103. Tips to Improve Blood Sugar Control with Dr. Beverly Yates

Dr. Beverly Yates 0:00

Do you not do and if you do have this diagnosis now you can do something about achieving and maintaining blood sugar control that is within reach.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 0:12

Welcome to the your longevity blueprint podcast. I'm your host Dr. Stephanie gray. My number one goal with the show is to help you discover your personalized plan to build your dream health and live a longer, happier, truly healthier life. You're about to hear from Dr. Beverly Yates today is all about diabetes prevalence myths and how important nutrition exercise sleep supplements and community really are. Let's get started

Welcome to another episode of The your longevity blueprint podcast. today. My guest is Dr. Beverly Yates, who is a licensed doctor of naturopathic medicine, who used her background in MIT electrical engineering, and work as a systems engineer to create the Yates protocol and effect a program for people who have diabetes to live the life they love. Dr. Yates is on mission to help 3 million people heal from type two diabetes and pre diabetes. Dr. Gates is an internationally recognized speaker and expert in the fields of diabetes and heart disease. She is a published author of heart health for black women and natural approach to healing and preventing heart disease and co author of multiple books including with Jack Canfield, the soul of success, volume two. That's cool. Dr. Gates has been featured in numerous media outlets. Welcome to the show, Dr. Yates.

Dr. Beverly Yates 1:26

Hey, it's definitely thank you so much for having me here. I'm really thrilled to be here on your podcast talking with you about longevity. I always feel like it's important. Let people know, we can live long and live well. We want to put life in our years and years in our life.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 1:40

You're speaking our language. Well tell us your story. Your bio is very interesting. So how did you go from MIT grad to diabetes doctor?

Dr. Beverly Yates 1:48

Yeah, you know, the connection there is just being so results oriented in my own health journey. I've originally started out in Silicon Valley as electrical engineer. That's not a surprise, right? That was definitely and still is a thing. And in moving from California to Oregon to the Portland Oregon area a decades ago. It's just such a different environmental climate, it's much, much more wet. They're much moister. And as such, I'd never lived anywhere where it's common for mold to grow on concrete. I did not

Dr. Stephanie Gray 2:19

know that. That moist. I was wondering where you were going with the moisture?

Dr. Beverly Yates 2:24

Is that moist? Right? It's a temperate rainforest, or was it climate change? I'm not sure because I think everywhere, a lot of places in the West here but having a drought. But certainly then, in the 90s, that was definitely a thing. It was quite quite moist. And as such, it turns out, I'm sensitive to mold and didn't know it. And what got my health back together after what about a year of seeking conventional medical treatment, because I just didn't know of any other options. I spent about a year seeing an allergist, and in him the doctor and the nurse, you know, they were shooting me with these injections for allergy desensitization to mold. But after a year, I was not feeling better. And so Stephanie, I'm a very results oriented person. I'm like, is it working? You got to give things time to work. I know it takes time for stuff to that be right for your health. So it takes time to heal. But I thought here was a reasonable trial. And the other thing was I wasn't comfortable with the treatment process because no one would tell me what was in the injections. And I'm coming from science and technology got scared about that. Just telling me what. Yeah, yep. And they were just not willing to communicate. And I grew increasingly uncomfortable with having something injected and not knowing what it was. So long story short, my husband who also worked in technology, then fiance worked with a guy who had very similar symptoms, mind, brain fog, profound fatigue. You know, I've always been naturally blessed with the energy of five people. And they were all missing. I was so tired, right? And what a difference it made. So I saw a naturopathic physician there in Oregon for three consultations in this case that were profoundly life changing. I got my energy back my mental clarity back, we did really simple, gentle, natural things. And in our first consultation, he actually looked me in the eye and listened for about an hour. I had never had a doctor patient interaction like that ever in my entire life. And I was like, Oh, what's this? He's going after root causes. And it was really effective and helpful for me. And that is the connection for me between MIT electrical engineering, science them all that sort of stuff. And nature Pathak medicine are treating and addressing these root cause issues from a very holistic functional way to make sure I can restore my health and understanding that, you know, black mold is such a problem. It's a real toxin. And I had classic symptoms, and I'm grateful that I was able to make that shift and became aware, right. So from there, I started to do some wildcrafting herbalist work there in the Pacific Northwest, very different journey, like you know, got to see actual watersheds in the forest, where the water is literally shivering as it's coming into the ground and you know, restoring the aquifers etc. And being born and raised in city of Philadelphia. This was a very different experience for me, the one that definitely on many levels was it changing. So once I realized it was naturopathic medical school right there in Portland, Oregon, where I was at, I was like, Oh, hey, I'm gonna change careers, more people stuff. So I tell folks that I went from problem solving with things to problem solving with people, same systems. So it's really been helpful. I don't get lost with really complex health cases.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 5:20

