Thursday, May 8, 2008

Are You Doing Diabetes Care?

Diabetes care is a serious issue and needs to be addressed immediately to ensure that more serious conditions don't arise. The key here is personal responsibility and one must accept this to successfully control or reverse diabetes.

First and foremost you need to start with awareness. Many people have diabetes and they don't even know it. There are many symptoms to be aware of such as frequent urination, constantly feeling tired or fatigued, an increase in appetite, constantly thirsty and an increase in weight loss are possible symptoms. If you have a family history of diabetes then you are at an increased risk. Do you exercise? Do you eat healthy foods? If you answered no to these two questions then you are definitely at risk and should have your doctor check your blood sugar as often as he or she recommends.

Contending with a serious medical condition can put a lot of stress on a person but there is hope. It is very important to remember that diabetes care is a personal responsibility. You most likely got yourself into this and the good news is you can get yourself out of it. Dr. Robert Young, author of "The PH Miracle for Diabetes" has put it so well when he said, "You don't get diabetes, you DO diabetes." You do diabetes by eating junk food, fast food, foods high in sugar, excess amounts of animal proteins and foods high in saturated fat. When you add this to a lack of movement or exercise you are creating an environment for diabetes to exist in your body. So, if you can get yourself into this condition you can also get yourself out. You are the one who can keep yourself healthy.

The most important thing you can do now is to be aware of what you are eating and drinking. Diabetes care begins by changing your diet. Some simple changes include adding more veggies to your diet, especially green veggies like broccoli and cucumbers. Another important change you can do right away is dramatically reduce or eliminate sugary snacks and drinks and, reduce the amount of saturated fats you consume.

Diabetes care is not as hard as it is made to be. Depending on the extent of your blood sugar your doctor may decide to put you on medication. While many people cringe at the idea of an injection on a daily basis it is important to keep it under control. Un-controlled diabetes can lead to serious ailments such as heart attacks and strokes.

Diabetes care also includes monitoring your glucose and blood sugar several times a day. You need to be sure your blood sugar is maintained and in control. It is wise to keep a journal and let your doctor know your results. If for example, your diet and exercise program is working your doctor may reduce or eliminate your medication.

Just remember that you are in control and it is not something to worry over. It is your body's way of telling you that you are on the wrong path and you need to change course. Harvard did a study over a 25 year period and they concluded that 80-90% of diabetes, cancer and heart disease were directly related to lifestyle habits. By simply modifying your diet and adding exercise to your daily rituals you will be on your way to controlling and possibly eliminating diabetes.

Further Complications Associated With Diabetes

Diabetes is considered as a mother of host of maladies. So a diabetic should take extreme care while he is undergoing treatment and even afterwards. Once you develop diabetes, you are likely to remain affected with it for the rest of the life. So you need to be extremely careful and attentive towards prevention of complications that most of the times develop without you noticing it.

If you are diabetic and want to prolong your life, you need to be much conscious in your quest to keep blood sugar levels under control. That's the key to your safety from complication that would prove disastrous for your health.

Your little negligence would add to your misery. A diabetic is also needed to know in detail about expected complications, so that he/she could check or prevent these diseases on right time.

From your eyes to kidney, most of your body organs become vulnerable to diseases once diabetes afflicts you. Diabetic nephropathy is a kidney dysfunction that may even result in kidney failure that is quite common among patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Similarly your eye's retina could be affected due to diabetes. The disease is called as diabetic retinopathy.

If you are diabetic you are very much prone to attain increased level of bad cholesterol that in turn may result in coronary artery disease. In fact a good number of diabetics every year die of cardiovascular complications. In order to prevent these complications, a diabetic must stick to the dietary restrictions. If you are diabetic, a little control over unhealthy food cravings could save your life.

High blood pressure is one such complication with which a diabetic often get afflicted. So, sometimes diabetics are needed to compliment their main medications with blood pressure medications.

