Archive for March, 2010

Diabetes Reversal – How to Cure Diabetes

Monday, March 29th, 2010

There are five steps to controlling your diabetes and all these five steps can help put off some complications and in addition to that let you live a normal and productive life.

These are the five ways to control your diabetes

1. Several factors affect the level of your blood sugar level but the only way to find out the cause and effect is by checking it every day at scheduled times throughout the day. Obviously, controlling your blood sugar level is the most vital part of controlling your diabetes. So to get good control requires steady sugar testing.

2. Next step to controlling your blood sugar is diet. In case if you don’t know then know today that the foods you eat plays a major role in blood sugar plus weight loss. According to Harvard Medical School researchers, women who are diabetic and who ate fish just once a week had a 40% less risk of heart disease than women who had fish less than once a month. Therefore, you have to be sure to add fish or a fish oil supplement like Salmon Oil Plus to your diet straight away.

3. Exercise. Do you know that exercise will assist to drastically bring blood sugar level under control. Therefore if you haven’t had physical activity in a while, ensure to discuss it with your physician before beginning any work out program.

4. Since controlling your diabetes is a major task. It is very vital to have a health care professionals to help you out. Ensure to choose professionals that suit your medical needs as well as your personality. Be free to talk openly about your condition, if you are to be given the best care and assistance.

5. Stress management. Do you know that high levels of stress can influence your blood sugar level and in addition cause other health conditions?. To learn and practice stress management is very important. You need to seek advice from your doctor for recommended stress management practices.

Diabetes Diet Tips – A Healthy Approach to Blood Sugar Control

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

I’m assuming that you’re reading this diabetes diet article for one simple reason. You (or a loved one) have diabetes or a family history of diabetes and you want to find a healthy diet for diabetes that will help you manage the condition more effectively. Maybe you’d like to reduce your reliance on medication. Perhaps you’re hoping to avoid having to resort to drugs in the first place. Maybe you simply want a diabetes diet plan that will allow you to do everything in your power to keep your blood sugar under control and to keep serious health problems at bay.

No matter what your situation, if you have Type 2 diabetes, there is a lot you can do to help you to tame it.

By following some healthy diabetes diet tips you’ll be able to lose some weight and also boost your cells’ ability to respond to insulin.

If you have Type 2 diabetes, your primary goal is simple: to bring your blood sugar levels under control. By doing so, you’ll help to stave off diabetes-related complications that can compromise your quality of life, such as serious eye and kidney problems; you can reduce your risk of heart disease (did you know that people with diabetes have two to four times the normal risk of heart disease and stroke?); and you’ll most likely live longer. Best of all, you will soon feel better both physically and mentally and more in control of your day-to-day health.

How to lower blood sugar levels is another matter entirely, and one that can seem anything but simple.

Medications can achieve this, of course, and you may need to be on some. But there are many more measures that you can take to control your diabetes and slow its progression, starting with changing your diet.

There are countless different ways to regulate your diet, from simple healthy eating to choosing the foods you eat according to their Glycaemic Index ratings. But we don’t think you should have to research each and every food before you eat it.

Taking charge of diabetes doesn’t have to be all that complicated. In fact, it shouldn’t be, because the more complicated a piece of advice is, the less likely you are to follow it. Approaches that involve a lot of time, attention and planning can be difficult to stick with permanently.

The truth is that all you really need to do to achieve a radical change in your health is to make a few small changes in some of your everyday habits, such as what you eat for lunch or what you do during the commercial breaks on TV. How can such small changes possibly add up to controlling diabetes?

Lowering your blood sugar levels is reason enough to lose weight for someone with diabetes. But shedding surplus pounds may also help to relieve or prevent a multitude of secondary health problems, including

  • High blood pressure
  • Heart disease
  • Stroke
  • Gallbladder disease
  • Joint pain
  • Sleep apnea
  • Arthritis
  • Breast cancer
  • Colon cancer
  • Prostate cancer
  • Kidney cancer

What Are the Potential Diabetes Effects?

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Diabetes is a very common and serious condition. There are millions of people who are already suffering from it around the world and many more will be diagnosed in the years to come. The rates of diabetes are continuing to rise, what with the rates of obesity soaring. Obesity or a lack of physical activity is just one of the main causes of this condition. There are so many more people these days than ever before who are eating unhealthily and who are not being active.

This has resulted in a major upturn and a skyrocket in the rates of diabetes. The diabetes effects can be devastating, especially to people who are living with diabetes and do not even know it. People often have diabetes but do not realize it either because the symptoms are so general or they may not have any symptoms. To avoid the diabetes effects, one of the most important things any person can do is learn more about the condition. That includes what the warning signs are and what treatments are available.

Symptoms To Watch For

Especially if you are overweight and not active you are at high risk for developing this condition and will want to watch out for diabetes symptoms even more, to avoid potentially dangerous diabetes effects. There are a few main symptoms that you should be able to recognize. That includes increased thirst, more frequent urination, fatigue, weight loss, excessive eating and poor wound healing.

If you notice one or more of these symptoms and especially if it persists so you know it is not associated with a cold or flu, you will want to get in to see your doctor right away. Let them know what symptoms you have been experiencing and they will perform a few routine tests to determine whether or not you have diabetes.

Doctors are very avid with patients who have diabetes and as soon as they find out a patient has diabetes they will get to work on finding treatment as soon as possible, to avoid any dangerous diabetes effects.

Doctors use the type of diabetes the person is suffering from to be the main deciding factor in which type of treatment is going to be most suitable for a particular patient. In type 1 diabetes for instance, the person’s body is actually not producing any insulin at all. Therefore insulin must be provided into the body in order to manage the blood sugar levels properly.

