Bitter Melon Pills - Does it work for Diabetes: 3 Mistakes to Avoid

Do bitter melon pills work for diabetes? Many people with diabetes take bitter melon extract supplements because they prefer a more natural approach to controlling their blood sugar. I understand that completely. But in my years of coaching patients, I see three very common mistakes made by people who go down this path. Watch the short video below, or read on.

First, Let Me Be Clear About What I Am Not Saying

I am not saying bitter melon does not have potential blood sugar lowering properties. I am not against taking supplements. That is not my message in this video and it is not my message here.

My goal is simply this. If you are taking bitter melon pills for your diabetes, I want you to be aware of three things. Three mistakes I hope you will avoid.

Mistake Number One: Misunderstanding What "Food as Medicine" Really Means

Many patients say to me: "Doctor, I am taking bitter melon supplements because I prefer food as medicine. I prefer a more natural approach."

I appreciate that thinking. I genuinely do. But can I suggest that putting a food extract into a pill is not quite what food as medicine means?

Food as medicine is not about extracting one compound from a food and concentrating it into a capsule. That is actually closer to how pharmaceutical drugs are made, not how food works as medicine.

The more powerful and more accurate way to see food as medicine is this: optimising all aspects of your food-related habits. The what, the when, and the how of what you eat. The full picture. That is food as medicine in its truest and most powerful sense.

So regardless of whether bitter melon has any efficacy in helping control blood sugar, perhaps we should not be so quick to put it in a pill and call it food as medicine.

Mistake Number Two: Using Supplements to Avoid Tackling the Root Causes

This is the mistake I see most often. And it is the one that concerns me most.

Unless you fully, comprehensively, and adequately tackle, change, and improve all the aspects of your eating habits that are clearly contributing to your poor blood sugar control, no amount of supplements, however efficacious, will be of much real help.

Can you see what is happening here? The supplement becomes a reason not to do the harder work. "I am taking bitter melon pills, so I am doing something." But the eating habits that are driving the blood sugar spikes are still there. Still causing damage. Still contributing to the progression of your diabetes.

Bitter melon pills cannot fix a diet that is still full of excessive sugar, excessive refined carbohydrates, and poor food choices. That is not what they are designed to do. And that is not what any supplement can do.

Mistake Number Three: Thinking Blood Sugar Control Is the Only Goal

This is perhaps the most important mistake of all. And it is one that I have to highlight to my patients regularly.

The goal of diabetes management is not just good blood sugar numbers. That is a part of it. But the full and ultimate goal must be this: retarding the progression of diabetes, preventing complications, and achieving good long-term health outcomes despite having diabetes.

And that can only be achieved through holistic lifestyle and dietary habits change and improvement. Not through pills alone, whether those pills are prescribed by your doctor or are natural supplements you have decided to take yourself.

Good blood sugar numbers on your next test result are encouraging. But they are not enough if your underlying habits are not changing. The complications of diabetes develop slowly and silently. They develop from years of suboptimal management. The only way to genuinely combat them is through comprehensive, holistic lifestyle change.

The More Important Question to Ask

So can I suggest a more useful question than "do bitter melon pills work for diabetes?"

The more useful question is this: what aspects of my eating habits and lifestyle are clearly contributing to my poor blood sugar control, and what am I doing to comprehensively tackle and improve them?

That is the question that will lead somewhere. That is the question that gets you to the root causes. And that is where the real leverage is for combating your diabetes well and for the long term.

Nobody's lifestyle and eating habits are perfect. In every person I coach, there is always room for improvement. Often significant room. So let us tackle that first. Let us tackle it fully and holistically.

Because to combat diabetes optimally, you must unlock the full potential of your lifestyle and eating habits as medicine.

The Takeaway

I am commenting on whether bitter melon pills are effective or not, whether they are good or bad or even whether they are safe to be taken long term or not. But I am emphasizing these three things regarding taking bitter melon pills for blood sugar control and diabetes management:

One, see food as medicine more holistically. Not as food extract in a pill.

Two, do not let supplements become a substitute for tackling the root causes of your poor blood sugar control.

Three, remember that the goal of diabetes management is more than blood sugar numbers. It is your long-term health. And that requires holistic lifestyle change.

About Reversing Type 2 Diabetes

Reversing type 2 diabetes may be possible if lifestyle habits are changed and improved early enough, appropriately, adequately, and sustainably. Go and learn more. Get help. Start now. Start today.

