So I’ve seen a few threads about dietary supplements on here (Tulmeric, Chromium Vanadium etc.) and I was wondering if you guys knew of any complete and holistic dietary supplements out there that had all of these good things in it? It’s always a hassle for me to order each individual ingredient off of amazon and have to take handfuls of pills every morning. Plus, I never know if I’m taking the right amount.
I’m curious as to why no company seems to be pushing out this sort of product yet? There seem to be so many fancy and well advertised supplement brands out there nowadays for different groups - us Diabetics could really use something like this!
The only ones that I know of so far are Glucocil and GNC, but they don’t look nearly as nice and legitimate as the other supplement brands out there. Also they only really mention blood sugar levels and not the secondary effects of diabetes (nerve health, liver health etc…).
I was wondering what you guys thought about this? I’m curious to hear any personal experiences or opinions you have.
Just not the turmeric, which isn’t considered one of the best herbs for sugar control anyway. I use to know people that would take 2-8 to get the doses they want (only so much fits in a pill and these pills are medium size)
KAL blood sugar defense
Calcium
Zinc - (As Zinc Amino Acid Chelate)
Vitamin B6 - (As Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate)
Chromium - (As Gtf Chromium Polynicotinate)
Indian Kino - (Pterocarpus Marsupium)(Bark And Heartwood)
My guess is that companies are not pushing out these products because there is no evidence that any of these spices or combination of these spices have any measurable positive long term effect on diabetes. The government is starting to clamp down on bogus exaggerated claims of what natural supplements will do to help health conditions.
Some individuals will always be swayed by marketing hype into buying a product but today with the advances in technologies such as CGM any creature of habit that eats an identical or similar daily diet can quickly see the benefit or lack of benefit of any product. I hate taking insulin and will be the first to test any natural food or product that comes along to see if that will improve BG control and yes, I have found certain foods in China and India where I travel frequently that do actually lower BG but have not had any luck with spices.
My last tests were with Ceylon and Cassia cinnamon (Organic and non-organic) as they are highly touted to help lower BG. I bought these wholesale from a reputable source in large bags and took the recommended 2-5 grams (depending on the type) per day in the same breakfast for several weeks and recorded BG results. Nothing measurably positive came of it.
If anyone has a successful protocol for any spice or combination of spices that help control BG I would love to hear about it and re-test. The body and the mind work together and I do understand that even placebos can help people get over health issues if they believe firmly enough that the placebo can have a positive effect. I say that to let you know that I will happily test any spice or combination of spices with an open mind as I would rather injest a natural product and reduce insulin use than have to take additional insulin for BG control.
@CJ114 Things work differently on different people. The medical field can’t even figure out what is going on with some people, so why would a herb solve it all the time too?
I would also say as for a type 1, herbs etc won’t help much to solve it either, maybe for a little better insulin usage if you are insulin resistant. Or to help prevent some of the side effects of high BG’s. Herbs in general are meant to help the immune system, maybe modulate it, but they were never meant to seem to be able to suppress it, and that is what a type 1 would need.
There are a ton of products out there and a lot of research. One good source of reading the latest is Life Extension. Very reliable access of research, you can read their magazine free online. One of the tricks is that something can help, but how much it helps can really depend, and it depends on the person. French Lilac is what Metformin was originally derived from and people still use it successfully. (I know someone that does).
When I thought I was type 2, the first thing I reached for were herbs and vitamins and DR Christophers pancreas formula would lower my Blood Sugars 50 points in about a half hour after I took 4 of them. I tried the KAL formula up above and it worked too. In my case I liked the Dr Chris’s better as I was separately taking most of the items in the KAL one already.
I was in my honeymoon phase and didn’t know I was a type 1 so I was still making some insulin, but I know they worked because of the sudden drops I got after I took them. I also know they worked because they slowly stopped working over a few years and then didn’t seem to help at all. This is when I got put on insulin because my numbers started shooting up. I would assume that once I was stopping making insulin how could they help with insulin production and absorption if I didn’t have any? I didn’t have much success with cinnamon either, but there is some wonderful research on it out there. I also know people that used it and it did work, quite a few people actually. The trick with herbs is knowing which ones are the best ones, and that’s not necessary the “latest” discovery or the most popular at the time. And that can vary person to person. That is where a more knowledgeable person not just a helper can help.
I owned a health food store for 26 years and was always keeping up on the latest research to help my customers better. About 15 magazines came by my desk every month at one point of the latest research and what was going on in our trade. One way to tell a product worked was by repeat buying, we had a hard time keeping the KAL product above on the shelf and I used to buy it by the gross. Once we recommended it to people to try, they almost always loved it.
Thank you for your detailed response. I will wait a few more days and read any additional replies. Then I will test, one by one for a 60 day period those that sound like they may have a positive effect. I am 29+ years into this scourge and my highly respected doctors have still not even been able to “Type” me as my symptoms don’t match any of their thousands of profiles on file. I am able to keep my numbers totally in range of a non-diabetic between eating low carb and using insulin. My latest obsession is to find natural options to reduce my insulin use so that I can possibly increase the number and types of carbs I can consume each meal while at the same time reducing the amount of insulin. My standard I:C is 1:3 and to keep numbers in my range, total average carbs per meal can’t exceed 15.
Thanks again for your input. I really appreciate it.
BTW
Anyone out there that wants to really frustrate themselves, put some Gymnema powder on your tongue and you won’t be able to taste any sweetness in something. It can last from minutes to hours. Some people use it to ween themselves off of sweets, because if you can’t taste it why eat it?
Thanks so much @Marie20 and @CJ114. Its super helpful to hear about this from people who know so much more than I do. I’m just discovering this natural route. Ive also heard of this new form of Vanadium called BGOV which seems really promising but lacks some hard testing so far, idk if you’ve heard of it. I totally agree with you though that I would rather take something natural rather than take additional insulin - it can only help the way I see it! The only thing I have trouble balancing is the cost/additional benefit. Theres so many of these ingredients that I want to take but I’m trying not to spend too much. Just so I can get an idea from someone more experienced, how much would you say on average you spend a month on all of this stuff?
I don’t take anything for my blood sugar as I’m a type1 and I’m not insulin resistant so it wouldn’t do me any good any more.
I take odds and ends of other things so there is no definite cost per month. The only thing guaranteed I take each day is CoQ10 for heart health and allergies, magnesium for my back muscles and tart cherry as an anti inflammatory. After that it depends what I feel like!
Hey guys,
I’m a Type 1 and am always curious to try anything that shows promise that is all natural/organic, whether it be foods or supplements. I’ve heard of products like Glucocil etc. before that are sort of all-in-one, but I’m wondering if any of you guys take anything that’s for more than just better glucose control (heart health, energy, etc)? Whether you do or you don’t, I’m interested in getting a better idea of how you guys think about these sorts of things. I have T1 friends who will only use their pump/CGM and nothing else, and others that take diabetic-specific supplements like Glucocil, and then others that just take 10 capsules of different supplements every morning - curious to know how you guys think about these things! Thanks guys!
There are some nutrients that help prevent problems when having higher blood glucose levels, examples would be thiamine, alpha lipoic acid, n acetyl carnitine and blueberries!
As a type 1 most of the ingredients in blood sugar formulas are designed to help insulin function and can’t help a type 1, unless you are insulin resistant or your carbs go too high after you eat. They are designed to help pancreas function and to help better insulin usage. Better insulin usage really isn’t the problem, it’s no insulin. A type 1 outright needs insulin and there is no natural substitute.
