Modern industrial medicine treats disease with medication or surgery. That’s what it is designed to do, and when it comes to emergency interventions it is still the best medicine in the world. When someone comes into the emergency room with a severed leg, conventional medicine treats the problem with incredible efficacy.
But when it comes to chronic illness, this approach simply doesn’t work.
Here’s why conventional medicine tends to break down in the face of chronic illnesses like diabesity …
Most medicine today is based on clear-cut, on-or-off, yes-or-no diagnoses that often miss the underlying causes and more subtle manifestations of illness. Most conventional doctors are taught that you have a disease or you don’t; you have diabetes or you don’t. There are no gray areas.
Practicing medicine this way is extremely misguided because it misses one of the most fundamental laws of physiology, biology, and disease: The continuum concept. There is a continuum from optimal health to hidden imbalance to serious dysfunction to disease. Anywhere along that continuum, we can intervene and reverse the process. The sooner we address it, the better.
For example, when it comes to diabesity most doctors just follow blood sugar, which actually rises very late in the disease process. If your blood sugar is 90 or 110, you don’t have diabetes. If it’s over 126, you do have diabetes. But these distinctions are completely arbitrary, and they do nothing to help treat impending problems. I remember one patient, Daren, who came to see me with mildly elevated blood sugar. I asked Daren if he had seen his doctor about this. He said yes. I then asked, “What did your doctor say?” Daren’s doctor had told him, “We are going to wait and watch until your blood sugar is more elevated, and then we are going to treat you with medication for diabetes.”
This attitude is absurd and harmful in the face of what we know about the problems that occur even in the absence of full-blown diabetes. Science is now showing us that many people with prediabetes never get diabetes, but they are at severe risk just the same. Prediabetes actually isn’t pre-anything, it’s a serious health condition and needs to be treated as early as possible.
More to the point, this approach of completely ignores more subtle clues from symptoms and signs of disease, which may highlight underlying metabolic imbalances (especially when complemented by further testing). These imbalances may be remedied by the appropriate treatment—treatment that is not focused on some disease, but instead works to remove those things that alter or damage our functioning, and provides those things that enhance, optimize, and normalize our functioning by balancing the system rather than treating the symptom. We need to treat the system, not the symptom; the patient, not the disease.
Consider the man in the emergency room with the severed leg again for a moment. For that person, identifying what severed the leg isn’t likely to make the difference between life and death. The symptom—the severed leg—must be treated if he is going to survive.
But that paradigm simply doesn’t hold true for health conditions like diabesity. This mechanistic model can be applied in some health crises, but it doesn’t work when it comes to chronic disease.
For more information about diabesity click here for a sneak peak of my new book The Blood Sugar Solution coming out on February 28th.
In the meantime, I’d like to hear from you …
Do you suffer from diabesity? What has your struggle been like?
Why do you think conventional medicine is so ineffective at treating this illness?
Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
Dear Mark, I want to thank you for speaking so wisely with the authority of real physiology as well as your Medical training. I’ve worked as a Chiropractor trained in functional medicine for 27 years, and communicating wellness in the face of the brutal shaming of pharma, the insurance industry, and well meaning but brain washed physicians has been a heartbreaking uphill struggle. I am so proud of your work and courage. I believe we’ve reached a
Hundredth monkey’ moment, and want you to know that there are many behind you doing the great work of rebuilding not just our health, but the world into a simpler, better world built on principles of compassion, attachment, nutrition, and healthy movement.
God Bless You and your work,
Peace,
Mike Saatkamp
My dad used to suffer diabesity until he underwent bypass surgery on his stomach to be smaller so he can lose his diabesity… I think it was a good choice considering that he is a very busy man, but how he thinks and his brain, you, Dr. Mark Hyman would be a great doctor for him… I STILL CANT believe I can’t tell him anything after all I truly know on the inside… like it’s hidden, you know? I hate that… Yeah, I am always trying to find it and unlock it so I can be a helpful person wherever I go. Imagine if you had the right speaking ability, you will change lives just because you spoke the right stuff, kind of like you.
