Diabetes Masterclass

Conventional diabetes management is built around one goal: bring the blood sugar number down, by whatever mechanism gets there. Metformin-class drugs improve mitochondrial function somewhat; insulin secretagogues pressure the pancreas to release more insulin; SGLT2 inhibitors simply spill sugar out through the kidneys. All three can lower a number without addressing why the blood sugar was high in the first place — and two of the three actively burden organs that are often already struggling.

This masterclass, part of the AIC Functional Medicine Training Program, reframes diabetes through a mitochondrial lens: the engine (mitochondria) is what actually burns the fuel (glucose), and when the engine is compromised — by toxins, chronic infection, nutrient depletion, or circadian disruption — fuel backs up in the blood regardless of how much insulin is available. Dr. Ashwani Garg walks through a practical, fasting-insulin-based framework for distinguishing true type 2 diabetes (reversible, high insulin) from type 1.5 and type 1 presentations (declining pancreatic function, much harder to reverse), and for spotting when a case that looks metabolic is actually being driven by something else entirely (the session includes a real case of fungal overgrowth producing a falsely low HbA1c).

From there, the session builds a complete root-cause protocol: identifying and removing what’s damaging mitochondrial function (heavy metals, microplastics, chronic gut infections and LPS/endotoxemia, antibiotic overuse, blue light and circadian mismatch, chronic stress, dehydration and unstructured water), sequencing diet and lifestyle changes before supplementation, a foundational supplement layer (B-complex, magnesium, zinc, probiotics, berberine, alpha lipoic acid, NAC), and — for select cases — bioregulatory peptides (thymus, pancreatic, thyroid glandular peptides, and mitochondrial biogenesis peptides like MOTS-c and SS-31) as an advanced intervention layer. Extensive practitioner Q&A covers testing sequences, insulin titration during reversal, intermittent fasting, and managing diabetes that develops after chemotherapy.

The depth, terminology, and case-based teaching are calibrated for a practitioner audience, though informed patients who want a clinical-depth understanding of their own metabolic presentation are welcome to enroll.

Blood sugar is the symptom; mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunction is usually the disease. Bringing a number down with a drug that punctures the kidney or exhausts the pancreas can look like progress while the actual engine — the mitochondria — stays damaged.

This masterclass gives practitioners a fasting-insulin-based framework for knowing what kind of diabetes they’re actually looking at, why it developed, and a sequenced, root-cause protocol for reversing what’s reversible and supporting what isn’t, as part of the AIC Functional Medicine Training Program. Informed patients auditing this course will walk away with a clearer, evidence-grounded picture too — but the training is built, first, for the practitioner in the room.