Archive for the ‘Diabetes’ tag

Fiber, A Key To Managing Diabetes

One of the most important things that diabetics need to be aware of in their diet is their fiber intake. It may even be the second most important thing to focus on besides sugar intake. In fact, studies suggest that people with type 2 diabetes can lower their blood glucose significantly by increasing the amount of dietary fiber to exceed the amount recommended by the American Diabetes Association.

Fruit Rich fibre

What is fiber you ask? Fiber is a type of carbohydrate that cannot be digested. Since fiber cannot be digested or absorbed, fiber has no calories. You can find fiber on a nutritional label listed under carbohydrates, but since they have not calories, you can subtract the fiber from the carbohydrate amount listed on the label and come up with the “net carbs”.
Fiber comes in two different forms, soluble which dissolves in water and insoluble which does not dissolve in water. It is found in legumes, seeds, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Diabetes benefit from fiber because it helps the body to slow down the metabolism of sugars. Instead of having a blood sugar spike after eating, the fiber makes the sugars and carbohydrates break down slowly over a long period of time. This means that blood sugar levels should stay lower and more stable for a longer period of time.
Another reason why fiber is so good for diabetics is because fiber makes us feel full. When we are full, we are less likely to snack on bad foods. You can add fiber to any meal and this can help you to eat less and consume fewer calories and less bad carbohydrates.
The study on diabetes suggests that people with type 2 diabetes eat much more that the 24 grams of fiber recommended by the ADA. The trick to doing this safely is to do it slowly. Do not just jump right in with 50 grams of fiber a day or you may experience some very negative symptoms like cramping bloating, gas, diarrhea, or constipation. Instead, gradually increase your fiber by 3-5 grams per day until you reach 45-50 grams per day. It is important to remember to drink plenty of water while consuming this much fiber as without the water, that much fiber can be constipating.
Some easy ways to increase your daily fiber intake includes eating more fruits and vegetables with the skins on. You can add fiber, cereal grains, or granola to yogurt. Eat oatmeal or another whole grain cereal for breakfast. When eating rice, choose brown or wild and not white. Eat more beans; beans are an excellent source of fiber.

Exercises for Diabetes – Helpful in to Control Diabetes

Diabetes means that your blood glucose (also called blood sugar) is too high. Your body uses glucose for energy. But having too much glucose in your blood can hurt you. When you take care of your diabetes, you’ll feel better. You’ll reduce your risk for problems with your kidneys, eyes, nerves, feet and legs, and teeth.

excercise

You’ll also lower your risk for a heart attack or a stroke. People with diabetes are encouraged to exercise regularly for better blood sugar control and to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The reason for this is that muscles which are working use more glucose than those that are resting. Muscle movement leads to greater sugar uptake by muscle cells and lower blood sugar levels. Additional benefits of exercise include a healthier heart, better weight control and stress management. There are some exercise precautions which people with diabetes must take, however, when done safely, exercise is a valuable aid to optimal health. Exercise, along with good nutrition, helps decrease body fat, which helps normalize glucose metabolism. Also, exercise helps ower coronary risk factors like high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Cardiovascular training should be the foundation of the exercise program. Aim for at least 20 minutes of sustained activity three to five days per week. If one suffers from loss of sensitivity in the feet, avoid exercises such as prolonged walking, jogging or step exercises. Better choices for cardiovascular exercise would be swimming, bicycling, rowing, chair exercises and other non-weight bearing activities. Fluid intake is important during exercise, and especially so with cardiovascular activity and the diabetic exerciser. Consider a high-glucose sports drink like Gatorade or fruit juices over water, which can help keep blood sugar from going too low. Drink fluid before, during and after exercise. Aerobic exerciseSince many Type 2 diabetics are sedentary and overweight, low-impact exercise such as walking or stationary cycling is recommended, along with enough exercise to promote weight management. Their goal should be to exercise five times per week, up to 40 – 60 minutes per session at a moderate intensity. This level of exercise can be reached gradually, starting as low as 10 – 20 minutes a few times a week for a person who has never exercised. Remember to increase only one factor at a time (days per week, length of session, or intensity). Flexibility exercises -Flexibility exercises, also called stretching, helps keep joints flexible and reduces the chances of injury during other activities. Gentle stretching for 5 to 10 minutes helps the body to warm up, as well as get ready for aerobic activities. Remember: Exercise is powerful therapy — so powerful that you shouldn’t try it without a little professional guidance. (After all, you’d never start taking extra-strong diabetes pills without your doctor’s okay. ) Your doctor can help you fit exercise into your overall health plan. You may need to adjust your medications, carry snacks or drinks, or tweak your diet to help prevent hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). This can happen to people with Type 2 diabetes, but it’s much more common for people with Type 1. If you have this type of diabetes, you’ll have to work especially closely with your doctor to find the right balance of exercise, diet, and medications.

Top 5 Diabetes Diet Tips for Creating Healthy Meal Plan

Diet plays a key role in controlling your blood sugar. A healthy-eating plan tailored to your needs will do that and more. Majority of people affected with diabetes are overweight or obese. In fact, your risk of getting diabetes increases the more weight you put on.

So controlling your diet can be the key to reducing the risk of diabetes as well as improving your symptoms if you are already affected by this disease people often refer to as “the silent killer.”

Everybody knows that maintaining a good diet is a healthy choice for every person. But for diabetes patients, this statement means something more significant than the recent fad over healthy living.

