My Diabetes-Beating Diet

 By Paul D Kennedy 

Photo: i.huffpost.com
 
I have type 2 diabetes. It could eventually damage my heart, kidneys, eyes and extremities, or I could end up with gangrene in my legs which would then have to be amputated. The outlook could be an early death... slow, messy and painful... unless I can keep it under control.

I am now keeping my diabetes under control... using diet alone.
I was first diagnosed with borderline or early onset diabetes in 2001. My condition gradually became worse until a few years ago when I researched what I could do to beat it.
My research proved very fruitful. All I had to do, I discovered, was to eliminate certain foods from what I was eating. I did so and my numbers... blood glucose and HbA1c... improved dramatically, even when I stopped taking the medications I was on.

Nowadays, two hours after a meal my blood glucose is usually less than 6mmol/L (108mg/dl), while my HbA1c levels regularly come in at 42mmol/mol (6.0%) when I have my blood tested every 4 months or so.
Before I started on this diet I was very overweight, almost obese. Even though my diet allows me to eat as much as I want, I lost my excess weight and my BMI (body mass index) is now within the 20-25 'normal' range. Indeed I now feel much lighter, healthier and more energetic.
And best of all, beating diabetes... putting off the effects it was having on my body... has improved my prospects of living to a ripe old age.
Here's what I eat and don't eat:

The foods I eat are... natural... low in sugar... low in fat... low in salt... high in fibre... and are digested slowly (ie, have low glycemic index (GI) values).
The easiest way to do this is by concentrating on natural, unprocessed foods that are mostly plants. I am not a vegan and do eat some ultra-lean meat and fish after I have removed any visible fat.
I also drink lots of water, to aid the absorption of the fibre I eat... at least two and up to four litres a day in addition to the water I get in juices, tea, coffee, and soy milk.

The foods I don't eat at all are... eggs... and dairy products.
In other words, I exclude... animal milk... cheese... butter... ie, anything with milk, milk products or derivatives in it. I use soy milk as a substitute of cow's milk. You'll find plenty of other substitutes for animal milk and other dairy products in your local supermarket or health food store.
In my view, avoiding eggs and dairy products is crucial to getting diabetes under control. I did not notice any changes in my glucose levels until I suddenly stopped eating eggs and dairy products entirely. About three weeks later I experienced rapid weight loss and a significant improvement in my post-prandial blood glucose levels.

In addition to the diet I have outlined above, I also take a range of dietary supplements. This, I feel, is necessary in order to cover any possible dietary deficiencies because I am not longer eating any eggs or dairy products.

The great thing about this diet is that you can eat as much as you want... no calorie counting... no restrictions on portion size... no going to bed on an empty stomach at night.
This diet is about what you eat... not how much you eat. Here's a summary:
Eat... natural... low sugar... low fat... low salt... high fibre... low GI... mostly plants... all you want... with lots of water... excluding eggs and all dairy products
Believe me, it should work for you. It works for me and is helping me control my diabetes.
And it's easy to follow. All you have to do is learn to read food labels and you'll have no problem choosing the right foods to eat. You also need to learn a little about the fat and sugar content of various natural foods such as nuts, exotic fruits and so on.

Giving up foods you have been eating all your life can be a bit of a struggle. However, soon after I did the switch-over from my usual Western high-fat diet I realised a great truth... all our tastes in food and drink, with the exception of mother's milk, are acquired tastes.
I also discovered that it does not take a great deal of effort to acquire a new set of tastes.
And, as well as beating your diabetes, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much better your food tastes once you've eliminated fat and sugar from your diet.

Paul D Kennedy is a type 2 diabetic. He used his skills as an international consultant and researcher to find a way to control his diabetes using diet alone. He stopped taking medications to control his blood glucose levels about five years ago. You can find out more from beating-diabetes.com or by contacting him at paul@beating-diabetes.com. His book Beating Diabetes is available for download from Amazon.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_D_Kennedy

