supplement or other suggestions for wife

Well fish oil is a good option especially since she is brast feeding your daughter. DHA is extremely important nurological development in the formative years. There is a concern with metal and PCB's with fish oil so you might want to look in to the algae derived DHA instead as its suposedly impurity free, but it costs alot.

Beyond that I would not recomend anything while she is still breast feeding your child. After the child is weened I would recomend sesathin or phenogen. Both should be excellent for someone like her.

It sounds like she wants to have gastric bypass surgery done. Its quite effective and some of the newer devices are minimally invasive compared to the older methods. Its not a bad option. If I were you I would read about it and talk to her and her doc about your concerns. It is a fairly good option and should improve her health quite a bit. though while breast feeding I don't know. Thats something I would ask the doc about.

The gastric bypass involves the following: (I was a candidate till I failed 2 stress tests, I could probaly pass the stress test now but I would rather do it like I am doing)She will after surgery be put on a liquid meal from 6 weeks to 9 weeks, as close to 100 calories as she can hold down starting out then progressing to no more than 600 calories. At this point she will be introduced to solids. Protein will be the primary consideration. All food must be very fine either by chewing or by processing. Never again will she be permitted sodas, milk, or any food or drink which cause milk like effects in digestion. Anytime she accidentally eats too fast or too much she will throwup what she ate. In other words lots of meat as eggs have too much bulk to protein ratio, some very light vegetable, no grains for first 6 months.

Secondary bad part: only 65% success after 3 years. the others have extreme psychological problems requiring gastric tubes, or they burst the seams, or the seams lapse on their on. But no milk and no soda ever. You no longer have those sections of the stomach that can process those foods.

From your description it seems the only option is to reduce carbs to approximately 120 a day with 50% of those eaten at breakfast and 40% at the 2nd meal of the day. If all carbs are fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, she should be able to lose substantial weight with additional exercise at an approximate calorie intake of 2000.
This is not ketogenic but should be just above her basal metabolic weight maintenance level. With a brisk walk of 20 to 30 minutes 3 days a week (preferably in the morning) she should lose about 1/2 lb a week. After she has weaned the child then a real consideration of a low carb diet along the lines of Protein Power(Trade Marked) or Atkins should be considered. Insulin resistance does not in any way preclude low-carb dieting. If lower body exercises do not bother her too much then a 1 day a week gym workout of the lower body done in a thermogenic mode would be in order. choose 3 multi-joint exercises such as leg press, 1 arm dead lift, and single leg squats done in the following manner: Warmup with 70% of beginning of work set then do work set within and no more than 1 minute of warmup, choose a weight in which form failure is reached in 6 to 9 repetitions. after warmup do the workset beginning with referenced weight till form failure and then immediately attempt to do additional repetitions of exercise with warmup weight as part of same set (goal is to do 20 reps total of heavy+70% of heavy); No more than 1 minute 40 seconds until startup of warmup of next exercise. Now there are some who do 3 sets of this but I personally only do 1 set each. I have nothing left after my workout of 5 exercises 2x a week. My heartbeat remains elevated for 2 days after workout. According to Ironman from whom I adopted the method with my own twist (their's was a regimen of 3 sets 9-12 reps till failure of front squats, front pulls and bench press with 1 minute between sets) calorie expenditures above normal basal metabolism are expressed for 98 hours after workout. From my own version I would say this is correct as body temperature remains elevated through out the week. Doing it just 1 time a week will increase weight lost but not be so system tiring as my own regimen. The goal is to lose weight not to make her quit.

On the other hand some supplements that would certainly help are hoodia gordonii (South African) (not the canadian, french or american companies...they are frauds) for appetite suppression; biotin, banaba and gynema sylvestre to lower sugar, improve insulin sensitivity of muscle cells, and contribute to weight loss; and a good vitamin-mineral supplement with prominence given to chromium, vanadyl sulfate, and magnesium, calcium, and b-complex.

