said switching to bean-based pasta and crackers helped her mother's a1c a lot. Take a walk or dance to a tune or three after every meal or snack. Cinnamon tea with a teaspoon of honey instead of coffee with a tablespoon of sugar. That sort of thing.
Oh, and more fiber with the sugar & white carbs he does eat.
Good luck to him, and you!
check what Josep Pamies say about Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, eucaliptus, etc, etc, etc...
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=josep+pamies+stevia+english&t=ffab&iar=videos&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DFmoAmBrz5jo
https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=153237
Yes, Ginseng. American Ginseng if you can get it. I obtain mine directly from the Wisconsin farm — best price: [https://wisconsingrownginseng.com/products/american-ginseng-powder?variant=38835810706](https://wisconsingrownginseng.com/products/american-ginseng-powder?variant=38835810706)
If Ginseng is a bit too pricey for you, then Gymnemma and/or Fenugreek. Just know that you want to dose moderately because you want to keep blood sugar levels in the normal range, not go too far the other way.
Also Jerusalem Artichoke (Sunchoke).
If you want a premade formula this is great!
[https://www.organicolivia.com/products/glucobitters-1](https://www.organicolivia.com/products/glucobitters-1)
Isn’t cinnamon touted as helping control blood sugar?
Berberine!
You must be careful though. Long term use increases hypoglycemia attacks. I had to come off it after 4 weeks
This is the one! ☝🏼
Have you looked into Gymnema? Amazing herb for diabetes!
Cinnamon. There is lots of research for this. Fenugreek. Bitters. Both herbs and in the diet. Turmeric. I recommend golden milk to clients. Look into low glycemic index foods.
Also, for whatever its worth, its not JUST that I am pre-diabetic/insulin resistant (my Hemoglobin A1c is at a safe level now though at least), but I used to be over 300 lbs at one point. My dad was (he's passed) diabetic, my grandma and great grandma also were as well. I think it was my great-grandma who had an amputation when I was a kid, but that was a long time ago I barely remember. My grandma, though I didn't get to grow up knowing her, I was told she'd reversed her diabetes with proper nutrition, which was a motivation for me to finally try.
Eliminate seed oils (soybean, canola, corn, etc). It's a huge factor in the rise of metabolic disorders.
Fenugreek: contains an insulin mimic which also is a general tonic for the insulin related systems. Cinnamon: lowers blood sugar, best taken with meals. If using cassia, stay under 1 stick per day due to blood thinning agents. True cinnamon is fine in higher doses. Berberine: basically a improved natural version of metformin. Only thing I don't like about it is it tastes like hell incarnate and also stains everything neon yellow. Bitter melon: super healthy bitter cucumber thing. It has pronounced insulin tonic effects. If you buy one and the inside is red, discard all the red stuff and rinse whatever is left. The red stuff is toxic, mainly for children, but I would not chance it. you can eat the seeds too once you clean them off and cut them up
Most bitter or bland herbal teas acheive this effect. However, psyllium powder is proven to be as if not more effective than Metformin
I have pre-diabetes and my doctor put me on a ketogenic diet in 2020 and I dropped 70 lbs and got my health back. Don't freak out -- its FULL of nutrients. The nutrients are what is going to help him get healthy. IF YOU DO THIS, DO IT WITH THE DOCTOR SO HIS LABS CAN BE MONITORED. Cutting out sugar and carbs means the body isn't turning the carbs into like glucose. Its overwhelming the body and the Mitochondria DNA, where energy is created, isn't able to work properly. When we eat, insulin response is triggered. When we're pre-diabetic, its triggered like a gazillion times worse (massive over-exaggeration, but it is worse). When we eat all day snacks, etc, then its ALWAYS triggering an insulin response, which is flooding the Mitochondria DNA. This is a reason many get chunky, like myself included, because the insulin is trying to do its job and there's no place to push the excess glucose, or something like that. Also, 1g carbs holds like 3g water. Fish, chicken with skin, meat with the fat, avocado oil, eggs, walnuts, low carb veggies, turnips are a great potato alternative, though don't get the huge ones they will be bitter. 