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8017399

Blood Sugar Regulation

By Christine Alejandro  

Photo: learn.genetics.utah.edu
 
Part 1-WHY CAN'T I LOSE THIS WEIGHT??
Blood sugar regulation is so important because when it is dys-regulated, it starts the vicious cycle of chronic fatigue syndrome, hormone imbalance, weight gain and the inability to lose weight, mood swings, hypoglycemia,hyperglycemia, high triglycerides and those ever present sweet and carb cravings.
It seems that everyone is experiencing the same thing these days. They are tired, feeling terrible and they are unable to lose weight. Very often those symptoms come from blood sugar dys-regulation. In order to understand why this happens, there is a need to explain what happens when someone who has normal blood sugar eats food. The food goes into the stomach and it passes into the small intestine where it breaks down into glucose which is the form of fuel that the body uses. The glucose goes through the walls of the small intestine and into the blood. Once it is in the blood, it is called blood glucose. The number of blood glucose molecules in the blood is what is measured on a blood glucose test. When a person eats food the number of blood glucose molecules in the blood goes up. Glucose can't be dealt with in the body by itself without insulin. Insulin is a transporter; insulin gets released by the pancreas and insulin picks up the glucose and puts it into the cells of the body for energy. As the insulin transports the glucose, the levels of glucose molecules in the blood comes down to a low level and insulin is no longer needed to transport it and in theory, the body burns fat for energy until the next time the person eats. When the person eats again, the cycle repeats itself.
In the mid 1980's, there was a change in the public health policy where saturated fat was associated with causing heart problems. This change in the public health policy created a low fat eating fad by the general public. That low-fat health policy along with a new food guide pyramid that recommended 6-8 servings of grains a day drove the public to consuming a large proportion of carbohydrates in their diet. Carbohydrates turn to sugar (glucose) very quickly in the blood. A person might eat a bowl of whole grain cereal with skim milk, a half of a banana and a small glass of orange juice for breakfast. thinking that was a healthy meal, when in reality, that is a large amount of carbohydrates (sugar) to be consuming in one meal. The craze continued and for lunch, a healthy thinking person might have a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread, baked potato chips and a diet soda. Then in the afternoon, they might have a whole grain granola bar. At dinner, this healthy thinking person might have pasta with vegetables. So all day this healthy thinking person's blood sugar would be going up and down. The body could deal with this in the manner described above for a while--but at some point the body started to break down, because it was being given an enormous amount of carbohydrates for what its system was technically designed to handle.
The result of this is that the body would start to predict that every time it was given food, it had to prepare for a large load of carbohydrates. The result was the body would notice that the blood sugar (glucose) was beginning to rise and would produce a large amount of insulin to handle the glucose, but the body got off kelter and would over-produce insulin. The insulin would do its job by transporting the glucose to the cells, but the problem was that once all the glucose had been carried to the cells, there was still insulin left over. Insulin left in the bloodstream does a few things:
1. Causes sugar cravings- the left over insulin in the blood would cause the person to want more carbohydrates, more sugar, so the healthy thinking person would then eat more carbohydrates or sugar, and again the insulin would surge higher and then there was still more insulin than glucose in the system.
2. Excess insulin in the system over time causes reactive hypoglycemia- the reactive hypoglycemia happens because the body reacts by producing too much insulin, and hypoglycemia is where the insulin drives down the blood sugar too low. There has to be a base level of glucose circulating in the bloodstream because 30-40% of brain function comes from this, so the body needs to be able to have a good level of glucose in the blood stream to keep the brain functioning.
When there is excess insulin in the bloodstream, it drives the blood sugar down too low, and the individual now is unable to function and may complain that they can't think or are tired all the time. They may also feel irritable and complain that they have a hard time concentrating and their memory is worsening. This is all related to the fact that the brain is not being fed and is called reactive hypoglycemia or too low blood sugar. On the flip side of the coin, one could also call this condition too much insulin because it is the overproduction of insulin that is driving the circulating glucose to fall too low.
3. The third thing that is predominant for most people is that the presence of excess insulin in the bloodstream keeps the body from burning fat and the person can't lose weight no matter what they try.
Thus they are left asking, "Why can't I lose this weight??"

For more information or to work with me go to http://www.healthygiftsfromchristine.com/discovery_session/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christine_Alejandro

