Stop Metformin Side Effects: 3 Supplements That Naturally Lower Blood Sugar (MD Guide)
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Living Life. Well show the intersection of God's word, today's science and healthy living with common sense application, all based on the truth of the word of God. I'm your host, Dr. Jon Skelton. Now let's get straight to the truth.
All right. Welcome back to the Living Life Well Show. If you listen to our last episode, part one of our Reversing Diabetes series, you know we covered root causes. The root cause of type two diabetes is not sugar, and it's not typically your pancreas failing. It's insulin resistance driven by inflammation.
We talked about the path to reversal starts with understanding those root causes, getting the right lab tests, and today we are moving into actual application the list of to do, if you [00:01:00] will.
So I promise in the last episode we would talk about medications, alternatives, and diet. myths and specifically we're diving into a question I get all the time, are there effective natural metformin or other medication alternatives? So the answer somewhat. We're going to discuss three supplements that can help you naturally lower blood sugar by attacking insulin resistance at the source.
So this is vital information if you're currently dealing with metformin side effects, or if you simply want to pursue a, a natural path to health. So first, let's talk about metformin, which is often the. First line medication prescribed. It's effective. It does lower blood sugar By reducing glucose production in the liver and improving insulin sensitivity slightly, it helps, but, but it definitely doesn't treat the root cause of inflammation.
[00:02:00] And can tend to cause gut issues and for many, the side effects can be a real quality of life issue. The most common is gastrointestinal upset. That means primarily bloating, gas, and really diarrhea is the main thing. I see. This is a common theme with with many diabetes meds, not just the metformin. This happens primarily with metformin because it often changes the makeup of the gut biome.
The opposite of what we really want because the gut is a major driver of the inflammation and insulin resistance. Second issue is really metformin is known to deplete you of certain nutrients, specifically B12 and magnesium B12 is crucial for nerve health, brain function, and energy over time.
B12 deficiency. Can cause nerve damage or neuropathy that diabetes is known for. And this is kind of trading problems. The second deficiency I've talked about a lot with metformin [00:03:00] is really magnesium. Magnesium is. Needed to help insulin attach to the cell to allow glucose to get into the cell.
So when you're magnesium deficient, you become insulin resistance. So why would you prescribe a drug that causes you to lose nutrients over time and will cause eventually? Increasing insulin resistance and or side effects known to be associated with the disease process anyways. So for most of us, we could be magnesium deficient and that will cause 300 other necessary biological daily processes in the body that are dependent upon magnesium to have trouble being.
Carried out as well. So does this not seem like insanity to you? So please hear me. I'm not suggesting that if you are on Metformin you should stop it. Nor am I suggesting that there isn't a time or place to take Metformin. 'cause there absolutely is. [00:04:00] What I am suggesting is there is a massive magnesium deficiency in this country, including non-diabetics.
And so if you're on Metformin, you should also be on magnesium. Okay, so let's jump right in and talk about the three most powerful natural metformin alternatives that can really help with insulin resistance and lowering inflammation. First one most of you've heard about is berberine. So this is a plant derived compound.
It's ar arguably the closest natural equivalent to Metformin In terms of how it acts it, it. Like Metformin, ber berberine causes an enzyme called A MPK or a MP activated Protein kinase to really get turned on and that controls metabolism and energy throughout the body. By activating this A MPK pathway, berberine improves glucose uptake into the cells, helps reduce.
Glucose production in the liver as [00:05:00] well, and it's been shown to improve hemoglobin A1C and fasting glucose levels. Comparable to what Metformin does, but without the B12 depletion. Now, berberine is less associated with magnesium D depletion, but unfortunately at the dose that has to be most consistently shown to lower blood glucose, which is 500 milligrams.
Three times a day, it will still cause frequent diarrhea, nausea, bloating, and can also cause shifts in the, in the makeup of the gut biome. If you were to start Berberine, generally speaking, you would start about 500 milligrams per day, take 'em with food, and work up to that 500 milligrams three times a day.
I occasionally will have people take berberine, but because of the side effects at the effect. Dose. I usually try other approaches first. Now, the, the second one is a little better. It's a LA or, or alpha lipoic acid. We often hear about this for [00:06:00] neuropathy but it's whole role in insulin sensitivity is really key.
It's at. Potent antioxidant that works directly on the cells. It acts like a mimic, if you will, of insulin by increasing glute four transporter's presence on the surface of the cells. The glute four is essentially the pathway for getting the glucose. Into the cell. Think of it as essentially the, the door that is unlocked by the insulin.
It helps your body respond to the insulin that your pancreas is making. 'cause now there's more doors. A LA helps your body become sensitive to insulin. Again. It also helps fight oxidative stress caused by the chronic high blood sugar. A LA is used in neuropathy as well, it. Essentially works in two ways.