I think conventional medicine just doesn’t help people with diabesity because… it’s just medication! IT’s like an attempt to make one thing change how you think, your habits, when…. nothing does that but you!
However, things can HELP you USE your ability to make choicesm rather than being enslavened to food… which is nutrition…!
Eat better foods… is one initiative, then some exercise, OR UNDERSTANDING YOU CAN FIT IN exercise anywhere you go, including physical intelligence like tapping your feet… and stress management… MOST OF ALL: THAT MEANS TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE AND SEEKING STRONGER SUPPORT OF YOUR OWN LIFE… AND EVERY1 WILL SEE: YOU WANT BETTER NUTRITION.,,
So when you want a better life, you need to take control of it, instead of making advertisement become your choice. As you progress with taking control, you will realize you want to be healthier. This is ALL the reason why I’d want to fast for body cleanse, exfoliate my skin, exercise… all I used to do until my Christian, holy mother must’ve thought it was my schizophrenic genes having me in the backyard exfoliating in the grass, then exercising… all for better oxygen and… just not having to ALWAYS walk or run… but be in my backyard and do stretches…
Life’s a bitch: She makes you do OR STOP doing things you need to do.
Sometimes, I don’t want to care anymore… I want to die literally or figuratively just to show people who I become under their holy, ignorant views.
I just know one thing absolutely sure: I used to be developing something extremely profound… that was supposed to help me learn very very fast… but why should I anyways… when I want to love people, not become a mad scientist having fun with technology. … It’s not like I love people any more after all this.
Our government actually supports poor health. By coddling the food industry (ones who contribute) they are actually signing the death warrant of society.
Sugar and high fructose corn syrup should be banned. Could be replaced by Stevia. More and more, food is being made in a lab instead of on a farm.
Making people responsible for their own health and tie that to the Healthcare plan.
If you are obese or have a high BMI or large waist line…. you have a higher deductible or co-pay. If your entire family is healthy, not only do you have zero deductibles but may get a monetary bonus.
People have to be responsible for themselves and not rely on Doctors or the governement take care of them AND do it for free.
A gigantic hole that will suck billions of dollars down the tube so people can abuse themselves with junk food.
Everything you have said is so true!
I just have to say that it is such a shame that we as capable humanbeings have turned this beaurtiful planet into a toxic waste dump, for the almighty dollar.
I really do hope that enough people will make a difference and this enormous undertaking will come to be, and return it to its natural state.
Very well said! I am a longtime suffer. Having gOne from PCOS, to type 2 and now insulin… Although I’m pretty sure I dont need the insulin it’s s struggle to have the doctors think outside the box a little bit and assist with the testing ( a simple c-peptide). They get stuck in their ways and forget about the patient, only focusing on the disease, what they’ve been taught and that’s all. Maybe we all need to fight a bit harder!
Dr. Hyman..I have read your book and my daughter has been up to visit with your colleague. Most Dr. are apathetic to finding out whats wrong with you. They simply don’t care and they dont’ want to take the time. I’ve been going to the same Dr for 20 years and this guy doesn’t even remember anything about me from visit to visit..It feels you are being rushed in and out…..its all about money and time….I understand that but …where do we come in. Most of us who have been given pills for high blood sugar have never been put thru other tests to determine the cause. Its either age or predisposition….they really don’t get the concept of the “metabollic syndrom” and connecting the dots of the various ailments that one suffers that leads to the condition…..Everything is treated separately……pills for high blood pressure…..pills for high cholesterol……pills for this and pills for that. Next thing you know you are taking a bunch of pills for a variety of diagnosis….when in fact the underlying cause of whats throwing these off is never uncovered and the doctors don’t really give a damn. I am MAD at these people….the only thing they know how to do is pull out a pad and write a prescription…..this is what they are trained to do….They are not trained to bring you back to good health….I just wish people would wake up and realize this and demand better results. Dr. Hymans books are the absolute very very best ….everyone should read them and wake up . thank you. js.
