Taking Control of Diabetes

The diabetes epidemic sweeping across America affects nearly 40 million people, with numbers steadily rising. What lies behind this troubling trend? In this eye-opening conversation with David Delrahim, founder of Cocoon, we dive deep into a revolutionary approach to diabetes management that goes far beyond conventional advice.

Delrahim shares his transformative perspective on Type 2 diabetes—which accounts for 90% of all cases—emphasizing that while we aren't born with it, something happens between birth and diagnosis that disrupts our body's natural balance. This discussion challenges the traditional medical model by introducing Cocoon's five pillars of wellness: emotional, mental, energetic, spiritual, and physical balance. Through these interconnected elements, Delrahim demonstrates how diabetes management requires a holistic approach rather than merely medicating symptoms.

The conversation takes a particularly powerful turn when we share a personal revelation: a simple dietary change that lowered blood sugar by 75 points in just 11 days. This dramatic result underscores a central theme—taking responsibility for our health is transformative yet remains the hardest step for many. As Delrahim eloquently puts it, "Knowledge is different than awareness." Many people, even healthcare professionals, understand diabetes intellectually but fail to develop the awareness that drives meaningful lifestyle changes. By recognizing our body as "an amazing Swiss watch" that signals imbalance through symptoms, we can begin to address the root causes rather than merely treating effects. Ready to transform your relationship with diabetes? This episode provides practical wisdom for anyone looking to reclaim control of their health through conscious choices and balanced living.

From the producers of PBS's American Health Journal and Innovations in Medicine. Thank you for listening to Better Wellness.

Episode Transcript

Roland Perez (00:05):
Diabetes has become common in the United
States.
Sadly, Almost 40 millionAmericans have diabetes and the
incidence rate is climbing.
What can be done to slow downthis health epidemic?
Welcome to Better Wellness, apodcast that explores the newest
innovations in true wellness.
I'm your host, Roland Perez.
I'm here with David Delrahim,the founder of Cocoon, whose

(00:27):
mission it is to empower peopleon their wellness journey.
Welcome, David.
David, let's talk aboutdiabetes.
What's your angle with diabetes?
It's obviously there's millionsof people in the United States
that have it.
How does wellness and Coconwork with?

David Delraheim (00:47):
diabetes.
There are two types of diabetestype 1 and type 2.
Type 2, which really about 90%of the whole diabetic population
has, that's my focus fortoday's conversation.

(01:07):
The type 1, unfortunately, isan autoimmune system challenge
For most of the type 2s.
They're not born with it.
They eventually develop.
So something happens betweenthe time that we are born.
They're not born with it.
They eventually develop.
So something happens betweenthe time that we are born and

(01:29):
the time that we are officiallydiagnosed as diabetic.
Something has happened.
Now, if we start reverseengineering back and we keep the
body constant, the body is hereto do its job and it does a
great job.
All right, pancreas does whatit's supposed to do, producing

(01:54):
insulin, and the cells aresupposed to receive it.
There's a communication andeverything is fine.
But we, being human, we haveoptions and we try and try and
at some point of time this wholebalance becomes imbalance.

(02:18):
Now, at Cocoon, we understandthere are five pillars there's
an emotional, mental, energetic,spiritual and physical.
So the imbalances could be inall five of them or it could be

(02:40):
in some of them, and that's howthe whole thing happens.

Roland Perez (02:46):
So you're saying it's more than just food.
It could be.
You're not reading your bodycorrectly.
Your body's not reading youcorrectly.
There's a difficulty in there,because I just had a diet that I
was put on for anothercondition and my sugar levels

(03:12):
dropped 75 points in less than11 days.
And I figured it out.
I'm not a genius, but I figuredout.
It's the food I'm eating, it'sthe nutrition Process foods, and
I've gone down to some verynatural things that I can digest

(03:36):
easily and my diabetic numbersjust dropped completely.
So your diet has a lot to dowith diabetes.

David Delraheim (03:44):
Of course diet has a lot to do with diabetes
and, especially in our country,having a lot of options.
I know there was a study donethat 80% of items on the typical
grocery store shelves are notgood for you.
Grocery stores shelves are notgood for you.

(04:07):
Well, that study did not stopanyone or any of these chains
not to carry because people wantthem, you know.
So they keep taking them andthat is why we are where we are,
that 10% of our population inUS well, slightly more probably
11 to maybe even 12% of ourpopulation are diabetic.

