I recently suffered debilitating headaches and brain fog to the effect that I was unable to work. Trips to the doctor yielded no results. Neither I, nor the doctor suspected diabetes because a few months prior I had normal blood sugars during tests for another problem. By the time a random blood test spotted it, my fasting blood sugars were well into the 400’s. And I was starting to feel better by then, so I knew they had been even higher. This was the beginning of a complete lifestyle change for me. I wanted to be around and enjoy watching my grandchildren grow up, so something had to be done.
I immediately started researching herbal treatments, as well as diets for diabetics. Some of my more significant findings are presented here.
Diabetes is presented as a progressive disease with a lifelong sentence of drugs and watching your diet. However, I found that many herbal remedies have benefits similar to the pharmaceutical drugs, without the side effects. And I discovered that complete control of your blood sugar is possible with the right diet.
The remedies presented here are effective for Type 2 Diabetes and may be helpful for Type 1 Diabetes. Consult your doctor when using these remedies, you may need your medicines reduced or adjusted.
Cassia Cinnamon
Casisia Cinnamon can dramatically lower fasting blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity.
A recent study published in the American Diabetes Association Journal found that taking 1 to 6 grams of cinnamon daily produced a significant decrease in plasma glucose levels, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.
The full effects are seen over time. The study lasted for 40 days, with improvement ranging from an 18 to 29% reduction in glucose values by the end of the study. Serum triglyceride levels decreased too.
Six grams of cinnamon a day seems like a lot, but I aim to use about 2 grams per meal. You can add it to food and put it in a smoothie or your tea. If you don’t like the flavor or find it challenging to take 2 grams at each meal, pack the cinnamon into gelatin capsules. Each capsule holds about 500 mg, so take 4 at each meal.
Related: 10 Health Benefits of Cinnamon That Surprised Even Us
Amla or Indian Gooseberry
Amla or Indian GooseberryA 2015 paper published in the Research Journal of Recent Sciences affirms the potential benefits of using Amla or Indian Gooseberry to lower blood sugar levels.
Amla is available at ethnic stores in many different forms.
I have used both pickled gooseberries and powdered amla with positive results. You only need a small amount, about equal to one gooseberry daily.
Bitter Melon or Bitter Gourd
Bitter Melon acts to lower blood glucose levels and regulates insulin use by the body. Eating a bite or two of bitter melon with each meal is all you need, or you can take bitter melon extract.
Bitter melon is known to also prevent complications of diabetes, including kidney damage, heart complications, eye problems, blood vessel damage, and hormone problems.
According to a 2013 review of Antidiabetic effects of Momordica charantia (bitter melon) and its medicinal potency, evidence suggests that bitter melon helps the pancreas to heal, produce more insulin, and use insulin more efficiently.
Aloe Vera
Aloe Vera has been touted as a cure for most everything, but much of its fame is well deserved. This plant produces a gel inside the leaf that has all the medicinal benefits.
A few people are allergic to Aloe Vera and should not use it, but for most it has plenty of benefits. A 2012 review of research published in Natural Medicine Journal discussed its use in many healing roles.
Aloe Vera reduces the inflammation that is associated with diabetes. It also normalizes enzymatic activity to reduce blood sugar and works with other herbs or diabetes medications to increase their benefits. It is also helpful in healing diabetics wounds when applied directly to the wound.
To harvest Aloe Vera from the plant, cut the plant leaf and split it open to scrape the gel from the center. A daily dose of two tablespoons taken orally is enough to get the full benefits. Commercial preparations may be of benefit, but their use is untested.
Greater Burdock Root
Greater Burdock Root has many beneficial effects on the body. It improves the digestion and lowers blood sugar in diabetics.
Fresh root has the most effect, but powdered root can also be used. Peel fresh root and boil it or cook it in some way, or use 1 to 2 grams of powdered root per dose.
Take burdock root with each meal. Fresh burdock root also helps prevent and heal diabetic complications, such as diabetic neuropathy and eye problems.
Related: Burdock: The Annoying Weed That Can Save Your Life
Fenugreek
Fenugreek has saponins, alkaloids, phenolic acids, and other ingredients that increase the release of insulin and improve the use of insulin in the body.
