Improving Lemon Water with Curcumin, Ginger and Black Pepper

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

My overwhelmingly-healthy swimming teacher has been coming at me with more healthful, helpful information! So I started taking his recommended lemon water and I’m stomaching it pretty well! But now he has asked me to add three extra magical ingredients… Turmeric root, ginger root and black pepper. I’ve started doing it but I have to say that adding these three ingredients to the lemon water doesn’t exactly improve its taste… It is, in fact, pretty horrible!! Why on earth is he suggesting I do this??

The Health Benefits of Ginger

Ginger is a type of flowering plant that originated in Southeast Asia. It has been used for thousands of years in natural medicine to treat a range of health conditions. It is recognised for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

A meta-analysis in the journal ‘Food & Nutrition Research’ found that, across a wide range of studies, ginger was found to robustly impact both measures of blood glucose (fasting blood glucose and HbA1c) AND C-Reactive protein.

C-Reactive Protein is a measure of general inflammation in the body. Whilst not necessarily a key measure of diagnosing Type 1 Diabetes, doctors often use the CRP value alongside the fasting blood glucose and HbA1c to confirm a T1D diagnosis. Indeed, this study illustrates the correlation between high inflammation levels and the subsequent diagnosis of T1D.

I believe that reducing the level of inflammation in my body (as measured by CRP) is key to increasing my insulin sensitivity and thereby reducing my need for (any) insulin. Therefore, putting some ginger in my lemon tea each morning looks like it may aid me in this regard.

However, I also noted above that ginger impacts blood glucose levels. It has the ability to lower both fasting glucose and HbA1c (when taken over a period of months). I have been taking ginger for a couple of weeks now and have not noticed dramatic blood-sugar fluctuations but I will continue to keep an eye on this. It is not clear from the scientific literature whether the impact on blood sugar levels happens from the first sip or whether its effect builds up over time.

The Health Benefits of Curcumin Root

Curcumin is the active ingredient contained in the plant turmeric and makes up about 5-8% of it. Curcumin has been used as a fundamental spice in Ayurvedic medicine for generations. Curcumin has been found to have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This meta-analysis found that curcumin effectively lowered markers of inflammation whilst demonstrating no risk of toxicity.

For diabetes specifically, curcumin supplementation has been found to decrease glucose levels and increase insulin sensitivity (here) and HbA1c (here) in rats with induced diabetes that is equivalent to T1D. Moreover, this study conducted on Type 2 diabetics. found that taking 2 grams of turmeric daily for 4 weeks reduced measures of fasting glucose, HbA1c, antioxidant status and inflammation (as measured by high-sensitivity CRP). It was also found to improve measures of HDL and LDL cholesterol, plus the LDL/HDL ratio. In other words, this stuff is good for me!!

Black Pepper: Increasing the Bioavailability of Curcumin

A problem that people can have with taking curcumin is that you need to take a large of amount of turmeric to absorb even a small dose of curcumin since it makes up such a small part of the root. This can lead to stomach upsets for some. Furthermore, curcumin is known for its blood-thinning properties. Therefore, large doses could cause problems with blood coagulation for some (thankfully, this is not a concern for me as I have the opposite situation in my blood – it clots too much!). Is there a way to increase the absorption of curcumin in the body? Yes… Black pepper!

Black pepper contains the organic compound piperine, which is known to inhibit digestion long enough to enable the body to absorb more curcumin. This study found that the addition of piperine to doses of curcumin could increase the absorption by as much as 2000%! This effect was achieved with no adverse effects being noted.

So I will be adding a touch of black pepper to my tea each morning too.

BONUS: Himalayan Sea Salt

As I was reading up on he benefits of lemon water on health, I came across this hugely informative post by Kim Maravich at Calorie Bee on the reasons why adding Himalayan Sea Salt to your lemon water can be fabulous for your health. I guess, now that I’ve got to the point of adding so many other things to my cup, I’ve got no reason to add this too! Particularly when so many health benefits await me by doing so.