Great article.
Drs usually think like the oil light on your car. Once the oil light comes on, it’s too late. It’s really a “you just ruined your engine” light.
Same for medicine.
Great information Dr. Hyman. The solution is always something simple.
I am a consultant Dietitian in long term care facilities. I am so frustrated by what I see in nursing homes now. Many of the food choices that would actually make a difference in the overall health of these residents are unavailable, ie organic fruits and vegetables, grass-fed beef, free range chicken, due to budgetary constraints. I absolutely agree with Danger Smith regarding the health of this country. If people actually realized that by making some lifestyle changes they would be able to minimize or even eliminate their prescription drugs and would not have to live in a nursing home, the pharmaceutical companies would be outraged. Being healthy is not in the best interest of the drug companies, hospitals, even doctors. I also agree that high fructose corn syrup should be banned. I also agree that people must accept responsibility for their own health and quit relying on mainstream MDs to fill them full of drugs that are expensive with terrible side effects (some of which are worse than the disorder they’re treating). Thank you Dr. Hyman for educating the public with your website and books. I’ve personally learned a great deal that I can utilize in my own Dietetics practice.
I would like to pick up on Cheryl’s comment about filling people full of drugs which
can cause worse problems, much worse, than the disorder they are being treated
for and which natural treatments may have corrected. I would appreciate Dr. Hyman addressing the issue of the drugging of America and what to do when the side effects of drug prescription become worse than the original problem. I took a drug which landed me in the hospital ER on two occasions until I figured out it was the drug causing my life threatening reaction (three doctors never made the connection). Since the exposure to this drug, I’ve had horrible problems for the past seven years including swollen feet, arthritis in my hands and knees, carpal tunnel like symptoms, red ear syndrome, drug-induced rosacea, polymyalgia, an inability to lose weight, and other distressing symptoms. What’s happened to
“physician, do no harm”?
Dr. Hyman, you ignore the obvious which is that we have a health care system where doctors have a financial incentive to treat the symptoms rather than address the underlying cause. Imagine if someone could lower his cholesterol by changing his diet and exercising. Well where’s the money in that? But put him on Lipitor and you’ve made the drug company rep who was in your office very happy. Anytime I go to the doctor’s office, I can always tell who the drug rep is. It’s usually a young attractive woman dressed better than anyone else in the office. Howard Dean is correct in pointing out that we need a health care system that rewards results, not tests, procedures, and prescriptions. Think about all the people who are taking expensive drugs for something they could remedy just changing their lifestyle. The problem, of course, is that we put far too much faith in modern medicine. People scoff at the idea of food being powerful enough to cure depression or cancer. Maybe it’s because we’ve been conditioned to think of food as nothing more than energy. That kind of thinking is killing us. Conventional medicine is a party to this. I cringe every time I see a commercial for some cholesterol drug claiming that diet and exercise may not be enough to lower your cholesterol. Really? Are people eating as healthy as they claim? Most Americans still think whole grains and dairy is healthy. And let’s not kid ourselves when it comes to exercise. Most people exaggerate when it comes to how much they do. As a people, we need to stop relying on conventional medicine and start being more proactive when it comes to health.
This is the precise reason I recently switched my primary health care from a conventional medical practice to a Naturopathic Doctor. (N.D.). What you wrote here can be easily applied to many other chronic diseases, inc. bone loss & heart disease. I have some bone loss in my left hip, enough to earn the diagnosis of borderline osteopenia, but not enough to earn the privilege of being put on a bone loss pharmaceutical. My PCP MD could make no other recommendations other than to eat foods rich in calcium & to exercise. I already do all of that. The underlying cause of my borderline osteopenia wasn’t inadequate dietary calcium or inactivity. A Therapeutic Massage Therapist discovered that I had a great deal of scar tissue in the area of my left hip that was painful (inflammation), probably due to repetitive activities with a leg length difference, which I have been working on for 6 years with yoga. My N.D. suggested supplementation with digestive enzymes between meals (not with) to “undo” the scar tissue & restore a healthier tissue state in my hip, with non-Rx anti-inflammatories, with additional D3, & with better calcium supplements. It seems to be working, as I’m rapidly regaining range of motion & pain is barely noticeable. I’m looking forward to my upcoming bone density scan in 7 mos. (3 yrs. from my initial one) to see if I’ve been able to rebuild the lost bone tissue.