Love it. So what made your focus be diabetes? So how where's that connection that's going

Dr. Beverly Yates 5:27

to journey to originally my focus was with primary care, it was going to be chronic illnesses, and usually it was gut things or heart related disease, right. Okay. And what I noticed in the 2000s was the steady rising tide of people coming in with blood sugar problems, in addition to gut problems, or in addition to a heart problems or arthritis problems or asthma or other inflammatory problems. As I started looking at the CDC and NIH numbers on things, I realized there was this growing tide of people with blood sugar related conditions. Unfortunately, it's done nothing but has run wild. It's gone up and up and up. It is its own epidemic. You could even argue it's a pandemic on its own. Right. Yeah, international issue at this point. It's not just us centric. There's a lot of factors. There's environmental issues there. Certainly the lifestyle side, you know, nutrition, stress, sleep, exercise, the lack of consistent or appropriate exercise, I would say, timing of meals. There's just a lot going on right now in today's world that is unfortunately, contributing to this big rising tide of people who have various kinds of diabetes, whether it's autoimmune type one, or not auto immune in onset, which is everything else.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 6:33

Sure. So you alluded to this growing tide, can we go to prevalence, like how common is type two will stick? What's kind of type two diabetes?

Dr. Beverly Yates 6:40

Yeah, the prevalence is pretty, pretty amazing here. When we look at type two, it is the lion's share of the diabetes world, right? It used to be certainly when I was a kid and a teenager and in my progression through naturopathic medical school, at that time, when you say diabetes usually meant type one diabetes, they all type one diabetes represents about 5% of diabetes, and type two and pre diabetes or pretty much like the other 90% to 95%. There's a slice there for type 1.5, which is a hybrid between type one and type two, usually conflict dependent, also known as La da, latent autoimmune diabetes in adults. So now type one diabetes can show up in adults, which was not a thing before the medical books from anybody's kind of medical school and wouldn't have mattered. It could have been allopathic conventional medicine, naturopathic medicine, chiropractic, osteopathic traditional Chinese medicine, etc. Everybody would have said, type one is kids juvenile onset and type two ages 60 7080. Hmm. They've both criss cross right, so now we have adults showing up for type one. And we have sadly, children as young as eight, which is shocking to me eight or nine years old showing up with type two diabetes. This is not sustainable. No. It's like a hockey stick. It's going up in a big way.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 7:57

Sure, sure. Can you define type two for our audience, which is obviously the majority at this point? Yeah.

Dr. Beverly Yates 8:03

Yeah, it's it's overwhelming majority right now. So type two diabetes is defined by clinical lab tests. For two measures. One is your A one C, hemoglobin a one C measured to pretty much every three to four months. And if your agency comes back at a number of 6.5 6.5 or higher, like 789, etc, that's considered type two diabetes. If you're a one C is measured as 5.7. For most lab tests, 5.8 for a few, but for most is 5.7 to 6.4, then that's considered to be pre diabetes. And if you're a one C is 4.8, to say 5.6, that number is considered to be non completely non diabetic, not pre diabetic, etc. Fasting morning blood sugars matter, that should be tested as well. And those numbers they're under 100 is considered to not be diabetic, I have a little bit different interpretation that I apply for my patients and clients. And for people whose fasting blood sugar is about 120 and higher for many lab tests because some of these, these reference ranges can also be regional along with national so fasting blood sugar of 120 or higher is considered to be type two diabetic or at risk. There are people who have higher a one C and lower Believe it or not morning blood sugar, fasting blood sugar, and some people are higher fasting blood sugar, but who's a one C is actually not in danger range. So I think I