Adding the Ingredients to The Lemon Water

Adding the above ingredients to my lemon water is pretty easy. Once the water has boiled and cooled, I just grate up both the ginger and turmeric into the cup (about 1 tsp of each), squeeze in the lemon and add in a small pinch of black pepper and Himalayan sea salt. I leave that to stew fo anywhere up to 30 minutes then sieve the contents into a new mug, free of all the bits floating in it!! Bottoms up!

Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

Recent Comments:

latestModapks on Daniel Darkes
Natalie Leader on Daniel Darkes
Senna on Daniel Darkes
Sandra on High Blood Pressure
Natalie Leader on What Is Type 1 Diabetes REALLY?

0 Comments

November 1, 2021

Read more about the article Improving Lemon Water with Curcumin, Ginger and Black Pepper

Diet / Hydration / Nutrition

5 Reasons For Type 1 Diabetics to Drink Lemon Water

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

Every week, I take a swimming class. It helps keep me motivated to actually carry on exercise (that’s a BIG win for me!). My swimming teacher is an incredibly energetic and healthful guy. He is always smiling and genuinely thinks that the world is a beautiful place. Gotta hate him right?? Well, actually… No! It’s impossible to hate someone so lovely!

My swimming teacher has been gently persuading (or maybe nagging!) me to improve my overall health in a myriad of ways. One of these ways, and one that he keeps returning to, is drinking lemon water. He starts every morning with a cup of it and really believes it contributes greatly to his energy and health.

Me – being me! – decided to just think about it. For… quite… a… while!! That was, until I did Tony Robbins’ course ‘Unleash The Power Within’ (this is an AMAZING course by the way, which I would recommend to EVERYONE!). Here again, I was told to drink lemon water. Two completely unrelated people in my life are both recommending the same thing… So I sat up and listened this time!

Why Drink Lemon Water?

There are a lot of reasons that lemon water is argued to be good for you. For my purposes, I have focussed on the five reasons that I have decided to make lemons a crucial step in my advancement towards healing:

Steps To Making Perfect Lemon Water

The Perfect Lemon:

Always use fresh lemons and organic ones whenever possible to avoid any extra chemicals entering your system.

The Perfect Water:

The Right Temperature:

It is important when making lemon water that you do not boil the lemon juice, since this will destroy many of the beneficial components within it. Therefore, boil the water for your drink and then let it sit until it is just warm. If you are in a rush, you can also make it with half hot water and half cold water, but make sure to add the cold water first. The water needs to be filtered to avoid any contaminants.

Avoid Lemon Wax:

Most lemons these days are coated in wax. This maintains the quality of the lemon skin and makes it more appealing to the eye. However, we do not want to consume this wax. Therefore, I do not advise you to put any lemon skin in your drink. Instead, squeeze the lemon juice only into your cup.

The Perfect Amount of Juice:

This website advises that you use half a lemon in a glass of water if you are under 150 pounds or a whole lemon if you are over 150 pounds. This makes sense to me because the concentration of the juice will obviously diminish with every extra pound of weight. However, I am not yet able to stomach a whole lemon in my water without retching. For now, I am having two cups of lemon water per day, with half of a lemon in each.

The Perfect Timing:

Lemon water is best drunk first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. It is then able to aid digestion and help to combat insulin resistance and high blood sugar levels when the first food arrives.

The Perfect Habit:

One of the most effective ways I have found to make new habits stick is to tie a new habit to an old one. I come down to the kitchen first thing every morning to grab a glass of water. So, for me, I now grab both the glass of water and then also boil the kettle for my lemon water. It is then just a simple step to make the lemon water and consume!

What About My Teeth?

I have read a few people citing that the acidity in lemons erodes tooth enamel. However, l couldn’t find any conclusive proof either way in academic literature.

I found an old study from 1912 that categorically stated that saliva protects the teeth against erosion from lemons. By contrast, this more recent article by Grando, Tames et al. (1996) and this one by Mathew, Maniangat Luke, et al. (2018) categorically stated the huge erosive effects of lemon juice on teeth. The teeth in both of these studies were shown to erode with increased time in the lemon juice solution. However, these timeframes were considerably long periods of time – 24 hours of more – and I don’t plan to sit with lemon juice in my mouth for any significant period of time!

