The Blood Sugar Solution Quotes

“In addition to single-gene genetic disorders, there are just five causes of all disease: poor diet, chronic stress, microbes, toxins, and allergens, all of which wash over our DNA causing changes in our gene expression, and turning off or on different genes and messages that affect our metabolism.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“The way modern medicine operates is like trying to diagnose what’s wrong with your car by listening to the noises it makes instead of looking under the hood.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE: THE FUTURE My goal in medicine is to help provide a way to navigate and sort through health information based on an entirely new way of thinking about health and disease. I want to find the right treatment for each person, regardless of what that treatment might be. If a medicine is the best treatment, I will choose that; if a change in diet, supplements, herbs, or lifestyle works best, then I will choose that. We must learn to treat the person, not the disease; the system, not just the symptoms. This is personalized medicine, the medicine of the future.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“How we eat, how much we exercise, how we manage stress, our exposure to environmental and food-based toxins, and the structural violence or “obesogenic environment” that influences these factors are what is truly driving our diabesity epidemic.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“And there are just a few “ingredients” needed to make a healthy human—real, whole, fresh food, nutrients (vitamins and minerals), light, water, air, sleep, movement, rhythm, love, connection, meaning, and purpose.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“Our bread is not what it used to be. It is more of a Frankenfood, a by-product of industrial agriculture or “super-starch and super-gluten.” Combine that with the damage our guts have suffered from our diet, environment, lifestyle, and overuse of antibiotics, acid blockers, and anti-inflammatories, and you have the perfect storm for gluten intolerance.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“When your mitochondria are not working properly, you suffer all the symptoms of low energy: fatigue, slow metabolism, weight gain, memory loss, pain, rapid aging, and more. Many things can go wrong and impede your metabolism, make it run less efficiently, or shut it down. We have more than 100,000 trillion of these powerhouses in our body, and each one contains 17,000 little assembly lines for making ATP, our major fuel. They use over 90 percent of the oxygen we breathe. They take up 40 percent of the space inside the heart cells.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“The average newborn has 287 chemicals in her umbilical cord blood, 217 of which are neurotoxic (poisonous to nerves or nerve cells). The chemicals these infants are exposed to include pesticides, phthalates, bisphenol A, flame retardants, and heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and arsenic.2 These chemicals have a broad range of negative effects on human biology; they damage the nervous system and increase the risk of cancer, and now they have been shown to contribute to obesity.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“In 2006, scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health found that the rate of obesity in infants less than six months old has risen 73 percent since 1980. This is not related to lack of exercise or diet—after all, babies that age are only drinking breast milk or formula.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“Think of your gut as one big ecosystem. It contains 500 species of bacteria that amount to three pounds of your total weight. There are more than 100 trillion microbial cells. There is 100 times more bacterial DNA than human DNA in your body. You are outnumbered! These bugs control digestion, metabolism, inflammation, and your risk of colon and other cancers. They produce vitamins and beneficial nutrients, as well as molecules that sustain your body and your ecosystem through symbiosis.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“In the past, doctors would only diagnose celiac disease based on positive intestinal biopsy. But Dr. Alessio Fasano of the University of Maryland School of Medicine suggests a more inclusive way to diagnose celiac disease and gluten intolerance or sensitivity. He suggests that any four out of the five factors below are diagnostic.22 I would agree for full-blown celiac, but except for only a positive gene test, I think any of these factors warrants a trial of a strict 100 percent gluten elimination diet for six weeks. And I believe if you have just three out of five criteria, you should be gluten-free for life. 1. You have symptoms of celiac (any digestive, allergic, autoimmune, or inflammatory disease including diabesity). 2. You get better on a gluten-free diet. 3. You have elevated antibodies to gluten (anti-gliadin [AGA] or tissue transglutaminase [TTG] antibodies). 4. You have a positive small intestinal biopsy. 5. You have the genes that predispose you to gluten sensitivity (HLA DQ2/8).”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“Plaque results from inflammation that starts in the gut but spreads throughout the body as food particles “leak” across a damaged gut barrier and trigger the production of cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6, and TNF (tumor necrosis factor) alpha.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“Food sensitivities and allergens also may play a role in the development of insulin resistance and diabesity. The allergies I am talking about here are not the typical hypersensitivity or acute allergies we are most familiar with, such as peanut or bee sting allergies. These are known as immediate-acting “IgE-mediated responses,” and while they can be deadly, they are not a major contributor to insulin resistance. Delayed, or hidden, allergies (known as “IgG-mediated responses”) do, however, play a significant role. Some people suffer from allergic responses to inputs—like certain foods—which cause a broad array of subtle symptoms. These sensitivities don’t cause your throat to swell shut like IgE-mediated allergies do, but they do create systemic low-grade inflammation in the body that can manifest itself in any number of ways. Recent research indicates that these sensitivities may contribute to insulin resistance.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“Mounting evidence underscores the critical role that inflammation plays in the development and continuation of diabesity. In fact, those who have a high C-reactive protein (a marker of systemic inflammation) blood level have a 1,700 percent increased probability of developing diabetes.15 In medicine, 20 or 30 percent increases are considered significant; a seventeenfold increase should be headline news.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“A number of nutrients are particularly important in the prevention and treatment of diabesity, including vitamin D,9 chromium,10, 11 magnesium,12 zinc,13 biotin,14 omega-3 fats,15 and antioxidants such as alpha lipoic acid.16 These are necessary for proper control and balance of insulin and blood sugar. When these are deficient, our biochemical machinery slows down and can grind to a halt. We become more insulin resistant, our blood sugar swings out of balance, and we gain weight.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“to the average person’s weight each year. 6. Each can of soda consumed by children per day increases their risk of being overweight by 60 percent.8 Soft drinks are the largest source of added sugar to children’s diets.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“What’s worse, new research shows that statins don’t work for prevention, even though over 75 percent of prescriptions are given to prevent heart disease. They do work to prevent a second heart attack, but not the first one. The independent Cochrane Collaboration19 performed a comprehensive review of the research using statins to prevent heart disease by examining fourteen major studies involving 34,000 patients at low risk for a heart attack. They found little or no benefit. If you haven’t already had a heart attack, these drugs won’t help you prevent one, despite misleading drug ads or doctors’ advice. In addition to the Cochrane Review, many other studies also support this and point out the frequent and significant side effects that come with taking these drugs.20 In 10–15 percent of the patients who take them, they cause muscle damage, cramps, weakness, and aches; exercise intolerance21 (even in the absence of pain and elevated CPK, or muscle enzymes); sexual dysfunction; liver and nerve damage; and other problems.22 They also can cause significant cellular, muscle, and nerve injury and cell death in the absence of symptoms.23”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“We gave him special nutrients to improve insulin sensitivity, including chromium, biotin, alpha lipoic acid, vitamin D3, PGX (a special fiber to lower blood sugar, insulin, and cholesterol levels), and fish oil. I also gave him high-dose niacin (vitamin B3) to raise his good cholesterol and turn his dangerous small, dense LDL particles into light, large, fluffy ones. I corrected the deficiency of coenzyme Q10. We boosted his liver detoxification with n-acetyl-cysteine and helped his body get rid of the mercury.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“We corrected her nutritional deficiencies of B vitamins, vitamin D, chromium, and magnesium, and added fish oil. And we gave her support for her energy and calorie burning in her cells with alpha lipoic acid and coenzyme Q10. We also gave her a special super fiber known as PGX before every meal, which slows absorption of sugar and fat and makes you feel full so you eat less. Instead of sugary oatmeal to start the day, she had a medicinal protein shake. All these things have been shown to improve blood sugar control and correct insulin resistance.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“In addition to single-gene genetic disorders, there are just five causes of all disease: poor diet, chronic stress, microbes, toxins, and allergens, all of which wash over our DNA causing changes in our gene expression, and turning off or on different genes and messages that affect our metabolism. The five causes interact with the seven key systems in the body. When those systems are out of balance, symptoms occur and doctors diagnose diseases.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“addition to these dietary changes, you also need a full complement of vitamins and minerals, and you may need to individually correct specifi c deficiencies, including deficiencies in chromium, biotin, vitamin D,21 magnesium,22 zinc, alpha lipoic acid,23 and omega-3 fats.24”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The Bestselling Programme for Preventing Diabetes, Losing Weight and Feeling Great