For diabetes patients, having a healthy diet means eating in a way that reduces the risk for complications that are commonly associated with their conditions, including heart disease and stroke. For them, a healthy diet could mean the difference between die-abetes and live-abetes.

Eating healthy involves eating a wide variety of foods that encompasses the whole diet spectrum of vegetables, whole grains, fruits, non-fat dairy products, beans, lean meats, poultry, and fish.

No, you do not have to eat all of that, but a little bit of this and that enough to balance the three basic food groups (Go, Grow, and Glow) is what you should aim for.

Tip #1: Preparing a Meal Plan

When you go on a diabetes diet, the first things you need to do is to prepare a meal plan. This will serve as your guide to how much and what kinds of food you can choose to eat at meals, and even at snack times if you wish to include that.

Now, be sure that your meal plan fits in with your schedule and eating habits. That way you will not be likely to ruin your diet simply because your work schedule conflicts with your meal schedule.

Keep in mind your end-goal: To keep your blood glucose in levels that are easy enough to maintain.

In addition to that somewhat myopic diet goal for diabetes, you also want to follow a meal plan that will help you improve your blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well as keep your weight on track.

All these – blood pressure, cholesterol and weight – are factors that contribute to the worsening of your diabetes symptoms, so controlling them could very well mean controlling your diabetes.

When preparing a meal plan, be sure to balance uptake and down take – that is, food and exercise, respectively. Additionally, your doctor may have prescribed you with insulin or oral medications to help you manage your condition.

Take those medications into account as well when you plan your meal plan, making sure that the food is balanced with the drugs. The whole thing sounds like it’s a lot of work but with a few suggestions from your physician and/or dietician you can start building a meal plan that is best for you and your condition.

Tip #2: Use the Diabetes Food Pyramid

The Diabetes Food Pyramid, released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is composed of six food groups (arranged according to how much you should eat from the least to the most and based on carbohydrate and protein content):

? Fats, sweets, and alcohol
? Milk
? Meat, meat substitutes, and other proteins
? Fruits
? Vegetables
? Grains, beans, and starchy vegetables

Fats, sweets, and alcohol are the one food group that diabetes patients should avoid.

The problem with diabetes involves a certain malfunction in the way our bodies make use of glucose in the blood. It is either there is too much glucose in our blood because we ate too much food rich in sugar so that the hormone responsible for regulating glucose – insulin – is unable to cope. Or, our cells are defective so that even though we have enough insulin to handle the job, our cells do not respond.

In order to control the levels of glucose in the blood stream, controlling diabetes diet is important. The intake of fats, sweets, and alcohol and other generally “unhealthy” foods should be minimized and only for special treats.

As for the rest of the food groups, here are the serving sizes recommended by the American Diabetes Association:

? Meat and Meat Substitutes: 4-6 oz. per day and divided between meals. This is equivalent to

Type 2 Diabetes – a Natural Cure Through Simple Diet Changes

Type 2 Diabetes affects millions of people worldwide and is increasing and this is due to people becoming unhealthier than ever due to modern living – yet millions of people can cure themselves with simple diet changes. Let?s look at type 2 diabetes and in more detail the causes and natural ways to cure it.

What is it?

Type 2 diabetes is caused by the body becoming resistant to the hormone insulin ? this causes a rise in glucose levels in the blood. People at risk tend to people who are overweight or generally lead unhealthy lifestyles.

The condition leads to serious health problems that include:

Heat attacks, kidney damage, blood vessel damage and blindness Drugs can cure the problem but if they fail to work then the patient needs to inject the hormone directly to the body.

Cure and prevention

There is increasing evidence that the type 2 diabetes can be reversed and prevented, by following a balanced low glycaemic diet and following a healthy lifestyle.

A diet that has shown to be effective is the Mediterranean diet which is generally seen as one of the healthiest in the world.

Why is it so effective?

It is based on food naturally from the earth (i.e. not processed) and includes an abundance of fresh, fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

It also contains a lot of healthy fats derived from fish and olive oil.

One of the above diet in terms of type 2 diabetes, is that it has a low glycaemic load.

The above means that carbohydrates don?t raise blood sugar levels in the way that processed foods do.

The diet therefore will correct obesity and keeps blood sugar levels in check, by helping to lose weight naturally, making insulin more effectively.

There is an ongoing debate over the effectiveness of the above diet, due to the fact that it contains more fat than many other diets.

Is fat the real enemy?

Fat is not the enemy that many people think it is in terms of combating type 2 diabetes.

Many see fat as a cause of diabetes ? however the fats contained in the Mediterranean diet are ?healthy fats? that the body needs. We are all for all example aware, of the benefits of the fats in oily fish ? a major component of the Med Diet.

An Easy Diet to Follow

It is incredibly hard for many people and also unhealthy to follow a diet without fat and the med diet overcomes this problem by providing a healthy diet with healthy fats that is easy to follow.

Type 2 diabetes is so common due to unhealthy living and diet and it therefore makes sense to look at this area first in terms of making oneself healthy.

A Diet to Prevent and Reverse

The above provides a balanced, healthy diet, that is easy to follow and provides the right balance of all food groups in a healthy manner.

It is no coincidence that, type 2 diabetes numbers have soared in recent years, the people it affects tend to be:

Overweight, consume bad fats and have a high consumption of processed foods.

Think About it

By cutting the above foods out and eating a healthy, natural balanced diet can help not only prevent, but cure type 2 diabetes in many cases.

While there is still much debate about the above (and any diet you undertake should be done in consultation with your doctor) the above argument for a change to a med style diet makes total and logical sense.

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