It helps improve insulin resistance and stimulates glycolysis.
Common dosages are 25 to 100 g of powdered fenugreek seeds, or 1 to 6 grams of extract daily. These amounts can be used in food or taken in capsule form.
Ginseng
Ginseng, including American Ginseng, has a variety of benefits for diabetics. It helps regulate blood sugar and promotes the secretion of insulin, which reduces and smooths out post-meal spikes.
It also contains antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that reduce the progression of diabetes.
Ginseng helps with some of the related problems of diabetes, also. It helps lower high blood pressure and provides protection to the heart and eyes when used regularly.
Water Plantain
This is not the banana-like fruit known as plantain, but a water plant that grows in moist, swamp-like conditions. Once you’ve located a source, you can eat it as part of your daily diet.
Fresh and dried water plantain roots are medicinal, along with the leaves and seeds. All parts of the plant should be cooked before use and taken daily for best results.
Water plantain lowers blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetics and improves insulin use in the body. It is also beneficial to other organs to prevent complications from diabetes. Water plantain is beneficial to the kidneys and liver, preventing or treating fatty liver. It improves blood pressure and associated heart problems, and aids the digestion.
Related: How to Make Anti-Inflammatory Band-Aid Using Plantain
Diet
My husband has been a diabetic for several years now. He gained good control of his blood sugar levels by eating a very low fat, plant-based diet, but it did not work well enough for me when I was first diagnosed. My blood sugar levels were initially way out of control and the plant-based diet brought them down, but not enough. I was going to need some serious drugs.
I happened on some information on using the keto diet for diabetes and tried it. Keto worked like a charm for me. Now we both eat a keto diet and our fasting blood glucose levels are in the normal range (80-120) without any diabetes medications. Our post-meal numbers rapidly return to normal.
The two diets are totally opposite to each other, but both work. When used with the herbal remedies recommended above, you may find excellent results in treating type 2 diabetes without medications. I now need no supplements, but my husband still takes them. He had been a diabetic for many years before starting the diet, so he may need longer to kick the supplements. But the plant-based diet allowed him to get off the two prescription drugs that were tearing up his digestive system and, honestly, not helping very much.
The plant-based diet is high carbohydrates and very low fat, while the keto diet is high fat and low carbs. It seems to me that the answer lies in not eating carbohydrates and fat together, but I have nothing to support that belief.
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Cassia is not good. Ceylon to improve blood sugar ,
I know, right? I have NEVER heard anywhere to use Cassia; just Ceylon. It is always specified how important that it. Please research this good, if you want to try it. If people try something that doesn’t work, lots of times they will totally give up on something (such as herbs, as a remedy). Also, check on which part is needed; i.e. bark, flower, root, leaf. I can’t remember right off which the Ceylon cinnamon should be; I’m thinking bark, but not sure. It’s definitely worth checking out and trying!
I read quite a few articles on the benefits of cinnamon. All the articles that I came across said that both Ceylon and Cassia are good for diabetics.
Ceylon cinnamon is more expensive. Cassia is more affordable and it is the one mostly used in studies demonstrating health benefits in humans.
Here is one of the articles I read:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ceylon-vs-cassia-cinnamon#section3
To sum up, I personally believe both are good.
Cassia Cinnamon has a large amount of coumarin in it…..so those who are taking a blood thinner will definitely want to AVOID Cassia Cinnamon.
That is why Ceylon Cinnamon is advised and Cassia is not.
2T honey
2T Apple cider Vinegar w. Mother
2 T lime juice
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric
All into 1 cup of water. I warm mine for 30 seconds
First thing before eating in the a.m. EVERY DAY
After drinking, Wait 1/2 hr before eating
Brought my glucose from 360 to normal after a year.
No watching my diet either.
Wow! Thank you for an informative article! So much of what we read hasn’t been human-tested. I’m so glad to hear you both had successful results with Keto and low fat. My Hubbo and I are trying to loose weight and get in shape on a semi-Keto, low sodium and low fat regimen. I lost 30lbs since January, he’s lost about 20. It’s SO hard, especially as we are seniors and I’m blind to boot! Again, many thanks, I will add this into our routine!
