Raj Gupta, DC, founder of Soul Focus Wellness, discussed his approach to reversing type 2 diabetes by treating the underlying causes rather than just managing symptoms with medication. He emphasized the importance of identifying and eliminating the root causes that lead to insulin resistance and high blood sugar, such as lifestyle factors like diet, environmental toxins, and stress, in order to prevent diabetes complications and improve quality of life long-term rather than just controlling blood sugar levels with medication.
Key Takeaways
- Medications can impact digestion and lead to unhealthy relationships with food in pediatric patients, though they help control blood sugar levels.
- Diet plays a major role in managing type 2 diabetes, and avoiding grains and glyphosate exposure may help reduce insulin resistance.
- Treating the underlying causes of high blood sugar and insulin resistance through lifestyle changes like diet, toxin reduction, and stress management can potentially reverse type 2 diabetes.
- Dr. Gupta has found success reversing diabetes by identifying and eliminating its root causes through a holistic functional medicine approach.
Q: How do medications like Ozempic and Metformin affect the body's ability to digest food, and how does this impact blood glucose levels? What could this mean for children who are prescribed these drugs?
Raj Gupta: Ozempic and metformin work in 2 different ways. They both manipulate the digestive system. Ozempic slows down a person's digestive system, so they do not digest their food as quickly as they typically would, and the idea behind that is if we do not digest our food as quickly, then we will not take in the sugar content and thus maintain and control blood sugar levels. Now, the problems with Ozempic are that, unfortunately, it causes some of the side effects or gastroparesis, where food is not emptying, emptying into the digestive system enough, or at all. So that is slowing down digestion so much that is causing some gastric problems.
Q: What are some considerations for pediatric individuals with type 2 diabetes regarding diet and nutrition while taking medications that alter digestion, such as Ozempic or metformin?
Raj Gupta: Metformin works in the opposite way. So it speeds up digestion, in hopes that we do not digest all of our food, and the desired effect, not the side effect, of metformin is diarrhea. The reason is, is that it is intended for you not to digest all over your food, it speeds up how quickly your food goes through the digestive process, and the portion of food that is not digested, you excrete in the form of diarrhea. So both medications, they intervene with a person's normal physiology and ability to digest food in hopes of reducing how much food they absorb, and thus reducing blood glucose levels. Now how this affects pediatrics, or pediatric patients, unfortunately, in my opinion, is not good, it teaches them a bad relationship with food. So in other words, bad habits that they may have accumulated through the first several years of life. The medication allows them the ability to continue on that diet and injection fix by manipulating the digestive system. So I'm of the opinion, you want to let the body do what it needs to do without with minimal and intervention, minimally invasive actions. So me knowing that there is another way, these medications seemed like a quick fix.
Q: Are there any long-term implications or risks associated with the use of medications that modify digestion, particularly in the context of managing type 2 diabetes?
Raj Gupta: Diet plays a huge part in controlling and managing high blood sugar. Now, it plays a much larger role than we give it credit for it because while type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle disease, there are many more aspects to a person's lifestyle than say just diet and exercise. However, we have to become more conscientious of what we do put into our mouth, and not just sugar content, because recent research shows that many of the foods that our farmers are cultivating are laden with toxins. So really, there is a big phase or fad, or I guess, just a gravitation towards gluten free products, and the reason is, it's really not gluten free that people need to abide by. It's really grain free, and when you look at the research on glyphosate, which there are 10 applications of glyphosate, which is a pesticide it's also the main ingredient in Roundup that has been in the news as of late on as being carcinogenic. There are 10 applications of this glyphosate to grains here in the United States, and what this glyphosate does is it allows the grain to become thicker, so thatCholesterol diet and healthy food eating nutritional concept with clean fruits in nutritionist's heart dish and patient's blood sugar control record with diabetic measuring tool | Image Credit: Chinnapong - stock.adobe.com it can be formed by machine rather than hand. Obviously, then our farmers are able to cultivate many, much more crops and profit for those crops. But unfortunately, that glyphosate we are ingesting as we eat grains, so it's not just gluten free, it's grain free. Now all of these foods that create toxins contribute towards insulin resistance, and it's insulin resistance that causes high blood sugar, and as high blood sugar to give someone that diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, so we need to go one step further in our management of this disease, because instead of managing and controlling it, you can actually identify the reason that's causing a person to have insulin resistance, high blood sugar, and type 2 diabetes, and the elimination of those reasons. Typically, many will reverse insulin resistance, reverse high blood sugar and eliminate the diagnosis of type two diabetes.
Q: Are there any long-term implications or risks associated with the use of medications that modify digestion, particularly in the context of managing type 2 diabetes?
