When I sit down with new patients, I am always surprised to hear how little they know about the underlying cause of their condition. When we hold seminars, I even ask the audience, “What is the underlying problem with Diabetes?”

The answers I get include what you would expect:

• “High blood sugars”
• “Pancreas doesn’t work as well”
• “Not enough insulin”

While some of the answers I get are partially correct, others are way off!

In Type I Diabetes, the individual does not produce insulin because of a non-functional pancreas. The destruction of the pancreas is thought to be triggered by a virus or autoimmune condition. These individuals MUST be on insulin or they could die.

Contrast this with Type II Diabetes in which individuals produce too much insulin initially, but not enough to control their blood sugars. In type II Diabetes, the elevated blood sugar and insulin are actually a SIDE EFFECT of the underlying problem. Now don’t get me wrong, this is a very damaging side effect, but fundamentally is not the underlying cause of Diabetes.

Some of you may now be thinking weight gain is the underlying cause. Yes, weight gain is contributing to and worsening the problem but is NOT fundamentally the cause. In fact, many of our Diabetic patients do not even appear to be overweight.

Many of you have heard the term “insulin resistance” as the cause.

YES, insulin resistance is the cause! And in a future article, I’ll delve into what that really means, and what is happening when we reverse our patient’s Diabetes.

I should mention that we have implemented a successful program here in OKC to reverse Diabetes! The program was created by Dr. J. Murray Hockings who has helped thousands of Diabetics reverse their Diabetes and get off their meds. We have implemented the program here in the OKC metro and are having great success!