Dr. Stephanie Gray 9:30

see a lot of those. I feel like Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Dr. Beverly Yates 9:32

you gotta take the whole picture and not just get too obsessed with it a number I say look at a trend like any have they look at a trend, cholesterol, all that stuff.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 9:41

So what you're saying is there's a lot of people to help out there. So let's go through some myths. So what's in your opinion, the number one myth about diabeetus?

Dr. Beverly Yates 9:49

I think the number one myth that unfortunately hangs out out there is that people are doomed to get it either they think their age is the reason they might think their gender they might think that their race or social group or demographics are the reason they might think that their income levels are even, they might think that their family heritage, their genes are the reason. And particularly people have a strong family prevalence, I can understand thinking that but it's not true. It's a myth you're not doing. And if you do have this diagnosis, now, you can do something about achieving and maintaining blood sugar control that is within reach. And so if you are pre diabetic or type two diabetic, you can certainly improve your situation, and either achieve better control or perhaps undo reverse that damage where possible. For some people, they might not be able to totally get out of the diagnostic criteria for the disease. And so you have to be clear about what you're defining as success. So I also don't want people have magical thinking, and here's why a lot of people push back about the idea of reversing, let's say, type two diabetes. And I'm like, Look, if you are able to find all of the sensitive things for your lifestyle that matter, and you achieve blood sugar control, you get completely out of the danger range. And back to the healthy numbers, you know, say a one C under 5.7, you know, morning fasting blood sugars, like say, 90 or lower to like 7070 to 90 range 70 to 85 range, that's great, you no longer meet the diagnostic criteria. But here's the things definitely some people have this magical thinking that once they've done that work, and found out what's most sensitive for their blood sugar, that they can stop. And it's lifestyle driven. And usually it is, and you undo your good work, it will return. So I get why there's pushback about the languaging around Reversing Diabetes, right? If we're talking about type one diabetes, we're not reversing that, right to be the person whose pancreas no longer makes insulin. And we don't have any magic yet for that. I'm hopeful that the science and tech folks will keep working on it. Because I've seen some amazing things go on with things like say sickle cell anemia, some other right. So who knows, maybe there's something on the horizon. But right now a type one diabetic is with today's info will require insulin as a prescription medicine for the rest of their life. And there's a lot more gizmo support between a continuous glucose monitor CGM, and insulin pumps and other things that make life better, simpler, etc. The technology around that and people's use of it and the communities are interacting in a really beautiful way. And things are getting better.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 12:20

We're at the end of this interview today. And just for the listeners, we're going to mention your Summit. But that's probably why you didn't name your some of the Reversing Diabetes Summit. Right? You named that transforming.

Dr. Beverly Yates 12:30

Transforming. You're absolutely right. Thank you, thank you for bringing that up. There were some people who wanted me to name it diabetes, you know, reversal summit or something like Reversing Diabetes Summit. And I could hear the howling, I ran that by a few people. And you know, they just got me really clear about and I didn't want to be associated with somebody who's trying to promote some sort of scam or fraud or crime. Yes, right. That's not me. Why would I do that?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 12:54

It's ongoing journey and lifestyle changes have to be maintained. And yeah, I liked I liked that with that verbiage. Let's go back, I know you have more myths. So what's another myth about diabetes?