Prospectively I am looking to try <InsuLean> when it comes into stock at Bulk Nutrition and Avant;s anorect-in and a 3 month stack of sesathin, h.e.a.t. and leptigen basic

For myself the hoodia has been the greatest help as I have been able to maintain a 700 to 1000 calorie diet for 2 months now. I am an insulin dependant diabetic who was hospitalised for out of control sugar in April 2004. I got worse in the hospital and no amount of insulin would lower the sugar below 260. I weighed exactly 426 lbs. I only managed to get it under control with still to large doses of insulin using an extreme low carb diet. 90 % of my carbs are from brewer's yeast which contain the only experimental chromium with no toxicity and most of the rest come from eggs. It took 40 days to reach the 100 to 120 level in sugar. I halved the doses of insulin the next 2 weeks but the doses are still to high. The end of the 2 weeks was 10 days ago. I am still working on improving my insulin resistance and iI am slowly reducing the insulin. To give you a real world assesment of how bad it is I have never reached ketosis.
If you would like an update send an e-mail to [email protected] with subject JRN (required as I set my filters to basically eliminate any other mail)

First thing to cosider would be to GET OFF THE HORMONES!
Why was she taking them in the first place? Did she see an Endocrinologist or just an Internal MD? If it was from a general practicioner or Internalist, get a 2nd opinion. There is high high risk of breast cancer and other risk factors when taking HRT or getting the wrong kind/amounts of hormones. If she doesn't stop taking them, good luck getting rid of the excess water weight and fluid imbalance.

A Soy Isoflavone Supplementmay be a less potent way to naturally balance her hormones.

Also a high potent, naturally sourced CoQ10, around 150-300mg per day, can help in maintaining normal blood sugar levels,as well as being a highly potent antioxidant, supporting healthy cardiac function, immune support, helping keep the gums strong, maintain normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, just to name a few!

Oh yeah, and if she chooses Gastroplasty, good luck absorbing vitamins, minerals and other nutrients effectively. Yes, you will lose weight, but is it worth the risk of being malnourished the rest of your life?

thanks for such informative posts! . As to the hormone stuff that was many many years ago, but they obviously had their side efefcts. And the treatment was prescribed by an endocrinologist. And guess what, the doctor's office can no longer find her file!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BadOldBear, thanks for sharing all that, I will defnitely get her to read your post.

Anyways, with reducing carb intake, that's when her blood sugar levels go ballistic!

Thanks for all the info on the different supplements. Unfortunetly she really has a cycnical view of supplements, so that's going to be difficult. Our family doctor has suggested one drug, which has been mentioned somewhere in the forums but i forgot the name of it, for controlling insulin??? I'd rather, once she is no longer breast feeding to try some supplements first.

Anyways, she just got her glucose levels checked today, so we'll see how they turn out. Stay tuned.

Posted by: @sputnik

thanks for such informative posts!  . As to the hormone stuff that was many many years ago, but they obviously had their side efefcts. And the treatment was prescribed by an endocrinologist. And guess what, the doctor's office can no longer find her file!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BadOldBear, thanks for sharing all that, I will defnitely get her to read your post.

Anyways, with reducing carb intake, that's when her blood sugar levels go ballistic!

Thanks for all the info on the different supplements. Unfortunetly she really has a cycnical view of supplements, so that's going to be difficult. Our family doctor has suggested one drug, which has been mentioned somewhere in the forums but i forgot the name of it, for controlling insulin??? I'd rather, once she is no longer breast feeding to try some supplements first.

Anyways, she just got her glucose levels checked today, so we'll see how they turn out. Stay tuned.

Glucophage? If so that is very similar to banaba without the beta cell repair of gymnema.
Also if you look around the forums their is some information related to increased resistance brought on by GLA which includes some other positive information on how to improve insulin sensitivity.

vitaminspecialist: that is total nonsense. Read some more before you spout off like some expert.

Glucophage? If so that is very similar to banaba without the beta cell repair of gymnema.

Metformin is an excellent drug and banaba is not even remotely comperable in effects. Hell there is so little research on banaba extract that I don't know where you would get the idea to even make such a bold comparison.

Posted by: @Spook

Glucophage? If so that is very similar to banaba without the beta cell repair of gymnema.

Metformin is an excellent drug and banaba is not even remotely comperable in effects. Hell there is so little research on banaba extract that I don't know where you would get the idea to even make such a bold comparison.

My best cited response was to be from www.thedrugmonitor.com but they have removed the entire diabetic section from the site.
I am less familiar with the following and they do not give the specifics I was to use as to glucophage negatives but they do indicate there are substantial negatives in its use.
Secondarily banaba has been studied and those studies do suggest strongly that Banaba lowers insulin resistance which is the comparison I made with glucophage. Now as to the degree of insulin receptivity I was unable to find any authoritative study specifically addressing that query to either glucophage or banaba. The studies indicate substantial improvements but the degree is not set in stone. As to my very apparent hostility toward glucophage, that stems from being on it for 4 months on an 1800 calorie basically vegetarian diet by a local quack which caused my sugar to explode out of control and nonvoluntart hospitalization. I STRICTLY followed the diet but lost only 3 lbs. Of course the quack hinted very strongly that I was lying and tried many cheap tricks to get me to contradict myself. I have been very busy destroying his reputation and he closed his office in January. He still works at the hospitals though.