This is way preferable to waiting until my T-score indicates osteoporosis & then going on medication to slow/stop it.
Primary hyperparathyroidism causes many of the same problems as diabesity–high blood pressure, osteoporosis and dementia; but the only treatment I have been offered is surgery, and I still do not meet the criteria for it (including hypercalcemia and osteoporosis). One symptom is low levels of vitamin D, but taking more of it could be harmful, and in my case, just makes me feel bad. Surely there is a biochemical solution to this problem. I wish someone would discover it. In the mean time, I try to stay as healthy as I can with diet, rest and exercise.
Stop calling it a “health” care system. It’s a “sick care” system, or “trauma care” if you prefer. Actual health care would require equal consideration of all aspects of our health, not just the things that make us too sick to produce value for our overlords of consumerism. Mental health (why do we eat sugar?) should be first on the priority list. Human beings are not healthy if they cannot climb a tree to escape a predator or walk far enough to reach food or shelter. In other words, we shouldn’t just be considering the paleolithic diet: we should be considering the paleolithic picture of what constitutes a “human”. Most of us don’t qualify as mentally and physically healthy human beings, yet we claim the authority to decide the future needs of the species. When we let psychopaths (corporations) decide what we should eat, it is equivalent to letting the patients of a mental hospital loose with guns and knives. There is no moral compass when all decisions are made by fiscal numbers on a chart. There is no life in a species that worships self-destruction (consumerism).
The way I view health is quite simple and fundamental I think. The body knows exactly what it needs to stay healthy. If the body lacks an essential factor or ingredient, then the body must strain to come up with that ingredient or component by either changing biochemical pathways or limp along by exhibiting symptoms that may or may not be noticed. A great example of these two different scenerios is as follows: If someone has adrenal fatigue and is not producing enough say cortisol, estrogens, testosterone or even vitamin D3, their cholesterol levels may get quite high to compensate for this deficiency since cholesterol is the starting ingredient to these very important steroids. If you knew this, then logically by taking statin drugs or red yeast to lower your cholesterol will make these things much worse. Obviously there is some other problem that’s down stream from your cholesterol levels that is off balanced or lacking. Other symptoms experienced from not getting enough of the components down stream from the most upstream starting component, cholesterol would also be mood swings and chronic fatigue syndrome as well as generalized inflammation. So by taking enough of the B vitamins and cofactors to help with these biochemical conversions might be what the body needed (due to bad diet or processed foods) to stop all these symptoms and when all these symptoms disappear by giving the body what it needed, the cholesterol levels will come right back down. So before you start thinking that I might need to watch my intake of cholesterol for example, you first might want to investigate why your cholesterol is elevated in the first place and it most likely would be to compensate for the lack of some down stream component that’s directly dependent upon the amount of starting material like cholesterol and cholesterol is one very important example that’s looked at as a “bad” actor which it’s not at all! Your liver makes about 85% of your cholesterol anyway so even if you did not eat any cholesterol containing foods, your liver would be working overtime in order to make enough cholesterol to keep your vitamin D3 levels high enough or your other steroid hormones high enough to at least keep you alive but being alive like this would be living in a very sick and risky way.
Michael, can you tell me more or give me references or point me in the direction to see “the pieces of the puzzle” better. I am following you and agree. I have a biochem degree and research experience and am very interested. I used to just be interested, but now it’s personal and I’m on the quest to saving my health because most traditional doctors have dismissed my issues. had I not done my own research and not be fighting for my health, I would be really bad off and would have not completely my engineering degree this past summer. I’ve essentially become my own lab experiment and have the research to boot that I could probably publish to a peer reviewed journal when all this is said and done.