Dr. Beverly Yates 13:04

Another myth about diabetes is that the community is not a big deal. Look, let's be real when it comes to chronic illness, community matters isolation, I wish we could have a lab test and objective measure for isolation. It's really so ironic, because a lot of people who have diabetes, like any other really big common illness, I say our disease or asthma often feel like they're all by themselves. And it's a very personal experience, right to have your blood sugar not behaving well. But the reality is, in the case, particularly of type two diabetes is that you've got 10s of millions of people right here in the US, and internationally, hundreds of millions of people who have a problem, but people feel so isolated and community matters, you need to be in a group of people that are looking to improve their health, they're looking for longevity, they want to live long and live well and move together as a group. It's one of the reasons why after that summit ends, I am offering a group program, and there'll be a series of boot programs that people can join, to help life real time break through these myths and have that community so they can have the facts, the information that they need and the support. I think that the way we have set up much of medical care in the US is that it's really managing disease. It's not caring for health. And one of the things that we almost always miss out on is this group coaching format, a group community so people can know they aren't the only one. And if you have family or friends around you who aren't particularly health minded, it can be so hard to work against that they might think that every treat in the world has got to be some sort of sweet or high carbohydrate, no fiber, no nutrients kind of thing. And it's pushing against what you actually need to be well, that's hard to keep being the salmon swimming upstream on that one that's hard.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 14:46

Community is so important. What about Would you consider this a myth when you know doctors are telling patients Oh, you just got to eat less and move more. How do you how do you feel about that?

Dr. Beverly Yates 14:57

I think it's a lazy, simple minded answer. That's how I feel about it. I made really sure in Summit that we did not ever put forward the idea of eat less and move more. Instead, it's more nuanced. And we don't want to insult people. But Everybody pretty much knows that. It's not that simple. And when it comes to, let's say, the type one diabetes, that's a different journey, right. And so we made it, so it was inclusive, we talked on all of our sessions about blood sugar and blood sugar management, and how to balance it, you know, helping type ones avoid those lows, which are life threatening, and helping everybody in the diabetes and blood sugar community to be able to achieve that healthy range of blood sugar. That's really the goal. Even if you're a person who just loves to talk about things for metabolism, let's say, in longevity, maybe you're wearing a CGM, continuous glucose monitor, because that's your jam, you know, great. The health data, the information you get is so critical. And being able to parse that and determine what does it really mean? What are the trends? Should I freak out if my blood sugar spikes to a 300? And I have no idea why, you know, things like that.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 15:57

So we know there's more to life and to managing diabetes than just eating less. But food does play a role. So tell us let's let's digress there for a minute. How important is nutrition. With management of diabetes,

Dr. Beverly Yates 16:11

it's of critical importance, it is the bull's eye of the target if you do nothing more than what you eat. Now, having said that, though, my clinical observation and 30 years of clinical work with this is that there are people who have unusual reactions to foods, and it's all over the map. That's why I say test. Don't guess I love a CGM, continuous glucose monitor or if you prefer pin sticks, the pin breaks along with the use of a glucometer test, don't guess how are you doing drop of blood with the pin stick or and using the glucometer or that CGM more convenient. You use an app on your phone and you get the real time data. Because you know what, if you're eating something that's perceived to be healthy, like quinoa, or blueberries and your blood sugar spikes, maybe the rest of your family has completely normal response. Hmm, by the same token, what if you have omitted any kind of potato let's say you've decided that sweet potatoes and white potatoes are out and maybe your blood sugar is fine with white potatoes and for some reason it's not with three potatoes, even with the skin on both of them. I've seen so many unusual reactions. Maybe you're okay. With grains with flour, maybe you're not maybe it's portions, maybe a half a cup or a quarter cup of something is okay for you and a full cup is too much test. Don't guess sometimes people do great with those resistant starches you know beans, lagoon, chickpeas, lentils, and it might be a portion thing, then again, you may get half your plate, you're fine.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 17:42

