Most doctors don’t get that heart disease in women looks very different than it does in men. And they don’t get that it often begins with type 2 diabetes — and that women are at much greater risk.
I’ve observed the diabetes-heart disease connection in women for years at my Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine — and that always guides the kind of treatment I recommend.
Now, the latest “scientific statement” from the American Heart Association, published in the journal, Circulation, has backed me up.
You see, mainstream medicine already knows that adults with diabetes are around two to four times more likely to develop heart disease or stroke than those without diabetes.
But what they don’t yet accept is that women are at even greater risk — despite the increasing numbers of studies that varies according to gender.
In fact, the latest research reveals that women with type 2 diabetes are more than twice as likely to develop heart disease as men.1
But there’s another problem: If your doctor DOES happen to spot the signs of heart disease, he is likely to prescribe one of Big Pharma’s cholesterol-lowering statin medications — which can actually cause diabetes.2
You see, your doctor perpetuates the cholesterol lie because Big Pharma tells him to —because treating cholesterol is the most profitable industry in history.
But cholesterol is part of your body. Your brain is made of it, and so are your cells and many of your vital hormones. It’s a very bad idea to declare war on a part of your body.
Mainstream medicine wants you to believe the only thing you can do about heart disease and type 2 diabetes is take Big Pharma’s pills for the rest of your life.
But there are natural ways to treat heart disease that don’t involve Big Pharma meds. And most cases of type 2 diabetes are preventable and even reversible. In just a minute, I’m going to show you how.
The fact is type 2 diabetes and heart disease are modern epidemics. Your ancient ancestors didn’t suffer from them. But they also didn’t eat excessive quantities of pasta, or have a diet completely saturated with refined sugars and processed convenience food loaded with carbs.
Our ancestors would not recognize the food we eat today. Our meats are stuffed with hormones, carbs are everywhere and our vegetables have only a fraction of the minerals and vitamins they had just 50 years ago.
Now there are millions of women in America at risk for developing diabetes and heart disease. And I wish I could share the following information with every one of them.
When women visit my clinic for the first time, they often don’t know about the warning signs that are specific to them — and usually they’re more worried about their husbands having a heart attack.
Men typically get the classic crushing chest pain, sweating and shortness of breath that we associate with heart attacks.
But Women Heart Attack Symptoms Include:
- Severe fatigue;
- Upset stomach;
- Jaw or shoulder pain.
This makes the threat of heart disease much more serious for women — because most doctors don’t catch these warning signs in time.
And even if you’re not diabetic, all those carbs in your diet — cereal, pasta, potatoes, bread and sugary drinks — means your body is getting a dangerous overload of sugar. And it may be just a matter of time, before you become a statistic of America’s fastest-growing health epidemics.
I want my women patients to be educated about their own health, so they can make decisions that will protect them against disease — and sometimes their own doctors.
Here is what I tell my patients about reducing their risk for both diabetes and heart disease:
- Get moving: Women need more frequent and intense exercise to lower their risk of heart disease and diabetes — not more cardio or exercise classes. My patients have had the best success with PACE — Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion — my 12-minute exercise program. It consists of short bursts of intense activity (think jumping jacks or lunges) followed by brief periods of rest.
- Eat Paleo: Don’t let modern foods with their empty nutrition ruin your health. A Paleo diet is easier than you might think. Just picture the cavewomen… if they couldn’t eat it, you shouldn’t eat it. Fast food, sugary drinks and bagels are out. Look for natural, grass-fed meat, wild-caught fish, nuts, and organic fruits and vegetables that free of pesticides and contain more nutrients.
- Guava: This is one of the most effective medicinal fruits I’ve found in the battle against diabetes. In fact, guava is such an important healing plant, I’ve included it in my upcoming new book, Healing Herbs of Paradise. You see, along with numerous medicinal properties, guava is especially effective at controlling blood sugar. You see, the stems, leaves and fruit block the digestion of carbohydrates. So you have fewer sugar spikes and need less insulin, which makes you less likely to develop diabetes.
- Berberine: In the 1980s, Chinese doctors discovered this ancient herbal medicine may be the most successful, all-natural type 2 diabetes treatment in the world. Berberine is a plant phytonutrient extracted from a number of medicinal herbs, such as barberry and goldenseal. It decreases insulin resistance, making the blood sugar-lowering hormone insulin more effective. It also increases glycolysis, helping the body break down sugars inside cells. And it decreases sugar production in the liver. A dose of 1,000 mg to 1,500 mg is effective for most people.3
- Lose a little weight: Too much fat, especially around the belly, increases your risk for diabetes and heart disease. You see, diabetes patients are at greater risk of high blood pressure and obesity — and these key risk factors for cardiovascular problems. If you are overweight, dropping 7% to 10% of your weight cuts your chances of developing diabetes in half.4 Dropping that same weight can significantly lower heart disease risk as well — and the more you lose, the more benefits you see.5
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
1. Judith G. Regensteiner et al. “Sex differences in the cardiovascular consequences of diabetes mellitus: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association.” Circulation, published online 7 December 2015.
2. Paul Ridker, Eleanor Danielson, et al. “Rosuvastatin to Prevent Vascular Events in Men and Women with Elevated C-Reactive Protein.” New England Journal of Medicine. 2008; 359:2195-2207.
3. Pang B, et al, Application of berberine on treating type 2 diabetes mellitus. Int J Endocrinol. 2015;2015:905749. doi: 10.1155/2015/905749. Epub 2015 Mar 11.
4. Hu FB, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, et al. “Diet, lifestyle, and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in women.” N Engl J Med. 2001; 345:790-7.
5. Wing, Rena R. et al. “Benefits of Modest Weight Loss in Improving Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Overweight and Obese Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes.” Diabetes Care 34.7 (2011): 1481–1486.