“that”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The Bestselling Programme for Preventing Diabetes, Losing Weight and Feeling Great

“PGX (a special fiber to lower blood sugar, insulin, and cholesterol levels),”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“Waist-to-Height Table WOMEN Ratio less than 35: abnormally slim to underweight Ratio 35 to 42: extremely slim Ratio 42 to 46: slender and healthy Ratio 46 to 49: healthy Ratio 49 to 54: overweight Ratio 54 to 58: extremely overweight/obese Ratio over 58: highly obese MEN Ratio less than 35: abnormally slim to underweight Ratio 35 to 43: extremely slim Ratio 43 to 46: slender and healthy”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“Chapter”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“Ponder this: From 1983 to 2008, the number of people in the world with diabetes increased sevenfold, from 35 to 240 million. In just three years, from 2008 to 2011, we added another 110 million diabetics to our global population. Shouldn’t the main question we ask be why is this happening? instead of what new drug can we find to treat it?”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“Between the health care that we have now and the health care that we could have lies not just a gap, but a chasm. —Committee on Quality of Health Care in America, Institute of Medicine, 2001 We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. —Albert Einstein”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“Insulin resistance and the diabesity associated with it are often accompanied by increasing belly fat, fatigue after meals, sugar cravings, blood sugar swings or hypoglycemia, high triglycerides, low HDL, high blood pressure, low sex drive, problems with blood clotting, and increased inflammation. These clues can often be picked up long before you ever get diabetes, and may help you prevent diabetes entirely. If you have a family history of obesity (especially around the belly), diabetes, early heart disease, or even dementia or cancer, you are even more prone to this problem.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“This is also known as patient-centered health care, rather than disease-focused medicine, and it is a fundamental underpinning of functional medicine—a revolutionary new way to understand the underlying causes of disease and how our genes, our environment, and our lifestyle interact to determine health or disease.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

“My advice is to give up stevia, aspartame, sucralose, sugar alcohols such as xylitol and malitol, and all of the other heavily used and marketed sweeteners unless you want to slow down your metabolism, gain weight, and become an addict.”
― Mark Hyman, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!