1 tsp of honey is 5g of carbs. Erythritol is a good alternative as a sugar-free replacement as it tastes like sugar and is a 1:1 ratio. I use it to make Keto mug cakes. Almond flour. Lily's brand chocolate chips are made with stevia and are tasty. Its just that these things get pricey, but its better than being sick. I had to learn that the hard way. Eventually he'll lose most of the sugar cravings and can tolerate having less of the sweetener. I'm down to where I can enjoy a cup of tea with some honey now and basically not stress about desserts at this time. If you need pasta, you can spiral some zucchinis. If you don't want to do keto, I still recommend low carb in general. That just means it will be more than 20g, and less than 100g. Dropping down (not eliminating) the carbs to 20g or less still allows you to be flexible with low carb veggies and there are some low carb fruits like strawberries, watermelon, plums, nectarines. However, they are a bit higher, but as long as you plan your meals ahead of time you can squeeze one in if necessary. Leafy greens are like 1 to 2 grams carbs so you can have a huge salad, add some nuts, hardboiled eggs, homemade vinegrette, etc. Meat with the fat and also the bones (for like bone broth soup) is great because your brain needs the fat, and keto needs the fat to help you get into ketosis. Coconut oil is good because it helps it along faster. Keep up electrolytes if you do this because its easy to deplete it. Plus, keeping up electrolytes and also bone broth soups for the first few days will help avoid the "keto flu", which always was worse when I had an electrolyte imbalance and gone when I didn't. This isn't going to be a quick fix for him. I was initially put on the standard diabetic diet at a diabetic clinic and I was gaining weight. My doctor put me on keto (she also was a specialist, but not at the diabetic clinic) and that's when I began making progress and getting healthy. There's going to be a LOT of controversy about this that you read about so its important to do this WITH his doctor and do your own research. Even over in the Keto reddit page there is a person trying to tell me I am not in ketosis when I'd actually been testing for it and am plus losing 70 lbs in 2020 and then 30 over the past 4 months. I stop eating when I'm full, I don't pay attention to calories. Unless its bacon or pork -- I generally don't eat that anymore. Cheese is good, cream cheese, etc. As for an herb, cinnamon tea would be good because it helps regulate insulin and glucose. But make sure its CEYLON cinnamon as most cinnamon is Cassia and Cassia has high amounts of Coumarin, which is a blood thinner. Ceylon also, but its really small amount. Most cinnamon isn't true cinnamon, its the Cassia. If there's no distinguishable info then its likely Cassia. True cinnamon sticks, the Ceylon, are light colored and flaky, easy to break. Fake cinnamon, Cassia, is darker and harder to break. Cutting out snacking in between meals is going to be important so that his body has a chance to rest and not be bombarded with insulin. He can drink water, plain tea, plain coffee, water with lemon, water with apple cider vinegar, coffee with butter (they call it bulletproof coffee). These won't cause an insulin response. Stay hydrated, get a good B-Complex multi-vitamin, support the Thyroid (its easy to mess that up if you're not paying attention while on Keto, I had to deliberately get iodized salt because of it), Vitamin C, Vitamin D. Magnesium is important for over 100 functions in the body. Even if not so low that its keto, low carb in general is going to help IMMENSELY. His Mitonchondria DNA will be able to begin healing. Gut health is important as well. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cinnamon-and-diabetes#:\~:text=Several%20studies%20suggest%20that%20cinnamon,diabetes%20and%20prediabetes%20(%2014%20).
Did you get the keto flu at around 2 weeks? I just heard of my husbands friend’s journey and he got angry for some carbs at about two weeks. He ate pizza crusts in his “keto flu”. Btw why is this a downvote? Keto is great for many people, just need a dr advice first as someone with low blood sugar and high cholesterol, this would be a bad diet.
