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Wellness Wisdom Video Extra: Blood Sugar and Your Heart
Season 3, Episode 59
Description
In this week’s Be HEALTHistic Video Extra, Dr. Stephen Sinatra discusses a condition that’s close to his own heart — diabetes and high blood sugar. He explains that in order to keep blood sugar stable, it’s essential to exercise and avoid foods high in sugar and carbs, as they trigger a damaging insulin response. Dr. Steve also reveals the most important ratio to be aware of for heart health, and offers solutions for keeping blood pressure healthy in this informative Wellness Wisdom video segment.
LINKS & RESOURCES
- Visit the Healthy Directions website for more health and wellness content and information!
- Check out the Healthy Directions Articles Archive, where you can search for specific, health-related content from all of our Healthy Directions doctors and experts.
- Dr. Steve explained that the triglycerides to HDL cholesterol ratio is key for heart health; read this article about the most important cholesterol ratio to watch.
- Heart issues often present differently in women than in men; check out this article from Dr. Steve with the heart health facts every woman should know.
- Dr. Steve talks about the benefits of berberine for healthy blood sugar; for more information, read this article from Healthy Directions expert Dr. Julian Whitaker on berberine: a natural alternative to diabetes drugs.
- For more great advice on heart health from Dr. Steve, watch Episode 18: Wellness Wisdom: What’s the Most Important Cholesterol Ratio to Watch?
Special Offer
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Hypertension is a common health issue, but there are many natural ways to get it under control — for valuable information from Dr. Stephen Sinatra, check out this FREE eBook: 5 Surprising Ways to LOWER YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE NATURALLY — Plus, the One Thing You Should NEVER Do!
Transcript
Dr. Steve Sinatra: Hi folks, Dr. Sinatra here, and November is National Diabetes Month. And I have to tell you, diabetes is close to my own heart. My grandmother had diabetes, my mother had diabetes…and as a doctor, I realized how important avoiding high blood sugar is.
That's why I keep my weight down, that's why I exercise, that's why I eat a non-sugary diet. In other words, these are the components that can lead to higher blood sugars, especially when you take in sugar. When you take in sugar, this drives up blood sugar — when you're taking in sweets, candies, pastas, semolinas, flours, bagels — any of these high carbohydrate entities drive up blood sugar. When this happens, we end up secreting insulin. And insulin is, from the cardiovascular point of view, the most endothelial cell unfriendly hormone there is. We get endothelial cell dysfunction from overzealous insulin release due to the amount of sugar we're taking in.
So what's the trick? Eat less sugar. And if you can do that, that also drives down triglycerides. And as a cardiologist, I can tell you that the triglycerides to HDL ratio is really key — you want to keep that under two. So if you have a triglycerides of 100 and an HDL of 50, you're at two — and that's music to my ears as a cardiologist. But look, the typical diabetic can have an HDL of 30 and the triglycerides of 200 or 300 — that ratio soars through the roof, and that's what gives you heart disease.
So what can you do to prevent diabetes? Well, of course, a less sugary diet is one — but I like two supplements, as well. I like berberine and I like Crominex. One of the important aspects of berberine and Crominex is they support insulin sensitivity, and this is a key mechanism in supporting your blood sugar, as well.
So from my heart to yours, I'm Dr. Steve Sinatra.
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Meet Dr. Stephen Sinatra
A true pioneer, Dr. Sinatra spent more than 40 years in clinical practice, including serving as an attending physician and chief of cardiology at Manchester Memorial Hospital, then going on to formulate his advanced line of heart health supplements. His integrative approach to heart health has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands.