Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease--and How to Fight It Paperback – September 7, 2021

I watched Ben Bikman on YouTube when I was learning about insulin resistance. Insulin is what brings glucose to every cell in your body. When you are insulin resistant, that important ability does not work as well - the cells have difficulty letting the glucose in, so it increases glucose levels in the blood instead of it going to cells where it is needed and used. Type 2 Diabetes is insulin resistance. Pre-diabetes is insulin resistance. Even before you get to those conditions, you could be having glucose spikes due to insulin resistance which causes inflammation and damage to your body leading to health problems.This book has such a wealth of knowledge to help you understand your own health conditions, why you have them, and even more importantly, how to prevent others from developing. I gave this book to two of my nieces and my doctor (to use as a reference for others), since I wish I had this knowledge in my 20's before I had any health problems.This book lists a whole host of diseases and problems and explains how insulin resistance causes them, from high cholesterol, cardiovascular, Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver (NAFLD) disease, gallstones, dementia, Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), erectile dysfunction, obesity, cancer, skin problems, muscle loss, fibromyalgia, bone health, kidneys, and more. It could be a little depressing reading all the stuff that you could get when you have realized you (and 50 - 88% of Americans) are insulin resistant, but just read about the stuff that pertains to you than skim the rest.Ben does devote half the book to give you actionable advice and tips on diet and exercise to help reduce the glucose spikes. To simplify for me, it is eat protein and vegetables, limit starchy vegetables. Ben says any exercise is better than no exercise, and any movement does help your body burn off that glucose that is looking for a place to go. Walking, even better running. I have an desk version of an elliptical that I use after dinner and while watching TV (Sunny Health & Fitness Sitting Under Desk Elliptical Exerciser, Portable Pedal Training Machine for Senior Exercise, Peddler for Home Workout) and I use hand weights when I tired of pedaling. Muscles will help reduce your insulin resistance.We had gotten a Dexcom Stelo continuous glucose monitor (CGM), available without a prescription. and it was life changing. It alerted me that something was wrong when my glucose levels spiked after eating but my husband's were a lot lower. With the data, I was able to show my doctor and able to get a prescription for the Dexcom G7 CGM. Being able to see the glucose readings near real time (Stelo is 15 minutes), makes it easier to take control and move a little to try and bring down those glucose levels.

For years, I have been slowly sinking in the quicksand of my own fat, drowning in my own fat, and never, ever came close to understanding that no matter how much you exercise, cut calories, or try different diets, or use thermogenic vitamins, supplements or hop on vibration plates, or jump on exercise equipment--nothing works. But I read this book in two hours. And I reviewed it two hours later, reading it again and in plain language---spoiler alert---Professor Bitman took the fluttering moth of this complex subject, the topic of insulin resistance, and turned it inside out: the moth morphed into a bright yellow sombrero. And I walked outside--illuminated--- by sunlight, the truth. Inflammation causes insulin resistance by the overproduction of ceramides that gunk up our glucose receptors. I AM DROWNING IN INSULIN AS AN OBESE MAN. AND UNTIL I DROP THE HIGH LEVEL OF INSULIN, I WILL REMAIN FAT. There are many videos that help elucidate the subject and different pathways to ceramides. Professor Bitman is the expert on ceramides. Fasting lowers insulin. Its that simple. One has to drop insulin levels to get the body to use AMPK to lower the enzyme that blocks CPT1 on the membranes of mitochondria, that is the gateway for fats to get in, for fats to burn in the mitochondria. With high levels of insulin---suppressing AMPK, the obese person never gets to first base in a game of baseball. Fasting for 72 hours is a home run. Alt Day Fasting for 48 hours is a like hitting a double. You can steal third from there. After three months of managing a SOBER DIET. The Obese are trapped in the quicksand of too much insulin. FASTING LOWERS INFLAMMATION. It reboots your immune system with a 5 day fast. FASTING 5 days once a month has been recommended by Dr Viktor Longo as a way to help reverse fatty liver and become healthier. FASTING once a month helps to reduce the excess palmitate in your liver, pancreas, thymus, and visceral fat around the heart, kidneys. Eat a sober diet by eliminating nicotine from smoking, drugs, alcohol, fructose from honey, fructose in berries, sugar, carbs, cereals, pasta, breads, cake, donuts, pizza, pies, potatoes, peanut butter, all nuts, all seeds, seed oils, even olive oil and avocado, and processed meats. Avoid artificial sweeteners, and the sweet taste of toothpaste and mouth wash. Eat a strict way---avoiding animals fed corn and soy like chicken, pork, turkeys---eat beef, eggs, goat cheese, sheep cheese, salmon, sardines, krill, cod liver, shrimp, scallops, crab, mussel, clams. After 3 months, you can start having something sweet again by making a great keto dessert---heavy cream, knox gelatin, and a few tsp Glycine (amino acid) chilled in a bowl in refrigerator. Add blue berries in gelatin on top of the white cream base. This is called a Keto Blueberry Salad, and recipe from the 1950s.Heavy cream is allowed if its organic and it does not have bad thickening agents. You can use Glycine to sweeten caccao, or coffee, or Golden Milk with Turmeric. I add MCT oil for these keto warm drinks. I do not sweeten my mushroom coffee with Cordycepts, Chaga, Lions Mane, and Porcini. I take unsweetened KETO electrolytes. I do not sweeten my bone broth. Or when I put butter in my coffee.

The information in this book is invaluable and should be required reading for medical practitioners. Insulin resistance is the root cause of many of chronic diseases seen today. With this information preventative strategies could be implemented to prevent multiple chronic conditions rather than treat them once they have gained a foothold. This author manages to make complex medical information easily understandable which is unusual. The irony is that our health care system is not about being proactive but to treat diseases once they become problematic . It therefore behooves lay people to educate and advocate for themselves. This book goes a long way to pushing us in the right direction. Read it. You won’t regret it.