By Citrus Heights resident and health coach Mike Potter–
Doctors often prescribe a drug to control type 2 diabetes. However, drugs have a number of side affects that individuals would have to heal twice from: once from the diabetes and once from the drug. One drug in particular, Jardiance, has shown to have a number of side affects.
As stated on Jardiance.com, taking Jardiance can cause serious side effects, including and not limited to: dehydration, ketoacidosis (increased ketones in your blood or urine), serious urinary tract infections, and yeast infections in unwanted places.
There are over 30 million children and adults in the United States with diabetes, and 1.5 million more are diagnosed each year. This has resulted in a windfall for pharmaceutical companies capitalizing on this disease with drugs designed to treat type 2 diabetes, but not deal with the underlying cause. These drugs have serious side effects.
One of the most popular diabetes drugs, Avandia, was almost entirely pulled off the market in 2011 after a number of studies indicated that the drug increased the risk of heart attacks among type 2 diabetes patients. The manufacturer of the drug reached a $3 billion settlement in 2012 related to fraudulent marketing of three drugs, one of which was Avandia, the largest federal criminal drug-company settlement to date.
What can be done? What is the cause?
People must take charge and responsibility of their health outcomes. Consuming a whole foods, plant-based diet is crucial to reverse type 2 diabetes, as is exercise and drinking clean filtered water. Laziness, where pressing the keys on a remote to change a television station becomes the norm for exercise, has to stop. Our fast-paced world of increased technology with the mind frame of more is better and pulling into a fast food death trap for your breakfast, lunch and/or dinner does not represent good health. It saddens me to see 3, 4, 5… year old children that are morbidly obese; teenagers that are tipping the scales at 200-plus pounds. Parents, what are you thinking?
To reverse type 2 diabetes, change must take place. One must be willing to forgo fast food, eating out 3-4 times a week, consuming fat, oil, and sugar. Changing the way you eat, the way you look at food and how you control impulse eating must change to maintain and sustain a healthy lifestyle. The adverse affect on consuming high fatty food like beef, pig, dairy product, and processed foods is the cause of diabetes.
Everybody, I believe, has an “aha” moment where they say, “I’ve had enough. I want better.” For those individuals that have yet to experience that aha moment I ask, when is now? There is no right way to make a wrong decision. And, there is no wrong way to make a right decision. The choice is yours. You can create, through determination and desire, that aha moment by evoking change. Take hold of that aha moment and experience the freedom of no longer being held captive by diabetes; by the drug companies. Do it for the health of it.
Mike Potter and his wife Diedre ‘Nutri-D’ are Citrus Heights residents and co-owners of MPL Group’s GetWellness Center at 7601 Sunrise Blvd, Ste 8. With 50 years of knowledge and experience in the wellness arena, the pair have created a center that offers a variety of wellness services, including free community classes.
Have a different perspective on this topic or another local issue? The Sentinel welcomes letters to the editor and guest opinion columns written by Citrus Heights residents. Click here to submit one.