This dentist is New South Wales, Australia seems to offer a better compromise for me with a series of helpful suggestions to keep your teeth safe. However, the choice to drink lemon juice or not must be a personal one. Diabetics can be subject to a series of dental problems as a result of their condition so the potential risks and benefits for any individual must be weighed.

Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

Recent Comments:

latestModapks on Daniel Darkes
Natalie Leader on Daniel Darkes
Senna on Daniel Darkes
Sandra on High Blood Pressure
Natalie Leader on What Is Type 1 Diabetes REALLY?

0 Comments

October 25, 2021

Read more about the article 5 Reasons For Type 1 Diabetics to Drink Lemon Water

Exercise / Hydration / Increasing Positive Emotions / Nutrition / Spirituality / Taking Control of My Health / Yoga

Bedtime Routine

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

The Bedtime Routine. I don’t know why I have resisted this concept for such a long, long time. It could be that it’s because I’m a night owl. I love those deeply quiet and restful hours of the early morning when the world is asleep and peaceful. Or it could be because, as a parent, those few hours after the little ones are asleep seem so short and so full of possibility.

Whatever the reason, I resisted and resisted giving my evening hours to something as structured as a ‘routine’. It felt onerous and long-winded and, well, just hard work at the end of a long day. But I knew that it was a brilliant time to be working on healing, rather than my total number of accumulated telly hours, so I took the plunge. And, as is my way, I went at it with full force…!

Designing My Bedtime Routine

I considered many options for my bedtime routine. Audiobooks, reading, baths (with or without essential oils, epsom salts and all other kinds of healing products), hydration, reflections on my day, gratitudes, affirmations, yoga, stretching, journalling, diffusing essential oils, facial cleansing routines, drinking herbal teas and so on…!

I started to realise that, if I didn’t narrow down my to-do list, I would actually still be awake in the early hours of the morning but, this time, it would be because I was still slogging through my bedtime routine! I decided to trust my intuition on this and go with what I felt drawn towards. Some things jumped out at me immediately…

Yoga Stretches (10 minutes)

I felt some yoga stretches before bed sounded great. I love yoga and always feel restored and relaxed after spending some time on the mat. However, it’s something I only seem to do sporadically these days so the idea of incorporating that into a daily routine ticked both boxes. So yoga was in.

Cleanse, Tone and Moisturise (5 minutes)

My appearance, and more importantly how I feel about my appearance, has become more important to me over the preceding months. I have never really invested in my skin and have always found beauty regimes to be too much effort for too little output. But a simple cleansing and moisturising routine felt doable. So that made the list.

Brush and Floss Teeth (5 minutes)

Of course, dental hygiene goes without saying! I would like to have teeth when I get to old age and diabetics are at increased risk for a whole host of dental problems, including being more prone to gum disease. As part of my intention to reduce toxins in my life, I considered using herbal toothpaste. I actually started this and bought a well-known brand. However, within three months of using this, I was found to have my first ever filling. Perhaps coincidence, perhaps not. But I didn’t want to risk any more problems so I’ve scrubbed that idea and gone back to standard toothpaste. So… Teeth brushing (with a standard toothpaste!), check. Flossing, check.

A Glass of Water (1 minute)

Hydration. So, as you know, I now live in an extremely hot desert climate so hydration is on my mind at all hours! I never used to drinking water at night because it often disrupted my sleep due to much needed loo break. However, out here, I am now waking up each morning feeling very thirsty and that doesn’t create a good bodily environment for healing. A glass of water is now part of my night-time ritual.

Gratitudes (5 minutes)

I tried to make a gratitude practice part of my morning routine but I struggled to name lots of things I was grateful for when I’d just staggered out of bed! I always seemed able to remember to be grateful for my sleep but that was about it!! I hope that, by making this part of my evening routine, I will be able to reflect on my day and all the wonderful moments in it. I hope it will therefore strengthen and deepen my gratitude practice. For now, I will start with three gratitudes every night.

Prayer (1 minute)

How much did I resist prayer in my life?? Wow, it has hardcore! For years, I didn’t want to pray to a god that I felt had cursed me with diabetes. I didn’t feel He/She deserved as much as a hello from me! I think that the addition of prayer into my night-time routine shows just how far I have come on my healing journey already. I don’t have any set format for praying. I just treat it as a time for me and God to talk, for me to say whatever’s on my mind and, when I can, offer gratitude for all that He/She has done for me and given me.