Reversing Type 2 Diabetes - The Essential Basics: A Structured Online Learning Programme by Dr Chan

You may also want to read: Can Type 2 Diabetes Be Reversed? Dr Chan answers.

Video Synopsis

In this mini coaching session, I highlight three common mistakes made by people who take bitter melon extract supplements for blood sugar control. Mistake one is misunderstanding food as medicine to mean putting food extracts in a pill rather than optimising all aspects of eating habits holistically. Mistake two is depending on supplements without comprehensively tackling the eating habits that are clearly contributing to poor blood sugar control. Mistake three is thinking that the goal of diabetes management is only good blood sugar numbers, rather than preventing progression and complications through holistic lifestyle change. I am not dismissing bitter melon supplements but encourage viewers to pay close attention to these three points before relying on any supplement for their diabetes management.

Full Video Transcript

The following is the full transcript of the video above.

Three mistakes many people make when taking bitter melon extracts as supplements for diabetes control. Welcome to the Habits Pharmacy where habits become medicine. I'm Dr Chan, your host. In today's mini coaching session I want to highlight three very common mistakes that I see made by people who take bitter melon extracts as supplements for their blood sugar or diabetes control.

The people who say to me something along the lines of "Doctor, I'm taking bitter melon extract supplement pills for my diabetes because I prefer to use food as medicine, because I prefer more natural approaches, natural methods to control my diabetes." If you had also said something similar, something along these lines to me, I would like to highlight to you three things you should note, three mistakes I hope you would avoid.

Number one. The concept of food as medicine. Does food as medicine necessarily mean taking the extracts of food and putting them into pills? May I suggest that perhaps that is not a good way to see food as medicine. That food as medicine is not about putting the extracts of foods into pills. That instead of seeing food as medicine in the form of supplements, medicinal foods or superfoods, may I encourage you to see food as medicine more holistically in terms of modifying and optimizing all aspects of your food related habits to better control and combat diabetes. The what, when and how of food related habits. So regardless of the efficacy or potential of bitter melon in being helpful in controlling blood sugar, perhaps it is better that we should not be so quick to put bitter melon in the pill.

The second mistake is this. That unless you fully, comprehensively and adequately tackle, change and improve all aspects of the many problematic aspects of your eating habits, your food related habits, that are clearly causing, aggravating, impacting your diabetes condition and blood sugar spikes, then no amounts of supplements or superfoods, however efficacious, including bitter melon pills, would be of much help. Because that would not be tackling the root causes of one's diabetes condition and unhealthy blood sugar spikes.

Mistake number three is the failure to see that the goal of diabetes management is more than just about achieving good blood sugar control, whether through the drugs prescribed by your doctor or the supplements including bitter melon pills that you have decided to put yourself on. The full and ultimate goal of diabetes management must be about retarding the progression of, preventing and reducing the complications of diabetes. And that can only be achieved through the holistic lifestyle and especially dietary habits changes and improvements.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against taking supplements. I am not saying bitter melon does not have potential blood sugar lowering properties. My goal and my hope for this video is simply this. That without even having to go into investigating and reviewing whether bitter melon extract supplements in the form of pills is safe or efficacious in lowering blood sugar, that you should pay a little more attention to these three things that I have highlighted in this video.

Number one, that instead of seeing food as medicine in the form of food extracts in a pill, you should be seeing food as medicine more holistically. Number two, that in our quest to look for answers in the form of medicinal foods or supplements to improve our blood sugar control, that we do not neglect or overlook the need to tackle the underlying causes of one's poor blood sugar control in the first place, starting with reviewing, changing and improving all problematic aspects of one's eating habits. And lastly, we must always remember that the goal of diabetes management must be more than just good or better blood sugar control. That combating the progression of and the complications of diabetes can only be achieved through holistic lifestyle and dietary habits optimization. That for one to improve one's chances of combating diabetes fully and successfully, that is to have good long-term health outcomes despite having diabetes, one must do a lot more than just depending on pills, whether it is in the form of drugs prescribed by your doctors or the food supplements in the form of pills to achieve better blood sugar control. We must fully unlock and unleash the power of holistic lifestyle and eating habits change and improvements as medicine.

If you have found this useful you might want to watch my other videos related to this topic here or in the links below. Let Habits be Thy Medicine. Eat Well and Be Well.

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