It neutralizes free radicals and increases antioxidants like vitamin C, e, and glutathione. It also increases blood flow to the nerves, which are, are [00:07:00] destroyed by high blood sugar levels. It does this by helping increase nitric oxide levels, which allow stressed and narrowed blood vessels to essentially be rejuvenated, helping restore blood flow.
And byproduct of normal sensation to those nerve endings. So for a LA, you start at about 600 milligrams a day for glucose lowering up to about 1200 to 800 if you're, or 1800 if you're talking about neuropathy. And that, and the 1800 is about the maximum effect. There are side effects, of course, primarily gi, more, more nausea and those things, but can also cause dizziness and headaches.
But really at the 600 milligram per day is pretty well tolerated and it's at the. Higher levels when you can experience these other symptoms. So if you're already on diabetic meds, you need to be very careful about starting this. So you need to contact your primary care physician as it can cause hypoglycemia, especially if you're on insulin or, or [00:08:00] like I said, other oral diabetic meds.
Potentially can cause hypoglycemia. Okay, so the last one is gut health, and that is probiotics. You guys have heard me talk about probiotics quite commonly. I, I do talk about this a lot. And we talk about butyrate producing bacteria, really helping to drive. Insulin levels lower. Now, there are a lot of different butyrate producing bacteria things like fa, callum, bacterium, and Clostridium.
However, those are somewhat difficult to find in the concentrations that you need to really help replenish the gut bio. So, you know, we've established that gut inflammation is a root cause. And so getting good probiotics and prebiotics help repair that gut lining, healing the leaking gut. And when the gut lining is healthy, there's less inflammation .
This, this reduces the [00:09:00] systemic inflammation that we can see with things like the CRP and SED rate that we talked about. And then we can focus on specific strains that support the overall gut biome. Things like bifido, bacterium, lactobacillus, which you've heard about before. In addition, Akkermansia.
And so Akkermansia can be an. Additional strain to use if you're known to be deficient in it. As it helps, really what it does is it helps support proper gut lining and recycling of that gut lining. Now, if you're looking for a good probiotic, you wanna look for a probiotic that has the lactobacillus and bi fiddle bacterium strains in a concentration of.
15 billion or more. This is gonna be very important. If you are underdosing, you're kind of spitting in the wind, right? Same thing, like when you use these other supplements we just discussed a LA and, and the berberine. If you're using them in much lower doses, yes, you're getting it, [00:10:00] but you're not really getting.
The effect of it until you get to that higher level. Same thing with probiotics. You really need to make sure that you're, you're getting at least that, that 15 billion. And because it has such a low side effect profile, it's most my most commonly recommended non-medication alternative that you can use to really help with your diabetes.
However, you can also create a good gut biome by eating. Fermented veggies as well as good Greek yogurts and keefer and other foods known to carry these same strains of bacteria. Now. Now look, even the best supplements are just tools and just like medications, they have side effects like we've talked about even at the therapeutic doses.
So you can't outs supplement a poor diet or lifestyle. You will always have the most success when you address the fundamental diet, dietary principles, and then back into what supplements are truly needed. Okay, so [00:11:00] now let's talk about a couple of myths about diet. So myth number one. All carbohydrates are equal.
They're not. If you are eating carbohydrates to come out of a box, a, a bag or a can, simple refined sugars and flours you are causing rapid blood sugar spikes and massive insulin secretions fueling inflammation. The focused shift to. Real food, whole food, not the juice extract or anything else. This allows you to get in fiber rich carbohydrates that absorb slowly, like vegetables and, and certain whole fruits.
And most importantly, for reversal, we must restrict carbohydrate consumption to a level that allows your. Insulin levels to drop. Okay, so that doesn't mean cutting out all carbs. That doesn't mean never eating a piece of fruit. That doesn't mean that you [00:12:00] can't have good food because you absolutely can.
You just need to really. Start eating real food. Real food that is going to sustain you, that's going to keep your blood sugars even not cause those crazy spikes. Because when we eat the extracts, when we eat or, or drink the juice we're just getting the sugar bomb. We're not getting any of the fiber.
That really helps slow those blood sugar levels rising. And so. When we do this, we, when we eat the Whole Foods, we really help to eliminate those spikes. Okay? So myth number two, eating many small meals prevents crashes. This is a common piece of advice, but for someone with high insulin resistance.
Eating all day long basically just means that you've got your pancreas fired up all day. It's constantly secreting ev insulin. It never [00:13:00] gets a rest. And so it also depends on what you're eating as well. So it, if, you know, you can eat multiple small meals a day that are high in refined sugars. This doesn't help you at all.
