Steve was 57 years old when he signed up for Quantify, after getting diagnosed with diabetes a year prior during a routine checkup.
The diagnosis came as a surprise, given that he had exercised regularly since his twenties, and had always thought of himself as healthy.
While his fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c had been elevated for years—indicating blood sugar dysregulation, or the condition of having abnormally fluctuating blood sugar—they were technically within the reference range, so his primary care doctor hadn’t flagged them, instead commending Steve that all of his test results were “normal.”
Until they weren’t.
When his test results finally showed diabetes, and Steve asked whether there was anything he could do to reverse the condition, his doctor shook his head, insisting that taking medication was his only option, and that he would have the condition for the rest of his life.
Frustrated by his doctor’s obvious bias, Steve decided to pursue a more natural approach.
In his first appointment at Quantify, Steve’s health coach recommended a metabolic panel, cardiovascular panel, and hormone panel, to evaluate his metabolic health, blood sugar regulation, insulin resistance, cardiovascular health, inflammation, and hormonal health.
Test results
His first time conducting a comprehensive evaluation of his health, Steve’s metabolic panel showed elevated glucose, hemoglobin A1c, and insulin, indicating blood sugar dysregulation and insulin resistance, or the hallmark manifestations of diabetes.
Providing an additional clue as to what was going on, Steve’s cardiovascular panel showed elevated homocysteine and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), indicating systemic inflammation, which also commonly contributes to metabolic dysfunction.
Completing the puzzle, Steve’s hormone panel showed abnormally high estrogen and low testosterone, indicating hormonal imbalance, and further validating that his endocrine system, and thus overall health, was compromised.
Recovery
Helping Steve to make sense of his test results, his health coach explained that his blood sugar dysregulation, insulin resistance, systemic inflammation, and hormonal imbalance all had a common cause: his diet.
Having never thought much about the healthfulness of his food, Steve had ended up on the standard American diet, as most Americans do, eating almost exclusively bread, pasta, cereal, crackers, cookies, and other high-carbohydrate, high-sugar foods that underlie most chronic conditions today.
Changing his diet would be a precondition to addressing the factors that were causing his diabetes, given the significant extent to which his diet was compromising his health, and Steve was impressively receptive to making the change.
Following his health plan closely, he eliminated processed foods, sugar, and grains from his diet, increased consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beef, chicken, fish, and eggs, started drinking at least 64 ounces of water per day, and took certain supplements, such as berberine, cinnamon, and saw palmetto.
Within a few months, not only did his blood sugar regulation start to improve, but he also reported better energy during and after workouts, an encouraging indication that he was on the right track.
Within a year, Steve’s glucose, hemoglobin A1c, and insulin were all below the diabetic threshold, he was off his medication with his doctor’s approval, and a follow-up cardiovascular panel and hormone panel showed no abnormalities, further validating the work he had done to recover his health.