No More Needles for Mary Zuk
In February 2015, Mary Zuk,73, came to see me in Chicago. I am using her real name—Mary encouraged me to tell her story in case it could help someone else. She was a long way from her hometown in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. She had a long list of worrisome issues: Her diabetes was out of control, she had abdominal pain, and she had bouts of diarrhea after eating. A previous doctor told her she was “lactose intolerant,” but the recommended Lactaid milk didn't help.
She was an insulin-dependent diabetic. Despite the insulin and an oral anti-diabetic pill, her blood sugar was “all over the place”—it could swing from 94 one morning to 290 the next. We tested her for allergies and learned she was reactive to aspartame, MSG, sulfites, grain alcohols, cane sugar, corn, gluten, and dairy.
I advised her to avoid all her allergenic foods and additives and recommended a Paleo-style low-carb diet and exercise. I gave her the corn-free multivitamin Perque 2, NOW Foods Ultra Omega-3 fish oil, and a Renew Life probiotic with 50 billion organisms in each capsule. We set up a phone consult for March 26, after she was back home.
When we spoke in March, just one month after our first visit, Mary was happy. By removing additives, dyes, artificial sugars, cane sugar, corn, dairy, and gluten from her diet, she found that her fasting glucose had gone from 299 to 69 in a month. Her doctor in North Carolina was amazed. She was still taking one oral anti-diabetic pill, but no longer needed her insulin. Plus, she'd lost 8 pounds.
Mary called again on April 17. She said, “It's been fabulous. You have changed my life.” Her A1C (a measure of long-term glucose levels) was down from 8.5 to 7.0. She was still taking just one anti-diabetic pill and no insulin.
I called Mary again on October 10 to follow up. She said, “I feel really good if I follow my diet.” Her A1C had stayed down at 7.2 despite a bout of pneumonia. She said she had lost a total of 60 pounds, was still off insulin, and was taking her one anti-diabetes pill. She said, “It's like a miracle. People keep telling me how wonderful I look.”