It is one thing to know all of the reasons to eat better, to understand the needs of the body. It is quite another thing to actually have the time and motivation to prepare all of those foods, to change an entire family’s eating habits, to spend so much more money on fresh fruits and vegetables (if you don’t live in Californica), and to not be treated as a nutjob when telling our kids to be different than all of the other kids in their world.
When you throw in some of the other modern issues, such as Asperger’s syndrome, EMF poisoning, automobile addiction, and having actual jobs to do, most of the suggestions of holistic practitioners just seem like a pipe dream.
In response to Auntiegrav, I know it’s quite difficult many times to eat “right” or to give your body everything it needs to stay healthy and to avoid all the existing toxins out there all the time. I have been called a “nutjob” even from much of my family by avoiding certain foods that they want to eat even after I explain my reasoning to them! Perhaps being called a “nutjob” is part of the territory of trying to do the correct things for your body especially when you know you are correct but you must not give up and you must be strong from within and do what you think is right by still spreading the word of how you attain good health and maintain it and not worry about what others think of you. I think that your kids will thank you for it much latter on.
I actually have a Dr. that believes in looking at underlying problems and treats the person, not just the patient. I ended up in the hospital with a horrible case of Diverticulitis and other Drs. wanted to do immediate surgery. My Dr. said hold on, let’s change some habits and see what happens. Changed my diet and am now doing great. I also have high cholesterol and told him I wanted the size of my protiens checked not just the levels and he went along with me without jumping to get me on medication.
Well now I am having a parathyroid problem and we are trying to find information on treatment, but all I can find is take the parathyroid out. In one year by bone density has changed drastically for the worse. any suggestions?
Hi Carrie,
Have you checked your Vit D status and what is your D intake?
Would a personalized nutrition plan interest you? Then please see:http://store.drhyman.com/Store/List/Coaching-Programs
In good health
Lizzy
My soap box line for the day is for our nation to remove the blinders that have been installed by the medical profession and for everyone to take charge of their own well being, instead of spending their money on a system that is designed to take money for the reminder of their life while patients are inducted into the drug industry.
If we, as a natin, took our health into our own spheres of influence and control, then perhaps the food industry wuld find out we aren’t interested any longer in processed meat, boxed meals, and other fast food deterioration. Perhaps locally grown would take on a renewed interests and a well deserved respect as wholesome food begin to replace the chemical laden stuff lining grocery shelves today.
Perhaps a lot of good things would eventually take hold.
@ Diane Wells
Primary Hyperparathyroidism is a mufti-symptom, mufti-effect, and very serious condition that, if untreated, will cripple and then kill you 5-10 years early. Like iron overload, it is strongly associated with insulin resistance and diabetes, and like iron overload, is more common than most docs know.
The ONLY currently effective treatment (and, happily, usually a cure) is surgery. Bone-building meds don’t work. You have an active tumor, so ‘watchful waiting’ only let’s the disease progress, often to irreversible damage. Like diabesity, as per the story above.
I urge you to read the helpfully detailed material at http://www.parathyroid.com. Pay particular attention to the diagnosis pages – simple and advanced – and note that both PTH and calcium can vary over time. The diagnostic kicker is that there should always be an inverse relationship between PTH and blood calcium – both serum and ionized. That is, if calcium is high, PTH should be low, and vice versa. Anything else is abnormal, even high calcium and a normal PTH. Xerox what you need to bolster your case.
Contact Dr. Norman’s office, and then do whatever you have to do to have him and his colleagues do your surgery. He invented and perfected this minimally invasive operation. It takes less than 20 minutes, leaves only a tiny scar, and will save your health and life.
I’d seen the results of some other surgeons’ work, so when I was diagnosed, I decided to travel all the way from Alaska to Florida to see him. I started feeling better within hours of the operation.
He gets people coming from all areas of the globe, because he is simply the best and most experienced parathyroid surgeon on the planet. It’s all he does.
Good luck.
