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Diabetes News

Diagnosed With Diabetes? Things You Need To Know

When you have been diagnosed with diabetes, managing it can seem like an overwhelming task that has the potential to take over your life. This article can provide you with some fresh ways to help you manage this disease.

When talking about nutrients and food stuff, how you cook recipes and prepare your foods is essential. When you are cooking vegetables that are green you need to make sure that you never put a lid on them. When you do that it causes your vegetables to lose all of the green color. You will end up with a pot full of vegetables that have turned brown.

When you go without food for a long time, your liver puts out glucose to fill the gap, which can cause a spike in blood sugar levels. To prevent this from occurring, eat meals at regular intervals and eat low-GI snacks when appropriate.

Be consistent with your meal schedules. An erratic eating pattern can make blood sugar levels equally erratic. When this blood sugar is combined with higher blood sugar that is typical of type 2 diabetes, a major sugar spike can happen.

Make your life easier and more organized by doing everything the same way every time. For example, keep your insulin and meter in one place each night so it is easier found in the morning. Get into a routine every day to do the test and then record the levels into your log.

Add a little vinegar to your meals. After ingesting vinegar, your blood sugar will rise at a slower speed than normal, according to studies. This can be accomplished by having a couple tablespoons of vinegar prior to a meal. Vinegar helps you slow down your digestion process and keep your food longer in your stomach.

Add more fibers to your diet to reduce the risks of getting diabetes. To reduce your risks of diabetes, eat plenty of whole grains, and avoid foods with a high glycemic index, such as processed white bread. There have been quite a few studies that prove the point that those who choose whole grain will have a lesser risk of getting diabetes as opposed to those who do not.

Studies show that exercising lowers blood sugar and increases insulin sensitivity, and that helps to healthily control your blood sugar. Mix aerobic exercise with weight training for best results.

Know what ketoachidosis is and how it happens. Ketoacidosis means an increase in blood acidity caused by high blood sugar. This produces ketones, which raises your blood acid level. This can be very harmful and may even result in a coma. The symptoms include fruity-smelling breath, confusion, and extreme thirst. Treat these symptoms by increasing your level of hydration as well as taking insulin. Prevent ketoacidosis by keeping track of your sugar levels, take insulin when you need it, and learn to recognize the symptoms.

After being diagnosed with diabetes, the first thing you should do is educate yourself on the condition you have. The more informed people are about their disease, the more prepared they will be to make the proper choices when it comes to their treatment and care. Having wisdom is strength and gives you the best chance at managing diabetes.

Unless your doctor tells you otherwise, use your fast-acting insulin up to as much as 15 minutes before eating a meal. Fast-acting insulin is only effective in managing blood sugar levels with careful timing and consistent dosing.

You have a higher chance of gum disease due to the diabetes, so pay particular attention to your teeth. Remember to floss your teeth and brush them throughout the day.

All food has a ‘glycemic index’ this is how much your blood sugar will be affected when you eat them. The lower a food’s glycemic number, or GI, the better it is for the diabetic diet.

There are many high protein alternatives to meat, such as eggs, tofu, beans and other dairy products. Change it up often to give your mouth a treat.

This often leads to a greater chance of your child getting diabetes, either when born or at a later time in life. Take good care of yourself so your child can stay healthy.

Research has shown that exercise makes insulin sensitivy increase, and also lowers blood glucose levels. This helps control these levels naturally. Doing aerobic exercise and lifting weights will improve your condition significantly.

It can be confusing to deal with diabetes, having to keep track of your blood sugar and dose times or amounts. Writing down your readings in a journal is very beneficial, and you should show this journal to your doctor. He’ll be better equipped to monitor your progress and keep you healthy for the long term.

Diabetes demands you to pay incredibly close attention to the things you eat and the way you live. No one said diabetes is a cakewalk, but the tips you just read are certain make it easier to deal with. Stop struggling with diabetes, and do your best to treat it as another part of your personal life.

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Diabetes Question

What is the basic principal of eating as a diabetic?

I have recently been diagnosed as a “borderline diabetic”. I am almost 41 years old. I have illiminated sugar and white flour to the best of my ability from my diet and eat three meals a day with a snack in the evening.
So far, I have lost 15 pounds in 30 days; my current weight is 235.0 lbs and I am 5’10”. My question is, what is the basic principal of eating as a diabetic? Is there an amount of protein/carbs/fat that one should eat to maintain a constant glucose level in the blood? Or a specific timing? Thank you so much for your help.
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Diabetes - Natural Remedies

Three Best Natural Treatments for Diabetes

The best natural diabetes treatment and the best herbal diabetes treatment is open to debate. There are many natural treatments for diabetes. Some are mineral and vitamin based and many are herbal treatments. Some are shown to be more effective than others for most diabetes sufferers, however the response to any treatment will depend on the individual. Dramatic results are sometimes claimed by one person while others find minimal, if any, effect.

Use Natural Treatments for Diabetes with Caution

Before looking at specific natural treatments, a word of caution is in order. As a rule, if you intend taking any natural treatment for diabetes, it is recommended that you consult your doctor. This is particularly important if you are taken prescription drugs for diabetes, as certain substances can have unwanted reactions when taken with others. This applies to prescription drugs taken with other prescription drugs, prescription drugs taken with natural treatments, or when multiple natural treatments for diabetes are followed without any pharmaceuticals.

The results of mixing drugs can be serious. If it is not adequately managed and controlled, type 2 diabetes can be a life threatening condition. Mixing incompatible substances can accentuate the seriousness of the disease.

It is wise to keep a record of everything you are taking, even something like vitamins and dietary supplements that are being taken for reasons other than to treat diabetes.

Involving Your Doctor is Essential

You may be reticent about telling your doctor what about your non-prescription treatments and supplements that you are taking. There are still some doctors that don’t approve of anything being taken other prescription drugs, however their numbers are thinning as most medical practitioners these days are aware of the effects, good and bad, of most common natural treatments and supplements. If your doctor behind the times, find another one.

Getting back to specific treatments, although there have been many studies over the years there has never been a broad based study to find the ‘best’ treatment by comparing the effectiveness of all herbal and natural treatments employed to control diabetes.

It the Most Polar Treatment for Diabetes the Best?

The ‘best’ treatment for any individual suffer will depend on that person’s response to the different treatments. However, one way of looking at the issue is to gauge which are the most popular herbal and natural treatments for diabetes. The logic behind that approach is that these types of treatments are not usually prescribed by a health care professional. That is, they are used and continue to be used through personal choice. If a person is not getting desirable results from a particular treatment it won’t be used and, across all diabetics sufferers, ineffective treatments will fall out of favour.

By that logic the most often mentioned natural treatments for diabetes are likely to be the best, most effective, across the population of diabetics as a whole.

The Three Best Natural Treatments for Diabetes

The three most common types of herbal supplements and natural treatments for diabetes based on word of mouth effectiveness appear to be ginseng, magnesium and chromium.

Ginseng

This is perhaps the most commonly used natural treatment for diabetes and has a history of use going back for generations. There is now an ample body of evidence from many studies that ginseng does lower blood sugar levels, particularly if the blood sugar level is at the high end of the scale to begin with.

Ginseng controls the level of glycosylated haemoglobin which is responsible for maintaining blood sugar at normal levels. While there are different types of ginseng and some studies have found some variations in the effectiveness of one type over another, the difference in effect on blood sugar levels between different types of ginseng are not worth worrying about.

You may read reports of studies and scientific evidences that have shown that Panax Quinquefolius ginseng, which is commonly known as American ginseng, is the best ginseng for diabetes treatment. This has been shown in some groups of sufferers but more recent studies are showing that the differences in the level of benefit experienced by diabetics using different types of ginseng is not worth worrying about

One thing clouding the issue is the variation in responsiveness from individual to individual. The main point to remember is that all types of ginseng, if used responsibly, should help treat diabetes.

Magnesium

Magnesium is an important mineral for a vast range of bodily functions. As a natural treatment for diabetes the importance of magnesium is that its effect is felt more by its absence than by increasing consumption beyond normal levels.

It’s when magnesium levels drop below normal that type 2 diabetes can worsen. Maintaining adequate levels of magnesium can help control diabetes both directly and indirectly.

Magnesium aids in controlling blood glucose levels which has a direct effect on diabetes. It also assisting by maintaining general health, thereby preventing other health issue that may accentuate diabetic symptoms. Depending on which source you use, magnesium is required in 280 to 310 biochemical processes in the human body. Everything from heart function, to bone health and the immune system is dependent on maintaining adequate levels of magnesium in the body.

Chromium

The body’s response to insulin requires several agents to take effect. One factor required is a certain level of the trace mineral chromium, which is required by the body to metabolise fats and carbohydrates.

However, not all types of chromium are beneficial. In particular, chromium picolinate should NOT be taken as it is document to have adverse reactions in some persons.

The focus on chromium as a supplement to enhance the metabolism or processing of glucose goes back to the 1950s, after studies of diabetes in animals claimed that brewer’s yeast had a property that prevented diabetes. Further studies isolated this factor as a form of trivalent chromium. These studies showed that supplementing chromium in diabetic mice lowered their blood sugar levels. In humans the studies also showed the same relationship, however, the improvement in blood sugar levels was greater in diabetics that showed a chromium deficiency than for those whose chromium levels were closer to normal.

Key Lifestyle Factors

One of the traps that we fall into in our modern society is that when something is not right with our bodies we generally look to take something for it. The range of prescription drugs we have in our arsenal is extensive. When we add to that all the herbal and other natural treatments at our disposal the numbers are mindboggling.

As with all medical conditions, when we decide to follow a treatment plan, whether that involves prescription medicine or natural treatments, we should not forget about lifestyle factors.

There’s no point in popping a pill or taking a vitamin if our lifestyle sabotages the treatment.

To aid the effectiveness of any natural treatment for diabetes, in our lifestyles there are seven natural ways to reduce blood glucose levels.

There is No Holy Grail

The reason there are so many natural treatments held up as being effective in controlling diabetes highlights how complex the situation is and how variable individual responses are to different substances, whether natural or medicinal.

While we cannot say categorically that there is one single ‘best’ alternative, popular use of a treatment is an indication of widespread effectiveness. So, the three most popular treatments – ginseng, magnesium and chromium – do provide an individual suffering from the condition a starting point in their search for what is the best herbal or natural treatment for diabetes in their particular case.