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7410494

Tips For Losing Weight As A Diabetic

By Dr. Ashraf Hanafy Mahmoud Mohammed  

Photo: ultraeasy.co.uk
 
If you're suffering from diabetes, then you have to take your decisions and your actions very seriously. If you find yourself overweight, then it's important to lower your risk of health problems by losing weight. Trying to lose weight while on diabetes can be difficult if you don't know what you're doing. You need the right information, and this article is going to help. Continue reading to find out more, and consider these tips for losing weight as a diabetic.
Before you do anything about losing weight as a diabetic, it's important to speak with your doctor. This is before you make any plans on your own. You need the information that your doctor has in order to come up with an acceptable and efficient plan. Your doctor will have many suggestions, and you must let him or her know about your plans anyway so that they can tailor your treatment around what you do.
Always be sure you're keeping up with checking your blood sugar, and perhaps even do it more often when losing weight. There can be up and down blood sugar spikes for no reason and very quickly. If you eat the right foods, then you shouldn't have a problem, but diabetes can be difficult sometimes.
Watch how much carbohydrates you add into your diet to make things work. For instance, say you cut out the sugar, but you throw in all the carbohydrates of different products that use them as sugar replacements. This isn't healthy for you either. Instead, substitute them for real food and healthy food. Eat the main food groups, making plenty of room for fruits, vegetables, and more.
Even though you've cut out regular soda, drinking that diet soda is going to do you in. You have to cut out the sodas all together because the artificial sweetener isn't any better for you. Drink water and natural juices instead, and if you need caffeine, drink tea. Stay away from coffee.
You have to have a solid exercise plan alongside your dieting plans. Sufferers of diabetes must make sure they exercise in order to stay mobile. Diabetes can attack your weight and mobility quickly if you fail to exercise.
Diabetics are generally supposed to exercise 20 minutes a day, and you need to check with your doctor about this too. While you might be limited on the types of exercise you can do, there are still many more options than you're thinking. Make sure you develop an exercise regimen that is comprised of things you enjoy doing.
Perhaps you like going for walks in nature or down the road.
Losing weight as a diabetic is something that comes with its challenges. While you may find it difficult, it's just going to be an expansion of what you already know. In other words, you're going to be basing things off of the rules you already follow as a diabetic. It should be easier for you to get started, so get yourself motivated and start losing that weight today!

http://weightlossallinvited.com
http://lunchdinnerrecipes.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Ashraf_Hanafy_Mahmoud_Mohammed

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7410335

Type 2 Diabetes - The Effect of Cinnamon on Blood Sugar Levels

 By Beverleigh H Piepers 

Photo: 1.bp.blogspot.com
 
Cinnamon stimulates the production of glucose burning-enzymes and increases the effectiveness of insulin, according to the USDA Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Maryland, USA. Emerging research on cinnamon shows it could become a good treatment for Type 2 diabetes, perhaps acting like insulin or increasing insulin's effectiveness according to researchers in the Faculty of Health and Human Science, Thames Valley University in London, UK. The results of their study were published in the journal Diabetic Medicine in October 2011.
This particular study looked at the effect on cinnamon on the blood sugar of 58 people ranging in age from 45 to 64 and diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. All the participants were being treated with oral anti-diabetes drugs and had HbA1c levels of more than 7 per cent, indicating their blood sugar levels were not well controlled on medications. The participants were given either:

• 2 grams of cinnamon, or
• a placebo,

...daily for 12 weeks.
The volunteers in the cinnamon group showed reduced levels of their HbA1c, while those in the placebo group did not. Blood pressure readings were also reduced only in the cinnamon group. There were slight reductions in fasting blood sugar, waist measurement and the body mass index (BMI) in the cinnamon group, but the differences were not statistically significant.
From these results it was concluded cinnamon might be used as a type of dietary supplement to aid in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes not well controlled with medications.
The results were consistent with a study published in September and October of 2009 in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. One hundred and nine Type 2 diabetics with HbA1c levels of 7 per cent or more were given either:

• their usual care only, or
• their usual care plus 1 gram of cinnamon per day for 90 days.

At the end of the study those in the cinnamon group had lowered their blood sugar levels significantly more than the diabetics receiving only their usual care. The author of this study, a resident doctor at the Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital in Las Vegas, USA, concluded cinnamon could be useful for lowering blood sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes, along with their usual care.

• cinnamon is ideal sprinkled onto cooked oatmeal, good for a healthful breakfast in the cold winter. Sprinkle on a little sucralose as well, and then add a little soy milk.
• the website of McCormick has a recipe for vegan Moroccan bean and pepper stew that includes cinnamon along with garlic powder, cumin, ginger, and red pepper along with garbanzo beans, red kidney beans, onions, diced tomatoes, bell peppers, butternut squash and olive oil. There is also a cinnamon-containing recipe for mango-blueberry cobbler, which could be modified for diabetics with the substitution of stevia for the sugar.
• cinnamon sticks also make flavorful stirring rods for tea, coffee or cocoa.
• The website of Allrecipes offers more than three hundred recipes containing cinnamon.

Cinnamon is one of the oldest used remedies in Chinese medicine and has therapeutic benefits including blood thinning and antimicrobial actions along with blood sugar control.

By the way, do you want to learn more about how to be healthier and live longer in spite of having Type 2 diabetes. If so, I suggest you check this out: Natural Diabetes Treatments

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Beverleigh_H_Piepers

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6938616

Gestational Diabetes Diet Plan - Guidelines for Women With Diabetes During Pregnancy