Plan for the next day (18 minutes)

i have been getting more into self-development lately and I have heard again and again the phrase ‘those who fail to plan, plan to fail’. I don’t know how much that is true but I do know that, on the days that I have made a plan for my time, I get a whole lot more done than on the days when I don’t plan. So planning is in there. But please note that this is not an all-out plan-every-minute kind of thing. It’s more ‘these are the things I want to get done and what is the best order I can do it in’. If I plotted every minute of my day, I dissolve into a stress heap when I got five minutes behind schedule. That isn’t good for creating a stress-free environment for my healing to take place!

Reading Fiction (15 minutes)

Ah, reading! I love reading!! I have found that, as my healing journey continues, I seem to be devoting more and more of my time to reading factual books about healing. Consequently, less and less of my time is devoted to reading fiction. I feel the balance between work and play is important in life so time needs to be made for enjoyment and relaxation. Reading fiction answers this call for me. Moreover, a gentle story sets me up well to drift off into the land of nod so I have added 15 minutes of reading fiction to my plan.

Finishing Touches

Once I’d worked out what I wanted to include in my bedtime routine, I then had to figure out how long to allocated to each item (see above). I didn’t want to spend more than an hour on my routine so I allocated that hour according to how long I felt each activity would realistically take. I might have to adjust as time goes on.

Then, the last thing to do was decide the order of the activities. I decided I would start in my bathroom as this was the furthest from my bed. That meant doing my ‘cleanse, tone and moisturise face’ and ‘brush and floss teeth’ first. I followed those with my yoga stretches in my bedroom, since these needed to be completed before I could get into bed. Then, from the comfort of my bed, I chose to plan my day first. I knew that this activity would wake my brain up a bit and I needed to save some more calming, less engaging activities for after that. I therefore follow my planning with my glass of water, gratitudes and prayer. I complete the routine with reading my fiction book for fifteen minutes and then turn the light off. Job done! Night night, sleep well.

A Couple of Extra Things...

You might have noticed that I have added candlelight to my skincare routine and sound frequencies to my yoga stretches. The reason for the candlelight is due to something I read in the book ‘Sleep by Nick Littlehales’. He discusses the importance of avoiding bright light on the run-up to bedtime. I really recommend that book if you need to improve the quantity and/or quality of your sleep!

The reason for the sound frequencies is a little less delineated in my mind. I have been hearing great things about the healing qualities of sound frequencies and so I have started to experiment with solfeggio frequencies. Because of the link diabetes has to past trauma and the solar plexus chakra, I am focussing on the frequency of 417 Hz. At the moment, the only time I play solfeggio frequencies is during these ten minutes that I’m doing my bedtime yoga poses. But it’s a start!

Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

Recent Comments:

latestModapks on Daniel Darkes
Natalie Leader on Daniel Darkes
Senna on Daniel Darkes
Sandra on High Blood Pressure
Natalie Leader on What Is Type 1 Diabetes REALLY?

0 Comments

June 14, 2021

Read more about the article Bedtime Routine

Diet / Favourites / Hydration / Nutrition / Physical Wellbeing

Water: How to Hydrate Properly

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

Since arriving in the Middle East, I have become so much more mindful of the importance of water in my daily life. It is a precious commodity out here, one that you do not want to be without. The few days of rain that happen are greeted with a sense of wonder and even the occasional moment of celebration or joy.

Hydration For Type 1 Diabetes During Illness

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I guess I’ve always known that there is a connection between T1D and hydration. After all, I can still recall those feelings as a kid of severe thirst that accompanied a way-too-high blood sugar – whether due to illness or any other one of an unending list of factors that randomly caused my blood sugars to spike! I recall that feeling of believing that, no matter how many cups of water I drank, it would never be enough. It felt like my thirst would never again be quenched.