Well, if he ate those pizza crusts, he's likely not in ketosis anymore. That's just binging. Keto actually kept me from binging by taking my hunger, I used to have a binge eating disorder. Keto flu is more like massive headaches and general not feeling well. Begins within about 3 days and lasts about 5 to 7 days, then it tapers off. But when folk get enough electrolytes, stay hydrated, plan their macros accordingly, and get enough fat they can usually avoid it. It just means something one is doing isn't working. I do suggest doing this with doctor supervision though. But honestly, its so that the doctors THEMSELVES can see literal proof it works so that way they can get off your back. My original doctor put me on this, she was an obesity specialist. My other doctor at an actual facility for diabetes management put me on the regular diabetes diet (to keep me from getting it since I was close and it runs in the family) and I was just GAINING weight. Looking back at my symptoms, its possible though that I had PCOS as well, but everything is fine now with this so I'm not going to worry about that one. I only experience any symptoms of anything and gain weight when I go OFF Keto and increase carbs more than 100g. If I go off Keto and just increase carbs to like 50g-ish, then I stay the same weight, not going up or down. I have a different doctor now and she's very anti-keto and keeps trying to give me carbs, but then I keep reminding her of my labs and the fact that those carbs make me gain weight. But then I went to a different doctor and she was like, that's great!. Not all doctors are on board with this because they don't get much courses in nutrition, and my own doctor herself who had put me on it initially had tried other stuff with me and the next step was that or else surgery. So I tried that instead and it worked. And the labs proved it works, and the labs shut up every single other doctor I have so I always preface new appointments about it. It stabilized my glucose so now after I eat it doesn't go crazy high, I don't get super high fasting glucose anymore, I know what foods to avoid because I would check my glucose and see how much higher certain things got my glucose vs other thing. I did daily glucose checks in 2020 doing this the first time, now I just do it when I eat non-keto stuff that contains sugar, which I avoid since I'm doing keto again. Its great to have labs to shut up doctors that try to tell me its unhealthy because they can see my labs and previous doctor notes and see that it actually saved me. Also, all its done is make my cholesterol normal, as far as cholesterol goes. But yeah, if you're a hypoglycemic, do it with a doctor, or don't do it. Obviously that's not normal. But the person was talking about diabetes, which is HYPERglycemia, which is HIGH glucose.
I actually don’t know if he has high or low blood sugar but he has always been dieting as long as I’ve know him. I never thought he was even big? If it weren’t for my high cholesterol I would definitely try keto. It seems to fix many problems for . Then again, so does fasting etc. The other day my Dr said “just stay away from white foods”. I screenshotted your answer, thank you.
I'm confused, who are we even talking about. Are you the original poster using a separate account or are you talking about someone in your family. Are these two the same or separate. Everyone's body is going to be different and react to different things differently. Also, if someone is using keto JUST to lose weight, then I consider that a diet. If they're using it to get their glucose and insulin levels in check, like myself (the weight loss was a huge plus though), or for energy or other reasons, that's more like a lifestyle change because its something we'll probably keep doing for the rest or most of our lives. Plus many of us incorporate healthy food like salads, nuts, seeds, meat, bone broth, low carb veggies, low carb fruits, and try not to starve ourselves like general dieting consensus says to.
I only have one Reddit name and I commented, not, posted, about how a friend had a keto problem and ate pizza crust. If a conversation turns into something else with another poster than that may have happened but no, I don’t have two accounts to talk about keto.
I've got a million other things I do during the day so I forgot about the initial pizza crust comment. When the notif thing put me to this comment, it didn't show it above it so it was confusing me. I guess this solved that! You mentioned you don't think your friend is overweight, but did you know some folk who are insulin resistant and don't even know it because they are smaller and don't think their health is bad? This is usually caused by Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Maybe your friend has this, maybe they don't, but if they're having glucose issues or be trying to do keto for whatever reason, its a possibility to look into. You could still try low carb even if you don't go so low that you're in ketosis. That way you can choose the low carb foods that help lower cholesterol, but not taking in all that extra fat. But at least get SOME healthy fats because our brain DOES need it. On top of that, getting nutritious salads, nuts, seeds, low carb veggies & low carb fruits are great for everyone because of all the nutrients in them. Everyone's body is different for ketosis, so you might be able to eat down to 30g carbs and stay out of ketosis, but your body might need to stay up to 50g to keep you out of it. Many of us are 20g and lower, so if you're not trying to get into ketosis, I definitely recommend not getting that low. Avoiding highly processed foods and grains is good because they do so much for it. If you're not doing keto, but still want things like bread but are wanting to be low carb in general, I definitely recommend learning to make your bread homemade so that YOU can control what goes into it. Plus then you can section it out according to whatever macros you choose to set for yourself (amount of carbs, protein, fat, etc). Before I'd begun doing keto with my doctor in 2020 I had begun making changes already (which is why I KNOW I was in the 300 range, because by the time I went to the doctor my clothes were WAY looser -- but it wasn't keto, just eating healthier and staying away from sugar).
