Paula H. wrote:

>I ran across this interesting article on vinegar:
>http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20041218/food.asp
>
>Todd, have you continued with the cinnamon and glucose readings?
>
>Paula H.
>
>
I recently stopped, after noting no appreciable effect.  A friend of
mine who is Type 2 diabetic tried the cinnamon and actually found her
fasting BG increased substantially.  I've heard of others getting that
result too, for some reason.  In fact, after she discontinued the
cinnamon, it took several weeks for her BG readings to go back to where
they were.  Very discouraging.  But this vinegar study is interesting,
and no doubt I'll give it a try.  It wouldn't bother me to gulp down a
couple of tablespoons of wine vinegar with a glass of water.

I got this friend to try a lowcarb diet, with mainly paleo foods (plus a
bit of cheese here and there, but not much), but she simply couldn't
deal with it.  She needs to lose weight, but her weight began to creep
up, and she was constantly exhausted, had to take naps all the time.  I
give her credit for staying on it a month, but by the end of that time,
although she saw some improvements in BG, she just couldn't go on.  She
had gained four pounds and felt simply terrible.  She has recently added
some carbs back into her diet and feels much better.  Her BG went up, of
course, but she has started metformin and with luck they should begin to
go down.

Since I classify myself as prediabetic, the vinegar seems worth a try.
I've also started green tea extract, which is reputed both to inhibit
carbohydrate absorption and to increase insulin sensitivity--among other
things.  But the most effective agent I've found for reducing fasting BG
is still alcohol.  Although the metabolic pathways of vinegar and
alcohol are the same, I gather the mechanism of the effect on BG must be
different.  Vinegar downregulates the starch-digesting enzymes.  Alcohol
inhibits gluconeogenesis.  As I've stated on here before, even when I
eat nothing but meat and fat, my fasting BG tends to remain in the low
90s.  This isn't terrible but, in my view, it is dead-on proof of
significant insulin resistance.  When eating zero carbs, the body gets
glucose from protein.  In theory,  BG shouldn't be elevated in this
situation.  While BGs in the 90s aren't "elevated" in a clinical sense,
according to what I've read if BG is above about 84 the pancreas still
puts out insulin, indicating that the pancreas "thinks" BG should be
below 85 and continuously tries to get it there.  I am bothered by the
idea of my pancreas trickling out insulin 24/7, so my goal is to get
fasting BG below 85.  It's clear to me that paleo or plain lowcarb diet
will not get me there, so I'm looking at other ways.

Todd Moody
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