Heal your pancreas and fat just falls off

Drop 9 pounds in 7 days on Dr. Ian Smith’s breakthrough plan

As a medical contributor to The Rachael Ray Show, host of the nationally syndicated radio show HealthWatch and a former member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition, Ian Smith, M.D., has a bird’seye view of the health struggles affecting women across the country. The one that most worries him: “There are 29.1 million type 2 diabetics, 86 million prediabetics and millions of nondiabetics who are addicted to sugar,” says the Harvardeducated physician.

Part of the problem, Dr. Smith asserts, is that the standard American diet is loaded with hidden sugars—so much so that research in the journal Public Health Nutrition revealed that even when dieters think they’re being “good” and avoiding sugar most of the time, they’re actually eating as much as 48 percent more sugar than they estimate. That translates into as much as 1⁄2 cup a day!

Over time, all this excess sugar in the diet can damage the pancreas. Here’s how: When we eat a sugary or carbrich meal, the beta cells of the pancreas pump out the hormone insulin in response to the amount of sugar in the blood. That insulin acts like a key, unlocking the door that allows the sugar molecules inside muscle cells, where they are burned for fuel. But consistently high sugar levels force the beta cells to work overtime to produce enough insulin—and eventually the beta cells get maxed out.

“It’s called pancreatic burnout,” cautions Dr. Smith. “Continuously introducing a high sugar load to the system challenges the pancreas and can actually lead to cellular dysfunction.” This negative effect