[0074] Table 1, below, shows results obtained from KK-A.sup.y mice. The Artemisia dracunculus extract significantly reduced blood glucose concentrations in the KK-A.sup.y mice, with efficacy similar to hypoglycemic drugs, as shown in Table 1. An unpaired Students t test was applied for comparison between the vehicle and test groups and significance at a level of P<0.01 was calculated. Troglitazone, used as the reference drug for this assay because of its effectiveness in lowering blood glucose, currently is not on the market because of hepatotoxicity [Physicians Desk Reference, PDR, Electronic Library, Medical Economics Group, Inc., Montvale, N.J. (2001)]. Metformin is an efficacious drug with a long history of use, but has many well-documented side effects [PDR, 2001)]. In addition to lowering blood glucose concentrations, Artemisia dracunculus extracts induced a reduction in the elevated blood insulin levels of KK-A y mice, similar to the oral hypoglycemic drugs. Again without wishing to be bound by theory, these results suggest potentially similar modes of action for Artemisia dracunculus extracts and these drugs, which involve an increase in insulin sensitivity rather than concentration.

Diabetes Glucophage (metformin) has a similar action as the sulfonylurea drugs, but without stimulating the pancreas and without causing weight gain. Side effects of digestive problems are common, but even more alarming, this drug can cause lactic acidosis, a rare but serious metabolic complication that is 50 percent fatal, especially for those with kidney impairment.......................................................
.................................
Banaba Leaf

Banaba leaf has recently been introduced into the U.S. from Asia. Clinical studies with diabetic patients have shown banaba to have remarkable blood sugar normalizing properties without any adverse side effects. In addition to its blood sugar and insulin normalizing benefits, banaba helps promote significant weight loss and fat reduction.

Gymnema Sylvestre

This herb has been used for centuries in traditional Indian medicine. New evidence shows that gymnema actually reverses damage to cells in the pancreas that are destroyed by diabetes when taken in doses of 400 mg per day for 18 to 20 months.

Unique Identifier
10737232

Medline Identifier
20199493

Authors
Suzuki Y. Unno T. Ushitani M. Hayashi K. Kakuda T.

Institution
Central Research Institute, Itoen, Ltd., Shizuoka, Japan.

Title
Antiobesity activity of extracts from Lagerstroemia speciosa L. leaves on female KK-Ay mice.

Source
Journal of Nutritional Science & Vitaminology. 45(6):791-5, 1999 Dec.

Abstract
Banaba in the Tagalog name, Lagerstroemia speciosa L., has been used as a folk medicine for a long time among diabetics in the Philippines. Extracts from banaba leaves have been reported to reduce diabetic symptoms in genetically diabetic mice (Type II, KK-Ay). In the present study, female mice of the same strain showing remarkable body weight gain were used to examine the antiobesity effect of dietary banaba extract. Five-week-old female KK-Ay mice were fed a control diet or test diet containing 5% of a hot-water extract from banaba leaves instead of cellulose for 12 wk. Neither group showed any changes in diet intake during the experimental period. Body weight gain and parametrial adipose tissue weight were lowered significantly in the banaba diet group. Blood glucose levels were not suppressed in the banaba diet group, but hemoglobin A1C was found to be suppressed at the end of the experiment. No effects on the serum lipids were observed, but the mice fed banaba extract showed a significant decrease, to 65% of the control level in total hepatic lipid contents. This decrease was due to a reduction in the accumulation of triglyceride. These results suggest that banaba had a beneficial effect on obese female KK-Ay mice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Citation 3.
Link to... •

Unique Identifier
9063966

Medline Identifier
97076613

Authors
Kakuda T. Sakane I. Takihara T. Ozaki Y. Takeuchi H. Kuroyanagi M.

Institution
Central Research Institute, Itoen, Ltd., Sagara-cho, Haibara-gun, Shizuoka, Japan.

Title
Hypoglycemic effect of extracts from Lagerstroemia speciosa L. leaves in genetically diabetic KK-AY mice.