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Dr. Beverly Yates 19:42

Sure, and I think CGM 's are a powerful tool when you're trying to have life extension to enjoy longevity where you're having more years in your life and you are enjoying them and not ill right. So continuous glucose monitor is exactly what it sounds like. It is a gizmo it's usually pretty small. You can usually attach it, let's say on the back of your arm or some other places out of the way of wear and tear of life. You know, if you're an athlete that matters where you place it, and it is a device that gives you real time continuous sensing of what is the number for your blood sugar, pretty much your updated typically every 10 to 15 minutes, you'll get that assessment. So you'll see what's happening before you eat while you're eating. After you eat. So that way, it's easy to say, okay, pre meal, this is what my blood sugar was at 30 minutes after my meal. Here's what's happening. 60 minutes 9120 convenient and easy. And this can be used for people in all walks of life. And at any stage. Let's say a woman is at risk of gestational diabetes. This is a gift to have a CGM because now she can figure out what in the world is causing her blood sugar to rocket, right, that determines the size of as the fetus is growing and developing. And then after the baby's born, it determines that birth weight which matters because that baby's got to come out of your blood sugar's really high, you're at risk of having a really large baby and complications from other and potentially for the baby once it's born. For people who are older and may be on multiple medications, once you take your meds, you can see if you're having an adverse reaction to the meds, there aren't some meds that can have that effect. Sometimes steroids have that effect. Maybe there's a different medication that would not mess up and hijack your blood sugar. Some people it's stress, it's all about the stress, right? Stress is that bully that grabs us by the collar and slammed us up against our genetic weaknesses. Maybe it's sleep, maybe you're getting up frequently in the middle of the night. And it's not just to pee, you know, it could be that you wake up in the night, oh, I can't get back to sleep. And maybe you didn't have to pee could be you had a blood sugar low and your body perceives it as an emergency and it woke you up. But you didn't know your budget was low. So you might have to reconfigure remodel dinner, or consider a gentle small snack an hour before you go to bed. I don't generally I'm not a fan of snacking, except for people who have low blood sugar. And particularly with type one diabetes, I say do what you need to to get yourself out of that blood sugar basement, obviously because it finds threatening, like nobody wants that.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 22:07

Right? These tools are just they're amazing. And especially for patients who know they've had the hemoglobin a one C which is the average glucose over three months, right come back elevated. And they're really trying to target in how they should or shouldn't be eating that continuous glucose monitor is great. As you said gizmo. I like that. Generally speaking, though, what recommendations do you have? Like do you typically advise like a Mediterranean diet? Or is there are there what are your general recommendations for individuals with diabetes?

Dr. Beverly Yates 22:34

My general recommendations for people to get started is to consider that they have enough of the large groups of foods and macronutrients that we know are blood sugar friendly. So I say let the leafy green vegetables lead the way and have half of your plate be leafy green vegetables. And this is at all meals of the day. Yes, I am including this in breakfast, like my breakfast this morning. Leafy greens were half of it right you know, you can buy literally now boxes of salad greens, other kinds of greens already washed and prepped spinach or kale, collards, whatever it is that you would enjoy bok choy, they're already packaged and ready, they're ready to go. I've seen this all over the country, I've had a chance to travel. So it's not just here in California, it's everywhere. It's just gotten so easy, and it's affordable. Those tubs are pre washed greens are anywhere from $2 to five or $6. Depending on how big it is right. You can do it when you travel and have them in every meal. Next up is lean protein because it burns quite evenly. Then next I would put in there healthy fats that can be in the form of nuts or seeds. That could be olive oil added after you've cooked the meal so you don't ruin the health benefits that the olive oil has to offer you or coconut oil. You could cook with coconut oil, things like that, right. And then next, as long as your blood sugar is okay with this, you can add in your complex carbohydrates. So not the rocket rides. So to be clear, things like white bread or other kinds of flour that have their fiber stripped out of them are usually a disaster for blood sugar, but you could test to see if you're the rare person for whom that's okay. Otherwise, you want the complex carbs, that's going to be the beans and legumes. So black beans, red beans, white beans, pinto beans, let's see lentils, chickpeas, things like that. Those are usually quite stable because they already also contain protein and fiber, other nutrients in addition to those complex slow burning resistant starches. We want the resistant starch as the ones that don't cause that rocket ride, but instead, and even burn and all that stuff together, particularly the resistant starch and the fiber, including when you have fresh fruit with the skin on again that fiber feed your guts microbiome. So those microbiota the organisms that are friendly and healthy in your gut, they make up their microbiome, they have a lot to say about your blood sugar. They're getting what they need to help you have that even reliable blood sugar.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 24:55

I love it. Love it. Okay, let's go exercise. So we talked a little bit about Nutrition. Now let's go to exercise. What are you? Obviously, we're just making general recommendations here. But what do you have for us there?