I went on Dr Gundry’s Plant Paradox (no lectins) and lost 85 pounds. Without dieting. Just changing the way I eat, and doing an intermittent fasting window. I was eating usually between 4 and 5 hours daily. I was never hungry. I totally cut out wheat, dairy, sugar and lectins. (I am in my 60s.)
NOT low fat!!! HEALTHY fats are necessary for health! Fats from whole milk products (NOT NON-FAT or 2%,) WHOLE milk, heavy cream, full fat yogurt, fat from pasture raised beef, chicken, lamb or goat, lard, tallow, again, from grass fed organic sources.
Healthy fats are 1/3 of the KETO diet: protein, fats, fiber. I tried keto, but it has not helped me as much as I hoped, probably because I didn’t eat enough healthy fats.
Your suggestions are very good, Higher fats especially saturated ones like olive oil, coconut oil and even butter, but no unsats or monos, no trans OK . But limit the high carbs in all sugars, HFCS, glutens, pasta, breads using grains. Lower carbs from most veggies and some fruits OK. Like in your Keto diet. Works for me as a Type 2 diabetic
I did a 30 day water fast last year (April), and actually lost my diabetes and my high blood pressure. My blood sugar has gone from 160s to upper 80s, and my BP went from 150/110 to 118/69. I had been given medication for both, but wouldn’t take it. Then I started on Plant Paradox (no lectins), and no sugars, dairy or wheat. I know it’s a lot harder if you are on medications, as you have to see a doctor to change your dosages as needed (I didn’t go to the doctor — did it on my own). But if you’re on meds, it’s a lot harder. Especially if you’re on antidepressants; most of these meds you can’t stop cold turkey. Which is why I never went on them. (With the exception of antibiotics, which I only take if it is a life threatening emergency), I won’t take any meds that you can’t stop cold turkey. It’s very important too, that if you are diabetic, that you really work on reversing it. Apparently if you are diabetic, your bod is WELL on the way to Alzheimer’s. So if you can work on the insulin and sugar and fix it, you should be able to keep from getting Alzheimer’s later. I just watched a summit with Dr Perlmutter on Alzheimer’s (it’s just finishing in the next couple days) and it is ASTOUNDING (notice, astounding — a step up from amazing) the info that is coming to light every day on the relationship of blood sugar, insulin, the microbiome and Alzheimer’s, and the things we can do to help. Also, when you treat everything right, it also works on autoimmune disorders, cancer and heart disease. Also, is nice to see weight come off when you eat different things, instead of having to suffer thru diets (that don’t work usually anyway)! I have gone from size 5X shirts to wearing size 2X. (Could probably wear smaller, but I like the baggy look and feel!)
Hello, thank you for your experience, where did you get your information on fasting, what was the plan? I need to do something like that too. Have a great healthy day….
Hoser, check out intermittent fasting (IF). I have been doing it for about 6 months now. I usually eat twice a day. Around 10 am and again at 6 pm. Fast 16 hours then eat twice in a eight hour window – 16/8. Some do a 18/6 IF. But that is too long between eating times for me. I have lost about 12 lbs so far. It is a little hard at first, but in about a week it was easier. I do IF every day, not just one or two days a week. I think it would be a lot harder doing it one or two days a week. Just ‘google’ intermittent fasting. There are quite a links about it.
Thank you your a true blessing
You missed Berberine. My numbers are coming down. It also has a nice side effect, creeping weight LOSS. 6 pounds since may 1st. I’ve always eaten low carb diet, as my earlier diagnosis is LOW blood sugar. Hope to be off the D-2 meds by next summer. Need to start my “weed” garden, milk thistle, danidilion, etc, and the berberine flowers. There are quite a number of them depending on what continent.
There is a double blind study Berberine vs Metformine
There was not any information on how much of the Water Plantain to take daily. Basically all it said, it needs to be cooked. Is it used in a tea or ?? If so how much a day? If dried is it as good and how much of that to use a day and how? Thank You
Diabetes cure
2T vinegar
2T honey
2T lime juice
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 c water
Drink on empty stomach first thing in am. Wait 1/2 hr. before eating.