A diabetic may also suffer from nerve damage. This malady is better known as diabetic neuropathy. The disease mainly damages peripheral nerves. In certain cases diabetics have been also found developing sexual impotency.

So, there could be n-number of complications that a diabetic could suffer from. Prevention from complications lies in effective diabetes control through medications and dietary measures.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Recipes for diabetics

Sometimes life can through you a curve ball. What do you do in this situation? Well, you basically do the only thing you can do; you deal. Life is all about rolling with the punches and moving on to do great things. Take diabetes for example. This is a nasty affliction to get stuck with, no doubt. However, there are ways to deal with the dilemma and try to make things better. Fortunately there are a number of great recipes for diabetics in this day and age. Those who are troubled by the illness don't have to settle for a life with no sweets. Are you a diabetic, or do you know someone who is? Maybe it's time you got in-the-know regarding diabetes and contemporary recipes for diabetics. It's worth your time and effort.

You can easily find a number of wonderful recipes for diabetics on the World-Wide-Web. I should know; my mother has diabetes. Actually, she has what is called type 2 diabetes. She was stricken with this burden in her late 50s. I must say that I wasn't too shocked by the whole thing. You see, my mother did not eat so healthy when I was growing up. In fact, she mostly consumed junk food. This is always a big no-no. The facts are in ladies and gentlemen. Junk food will convert your body into junk. You plain and simply can't expect to live a long and fruitful life on pizza, hamburgers and soft drinks. This will all soon catch up with you. In no time you will be staring down at the spare tire around your middle and the massive thighs below your belt. And I didn't even mention your blood pressure and cholesterol level. What we know now days should be used to our full advantage. Knowledge such as recipes for diabetics is crucial in our battle with the affliction. So if you do suffer from this illness, then it's wise to acquire recipes for diabetics on your personal computer.

These days my mother takes a pill for her diabetes. I guess you could argue that she is one of the lucky ones. At least she doesn't have to deal with a shot of insulin each and every day, right? My family and I try to eat right and stay health so that we will never have to grapple with such an illness. For those of you who already have diabetes or wish to help someone who does, hop on the web and check into recipes for diabetics today. These truly are beneficial.

Green tea benefits

green tea benefits

I remember hearing about green tea for the first time about ten years ago. It has been around forever, but it was not something that was ‘hip’ until then. There are a lot of things that they say this stuff can do, but there also seems to be a lot of disagreement about what is true and what is hype. The various things that are mentioned as green tea benefits sound wonderful, but no one seems to be sure if these claims are true or not. Whatever the case, you can’t seem to get away from products that have green tea in them.

Some of the most commonly touted green tea benefits is that it can help cleanse the body of toxins. When toxins build up in the body, this can lead to all sorts of problems, so something that can cleanse the body would indeed be a great thing. Many drink it for this purpose and they claim that it makes them feel remarkably well. While I don’t know if it really does that, it certainly won’t hurt to drink it. Others claim it has health benefits associated with preventing certain types of cancer.

Some other green tea benefits are that it might help with irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, weight loss, fat metabolism, cholesterol, and liver function. Some even claim it helps boost the immune system, so it might help those with HIV/AIDS. In order to get these great benefits of green tea however, it is recommended that milk not be added to the tea when it is ingested. It tends to bond with certain molecules with in the tea that might block some of the healing properties of the tea.

There are a few ways to enjoy the benefits of green tea. Many like to have a cup or two each day, and there are also green tea supplements. These are rather inexpensive, and anyone can find them in their grocery store, and this is also sold in health foods types stores. Though many of the benefits of green tea are largely unknown and perhaps the conclusions are not as strong as they could be, it certainly won’t hurt anyone to drink a cup a day to see if it has any health benefits. It is considered to be an extremely healthy supplement to any diet, but it is a good idea to remember it does contain some caffeine. If caffeine bothers a person, they may have to find a non-caffeinated form.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Measures To Avoid CDomplications In Diabetes

Diabetes is considered as a mother of host of maladies. So a diabetic should take extreme care while he is undergoing treatment and even afterwards. Once you develop diabetes, you are likely to remain affected with it for the rest of the life. So you need to be extremely careful and attentive towards prevention of complications that most of the times develop without you noticing it.