It perpetuates the issue, right? It keeps that that insulin secretion really high up here and is turned on all day long. So we need to create periods where insulin drops to a healthy baseline. That means focusing on nutrient dense meals. Incorporating periods of digestive rest, such as at least 12 hours per day without any caloric intake.
The way I typically recommend people to do this, especially when starting out, this is for some may be considered fasting. I don't, I don't consider this fasting, but really that, that three hours before bed until breakfast the next morning. So, for example, if you eat dinner at 7:00 PM you would not eat again until 7:00 AM This does a couple things.
A [00:14:00] has a, a, a powerful effect on, on resetting insulin sensitivity, but it also allows that gut to rest and repair, repair that, that healthy lining. And so, this is, this is the true diabetic diet, reducing the frequency of insulin secretion and ensuring the foods you do eat are low, inflammatory and rich in fiber.
So let, let's remember, the three biggest drivers of insulin resistance are diet. Gut health and sleep. So we've covered the first two. Let's, let's quickly touch on the third. It, it's really sleep and stress management. They're, they're really non-negotiable for reversing diabetes. You one night of poor sleep can significantly decrease insulin sensitivity the next day.
It spikes the cortisol it, it causes you to be hungrier when you have spiked cortisol as well. When, when you're stressed or sleep deprived, [00:15:00] the cortisol rises. Cortisol's job is to raise blood sugar to give you energy for fight or flight. And so if you're chronically stressed or chronic chronically sleep deprived, your cortisol is going to be fluctuating and gonna be high generally.
Speaking fighting your insulin and making any effort to lower your blood sugar really difficult. So getting six to nine hours of quality uninterrupted sleep is gonna be important. Now, a lot of people will say seven to nine. Really what you're wanting is you're wanting at least four cycles of sleep that are uninterrupted at night.
Most cycles are gonna be about 90 minutes. Could be a little bit longer than 90 minutes on average. Could be a little bit shorter, so. You, you really want to get to that six to nine hours and have it be uninterrupted. And then daily stress mitigation techniques such as b, breathing and other things that we've talked about in the past are gonna be important.
It's gonna be important as any [00:16:00] kind of medication or supplement. Really decreasing your stress on a daily basis is going to be very important to your overall health, not just if you have diabetes, but it also is going to help you promote gut health as well. So. Let, let, let's kind of recap what we've discussed so far.
So reversing type two diabetes, we need to, number one, identify the root cause, inflammation and insulin resistance. Where are they coming from? Checking certain labs, like fasting insulin is gonna be important. Two lifestyle changes, shift your diet to reduce insulin frequency and address gut health. And we'll talk more specifically about other lifestyle interventions you can import in the next segment.
And then three support with alternatives and, and considering powerful natural metformin alternatives like berberine or a LA and, and you're supporting your gut biome with probiotics. So. The [00:17:00] tools exist out there to reclaim your health and, and live life well without chronic dependence on medication.
But, they can be difficult to navigate. It can be difficult to navigate to what you really need and what's gonna be best when to implement that and when not to just even talking like the berberine and, and, and the alpha lipoic acid and those things. These are, these are good compounds. However, they're, they're not without side effects at the doses that we've shown them to be most effective.
And if you're already, you know, using medications and or insulin, you have to be very, very careful about incorporating either one of those into your routine. So now, if, if you're listening this and you realize you need a comprehensive step-by-step plan to put all these into practice, I wanna remind you about the Reversing Diabetes course I have coming up in, by the end of the first quarter of 2026, hopefully a little bit sooner, it will be [00:18:00] self-paced. We'll have live and recorded sessions for replay really designed to walk you through the path I've used for, for my patients to help them reverse their diabetes. So, the link to get on the wait list is in the show notes.
So if you're interested in that please sign up today to ensure you're first to know when the enrollment. Begins and we'll get going with that soon. So thank you for listening and you found this episode beneficial. Please share it with a friend or family member and please sub subscribe and give us a review because that helps get the message out to, to more people.
So. In the next, like we said, we'll di dive into specific dietary plans and interventions that, that you can incorporate. I will go over the, the two biggest vegetables to avoid as well as a few fruits to avoid and how you can really start this process and really give yourself a great benefit leading into this new year.
So thanks and God [00:19:00] bless. That's it for this episode of The Living Life. Well show if you like what you've heard and want to learn more or want to know how to put this into practice for yourself, go to live life well clinic.com. Until next time, this is Dr. Jon Skelton saying Go. And live the truth so you can live life Well, the preceding is for entertainment and educational purposes only.
It is not meant to be used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. The information contained in this show does not substitute the need for a qualified medical professional, nor is it meant to provide medical advice for services. If you feel information presented in this show may apply to you, we recommend you seek out the help of a qualified medical professional who can evaluate and treat your specific concerns.