Totally cured my diabetes in 1 1/2 yrs.
Still drinking it dry day.
Have you ever tried adding some ginger to your concoction? With cayenne and turmeric in there, you might not even taste the difference! But it is super good, too! Love limes . . .
You could save lots of lives if what you say is correct. Maybe have it scientifically tested?
Be sure to have your insulin checked, as well as the sugar. Insulin resistance is the cause of diabetes; it is what raises the blood sugar.
Great articles like this got me addicted to askaprepper. There will never be enough good studies of alternative approaches to health so personal accounts like this are the best info we have.
Aquatic plants have been used in sewage treatment ponds because they are efficient at removing heavy metals from the water and concentrating them in their tissue, so only gather water plantain from water sources you know are not contaminated by urban or agricultural runoff, if such a body of water actually exists in the lower 48.
Interestingly, bitter melon is a significant crop on Okinawa and is used in many Okinawan dishes. Burdock or as the Japanese call it, gobo, is also a significant vegetable in Japanese and Okinawan dishes.
Okinawans are the longest-lived group on the planet.
While the above may be presenting a post hoc ergo propter hoc line of reasoning, it still presents some food for thought. (Pun intended.)
Thank you, this topic is vital to a great many people. One of the main themes of apocalypse SF is how would diabetics survive. Writers forget, diabetes has been with us for untold generations, called the rich man’s disease.
Since wheat went mainstream, a common item, diabetes has grown rampant around the world. Gluten is the culprit. When I went gluten-free, all sign of diabetes left. It took over a week, but it worked. When my mother came to live with us, she stopped eating anything with gluten in it. She went from an uncontrollable diabetic to normal blood sugar levels, and low LDL. She would be too weak to get out of bed in the morning, and her sugar level was in the 20s, and that’s death’s door. After going on a gluten-free diet, she was able to attend weddings and go visit with people. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is for your aging mother to need help climbing the stairs at 2 in the morning with singing I’ll Take the High Road…She dropped years off her age, but to revert to teenager, wow. She could eat what she wanted, have a glass of wine, go dancing and so on. She had a life, again.
Asian cinnamon is a blood thinner. Right now, it’s great to help beat the heat. One slice of apple pie may never seem like enough, but it just right to get that cinnamon in the blood. Most Asian cooking uses it. 5 spice powder is loaded with it. American varieties of beans (now including mesquite) help the pancreas, and lemon is very good to kick start it into action. Herbalists recommend one teaspoon of juice in a glass of water sipping it an hour before eating.
Native American traditional diet was high fat (if it ain’t deep-fried, is it food?), and little grain. It was high in sugar, but all natural sugars. I eat meat. When blood sugar levels drop, I get meat out and eat that. Red meat is strongest in energy (carnosine) and that’s what I try to have. It gives an energy boot that can last for hours. Niio!
Since there is very little fat in game, fish, and bugs the Native American diet was only high fat after they were confined to reservations and fed a poor white man’s diet. Otherwise, I hear what you’re saying, I’ve been very low carb for 25 years and am blessed with perfect health except when I have to bend my knees. Right now I’ve got ribs in the infra red cooker, steak and homemade sausage on the grill, and just chopped a fresh green salad. Type 2 diabetes is a multi billlion dollar industry so I’d like to salute eveybody that eats a ton of sugar for making it possible.
Mmm, no. The winter hunt was done when the graze and browse began to get thin. Late summer rains made everything sweet, and there were plenty of nuts and seeds, as well, both very fattening. Game gets most of its fat in the body cavity, the tallow/leaf lard. How do you think we invented pemmican? A big favorite have always been deep fried fat. “If it ain’t deep-fried, is it food?” was a joke from a lot of generations before there was a rez, and my ancestors lost theirs 300 years ago. My ex in Mexico never lived on one, her people never had one, but she knows how to cook old-style. when I get checked at the VA, I always hear how the heart looks like it belongs to someone half my age. No plaque in the veins. LDL cholesterol is always low. Sugar is good normal. And I’m way overweight and eat fried meat (low carb!).