(04:31):
And when we go to the obesityit's the same thing.
And unfortunately thetrajectory is not good either.
So by 2050, it is projectedthat 75% of people in US would

(04:54):
be obese, and as that goes up,the rate of the obesity goes up,
there goes the rate of thediabetic and other issues.
So food of course matters.
What we eat matters.
Processed food, of course, isbad, but I believe we live in a

(05:18):
society that everything is basedon supersizing.
We eat too much and ourpancreas cannot handle it.
We eat too much, and part ofthe reason we eat too much
because our food are depletedfrom the nutritional values.

(05:41):
So you know it just keeps onand on.
But why are they like emotionaland mental, or important?
But they're important becauseif we are emotionally and
mentally imbalanced we cannothave a good night's sleep and

(06:03):
sleep is very important for ourbody to repair itself.
So when you look at the wholediabetic, I say Cocoon say.
Cocoon says we need to takeresponsibility.

Roland Perez (06:29):
Here we go, absolutely.

David Delraheim (06:31):
You know, just go back to taking responsibility
before you start taking pillsfor the rest of your life.
You know, unfortunately, weknow what causes or what really

(06:53):
helps with this path to beingdiabetic, but we hardly ever
have this awareness to dosomething about it.
It's a lifestyle issue.
Our body is built to be moved,but we like to sit on the couch

(07:15):
and just go over the internetNow the cell phones.
We cannot move, even at the gym, I see people on the treadmill
and they're checking their textmessages.
So I call that addictions,whether we are addicted to the

(07:36):
food, to the junk food, to thesugar.
The amount of sugar that wetake is astounding.
This is the sugar that our bodyis not built to process,
because it's processed sugar.
So you want to stay out of thistrajectory?

(07:58):
Take responsibility, make someadjustments.

Roland Perez (08:04):
And I'd like to know from you, David, what are
the common symptoms of diabetes.

David Delraheim (08:11):
Increased thirst, slow healing, cuts and
sores, fatigue, blurred vision,frequent urination and
unexplained weight loss.

Roland Perez (08:29):
Diabetes is growing and if 10% of the
population you know was blindfrom something, they would be
blind.
I mean, there would be ahundred universities studying
why they go blind.
I read the other day and I wentto check it out.

(08:49):
They said find your yearbook,your high school yearbook.
Open it up.
And if you're I went to schoolin high school in the 60s, this
was a long time ago Go in theyearbook.
Try to find someone fatPictures.

(09:10):
Go to newspapers and magazinesthat were printed in the 60s and
70s on the beach.
Try to find someone who's fat.
Now you go to the beach andeverybody's fat.
Everybody has a problem and itall comes from what you're
eating and the lack of exercise,and you don't do anything about

(09:31):
it, which just goes back to youwith responsibility.

David Delraheim (09:36):
Right, and you know we live in a time and in a
society that things are notnecessarily getting easier.
What we need is awareness.
It's not so much about theknowledge.
Knowledge is different thanawareness.

(09:58):
We might be a society thatpeople are educated but they
don't have the awareness.
Awareness is not something thatyou learn in the universities.
It's not in any textbook andthat is why even the people are
coming out of the universities,they go into the field.

(10:23):
Whatever they do, much later onthey become obese.
Much later on they're going tohave chronic issues.
So you see that knowledge didnot help them with their
awareness?

(10:44):
Nobody likes to takeresponsibility.
People have no problem takingpills for the rest of their life
, but I don't want to feelresponsible.
We don't have to do a lot, wejust have to find a way to

(11:07):
quality of life, and that iswhere cocoon is Creating the
awareness about quality of life.
Everything is within our hands.
It's right here, is within ourhands.
It's right here, but we oftendismiss because it requires us

(11:34):
to take responsibilities and, myGod, that is the hardest thing
for us.

Roland Perez (11:42):
Is there a way of getting to that point in your
life where you're thinking abouttaking responsibility for your
life, for things that are notgood for you?

David Delraheim (11:52):
One hundred percent.
You know, a cocoon has fiveelements.
One of them is the spiritualbalance, and that is where you
will tap into that awareness anda consciousness of taking
responsibility.
You know, just because we areadults, or we are called adults,

(12:17):
that doesn't mean we areresponsible, the
responsibilities that are beingput on us by the society.
But beyond that is the personalresponsibility that we take.
We might take a goodresponsibility to take care of

(12:41):
others, because that is the codein the society, but I'm talking
about taking responsibility forus.
Remember, it's just like beingon a plane and they tell you
that in case of a decompression,the oxygen mask, you put it on

(13:02):
yourself first before you put iton others.
You put it on yourself firstbefore you put it on others.
We cannot do that.
We are struggling with that,taking that responsibility to
create the balance.
See, our body runs like anamazing Swiss watch Once it's

(13:29):
balanced, once it's not, thenthe alarm goes off.
It's communicating.