I think I’ve commented on other stories here before; but I have pre-diabetes, an under-active thyroid and I’m always exhausted. After trying to address some of my issues via diet (thanks to Dr. Hyman’s Ultra Diet), I have stayed with alot of what the diet called for and I feel conserably better than I did; my hair isn’t falling out the way it had been, I don’t sneeze all of the time anymore, I’m not as itchy, I lost a little weight and I have a better sense of over-all good health. This change in my diet allowed me to reduce one of my thyroid meds by a few micrograms, and the diabetes medication in half. Although, I still can’t get passed the cravings for sugar, and I continue to be really tired. My endocrinologist wants me to see a bunch of doctors to see if it’s my heart, or my liver, or my head…. They just don’t understand how integrated the body is and how diet can have such a dramatic effect on how someone feels. If only I could get more energy, I might feel up to working out, then life would be complete.
Years ago I had surgery to remove the tail of my pancreas. I had a growth the size of a peanut and since the consistancy of the pancreas is like jello the doctor told me it is better to remove the growth instead of trying to biopsy it. NO ONE told me it would throw me into diabetic symptons later in life. My blood sugar at it’s highest has been 575 and i am now taking an insulin shot (15 ml) before i go to bed. Since i am missing part of my important organ….could seeing a non-traditional doctor help me as in diet change??? Or because of the loss of part of this vital organ am I just destined to be on insulin the rest of my life?????????
Hi Kathy,
We are so sorry to hear about your pancreas trouble. Yes, there is much you can do. In order to provide you the proper care you need we hope you will seek the attention of a local qualified Functional Med practitioner soon. To locate a doctor near you who practices functional medicine like Dr. Hyman, go to http://www.functionalmedicine.org/practitioner_search.aspx?id=117 and scroll down to where it says “locate a practitioner” and enter your zip. Progress accordingly from there.
To make an appointment at Dr. Hyman’s UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA please go to: http://www.ultrawellnesscenter.com/becoming-a-patient/ When you are finished reading through the material you may call the office at After you have reviewed this, please contact our office to make an appointment. By phone, (413) 637-9991; by email, office@ultrawellnesscenter.com
Keeping your pancreas content means eating a diet which increases insulin sensitivity and normalized blood sugar. Check this out for some tips on how to eat: http://drhyman.com/5-steps-to-reversing-type-2-diabetes-and-insulin-resistance-591/
Also, you might need digestive enzymes to help properly digest, absorb and metabolize your food. But you should work with a trained practitioner before starting or stopping any medical treatment of course!
For a more personalized nutrition consult, please see:http://store.drhyman.com/Store/List/Coaching-Programs
In good health!
Lizzy
For Danger Smith:
Banning sugar and high fructose corn syrup is certainly not the way to make people responsible for their own health. With the government’s idea of what’s healthy and what’s not (food pyramid) do you really want them legislating what you can and can’t eat?
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HI Mark,
I am a relatively new Registered Nurse from Canada. For my required research courses, I studied obesity in children and the very real and potentially damaging side effects, physically and psychologically, of this 21st century disease that will impact our future’s children. I worked within a local school to promote health and wellness through activities that stimulated the psychological parts of the brain effecting overall health and was also able to pass on my researched skills and knowledge for others in the community to spread the word in a variety of ways and to a variety of different minority groups that otherwise would have been overlooked.
With all of this in mind, I wish to pursue “diabesity” in my community and plan on one day implementing more knowledge, skills, and policies that will change the lives of all children, eventually spreading to those in the developing world.
Thank you again for the inspiration and continued encouragement to effect change.
I’m gone to convey my little brother, that he should also pay a quick visit this weblog on regular basis to take updated from latest reports.
I’ done many things –mostly what is considered alternative. One thing I recently tried helped the most. I dropped all wheat products from my diet. Actually I was trying to go gluten free to help my stomach problems. Well, my A1c dropped from 8.0 to 6.5 almost immediately. The Sugar Solution book also helped. I have read and maintain a library with dozens of books about dealing with diabetes. The Sugar Solution is one of the best–lots of helpful information. Thanks.