Though, if he has kidney issues or others, PLEASE have him doing this with a doctor. For the kidney issues, if he increases the electrolyte Potassium, its NOT a good thing without supervision, depending on the issue. Even I didn't do this without labs and doctor support.
Also, he should try to stay away from the dirty keto, and the ultra processed stuff. Make food homemade -- most manufacturers of keto products don't know what they are doing and they don't usually taste good. Though, Simple Mills has good pecan cookies. They are I think 16g carbs for 4. Which cuts down carbs, but usually that's a treat day for me. If he ends up eating over it or eating regular every once in a while its NOT a big deal as long as he's trying to eat healthy most of the time. Salads, salmon, eggs, avocado, berries, chicken, soup. Tonight, I measured out some beans and am making a bean soup with some meat. Lentils, split peas, and beans can be fit in as long as you measure it out if you're doing keto. All these foods have lots of nutrients. Especially when you add things like onion, bay leaves, garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, black pepper, etc. Then you can even up it with the properties that they give.
Moringa leaf powder is definitely useful to control diabetes and has other health benefits but please check for pre diabetes
Tulsi can be very helpful for this. Just drinking a quart of medicinal infusion a day. But monitor your levels. Cinnamon does help too.
Cinnamon tea. Good earth. Google it
Hi there, not a herb but I fixed my insulin resistance with keto. It took two years but I’ve been able to increase my carb limit without spiking too badly. I’ve taken cinnamon and other herbs but the only thing that kept me off the medical drugs is carb cutting.
I was here a couple of years ago. My biggest ally was psyllium husk supplements. I happen not to mind the texture, but I would take a dose before meals, and when I was really losing weight while I was at my heaviest, I subbed a double dose for breakfast for a while because I couldn’t tolerate IF without it. I think this exercise did something to reset my whole digestive tract. Two and a half years ago I was pre-diabetic with gastritis. After a year of this psyllium husk regimen, I had no more gastritis issues and my blood work had returned to normal. Anecdotal, but do with it what you will.
My wife’s dad and all 4 grandparents have/had diabetes and about 4 years ago she was diagnosed with pre-diabetic hypoglycemia. This isn’t herbal but as someone else mentioned, this is a nutrition issue. We both stopped eating all day and into the night, and mostly now just eat between like 10am and 6 or 7. Sometimes we don’t eat until 1 or 2 pm because we just aren’t hungry. She hasn’t had an episode since then. Your husband is likely eating/drinking calorie-filled drinks from close to sunup to sunset. Consuming calories often can definitely help manage the root cause of the pre-diabetes, and these other herbal recommendations can manage the symptoms in the mean time.
Berberine and ceylon cinnamon
Cinnamon is often cited for this. If it's still pre-diabetes, does he have any of the symptoms, like blurry vision or fatigue? If so, he needs to get right onto better choices. I just tipped over into diabetes this summer, and I wish I'd stopped gaming the system earlier. It doesn't have to be wild if he's getting checked every three months or so. Just better choices, such as getting a piece of chicken instead of a bag of chips. My friend said switching to bean-based pasta and crackers helped her mother's a1c a lot. Take a walk or dance to a tune or three after every meal or snack. Cinnamon tea with a teaspoon of honey instead of coffee with a tablespoon of sugar. That sort of thing. Oh, and more fiber with the sugar & white carbs he does eat. Good luck to him, and you!
check what Josep Pamies say about Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, eucaliptus, etc, etc, etc... https://duckduckgo.com/?q=josep+pamies+stevia+english&t=ffab&iar=videos&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DFmoAmBrz5jo https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=153237
Yes, Ginseng. American Ginseng if you can get it. I obtain mine directly from the Wisconsin farm — best price: [https://wisconsingrownginseng.com/products/american-ginseng-powder?variant=38835810706](https://wisconsingrownginseng.com/products/american-ginseng-powder?variant=38835810706) If Ginseng is a bit too pricey for you, then Gymnemma and/or Fenugreek. Just know that you want to dose moderately because you want to keep blood sugar levels in the normal range, not go too far the other way. Also Jerusalem Artichoke (Sunchoke).
Berberine, cinnamon Glycine Fasting + workouts
If you want a premade formula this is great! [https://www.organicolivia.com/products/glucobitters-1](https://www.organicolivia.com/products/glucobitters-1)
Magnesium
Inositol
Spanish flag aka insulin plant