Roland Perez (13:38):
Yeah, I realize, and now I'm taking
responsibility for diabetes isbecause I was put on that diet
for a few days.
I had some gastro issues andthey wanted to simplify what I
ate.
So I went on this very simple,very bland diet and I lost 75%

(13:59):
points off my diabetes and I wasastounded.
I'm going.
I knew deep in my heart thatthat's what it needed to do, but
I didn't take theresponsibility for it and now,
because of that, I'm eatingdifferently Never did that
before and it's obviouslyworking and I'm losing weight.

(14:22):
I've lost 10 pounds already andI'm losing weight.
I've lost 10 pounds already.
And so what goes in your mouthis very, very important, because
a lot of it is processed foods.
But stopping yourself fromputting something in your mouth,
that's another story.

David Delraheim (14:44):
Very interesting story.
Very interesting story.
I was sitting with a doctor andwe were just talking about the
blood sugar and the diabetes andshe said well, a lot of it is
genetic.
I said the gene?
I understand, but we need totake responsibility.
We cannot just continue on withour lifestyle and blame

(15:08):
everything on the genes.
Let the gene be, but we need totake responsibility and we have
to do our own part.
And you know, I asked a veryyoung doctor.
She said yeah, I'm apre-diabetic.
I said, but you're too young.
She said yeah, but it's genetic.

(15:30):
I said you just keep pointingfingers at something else.
And it was over food.
And there comes the dessert.
She said what would you like tohave?
I said nothing, I'll have a cupof chamomile tea.
But she ordered a big dessertand she finished the whole thing

(15:56):
.
Well, I'm just looking at it.
So so see, the awareness isdifferent than the knowledge.

Roland Perez (16:10):
She's a doctor, she has a license, but did not
have the awareness, which leadsto the responsibility of doing
what you have to do.
I don't like to get up and goto a gym that's not my
personality but I do like towalk and I know that walking
helps diabetics because you burnoff your sugar.

(16:30):
But you will have to walk amile, two miles, to do this.
Just with my simple little dietthat they gave me, with no
exercise, it dropped 75 points,and that is to me remarkable
that I could have done this 10years ago, but I didn't, because
, when it comes to processedfoods, I love processed foods.

(16:53):
It's basically all you have inthe supermarket.
There isn't anything in therethat doesn't have some type of
processed foods.

David Delraheim (17:03):
And unfortunately, our body doesn't
know how to process processedfoods and that is the problem,
all right, and it gets blockedand, simply said, it would put
our body at an imbalance.
There's a state of balance andthere's a state of not being

(17:26):
balanced.
You're balanced, you're havinga greater life, you're not.
You've got aches and pains andthis and that and the others,
and you go back and forth withthe doctors and pharmacy.
It's just.
That is the fact.

(17:46):
Who did it?
Nobody else.
You did it to yourself, grantedthat you know, but of course
you know.
But air, quality of air andwater and all of these things
matters.
Well, they do matter, but it'seven with everybody else,
because you're probablybreathing the same air that

(18:06):
everybody else, millions ofothers, are breathing, but the
ones that you have control over.
You need to take responsibilityfor that.
Processed food, sugar, exercise, some med to bring your balance

(18:27):
into your own mind.

Roland Perez (18:32):
So it's not just food, it's a balance in your
life.

David Delraheim (18:36):
All of it.
Yes, you know, for some peopleit might sound like or feel like
a lot of work, but it is not,and that is why Cocoon is coming
to create the awareness andteach everyone how simple it is

(18:58):
to stay in balance.

Roland Perez (19:01):
Thank you, David.
That was really interesting.
I'm definitely going tocontinue to make better choices
in my own life For our listeners.
I hope you too, can incorporatesome of these lifestyle changes
, like dietary modification andregular exercise to take control
of your diabetes.
And remember, the BetterWellness podcast is available

(19:22):
just about anywhere, includingSpotify, Amazon Music and iHeart
Radio.
So once again, thanks forsupporting Better Wellness.
I'm your host, Roland Perez.
Thanks for listening.