Source
Bioscience Biotechnology & Biochemistry. 60(2):204-8, 1996 Feb.

Abstract
The hypoglycemic effects of Lagerstroemia speciosa L., known by the Tagalog name of banaba in the Phillipines, were studied using hereditary diabetic mice (Type II, KK-AY/Ta Jcl). The mice were fed a test diet containing 5% of the hot-water extract (HWE) from banaba leaves, 3% of the water eluent of the partial fraction unadsorbed onto HP-20 resin of HWE (HPWE), and 2% of the methanol eluent of the partial fraction adsorbed onto HP-20 resin of it (HPME) for a feeding period of 5 weeks. The elevation of blood plasma glucose level in non-insulin dependent diabetic mice fed the cellulose as control (CEL) diet were almost entirely suppressed by addition of either HWE or HPME in place of cellulose in the CEL diet. Water intakes were inclined to increase gradually in the group fed either CEL or HPWE, but lower in the mice fed either HWE or HPME than in the animals given either CEL or HPME. The level of serum insulin and the amount of urinary excreted glucose were also lowered in mice fed HWE. Plasma total cholesterol level was also lowered in mice fed the either HWE or HPME. It is suggested that HWE, especially HPME, obtained from banaba leaves have beneficial effects on control of the level of plasma glucose in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Citation 1.
Link to... •

Unique Identifier
11533261

Medline Identifier
21424259

Authors
Liu F. Kim J. Li Y. Liu X. Li J. Chen X.

Institution
Edison Biotechnology Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Athens, OH 45701, USA.

Title
An extract of Lagerstroemia speciosa L. has insulin-like glucose uptake-stimulatory and adipocyte differentiation-inhibitory activities in 3t3-L1 cells.

Source
Journal of Nutrition. 131(9):2242-7, 2001 Sep.

Abstract
The effects of extracts isolated from Lagerstroemia speciosa L. (banaba) on glucose transport and adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells were studied. Glucose uptake-inducing activity of banaba extract (BE) was investigated in differentiated adipocytes using a radioactive assay, and the ability of BE to induce differentiation in preadipocytes was examined by Northern and Western blot analyses. The hot water BE and the banaba methanol eluent (BME) stimulated glucose uptake in 3T3-L1 adipocytes with an induction time and a dose-dependent response similar to those of insulin. Furthermore, there were no additive or synergistic effects found between BE and insulin on glucose uptake, and the glucose uptake activity of insulin could be reduced to basal levels by adding increasing amounts of BE. Unlike insulin, BE did not induce adipocyte differentiation in the presence of 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX) and dexamethasone (DEX). BE inhibited the adipocyte differentiation induced by insulin plus IBMX and DEX (IS-IBMX-DEX) of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes in a dose-dependent manner. The differences in the glucose uptake and differentiation inhibitory activities between untreated cells and those treated with BE were significant (P < 0.01). The inhibitory activity was further demonstrated by drastic reductions of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma2 (PPARgamma2) mRNA and glucose transporter-4 (GLUT4) protein in cells induced from preadipocytes with IS-IBMX-DEX in the presence of BE. The unique combination of a glucose uptake stimulatory activity, the absence of adipocyte differentiation activity and effective inhibition of adipocyte differentiation induced by IS-IBMX-DEX in 3T3-L1 cells suggest that BE may be useful for prevention and treatment of hyperglycemia and obesity in type II diabetics. www.naturalproductsinsider.com/articles/2d1feat1.html An extract of Lagerstroemia speciosa L, also known as banaba, is said to benefit diabetics through its anti-obesity action and by controlling plasma glucose levels. Animal research conducted in Japan demonstrated positive effects of supplementation with Lagerstroemia speciosa L in female diabetic mice.31 The five-week-old mice were genetically diabetic and had demonstrated a "remarkable body weight gain." They were fed either a control diet or a treatment diet with a 5-percent hot-water extract from banaba leaves for 12 weeks. At the end of the study, the mice in the treatment group demonstrated a lower body weight gain than the control group, as well as a significant decrease in total hepatic (liver) lipid contents, mostly due to a reduction in triglycerides. Prior animal research has also indicated supplementation with the extract lowered blood sugar in diabetic animals.32 Researchers fed mice a test diet similar to that in the aforementioned study. After five weeks, the elevation of blood plasma glucose levels in the mice was almost entirely suppressed with the addition of the banaba extract.