medications and herbs

Yes!! I look after my mother. I've found diet, herbs and supplements to be wonderful for treating her diabetes and was able to wean her completely off meds!

I've found berberine to be extremely effective. The capsules work, but I prefer to buy the dried herb from a Chinese herb store. It's pretty easy. I just put about a quarter cup of the dried herbs in a quart jar and fill with water. I store it in the refrigerator and she takes two teaspoons with meals.

The herbs last a long time in the refrigerator, so I keep refilling the jar with new water until the potency is too low- you can tell by the color when the herbs are ready to throw out.

As the mixture gets older, it isn't quite as strong, so I increase the dose.

The berberine will actually help lower your blood sugar long term.

White kidney bean extract capsules help if you need something because you want to have pancakes or something. More of a one off thing. I haven't used it regularly.

Eating lots of leafy greens and taking good quality multiminerals and vitamins help. Minerals are super important, especially zinc, magnesium, chromium, and boron.

Her diet is strict gluten free, mostly organic, very little processed foods. Sugars are limited to natural sugars (fruits) as much as possible. I use honey to sweeten things. I sneak in as much animal protein as possible and she eats eggs for breakfast, though its difficult to get enough protein, because in her advanced age, she has difficulty eating. To supplement her protein, I give her essential amino acids.

Well, the most used drug for diabetes, metformin, is an herb, from a French lilac or something.

The #1 thing to do about pre-diabetes is to learn to count carbs and control your diet, just in very reasonable ways. Maybe the "herb" you need is lettuce, that you eat instead of french fries, and you're halfway home!

The #2 thing to do about pre-diabetes is to make sure you're getting some mild exercise every day. Walk a mile or two, two or three times per day. Almost certain to take your numbers down 10-15 points.

So you still want more herbs? The best herb I've found so far is cinnamon! And if you're going to make a habit of it, it needs to be Ceylon cinnamon. You can Google as to what and why. But just sprinkle some in your coffee, on apple slices, on some rice pudding, whatever. Twice a day seems good.

Next best herb is green tea! One or two cups a day. Actually even black tea helps a little, and I've found some chai spiced teas sometimes seem to help more.

Last thing, but perhaps the trickiest: figs. I found by accident I could have a few Fig Newton style cookies, and not only did they not raise my BG, they actually seemed to lower it! A little Googling and sure enough, this is a known thing, there's some ingredient in figs. BUT I think maybe - maybe - you don't want to overdo this one.

Finally look into - licorice! Now too much licorice is a known bad thing, but they have the de-deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) that may help, too and is safer to use. Again, you can find much more info online. I found a cup of a tea containing regular licorice, a few times a week, was helpful, but I'm worried about the OD. And I can't find a local store anymore selling the DGL capsules I liked, and I don't want the chewables.

So, hope that helps!

In summary: diet, exercise, a little cinnamon and green tea, and you should be fine.

AFAIK any green tea is fine, you can also get the green tea extract capsules but I've never tried them.

i take crestor at night and i check my blood sugar levels in the morning and its alwasy 177 and up why? is it the medication?

My opinion and experience (I am also not a fan of being on meds), don't worry about herbs. Here are the two natural habits that can have a huge impact on TYPE 2's.

1. LOW CARB DIET - protein and fat is fine*. By low carb I mean 50-75 carbs per day. So, not keto, but pretty low carb. Also keep the total calories in check. 2000 per day maximum. Less if you are smaller frame or lighter. I assume you are a man with the name David.

2. EXERCISE - Diet matters more than exercise but exercise can have a big impact when combined with the diet above. My * above assumes you are exercising vigorously 4-5x/week. Both strength training and aerobic training matter and have different mechanisms of action on BG.

In January 2018 I weighed 275 and had an A1C of 7.9. After exhaustive study I made the above changes. Since then I have not had an A1C over 5.2. And I lost about 60 LBS.

One very good reference - there are many - is "The Diabetes Code" by Jason Fung. I read this only recently and it did not factor into my plan last year. However, his additional recommendation of intermittent fasting is something I have tried and it works.

I hope you find this helpful.