I also recall the time, as a teenager, I had horrible tonsillitis and couldn’t swallow anything food- or liquid-based for days. That resulted in a trip to hospital and a drip attached to each arm. Hydration during illness for a type 1 diabetic is CRUCIAL. Indeed, the excellent diabetologist Dr Richard K Bernstein states emphatically how, during illness, the most likely risk to life for Type 1 Diabetics is not the illness itself but the dehydration that ensues from it. In his book, ‘The Diabetes Solution‘, Dr Bernstein includes dehydration salts as one of the key supplies that all diabetics should always have to-hand.

Hydration In Daily Life

Okay, so we pretty much all understand that hydration during illness is a biggie for us diabetic types. But what about the other (hopefully) 99% of our lives, when we’re just tootling about in our days in normal (perfect?!) health…? Is it important then?

Adequate hydration is important for every person. H. H. Mitchell and colleagues demonstrated that our bodies are made up of almost 70% water and, importantly for us, the pancreas itself consists of 73% water (so a healthy, working pancreas needs water!). In fact, water is involved in all processes in the body, including the normal metabolic processes of urination, sweating, breathing, thinking and digestion. Thus, replenishing this water in adequate amounts each day is vital to sustained health and functionality.

For type 1 diabetes, hydration is even more important. In fact, dehydration has been found to favour the development of hyperglycaemia (high blood sugars) in diabetes. I searched around for more information on why that might be the case. Whilst I couldn’t find anything directly related to type 1 diabetes, I did come across an interesting study that investigated the relationship between water intake and blood glucose regulation in type 2 diabetics.

This study found that reduced water intake for just three days led to an increase in the ‘stress hormone’ cortisol. This increase in cortisol impaired blood glucose response for an oral glucose tolerance test i.e. blood glucose levels were higher than optimal. So this study suggests, but doesn’t necessarily prove, that being insufficiently hydrated puts the body at risk of higher blood sugar levels due to the increase of cortisol in the blood. So, if you’re stressed, if you’re ill, if you’re not sufficiently hydrated and want better blood-sugar control… DRINK UP!

How Much Water is Enough Water?

I am grateful to my parents for raising me to fall in love with drinking the pure stuff… My preferred choice of beverage always was, and still is, water. But how much of it should I be drinking?

I think most people have heard the old adage about drinking 8 cups of water a day to stay hydrated. But that turns out to be a bit of a fable… It is based on a study conducted in 1945 by the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board, who found that drinking 2.5 litres of water per day was sufficient to hydrate the human body. HOWEVER, this study stated that this fluid comes from both drinks and food. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been able to accurately calculate the amount of fluid in any meal that I’ve eaten!!

Taking that 8 cups of water as a baseline, there are still certain factors that cause this quantity to be revised for any given individual. These factors include:

Table 1: A Selection of Research Findings to Illustrate How Optimum Water Consumption Varies with a Range of Individual Factors

Variable	Exemplar Research Findings
Gender	The average woman requires 2.7 litres of water per day, whilst the average man requires 3.7 litres. [1]
Age	Elderly people who drink 8 glasses of fluid per day may actually be overhydrated. [2]
Socioeconomic Status	Water intake is lower in lower-income adults and those with lower education. [3]
Environment	Hot climates, such as those found in desert environments, cause increased fluid loss due to sweating. [4]
Exercise	Strenuous exercise can cause sweat rates up to 2-3 litres per hour. [5]
Medical Conditions	Excess hydration should be avoided for people with cardiovascular disorders, pronounced chronic renal failure and endocrinopathies, amongst other medical disorders. [6]

So I think that this shows how most, if not all, people are likely to not need the ‘standard’ amount of recommended water intake! So how can I, or anyone else, work out how much their particular body, with its own particular nuances, needs to stay healthy? Thankfully, our bodies have their own built-in alert system…

The Human Body's 'Hydration Alert System'... Thirst and Urination!

Our bodies have all the expertise they already need, just packed away inside them. All we have to do is listen and pay attention!

So, hydration… The first and obvious sign of lacking sufficient water is that you will become thirsty. This is your cue to drink. So do so! Unfortunately, in today’s world, the thirst system in the human body can go offline. If you have ignored your body’s cries for water a few too many (thousand!) times, then your body is likely to save its cries for the most extreme times, when hydration is a must. Therefore, if this might be the case for you, check your urine… What colour is it?

If your urine is anything darker than a light summer lemonade, then you are dehydrated (or, if very dark, you could have another medical issue going on and you should go to your doctor pronto!). Each time you urinate, check the colour. In an ideal world, you would check your colour by taking a sample in a suitable collecting container that only has the urine sample in it. However, as most of us probably go to the toilet in the, yep, toilet(!) with the water already in the toilet bowl, we’ll just have to use that as a best guess effort. But, bear in mind, if the urine in the toilet bowl is darker than it should be, then you are definitely dehydrated and need to take action soonest.

Generally, if you have a pale straw-like colour of urine, drink frequently and rarely feel thirsty, then you’re on the right track. I, on the other hand, know that I have some work to do on this! Now where did I leave my water bottle…??

Improving Water Intake

In trying to improve water intake, there are a couple of things that have worked for me. First of all, I have found an app called ‘My Water Balance-Intake Drink’ by Viktor Sharov. It has a nice reminder feature that gently nags (reminds?!) me through the day to take another sip. I like that it shows me what percentage of my water has been drunk whenever I input a drink so that I feel that I’m making progress each day.

I also have a gentle reminder about water consumption every time I visit the ladies’ room! If my urine isn’t clear in the toilet bowl, it automatically reminds me to go and get another drink.

The other thing that has really helped me is creating habits around fluid intake. First thing in the morning, I go downstairs to get a litre bottle of water. That comes with me into my meditation space and I sip on it during that first hour of my day that I devote to my spiritual practices. Having already had 1 litre by the time I finish that hour, I already feel confident about completely my water intake for the day. I also have the habit to sit down with a glass of water with every meal. I understand that drinking water half an hour before a meal helps with digestion and not overeating but that habit’s never stuck with me so I go for the ‘glass with a meal’ approach instead – it’s better than not having any!

How do you track your fluids? What do you do to encourage yourself to hydrate more? I’d love to hear and learn from your ideas too!

References:

1. Food and Nutrition Board. (2004) Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

2. Picetti, D., et al. (2017). Hydration health literacy in the elderly. Nutrition and Healthy Aging, 4(3), 227-237. [Link]

3. Rosinger, A. Y., et al. (2018). Disparities in plain, tap and bottled water consumption among US adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2014. Public Health Nutrition, 21(8), 1455-1464. [Link]

4. Sawka, M. N., et al. (1998). Hydration Effects on Temperature Regulation. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 19, S108 – S110. [Link]

5. Shirreffs, S. M. (2009). Hydration in sport and exercise: water, sports drinks and other drinks. Nutrition Bulletin, 34(4), 374-379. [Link]

6. Manz, F. (2007). Hydration and Disease. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 26(5), 535S-541S. [Link]

Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

Recent Comments:

latestModapks on Daniel Darkes
Natalie Leader on Daniel Darkes
Senna on Daniel Darkes
Sandra on High Blood Pressure
Natalie Leader on What Is Type 1 Diabetes REALLY?

2 Comments

March 29, 2021

Read more about the article Water: How to Hydrate Properly

Diet / Emotional Wellbeing / Exercise / Hydration / Nutrition / Physical Wellbeing / Taking Control of My Health

Daniel Darkes

Miraculously Cured From Type 1 Diabetes

Enjoyed this post? Check out my post on ‘MORE Spontaneous Remissions From Type 1 Diabetes!’ too.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

This article discusses the ‘miraculous’ healing of the Type 1 Diabetes veteran Daniel Darkes, who healed after having T1D for multiple years. His diet, exercise and vitamins regime are outlined, along with thoughts about how this information can help more to heal.

Who Is Daniel Darkes?

Daniel Darkes is the first man (in the Western World, at least) to be cured of Type 1 Diabetes. He has become the talk of the town in diabetes communities as people try to understand how this incurable, lifelong condition is no longer incurable or lifelong!

Daniel Darkes was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2010, aged 23. He has left the British Army Grenadier Guard just four weeks before his diagnosis. He has stated that he was discharged from the army on medical grounds but it is not clear what medical issue this was.

Before Daniel’s body started to heal, he was originally taking 5-6 units of Novorapid for meals and 8 units of Lantus at night-time for a period of 7 years.

Daniel Stops Taking Insulin

In November 2016, Daniel started having episodes of recurrent hypoglycaemia at night. Before this point, night-time hypo’s had been extremely rare for him. Under the medical guidance of Northampton General Hospital, Daniel gradually reduced his insulin doses to try to prevent further hypoglycaemic episodes. However, no matter how little he gave, he continued to hypo. Eventually, it got to the point that Daniel’s consultant made the decision to stop insulin altogether.

The Impossible Becomes Possible

When I think about Miracle Dan (as Daniel Darkes has been named by his friends), I am reminded of the story of the four-minute mile. On May 6th 1954, Roger Bannister was the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Athletes had tried since 1886 to break this barrier and none had succeeded. It was therefore assumed that this was a feat beyond human capability, something that the human body just could not do. However, once Bannister broke this barrier, many others followed. The impossible had become possible. Once they saw it could be done, many others did it too.

For me, Daniel Darkes is the Roger Bannister of Type 1 Diabetes. He has broken the barrier and shown that this ‘incurable’ condition is curable. We now know the impossible is possible.

Reactions To Daniel Darkes’ Cure

The medical and diabetic communities have not been wholly receptive to the news of Daniel Darkes’ cure. For example, Live Science wrote a piece highlighting what they believed to be inconsistencies in Daniel Darkes’ story. Firstly, they questioned the validity of his original Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis. They also used Daniel Darkes’ refusal to provide his medical records (actually, it was his NHS trust that refused due to patient confidently laws in the UK), plus the absence of a published medical case study, to infer that this may be some kind of hoax.

As I ponder this reaction, I am reminded of quote by Arthur Schopenhaueur:

It appears to me that, unfortunately, Daniel Darkes’ healing is encountering the first two stages of truth – ridicule and violent opposition. Change in the medical world takes time.

Daniel Darkes has stumbled across the way to heal Type 1 Diabetes. So, whilst the medical community is adjusting its lens to the new reality, I’d like to get on with actually learning as much as I can about how he achieved it!

What Do We Know About Daniel Darkes’ Miracle Cure?

Daniel’s Diet

Daniel appears to have a very healthy diet. He runs a lot (see below) and therefore takes care of his nutrition for this. When not running, his diet tends to consist of a lot of fish, chicken and vegetables, basically pretty low-carb. He might eat fruits, nuts and crackers for lunch. He doesn’t eat sweet stuff, chocolate or have sugar in his tea. But, before I panic about such a restrictive diet, he does admit to also having the occasional beer or sweet treat or takeaway at weekends!!

On days when Daniel is running a long run, he will increase his carbohydrate intake by adding in a serving of rice, pasta or sweet potato for dinner and/or porridge for lunch. He will also have gels or sweets on the runs to top up his blood sugars, if needed.

Foodstuffs Found In Daniel Darkes’ Diet

Daniel’s Vitamins and Supplements

Daniel has said that he takes the following vitamins and supplements on a daily basis:

Daniel’s Exercise Routine

Daniel is a long-distance runner. He regularly runs marathons and ultra-marathons. He is dedicated to his fitness. He tends to run 15-30 miles a couple of times a week and then does a longer run at the weekend.

Enjoyed this post? Check out my post on ‘MORE Spontaneous Remissions From Type 1 Diabetes!’ too.

What The Experts Think

Daniel Darkes says that the experts on his case have identified a rare gene that he possesses that is acting as a back-up immune system by recharging the pancreatic cells to produce insulin.

What I Think

Issues With The Experts’ Explanation

Hang on a minute! The old-school way of looking at diabetes said that the beta cells in the pancreas – the ones that produce the insulin – have been obliterated by our misfiring immune systems. And now they can recharge?! This fits in with what I have so far argued on my blog – that this theory of ‘burnt out beta cells’ has little scientific support and has actually been replaced with the finding that beta cells do still exist in the pancreas and can, under the right environmental conditions, start producing insulin again.