Lifelong treatment is required for type 1 diabetes patients, to keep their condition under control and ensure they are not in any danger. Most type 1 diabetes patients will need to take several insulin injections a day just to control their blood sugar levels. An insulin pump can also work and you will want to talk to your doctor about this to learn about your options and figure out what is going to work best for you.

All diabetes patients have to manage their blood sugar levels if they want to avoid diabetes effects, and make sure they are not getting out of control. Eating healthily and getting lots of exercise is also important because this aids in the process of controlling blood sugar levels and avoid negative diabetes effects. You will be given a home blood sugar meter to use on your own to keep track of your blood sugar levels and make sure they are not getting out of control.

Exercise is important not only to keep you in shape and prevent you from becoming overweight, but also because it helps the body to use insulin more effectively. With type 2 diabetes treatment is different and in this case it is more about making a change to the patient’s eating and exercise plans to keep them healthy.

Always consult your doctor before using this information.

This Article is nutritional in nature and is not to be construed as medical advice.

Diabetes Mellitus Types

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Diabetes mellitus classification
It has two categories, they are:

  • diabetes 1 and
  • diabetes 2

Type 2 has two other sub types, they are:

  • gestational and
  • pre-diabetes

“Diabetes 1″ is also being called as childhood-onset, juvenile, and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Likewise, “diabetes 2″ is also being called as adult-onset, obesity-related, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM).

Diabetes 1
It is characterized by loss of the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas which leads to insulin deficiency. The majority of type 1 is of beta cell loss by autoimmune attack. There is no known preventive measure against type 1, which causes approximately 10% of cases. It can affect children or adults but was previously termed “juvenile or childhood-onset diabetes” because it represents a majority of the cases in children.

Diabetes 2
It is characterized by insulin resistance which may be combined with relatively reduced insulin secretion. The improper utilization or sensitivity of body tissues to insulin is believed to involve the insulin receptor. However, the specific defects are not known, but excess fat deposits in the muscle cell are assumed to be the cause. It is the most common one.

In the early stages, the abnormality in insulin sensitivity can be overcome by medication that improve insulin sensitivity or reduce the production of glucose by liver. As the disease progresses, due to low level of insulin secretion a therapeutic replacement of insulin often becomes necessary.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)
It is a sub class of type 2, involving a combination of relatively inadequate insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity. It occurs in about 2%-5% of all pregnancies and mostly it will disappear after delivery. About 20%-50% of all gestational women develop type 2 later in their lives. Even though it may be transient, untreated gestational can cause health issues for both the fetus and mother. Risks to the baby include high birth weight and breathing difficulties after delivery.

Pre-diabetes
It indicates a condition that occurs when a person’s blood glucose level is higher than normal but not high enough to diagnose as diabetes 2. Many people diagnosed as 2 may spend many years in a state of pre-diabetes.

Information of Diabetes in Children

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Diabetes in children is a disease that is severe in nature but can be managed through medication, use of insulin injection or healthy lifestyle of your choice. This is the result if the body is not able to regulate blood sugar levels by itself. It is caused by lack of enough insulin, a hormone which breaks down and changes glucose into the blood. Diabetes mellitus (type II diabetes) and diabetes insipidus (type I diabetes) are the two kinds of diabetes. Type I diabetes is the kind that attack children.

Common symptoms that can be seen in children with diabetes are thirst, loss of weight, headaches, frequent urination, pain in the abdomen and problems in behavior.

In order not to acquire diabetes in children, high blood sugar level must be prevented. Hyperglycemia, high blood sugar happens if the sugar (glucose) level goes up above normal. It is difficult to maintain the level of the child because of the speedy growth during teen years.

Elevated readings tend to increase gradually, usually in a period of hours or days. But if you take large meals or skip insulin dose it will increase rapidly (typically within a few hours). Gradual elevation in blood sugar can make someone tired and thirsty. Continued elevation can cause harm in the heart, eyes, kidneys, blood vessels and nerves. If the blood sugar of your child goes on raising like his or her kidneys increase the production of urine, dehydration will occur. It is risky because he or she will suffer coma and eventually dies when your child becomes dehydrated severely.

There are three steps that could assist you to get rid of problems in high blood sugar:

1. Regularly, test the blood sugar level of your child especially in the duration of illnesses.The symptoms of high blood sugar level like fatigue, increase in urination and thirst are not seen in every child.

2. Consult your doctor whenever there is a frequent elevation in the readings or when the level stays consistently above normal range.

3. To prevent dehydration, advice your child to take extra water or non-caffeinated and drinks that are sugar-free.

Special Child Diabetic Care -
It is very important to have a regular monitor of blood sugar. The most appropriate times are during meals and at night before going to sleep. Normal scale of blood glucose is 80 to 120. If you have elevated reading, insulin is needed to bring down the level. Eating carbohydrates and proteins are needed to ensure that your level will go up, if your blood glucose level is below the scale of 80. Change in diet or medication or even insulin scale, is needed when your blood glucose fluctuates.This is the reason why checking up the blood glucose regularly is very important.

Annual examination of the eyes is needed if you are diabetic. Diabetic retinopathy is a severe condition if not stopped will lead to blindness. The small blood vessels in the eyes erupt or burst if you have diabetic retinopathy. Visiting the ophthalmologist is necessary to check your eyes also.

Make sure the good circulation of the lower extremities especially the legs and feet. You can use special shoes and socks to aid you. Be aware of some sores that will develop in your feet. There is a tendency for diabetic patients for slow healing and the sores will lead to cutting of toes, feet and even legs.

Another side effect of diabetes in children is kidney problem and if this happens it will require dialysis. All of these can be prevented if you maintain the normal level of your blood glucose by eating healthy and continue to exercise regularly and have a healthy lifestyle.