Health and Wellness Coach with Physician Monitoring as a Modern Approach to Chronic Conditions

For a person who's type 2 diabetic, or any condition for that matter, where insulin resistance plays a role in, wouldn't it make sense to first approach the evolutionary diet and adjust their carbohydrate levels to the point that works for them and results in improving their chronic

conditions to the best extent possible like lowering triglycerides, lowering insulin, lowering glucose levels, by a health and wellness coach while a doctor monitors their lab tests. After all of that, if improvement isn't sufficient, then consider medication?

This approach makes a lot of sense and is in line with many modern approaches to managing conditions like type 2 diabetes. Here’s why:

1. Root Cause Approach:

Type 2 diabetes is strongly linked to insulin resistance, which is often exacerbated by high-carbohydrate diets, processed foods, and excess caloric intake. Addressing the root cause—poor diet and lifestyle choices—can lead to significant improvements in insulin sensitivity, blood sugar control, and overall metabolic health. Many studies and clinical approaches, including those inspired by ancestral or evolutionary diets (like paleo or low-carb/keto diets), have shown that reducing carbohydrate intake and focusing on nutrient-dense, whole foods can lower blood glucose levels, reduce insulin resistance, and improve lipid profiles (like triglycerides).

2. Diet and Lifestyle First:

For many chronic conditions, especially type 2 diabetes, lifestyle changes—diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management—are foundational and can reduce or even eliminate the need for medication. Focusing on lowering carbohydrate intake to a level that the individual can tolerate (based on their unique physiology) can be highly effective. For many, this means cutting out processed carbs, sugary foods, and refined grains, which often leads to better blood sugar control and reduced insulin levels.

3. Individualized Approach:

Each person’s response to carbohydrate intake and diet is different, and a health and wellness coach could help guide an individualized approach that works for that person’s specific metabolic needs. Some people may benefit from very low-carb or ketogenic diets, while others might do well on moderate carbohydrate intake, depending on their insulin sensitivity, activity levels, and other factors.

4. Monitoring by Healthcare Professionals: Continuous monitoring by a doctor, especially with regular lab tests, is crucial in this approach. Lab markers like blood glucose, HbA1c, insulin levels, triglycerides, and cholesterol provide measurable outcomes to see if diet and lifestyle changes are effective. If needed, adjustments can be made based on those results.

5. Medication as a Second Step: If after optimizing diet, exercise, and lifestyle, the individual still has not reached their health goals or has persistent high blood sugar levels, then medication can be considered. This way, medications become a supportive tool rather than the first line of treatment, and might even be needed in lower doses than if lifestyle changes weren’t made.

This approach empowers the individual to take control of their health while using medications as a supplementary intervention, rather than the primary means of managing the condition from the start. It aligns with the idea of treating the underlying cause rather than just managing symptoms.