Dr. Beverly Yates 25:06

I think the number one thing to focus on for blood sugar control, when it comes to exercise is to make sure you do things that are consistent, that are aerobic, but gentle, you don't have to pound yourself into the sand, often a walk is fine. And if you're wearing a CGM, continuous glucose monitor, you can see it real time. Like if you are angry or upset if you're stressed. Or if you've just been sedentary, take a look on your app, find out what your blood sugar is go for 1520 minute walk, look at your app again, chances are things got better for you. Right? You ate something and now your blood sugar, you know, just took off for the sun. Then once again, just go for a walk something something like that. If you have easy access and on a spin bike, a gentle ride does not need to be like, you know you're trying to do the Tour de France, or trying to run a marathon that often is not helpful for these things. And the next thing for exercise, in addition to consistency is doing weight training. I can't say enough about weight training or resistance training.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 26:03

All my guests say that that is the most important. So listeners. Are you hearing this? Yeah. Beverly eights also agrees Yeah,

Dr. Beverly Yates 26:09

yeah. For longevity. A lot of people wind up losing their longevity because they have gotten weak as they gotten older. And I can't think of how many people I've heard, particularly friends of our family who've had elderly members who have a fall or two. And then they are deceased. There's this amazing downward spiral that can happen particularly when people are in their 70s. So you want to build up that muscular bank in your 40s your 50s your 60s, so should you be blessed to live to your 70s and 80s. You are still healthy and vibrant. Those working muscles are blood sugar sponges. So it is blood sugar sponges. Yeah, yeah, blood sugar sponges.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 26:46

You're just full of all these one liners. You said nutrition is a bullseye stress is a bully. Blood sugar sponges. I'm trying to write these down because these these are didn't mean to cut you off. Sorry, continue.

Dr. Beverly Yates 26:59

I mean, it's just real, right? I'm glad. I'm glad that this is resonating for you, for you, yourself as a leader and for your audience. Because this is important. This is the stuff we should be learning in middle school and high school right now to have a great life

Dr. Stephanie Gray 27:10

right? off suddenly I'm depressed. And I'm just kidding. You're I thought we should we should be. And another on that note. One more thing that I know we both agree is extremely important with blood sugar control is sleep. So tell me your thoughts on sleep.

Dr. Beverly Yates 27:26

Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Sleep is the final frontier. And there we go. Yeah. It's the final frontier friends. Sleep is so amazing. It's where we can reset our brains, our minds, our bodies, our spirits, our souls, everything hits the reset button. Your whole body has a chance to refresh and restore. So does your mind and your soul. And if your sleep was compromised, you're going to struggle. And some of the struggle won't be obvious. Some of it will show up perhaps 10 to 20 years later, but the seeds started with the poor sleep. These things do not rack overnight, they don't.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 28:05

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Dr. Beverly Yates 30:35

we were in high altitude.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 30:38

Yeah, thank you. Maybe that was a problem. But there are EMFs all around, I had to unplug all the extra outlets. I mean all, but we were up late. And we did eat healthy, I will say that. But I kind of do obsess over sleep. But I think it's because I know how important it is. And so, you know, for many of my patients if they're not getting deep and REM sleep, and there are things that we can recommend, but you're my guest today. So rather than me talk I'll ask what do you recommend for improving sleep?

