17 Aug 2009

Hi Aunt Fifi -- Can't help you on these capsules, but my friend who has type 2 diabetes went on a raw diet after watching Raw for 30 Days, about regular people who tried a 100% raw diet to beat diabetes, with huge success. My friend has got her insulin dose down from 40 to 6 and will take the step to 0 when she has the courage. I started eating more raw food (50-80%)because she is so happy on the diet and found all my cravings have totally disappeared, which is a miracle in itself after years of roller coaser dieting. A raw food stall popped up at our farmers' market and the woman running it now serves as an anchor for people trying to eat raw, or more raw -- a lot of them are trying to dodge the family diabetes bullet. Raw food sounds freaky (I was HORRIFIED when she said she was doing it) but it's not hard at all. The community really helps to make it easy. Just an alternative to think about!

—Posted by Sally

16 Aug 2009

I have been using Gymnema as part of a herbal tablet (along with chromium, B12, Glucomannan, etc) for a few months and took it twice per day. It gave me better numbers but not as good as I would like, and some consistency in my readings. Recently I changed to a capsule - hard as heck to swallow - that is a higher dosage. I take it once per day per the instructions, but have noticed that I now have times of lightheadedness or dizziness. They are not so severe that I can't function, but I am afraid to drive my car when this happens...just in case. This has happened in the past week, that I have been on the new dosage. I have no idea if this will fade in time or if it is necessary for me to drop back to the other dosage. I am hoping to avoid that because the cost of the higher dosage is waaaaay less. Unemployment, limited prospects, and a diagnoses of Type II about four months ago. Life, is not fun sometimes. I would appreciate any advice about the dizziness aspect...I don't want to give up on the Gymnema and have to go on the drugs my doctor recommended. Taking that path is such a trap! (Here, eat 60g of carb per meal, take these pills, and you'll be fine. No, we can't stop the cardiovascular disease, the heart attack you are guaranteed to have, the kidney failure, the amputations....nobody can....but we have pills....so be a SHEEP and do what we say.) Sorry. My anger at the system, and the industry that diabetics have supported for years, and died for for years, is showing. Thank you for listening.

—Posted by Aunt Fifi