By Lukman Handoko 

Photo: buzzle.com

During pregnancy, women are forced to have better dietary plans in order to ensure good nutrition intakes for the babies. In normal conditions, there are plenty of guidelines providing great deals of information about recommended foods and dietary restrictions for pregnant women. However, not all women are having the same privilege to enjoy normal life because they develop a certain medical condition such as diabetes.
Gestational diabetes (diabetes suffered by pregnant women) needs special treatments and dietary rules. In one side, pregnant women have to consume plenty of nutritious meals to ensure health and growth of the unborn child. However, diabetes brings more difficulties to make a diet plan. Diabetes is developed inside the body because of insulin dysfunction. Insulin is either not produced or unusable that makes the glucose level in the blood keeps on increasing. High blood sugar is very dangerous for the unborn child; women with gestational diabetes have to be able to control it. Keeping a good glucose level in the blood can be a real pain for almost everyone as there will be too many kinds of foods should be avoided.
Especially for pregnant women who develop diabetes, one good way to acquire good information about a suggested dietary plan is by visiting registered dietitian or nutritionist. A professional will measure weights, heights, physical strength, and the growing baby's needs before a suggested dietary plan is made. The good thing about visiting a nutritionist is that almost all aspects about good diets are carefully examined. The amounts of calories needed, carbohydrate, protein, fats, and many others aspects of diets are accurately measured. Even better, a nutritionist will ask questions about any preferable meal that patients would like to put on the menu. In some cases, changing the diets will not be sufficient enough to keep the glucose level under a critical point. Nutritionists will recommend a regular insulin injection to gain better health condition. Pregnant women have to take the insulin injection regularly at a medical facility. The glucose level will be examined to measure the perfect dose of insulin to be given.
Nevertheless, some points on many dietary plans are commonly found on any recommendation by nutritionists or dietitians. Some of the common diet plans include the suggestions to take small amount of carbohydrates, milk, and any food that contains much sugar. There will be some recommendation to consume more protein and fiber. The amounts of carbohydrates should be reduced as they contain a lot of glucose. The case is the same with milk and some beverages that contain simple sugar such as soda, juice and desserts. Surprisingly, any gestational diabetes diet plan will not recommend to skipping meals. It is believed that good distribution of nutrition helps the body to maintain the good level of glucose in the blood. Of course, patients need to be consistent on the amount of food consumed each time.
Anyway, the above recommendations are based on a common dietary plan. It is recommended to consult doctors or nutritionists to get specific explanations. Indeed, it is not easy to strictly follow any gestational diabetes diet plan. However, in order to ensure the good growth of the unborn child, pregnant women with diabetes have to try at their best.

There are also other dietary plans available on http://www.diabetesdonation.net/, where you can find plenty of different plans with specific categories for gestational diabetes.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lukman_Handoko

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6824637

The Top 10 Foods To Eat If Youre Trying To Control Your Diabetes

By: The Sider Group

Photo: thenutritionpost.com

While medication and the supervision of a physician are often central components to managing diabetes, one of the most important things any diabetic can do to keep his or her health in check is eat the right foods. Enriching your diet with the following 10 foods, along with exercise and a healthy lifestyle, will help you control your diabetes.

1. Beans With plenty of dietary fiber to keep you full, beans also slow down the digestive process and prevent the blood sugar spikes that often occur after meals.

2. Cereal Sugary cereals are bad for diabetics, but the right cereal can do wonders. Look for cereals made from whole grains that are high in fiber, and add skim or nonfat milk and some fruit.

3. Cinnamon It may sound silly, but this spice can work wonders for diabetics. Simply sprinkling cinnamon in tea, on top of fruit, in baked goods or in recipes such as chicken dishes can help lower blood sugar and insulin use.

4. Fish Any kind of fish is good for diabetics, even the high-fat kinds, which are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. Fish is a much healthier protein than red meat, and offers good cholesterol to help diabetics lower their triglycerides and raise their HDL levels.

5. Fruit Fruits contain lots of nutrients and fiber, and they are typically very low in calories. You also get antioxidants that boost your immune system from many fruits.

6. Nuts This is another source of good fat and protein, as well as fiber and antioxidants in the form of vitamin E. Nuts help diabetics control blood sugar and reduce insulin resistance.

7. Olive Oil When cooking, diabetics should use olive oil as opposed to butter, lard or vegetable oils. Its another good fat that helps fight heart disease and control blood sugar levels.

8. Poultry Breast Chicken or turkey breast, or the breast of any other kind of bird, is a low-fat protein that lowers bad cholesterol and may increase resistance to insulin.

9. Vegetables From asparagus to zucchini, vegetables have tons of nutrients and fiber without a lot of calories. Eating veggies to replace simple carbs (like non-whole grains) and saturated fats is especially advantageous for diabetics.

10. Yogurt This is low-fat protein with a unique advantage: yogurt also offers lots of calcium, which aids in weight loss and reduces insulin resistance.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
HealthDegreesU.com provides the opportunity to research and request free information about top allied health schools and health care degrees program for potential students looking to start or expand their career in the field of health care. Choose best health care programs for you and start your in allied healthcare.