Dr. Beverly Yates 31:02

Yeah, I appreciate you bringing this up. because sleep is such a sensitive measure for blood sugar. And sometimes people's blood sugar goes haywire because their sleep is bad. They never get that reset. So their blood sugar should lower so that fasting morning blood sugar numbers should be lower like in that 70 to 89 or so range. But they don't get there because there's sleeps a hot mess, right? So the aura ring other things a Fitbit, you know, there's all these gizmos, there's other gizmos, right? So you can look at your sleep data and get an idea. My top tips are this, go to bed at the same time each night. Don't make excuses about et cetera. Number two, if you either remember your own childhood, or you have raised children, or help other people raise children have a stable same decompression time before your bedtime. Even if this wasn't how you grew up, and I'm so sorry, if your childhood was chaotic, you can reclaim this peace and calm as an adult, so critical, have at least an hour and preferably two hours of your easing to bed. Create your own if you want to think of it as like a lullaby ritual, whatever works for you. This means then various kinds of gizmos and screens are gone. The blue light from them and interruptions and distractions, the crises of the world. You know what? It's not helpful. And if you have a job, like say you are a first responder, thank you for your service, because you might not be able to unplug like that the rest of us unplug. So go to bed at the same time. Make sure you have a peaceful way and a consistent process. So you build that habit, your brain and your spirit knows what to expect your blood pressure everything knows what to expect. Oh, this is the hour before bedtime or two hours before. If you struggle with meals and over eating or have cravings. Here's a quick tip that is powerful. When you finish your last meal for the day your last food, floss and brush your teeth. Let that be the signal that we're going to bed soon. anchor it to the flossing and brushing you'll be amazed how many other habits straightened out without one.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 32:59

I have never heard that one I like it cost you nothing extra right? Yeah, no, it's so true as well with my son once his teeth are brushed, No more snacks. That's it Your teeth are brushed through all these things, all these habits these routines that we you know hopefully are you know implementing for children we forget as adults. And so sometimes you just have to take it back to the basics, take care of ourselves. So

Dr. Beverly Yates 33:20

I feel well said well said you're right we forget to take care of ourselves or caring for the little ones. You know so I invite us as adults to create what makes sense for us with a decompression you know, if you want to read something, read a book enjoy something funny, again, not based on a screen so it's actual perhaps paper whatever makes sense for you. I often save the comics or cartoons for that time of day because I happen to have like the comics,

Dr. Stephanie Gray 33:42

reading Yes, reading at night that no screens actual reading on a paper book is yeah, what I recommend. We've done a good job today laying foundation with nutrition and exercise and sleep but I have to ask as a naturopathic doctor what supplements you heavily use? I know in my practice, I'm a huge fan of fish oil and Berberine Can you tell me a few of your top supplement picks once you've laid the strong foundation otherwise with lifestyle changes.

Dr. Beverly Yates 34:08

So fish oil and Berberine are great partners. Other things for our blood sugar control our gym NEMA, that's a great one particularly if people have a tendency to once we taste and they may be under taste sugar. So if you're the person who's putting in four or 567 teaspoons of sugar and people are looking at you you might find that Jemima spelled g y m nama Jemima Sylvester is a great partner just to help calm the sense of sweetness so that you know those foods aren't so attractive to you right so if you're struggling with sweet cravings, and this can be part of the journey. That's a simple way to help. Bitter melon is another wonderful natural supplement again both of Jemima and bitter melon there has been research done that shows that they can helpful partners to help you achieve better blood blood sugar balance and help improve your cholesterol profile to at the same time both of them are I'd love to see more research about both of those herbs.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 35:02

Yep, I agree I use those as well. Well, this has been great. And we still need to talk about a few more things. So first, as we conclude the show, why don't you first tell us where listeners can find you and then where your practice currently is. Okay.

Dr. Beverly Yates 35:14

So listeners, you're welcome to come by and say hi, you can find me on social media. I'm available to Instagram and app Dr. Like the abbreviation for Dr. Beverly gates. So Dr. The EV er LYYATS. I'm also my website is like you would expect here, same thing, Dr. BEVERLYY. At CES, I have a free PDF file if you're interested that you can opt in for to learn more about pre diabetes, type two diabetes, that's a different length. That's Gio, like the word go dot natural healthcare.com/pd for like pre diabetes dash often,

Dr. Stephanie Gray 35:58

and we'll post all of those links in the show notes. I just wanted to give you the opportunity to share kind of where you're at and you also have an upcoming diabetes transformation Summit. So tell us I know you have some big names on there kind of tell us what listeners can expect. So tell us about your Summit.

