Free The End of Diabetes by Joel Fuhrman

most of the glucose not burned is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscle tissues. Glucose is continually utilized to fuel our cells and especially our brain. Our brain use makes up 80 percent of our caloric needs in the resting state. After the meal’s contribution is utilized and digestion ceases, we start to gradually burn down our candle of stored glycogen in the liver as our glucose source. This catabolic or breakdown phase, when stored glycogen is our main source of glucose, is called glycolysis. When glycogen stores are being burned for glucose, toxins are better mobilized for removal and repair activities are heightened. Spending time in glycolysis, while resting the digestive apparatus in this non-feeding stage, is important for health and a long life.
    But Americans, and especially diabetics, become uncomfortable when beginning glycolysis. They don’t feel right if they delay eating too long. This is an important reason why they became diabetic to begin with. They must overeat to feel okay. Just like a person addicted to tobacco must smoke cigarettes just to feel okay, they have become addicted to their dangerous and toxic diet habits and they can’t tolerate the symptomatic detoxification events that occur during glycolysis.
    Most often these uncomfortable symptoms occur simultaneous to our blood sugar decreasing and glycolysis beginning, but they are not caused by hypoglycemia. While we feed off glycogen stores, rather than actively digest and assimilate glucose, our bodies cycle into heightened detoxification activity—so these sick feelings that accompany glycolysis are a result of tissue sensitivity to mobilization of waste products, which occurs when most active digestion is finished. They occur when the blood sugar is at its lower plateau. These symptoms are obviously not merely caused by low blood sugar, though the symptoms occur in parallel with lower blood sugar.
    Gluconeogenesis is the breakdown of muscle tissue to fabricate glucose after glycogen stores have been depleted. As the liver’s glycogen stores are utilized and diminish, true hunger signals the need for calories before muscle breakdown begins, thus preventing the onset of gluconeogenesis. Gluconeogenesis becomes activated after the glycogen stores have been depleted, so if fasting is continued too long, the body would utilize muscle tissue as a glucose source. Does the body want to waste muscle to maintain our glucose levels? Of course not. We get a clear signal to eat before that begins. I call this clear signal true hunger. True hunger is protective of our muscle mass and gives a clear signal to eat before the beginning of gluconeogenesis, as the glycogen stores are running low and glycolysis is winding down.
    Phytonutrients are required for the body to properly detoxify metabolic waste products as they enable cellular detoxification. Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen and a biological system’s ability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates or easily repair the resulting damage. This oxidative stress from the buildup of toxins leads to diseases, including most of the conditions commonly considered the complications of diabetes.
    All forms of life maintain a reducing environment within their cells. That means they are continually removing wastes and removing free radicals. Disturbances in this normal redox state occur from micronutrient deficiencies and can cause toxic effects through the production of peroxides and free radicals, which damage all components of the cell. When oxidative stress occurs, certain by-products are left behind and are excreted by the body, mostly in the urine. These by-products are oxidized DNA bases, lipid peroxides , and malondialdehyde from damaged lipids and proteins. The higher the levels of these various markers (which can be measured in the urine), the greater the damage to the cells—marking the advancement of an oxidative