Long before Europeans arrived, we were eating like that. Europeans took three things home to poisoning themselves on, Tobacco, syphilis, and deep-frying. A lot of diabetics on reservations are giving up wheat and the diabetes is disappearing. Sugar, we had and ate no less than we do today. Mesquite, agave honey, bee honey, maple sugar, and so on. Cana lilies gave us starch, which converts to sugar in the body. Same with girasol (sunchokes) that when aged in the ground turn to sugar, as do acorns when they sprout and are roasted and eaten like candy. Beer, wine, brandy, and tequila were common in many places. Mescalero women made mescal and if it aged a week or two, that was old stuff. The original bourbon was made in the southeast since we started raising maize. Grain is high in starch. But, none of our grains had gluten. Whites adopted our foods, not the other way around. Ours, because the plants thrived, where European grains usually withered from local diseases.
Got some ribs on, huh? You wouldn’t happen to have an extra pale, would you? I got a few quarts of chow chow pickles that would go well with it 🙂 niio
I grow nopal cacti along a property line road for security and food. We use pads and fruits. The 2nd day flowers are a proven prostate med. I grew up hypoglycemic. Meat or eggs helped keep the low blood sugar steady. The nopal cactus pads help local rez diabetics get blood sugar under control. Several here ate just old time forraged foods and are no longer diabetic. I ate all natural unprocessed foods entirely for the 10 months I lived off the land. Its still a big part of my diet but if I eat a sweet roll or donuts and coffee I no longer have a problem. If I miss a days food I have no bloool sugar problem like I used to have. I believe natural foods including meats give us health.
I eat nopale almost every meal. but, even a little gluten and I get sick, usually infections. Ears, eyes, and so on. I can eat pretty much anything in any amount. Ya, when I went shopping on Friday, I picked up a ten lb roll of hamburger and roasted it. Post surgery, I’m not supposed to drive, I can’t go shopping. Most of it went in the freezer for when I get home. It can still be used for most things raw is good for. niio
Glad you’re preparing ahead for the VA trip. Wish that trip weren’t necessary.
Stopped for groceries before we started back home after church. Stopped in Albuquerque for 2 tall free cabinets ( Craigslist) four boxes of stuff for me and some for the church sale in September. Family cleaning out dads home. I bought a lovely old glider, 2 plastic chairs and a little metal and glass table for my yard. We enjoy sitting out in the shade under the very old apricot tree. They just asked $15 so I gladly paid that. I have no idea what’s in the 4 boxes they gave me. When I unload the truck in the morning I’ll investigate. 🙂
It made another long interesting day.
Walk in blessings.
I like those dollar boxes as auctions. One banana box full of surprises. Most is not what we might want, and is donated to charity or given away at yard sales. An older brother gave me pick of ‘junk’ from a truckload of boxes when he was doing a perennial garage sale. I found an old Cory vacuum coffee pot, a brass Navy flashlight, and so on. One great find was a set of books on how to fix a Ford. In the early days, mechanics were rare, so auto companies gave the books away with each sale. Rare as hen’s teeth, today.
Hello, thank you for your experience, where did you get your information on fasting, what was the plan? I need to do something like that too. Have a great healthy day….
Thank you for the article. I stay away from gluten and, believe it or not, that keeps me from being a diabetic. One teaspoon lemon juice in one glass water, sip before each meal. Lemon is supposed to active and regular the pancreas. In Mexico, often that’s all they have to help a diabetic and it usually works. niio
You say that I should stop eating meat. NO. What worked for your husband is not going to work for everyone. And I can tell you that fad diets never work in the long run. If you want long lasting results change the way you eat. Smaller portions, eating slowly etc… I went from 210 lbs in December 2019 to 150 lbs by June 2019 and the weight has stayed gone. My blood sugar has normalized and stayed that way. I eat meat daily so that has nothing to do with controlling my diabetes. If you wish to learn more drop me a line.
I stay away from gluten. That and eating lemons fixed the problem. Another thing is, beans, American varieties work with the pancreas, as does the lemon. But, meat alone is supposed (so I’m told) fix most of out health problems. niio
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