Ok, so Aloe is not generally associated with blood sugar control. And yet it has helped mine! I have seen one recent statement in a report that aloe can help blood sugar, so I am not alone in concluding that it can help some people.

What Aloe IS associated with is healing, and with immune system balance. And diabetes is often caused by, or aggravated by pancreatic deterioration, and the cause is frequently suspected to be autoimmune in origin. Further, diabetes reduces immune response, and Aloe is suspected to help it.

The common medical approach to autoimmune disease is to suppress the immune system. While this strategy does work to a certain degree, it also leaves the individual more vulnerable to opportunistic infection. The ideal solution is not to suppress the immune system (which has not in fact become too strong, it has just got its messages mixed up), but to BALANCE the immune system again – get it to properly interpret the signals for disease and not attack its own body.

Aloe is one possible solution for this. I have experienced a few things from it that persuade me that it can work for some people. My blood sugar balances better with it, and I have fewer episodes of colitis and certain allergies when using it.

I have had one major side effect with aloe – I get the exact same allergic response to it that I had after becoming allergic to recumbinant DNA insulin… I itch after I eat, no matter what I eat. I use the aloe with two meals a day, but I itch after all meals, and after snacks as well, and sometimes in the morning if I delay breakfast long enough to get a small blood sugar spike. This effect has reduced over time, and the longer I use it, the less it occurs.

I use Aloe with my lunch and dinner. I take 8 oz of aloe juice alongside my meal, and NOT as a recreational drink!. NASTY tasting stuff! To kill the taste a bit I mix it with about 2 tsp of juice concentrate (undiluted), which does sweeten it a bit. The juice concentrate is enough to make the aloe more tolerable, without being enough to have to count it. It is still not nice stuff to have to take, so I take a deep breath and chug it down. It doesn’t quite turn my face inside-out, but close!

Aloe is another supplement that I considered carefully before trying. And it is one that I feel has enough history behind it to feel safe using it while pregnant – this is my choice, and not by any means a guideline for anyone else.

One reason I take the aloe with lunch and dinner is that I use coconut oil and cinnamon with breakfast, so I did not want to heap a lot more onto that. I felt it was better to use it separately.

One of the harder things about using aloe is portability. Because it is kept fresh in the fridge, and not available in smaller packaging, I have to fill a water bottle with it, or carry some with me in another small container if I am going to be out through lunch or dinner. Sometimes I can catch up on it later, but many times I have to take it along. I don’t like to miss doses. This is another herb which I am not sure whether it builds up with a residual effect or not, but I feel that a consistent schedule is better than an unpredictable one.

While I have no way of knowing whether aloe actually does help with autoimmune processes, or whether it actually helps to heal a damaged pancreas, the difference it has made in my blood sugar control and in my digestive health is significant, and persuasive evidence to me that it is beneficial for the particular set of problems that I have.