Dr. Beverly Yates 36:13

All right. So the diabetes transformation summit was put together with blood sugar control in mind. So it's inclusive of people of all ages, we talk about things that affect kids, teens, people in their 20s 30s During the reproductive years menopausal and and proposal men and women as they're getting older and aging and then things for the elderly. We also included people who have expertise around many aspects of the hormonal world, thyroid experts, adrenal experts, bio identical hormone replacement, people who are doing things that are really cutting edge like say sound healing. We talk about spiritual aspects of diabetes, we talk about the importance of community and health coaches. And we certainly have an amazing roster of speakers includes people like Dr. Andrew Perlmutter, JJ virgin, Rita Marie la Scalzo, Cynthia Thurlow, and her work on intermittent fasting. We have Naveen Jain, who is the founder of biome, one of the gut microbiome companies, and a lot of other really excellent top notch folks who have a big impact, and whose work directly affects diabetes, blood sugar control, metabolism, longevity, living long and living well,

Dr. Stephanie Gray 37:20

I love it. I haven't heard of any summits like this yet. So I'm excited for you. And we'll post a link in the show notes for listeners to use to register for that. And it is upcoming, I mean, it's going to launch shortly after this episode launches,

Dr. Beverly Yates 37:33

July 25, to the 31st of this year.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 37:37

Very quickly here. Also, last question that I ask all my guests is what their top longevity tip, maybe. And it's okay, if we've already mentioned that throughout the episode, but what would be your top longevity tip?

Dr. Beverly Yates 37:47

I think my top longevity tip is to make friends with people of different ages. That's great. My mother shared that with me several years, actually, before she passed. And it's one of the most valuable things that she ever shared with me is a long list of things my mom gave such a generous, amazing loving woman. But I have to say she was right. You know, as I hit my 40s, she said, make sure you consciously make friends with people, different ages, people older than you, people your age and absolutely reach for people younger than you. And I've taken her advice. And I have to say my life is much richer for it.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 38:21

I've interviewed well over 100 people, and no one has said that, although Dr. Benson Padre did say, if you're living with individuals of different generations, that actually positively impacts your microbiome. Like we didn't even realize it. But it makes sense. So in a way, you're echoing that, and that's yeah, creative, creative longevity tip. Love it. Anything else you want to share with our listeners?

Dr. Beverly Yates 38:40

Yeah, you know, dear listeners, you know, please keep tuning in to everything that's here available. It's definitely does a great job of bringing together experts and asking really great questions or a wonderful interview and take action. Make a commitment. Every time you listen to a podcast, anything that's definitely is offering you make notes and pick the thing that you're going to focus on, because this is how we make our lives better. And that has a ripple effect out in the world. When I hear really bad news in the world. I always think what if that person had been served well, recently with their health, I'll bet that wouldn't have happened. So let's help each other make this world a better place.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 39:14

Yeah, good reflection. Yeah. Wonderful, great tips. Well, thank you so much today for coming on the show and sharing your mission to heal not just one but 3 million of diabetes. I know you're on track for that. I know your Summit is going to reach the masses. So congratulations on your summit and thanks for coming on the show today. Thank you so much. That was great. She had so many amazing one liners. I think my favorite was to let those leafy greens on your plate lead the way I encourage you take action and if you struggle with sugar cravings, especially after dinner, take Dr. Gates advice, brush and floss your teeth after dinner and no snacking afterwards and remember her diabetes transformation summit starts July 25. So be sure to register as soon as possible link of which I'll post in the show notes. Be sure to check out my book your longevity blueprint a And if you aren't much of a reader, you're in luck. You can now take my course online where I walk you through each chapter in the book. Plus for a limited time the course is 50% off, check this offer out at your longevity blueprint.com and click the Course tab. One of the biggest things you can do to support the show and help us reach more listeners is to subscribe to the show. Leave us a rating and review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. I do read all the reviews and would truly love to hear your suggestions for show topics guests and for how you're applying what you learn on the show to create your own longevity blueprint. The podcast is produced by the team at counterweight creative as always, thank you so much for listening and remember, wellness is waiting.

The information provided in this podcast is educational. No information provided should be considered to be or used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult with your personal medical authority.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai