Dr. Frank Aieta

Dr. Frank Aieta (Naturopathic Physician)

18 hours ago

ARE YOU A DIABETIC AND YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW IT?
I have seen countless patients over the past 18 years who get their annual physical with their primary care doctor and are not properly screened for diabetes.
If your doctor is only running a fasting glucose level on you and not running a test called hemoglobin A1c then they are missing a critical piece of information regarding your health.
A fasting glucose only gives you a spot check of your blood sugar at the time of the blood draw. A hemoglobin A1c test gives the doctor a 3 month average of the patients blood sugar (an average of the highs, lows and normals.)
Armed with this information, a good physician can start the patient on a proper diet and nutritional supplements to reverse the high blood sugar and avoid medications.
My personal opinion why most doctors don't routinely check this marker is because they like to wait till the condition is so bad that medications are inevitable. Since all conventionally trained doctors have absolutely no training in proper nutrition and dietary supplements, drugs are all they have at their disposal....pretty sad.
The crazy thing is that once a patient is diagnosed with diabetes and placed on medications then they get their hemoglobin A1c checked every 3 months to make sure the drugs are working and if they are not, no problem....more drugs!!! Who needs diet and simple dietary supplements?
To all my readers, insist that your primary care doctor runs a hemoglobin A1c on you at least once a year and shoot for a reading of 5.5 or less.
If you are above this number make an appointment with a holistically oriented doctor and get on a good diet and the appropriate nutritional supplements.
Remember, good preventative medicine will reduce a ton of health problems down the road. ... See MoreSee Less

Dr. Frank Aieta (Naturopathic Physician)

2 days ago

ALL CALORIES ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL... For all of you out there that still think losing weight is all about cutting calories and killing yourself trying to burn hundreds of calories in the gym...think again. Back in 1956, two researchers,
Kekwick and Pawan, published a study in the Lancet where subjects consumed 1000-calorie diets, some 90% protein, some 90% fat, and some 90% carbohydrates. Those on the high fat diet lost the most weight (close to a pound a day), the high protein dieters lost somewhat less (about 1/2 a pound a day), and the high carbohydrate dieters actually gained weight on average (close to 1 pound a day.) This study clearly disproves the calories in, calories out theory.....Its definitely more about quality than quantity when it comes to diet and weight loss. ... See MoreSee Less

Dr. Frank Aieta (Naturopathic Physician)

3 days ago

FAMILY HISTORY AND WEIGHT GAIN
I recently read an interesting article about a doctor named Dr. Yudkin that conducted an interesting study that revealed the one easily observable metabolic difference between individuals who have the genetic tendency to type 2 diabetes and those who don't. Dr. Yudkin recruited research volunteers in their early 20's who knew for certain whether their parents, grandparent, or any older relatives ever had type 2 diabetes. For one month, these young volunteers ate exactly the same food, which contained a relatively high amount of sugar. The students were weighed just before the diet and then again after a month.
After the month of sugar laden food, the students with NO family history of type 2 diabetes gained an average of three pounds. The students WITH a family history of type 2 diabetes had gained on an average of NINE pounds, three times as much while eating exactly the same foods!!
I see patients like this all the time in my practice, they are the ones that say they can eat just a bite of cake and gain weight.
What concerns me are the children that I'm seeing as young as 5 or 6 years of age that are over weight and when I run their blood work it reveals the early stages of type 2 diabetes (elevated HbA1c, fasting blood sugar, elevated total cholesterol/HDL ratio, Elevated fasting insulin and high triglycerides). In almost every one of these child cases when I question the parents regarding family history of diabetes they tell me yes, there is.
So what can be done? We can't change our genetics but we can change our diet and lifestyle. I've been in practice now for close to 2 decades and can honestly say that its never too early to start feeding your children a low carb, moderate protein, higher real fat diet, especially if your child has a tendency to be overweight and has a family history of diabetes. I have found that children respond very quickly to this type of diet...they see weight loss as well as improved energy, ability to concentrate and better behavior amongst many other things.
So if you are a parent and are a type 2 diabetic, or your spouse is, or any other close family member for that matter, its extremely important to start making these dietary changes for the whole family.... especially the children. ... See MoreSee Less