Specialty Programming: Managing Type II Diabetes

Building a Custom Treatment Plan

Root & Branch LLC is proud to introduce a comprehensive treatment program specifically designed for patients diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. This program is based on the holistic approaches of Chinese Medicine with assessment tools and metrics for success used by more conventional biomedicine professionals. Our approach provides a synergistic treatment plan to address metabolic dysfunction and help you to understand how blood glucose impacts your health and what steps you can take to keep your numbers in a healthy range.

The Methods

  1. Diet Assessment and Planning: Without a thorough understanding of how your body uses the food you consume to manage all its complex functions, managing Type II Diabetes is difficult. Our goal is not to create an overly restrictive diet for you, but instead to give you the knowledge of how various foods increase or decrease blood glucose levels and to design a new relationship to food and eating that is both satisfying and healthy. Your practitioner will meet with you as part of your initial cluster of visits to talk about the details of how your body manages its carbohydrate load. You will work together to analyze your current eating habits and strategize ways to bring your eating into alignment with your blood glucose goals. This part of the program is densely planned at the beginning of the program but is ongoing throughout the 6 months.

  2. Blood Glucose Monitoring: The best way to understand how your individual body is handling your food inputs is to track the changes in your blood glucose over time. We recommend that all our participants use a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) prescribed by their primary care physician. These modern tools reduce the discomfort of “finger-stick” blood tests and provide much more useable and trackable data. A CGM is not a prerequisite for participation in the program, but it is very strongly encouraged. CGM or other monitoring costs are not included in the cost of this program.

  3. Acupuncture: Our acupuncture treatment is tailored to promote metabolic function by stimulating specific points on the body to promote your innate healing response and to improve digestion and sleep. The number and frequency of treatment will be determined by your provider but is usually 1x per week for at least 12 weeks with changes made as necessary based on case variation.

  4. Herbal Medicine: Custom-formulated herbal remedies are an essential complement to acupuncture treatments, aiming to restore digestive health, promote a strong metabolism, and encourage the efficient use and storage of carbohydrates in your body. All patients will be required to take herbal formulas as part of their treatment plan. Most patients will take herbs during the entirety of their program.

  5. Bamboo Bodies Online Movement Training: Keeping your blood glucose under control and changing your baseline A1C requires movement and exercise. Often, people imagine that this means they need to hit the treadmill at the gym, and while that sort of cardio can be helpful, there are more targeted and enjoyable ways to achieve these movement goals. We’ve teamed up with Angi from Bamboo Bodies to provide you with seasonal movement activities you can do at home by watching Angi’s videos online. This kind of movement is inspired by Chinese medicine and fits perfectly with how we recommend people exercise and live with the seasons. Your 6-month membership to Bamboo Bodies is included as part of your treatment program.

The Timeline

The program spans a 6-month period with consistent treatment with herbs and acupuncture throughout, since regular treatment is crucial for achieving the best possible outcomes. This structured approach allows for the gradual and sustained progress necessary for managing the complexities of Type II Diabetes. Each participant will be evaluated at the beginning of the program and then again at 2 months, at 4 months, and one final time at the conclusion of the program. These regular assessments are crucial for systematically tracking progress and improvement and will help your provider to identify any complicating diabetic factors like loss of sensation or neuropathy.

The participant is strongly encouraged to do a deep analysis of their time and schedule to make sure they are able to fully participate in the program for the 6-month period.  

The Cost

The total cost of the program for 2024 is $2334, which includes diabetes counseling, your membership to Bamboo Bodies online movement system, all acupuncture sessions, and all herbal medicine prescriptions provided throughout the 6-month period. This cost DOES NOT include any costs related to buying, maintaining, or supplying your blood glucose testing equipment like a continuous glucose monitors or “finger-stick” testers.

To make this program accessible, we offer a monthly payment plan where clients can make payments of $389 per month. Payments are processed every 30 days from the program’s start date.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Bodies tend to respond quickly to targeted interventions for type II diabetes. If you have a CGM, we will be tracking improvements every month to see how herbs, acu, diet, and movement are keeping your blood glucose in a healthier zone.

    Overall, will use your starting A1C as our primary measure and compare it to a new blood draw at the end of your program.

  • Results vary, of course. Your starting A1C can have an effect on how long it may take your blood glucose to stabilize, with higher numbers taking longer. But overall, the vast majority of our patients are able to keep their blood glucoe within safe levels after just a few months of treatment. Some people are even able to reduce their A1C from diabetic to pre-diabetic and even some folks to re-establish normal metabolic function.

  • Overly restrictive diets almost always fail. So, we try to help you understand what your blood sugar triggers are, how to minimize those spikes, and also how to eat foods you enjoy. There can be a learning curve as you internalize how carbohydrates, protein, fats, and fiber all work together to facilitate healthy and balanced metabolism, but we will make sure you understand all the ways that food can be your ally instead of your adversary.

    No impossible meal plans or detox diets here.

  • Unfortunately, health insurance companies have not fully realized how programs like these can actually help their customers and reduce their costs. So, they don’t curretly cover them. If you have an HSA or FSA type spending account for healthcare expenses, you should talk to your plan manager to see if those funds can be used on our program. Some plan managers allow for HSA -type funds to be spent on these kinds of expenitures.