Raj Gupta: The jury's still out with Ozempic because there are no long-term studies on humans for Ozempic. So we'll have to wait and see there. There are numerous civil lawsuits against the makers of Ozempic for gastroparesis type secondary side effects. Metformin, different variations, the 750-milligram version of metformin has been pulled off the shelf twice in since its invention in the 1990s as being carcinogenic. So yes, there are definitely side effects to these medications, obviously, both affect your kidneys, your GI tract. This can be a side effect to any medication that you put into your body as it is not natural, and your body does not know what to do with it and thus creates side effects.
Q: What are some alternative treatment options or complementary strategies for managing type 2 diabetes, particularly for pediatric populations? Would holistic approaches be more suitable for children?
Raj Gupta: Unfortunately, it's hard to differentiate between pediatrics and adults, because they are both humans, and they are both getting insulin resistance, high blood sugar, and the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, for the same reasons, and those reasons, are lifestyle. Now, again, there's more to lifestyle than diet and exercise. There are environmental concerns, there are toxins; the average American comes in contact with over 700,000 Toxins a day. So eliminating toxins is going to be a very difficult thing. But becoming more aware where you are coming into exposure with toxins is very important. And that comes from everything from antiperspirants to pots and pans to the plastics we drink out of, we store our foods, and it's when you try and you are conscientious of how often you come in contact with plastic and try to avoid it. I live in a state where when you go to the supermarket, you need to bring bags because they don't provide bags for you anymore, trying to cut down on the exposure of plastics. But then I walk out of the supermarket inevitably I always forget a bag I walk out and I'm carrying all the food in my hand I looked down I'm like holy moly. Everything in my hands is wrapped in plastic, from breads to poultry to everything, everything. The only thing in the supermarket that's not wrapped in plastics are fruits and vegetables, but then as soon as you choose which ones you want, you reach for the plastic bag. So we have to become more conscientious of other aspects of our environment that force a lifestyle that results in disease.
Q: How does holistic wellness in the work to improve diabetes treatment? Could the treatment be effective without the use of medication for diabetes management?
Raj Gupta: I implement a program and have been for many years that helps people reverse their type 2 diabetes. I've been fortunate enough to be on a television show on NBC that we're taking the patient through the journey of reversing their type 2 diabetes, and you do that by treating the root cause and not the fruit of the symptom. So unfortunately, in our health care system, when someone gets high blood sugar, we immediately run to medication to artificially pushed that blood sugar down to a number that makes us all happy. But unfortunately, type 2 diabetes is still running rampant below the surface, and the medications are not intended to reverse the disease but rather managing control, but it does not stop the complications of type 2 diabetes, which in this case, are everything from blindness to amputation to kidney replacement to premature death. 66% of type 2 diabetics are going to have a heart attack or stroke, and type 2 diabetics die 10 years prematurely as per the research. I'd rather get ahead of this rather than kick the can down the road because medications lead to more medications to more medications and a very unhappy quality of life for a type 2 diabetic. Getting ahead of this means finding out what's causing a person to have insulin resistance and high blood sugar to begin with.
Q: How does stress management fit into the holistic approach to diabetes treatment, and what strategies are suggested for reducing stress levels?
Raj Gupta: It is super important because stress always, always results in a physical symptom, ontology, and stress is the number one reason for burning out one's adrenal glands, which is responsible for hormone regulation. And hormone regulation is one of the main reasons why people can't manage their blood sugar and get type 2 diabetes. So stress reduction is super, super important. There's physical stress, there's chemical stress, there's an emotional stress, and your body doesn't know the difference. It simply just breaks down. So stress reduction techniques, I've always employed the acronym of dream, diet, rest, exercise adjustments, I'm a chiropractor, and mental attitude. And the equal balance of those 5 aspects will result in maximum productivity, maximum energy, and optimum health.
Q: What is the role of sleep and exercise in managing diabetes, especially for pediatric patients?
Raj Gupta: Believe it or not type 3 diabetes is Alzheimer, cognitive decline, and it comes about as a result of someone who has high blood sugar results not only in type 2 diabetes, because it attacks all of your different organs. The last organ that attacks is your brain, and it results in type 3 diabetes, the first sign of Alzheimer's or cognitive decline is irregular sleeping patterns, a break in your circadian rhythms. So sleep and balancing of your so cortisol is really what keeps us up at night. Cortisol should be the highest in the morning to get you out of bed without an alarm clock ready for the day like a kid on Christmas morning. No kidding. And as the day progresses, cortisol levels decline getting you ready for bed so you can unwind and go to sleep. Now someone who's up in the middle of the night, often at the same time of night, every night has irregular cortisol levels or hormone a regularity that lends itself to poor sleep, or energy and type 2 diabetes.
Q: Is there any else you would like to add?
Raj Gupta: I would just say and implore of people, that when you treat the root cause of the problem and not the fruit of the symptoms, you're able to reverse not just type 2 diabetes, but many autoimmune and chronic diseases. It's called functional medicine and there is a different way. So those pursuing or seeking an alternative his approach to health and wellness I would suggest treat the root and not the fruit.