I also have an issue with this ‘rare gene’ hypothesis… My issue sits in the findings of epigenetics. Epigenetics argues that individuals are not necessarily destined to suffer (or enjoy!) the blueprints of their inherited DNA sequences. In other words, you may receive programming, via your DNA, from one or other parent but that does not mean that you are destined to have that gene expressed and acted out in your life. Instead, genes have been found to be affected throughout a person’s lifespan by a range of factors, including diet, exposure to pollutants and even emotions. it is the epigenetics, influenced by this diverse range of factors, that determine whether genes are turned on or off. Why this is relevant to Daniel Darkes is because this ‘rare gene’ may have in fact been created during his healing process, as a result of epigenetics. Equally, this may be a gene that we all possess, but as yet Daniel is the only one who has found a way to get this gene turned on and working.

Western Medicine Has Not Undertaken A Holistic Investigation

I struggle with the findings, and lack of findings, that I have so far heard about Daniel’s case. So far, all investigations seem to have proceeded down only the expected avenues… Inquiries into diet, exercise, supplements, blood sugar readings and so on. In other words, all focus has been on medical questions, which treat the body as a machine with a broken component (see my post on Descartes for more information). As such, I believe the lens of inquiry is too narrow.

We Also Need To Be Asking Daniel About…

Nobody is asking Daniel about the wider healing that he may have undertaken. As I highlighted in my post on neuropeptides, the brain is highly interrelated with the body via emotions. Has anybody asked Daniel what his emotional journey has been like over the time his healing took place? Were there any shifts in his emotional outlook, for example? Candace Pert would argue that emotional healing is as likely to improve health as much as any medical intervention.

I also wonder about his running. The experts have said that his long-distance running has somehow ‘shocked’ his immune system, via this rare gene, to start working again. How do they know that it wasn’t some other factor to do with running that would have helped? For example, Daniel is likely to have maintained good hydration to be able to run. He is also likely to have spent a lot of time outdoors in nature, which in itself can be very healing. The added benefit of sunshine on the body, and the resultant levels of vitamin D, are also worth questioning. Perhaps it was any one of these factors, or the combination of all of them, rather than the running itself, that led to his healing.

I have also heard about the great benefits of fasting and its ability to regenerate the immune system (although fasting can come with great risks for diabetics). Did Daniel have any intentional or unintentional periods of fasting, perhaps due to long runs or periods of illness, which may have instead been responsible for kickstarting his immune system?

I have seen no evidence that the medical teams are asking these kinds of questions. If they are not, they are not controlling for extraneous variables in their research design and, as such, according to the rules of scientific research, their method and findings are confounded. No firm conclusions can be drawn.

Dr Kelly Turner

As this post comes to an end, I am thinking back to Dr Kelly Turner’s work on spontaneous remissions of cancer. Kelly outlined how healing is based on a range of factors, only two of which were body-based (those of ‘radically changing your diet’ and ‘herbs and supplements’). By asking Daniel only about the body-based activities and treatments he had, we are missing out on finding out about the majority of his healing journey.

Dr Kelly Turner also discussed how valuable information about healing can be gained from asking the patient themselves what they believe healed them. Daniel Darkes thinks his healing resulted from the combination of his running and his diet, which is high in zinc, nuts, oily fish and vegetables.

I intend to use Daniel Darkes’ route to health as a roadmap for my own healing. However, I am hoping that I won’t need to achieve the fitness of an ultra-marathon runner to heal my Type 1 Diabetes… I dearly hope that my unique path to healing may not require such a high level of physical exertion for the same results!! Let’s wait and see.

Enjoyed this post? Check out my post on ‘MORE Spontaneous Remissions From Type 1 Diabetes!’ too.

GET HEALINGT1D’S FUTURE ARTICLES IN YOUR INBOX!

Get the latest findings and musings straight to your email inbox.

Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

The content of the HealingT1D website is for educational and information purposes only. It does not contain medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please always consult with your doctor, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making any adjustments to your routine or healthcare regime. HealingT1D and all associated with it will not be held liable for any risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.

Recent Comments:

latestModapks on Daniel Darkes
Natalie Leader on Daniel Darkes
Senna on Daniel Darkes
Sandra on High Blood Pressure
Natalie Leader on What Is Type 1 Diabetes REALLY?

20 Comments

February 17, 2020