If you are diabetic and want to prolong your life, you need to be much conscious in your quest to keep blood sugar levels under control. That's the key to your safety from complication that would prove disastrous for your health.

Your little negligence would add to your misery. A diabetic is also needed to know in detail about expected complications, so that he/she could check or prevent these diseases on right time.

From your eyes to kidney, most of your body organs become vulnerable to diseases once diabetes afflicts you. Diabetic nephropathy is a kidney dysfunction that may even result in kidney failure that is quite common among patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Similarly your eye's retina could be affected due to diabetes. The disease is called as diabetic retinopathy.

If you are diabetic you are very much prone to attain increased level of bad cholesterol that in turn may result in coronary artery disease. In fact a good number of diabetics every year die of cardiovascular complications. In order to prevent these complications, a diabetic must stick to the dietary restrictions. If you are diabetic, a little control over unhealthy food cravings could save your life.

High blood pressure is one such complication with which a diabetic often get afflicted. So, sometimes diabetics are needed to compliment their main medications with blood pressure medications.

A diabetic may also suffer from nerve damage. This malady is better known as diabetic neuropathy. The disease mainly damages peripheral nerves. In certain cases diabetics have been also found developing sexual impotency.

So, there could be n-number of complications that a diabetic could suffer from. Prevention from complications lies in effective diabetes control through medications and dietary measures.

Maintaining A Proper Diabetes Care System

The Ascensia Breeze Diabetes Care System has been designed in order to help make the monitoring of a person's blood glucose levels simpler. Certainly for many people who are now suffering from diabetes being able to monitor their blood glucose levels effectively is essential to their health and well being.

The great thing about the Ascencia Breeze monitor from Bayer Diagnostics is that it is extremely easy to learn how to use. This is because it comes with single function buttons which are not only easy to use but also easy to understand.

As well as it providing easy to use functions on the monitor itself this particular model eliminates having to use individual test strips. Instead it comes with a disc (known as the Ascensia Autodisc) which contains 10 test strips so no longer do you have to worry about trying to get individual strips out from either a vial or a foil wrapper.

Another benefit of this monitor from Bayer compared to some of the other models already available is that it does not need to be manually calibrated each time you place new test strips into it. This machine will automatically do the calibration work itself. Plus the ergonomic design means that it is much easier to handle than many other models available on the market today. This design also makes it much more stable for you to use on a table if you need to.

But apart from all the things that we have mentioned above this particular blood glucose monitor provides the user with accurate results at all time. It provides the user with clear error messaging so it soon puts their minds at ease.

Probably one of the main reasons why someone who suffers from Diabetes should consider using the Ascensia Breeze diabetes care system is that it only requires a small blood sample to be provided in order to carry out the necessary analysis. Plus if you wish you can buy software which then allows the user to download all the data from the tests taken and will help them to keep track of their results. This will then help them to devise a much more effective routine in order for keeping their blood glucose levels under control.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Symptoms And Diabetes Control Care

The symptoms of type 1 diabetes are often not easy to recognize and many people live with it for a long time before becoming aware that they are diabetes sufferers.

Type 1 diabetes is also known as insulin dependant diabetes, diabetes mellitus and / or juvenile diabetes. It is a chronic, i.e. lifelong, disease that accounts for approximately ten per cent of total diabetes cases in Europe and North America. It is an autoimmune disorder that occurs when the pancreas is unable to produce sufficient insulin to regulate blood sugar levels appropriately.

Type 1 diabetes can affect both adults and children but is frequently called juvenile diabetes because it represents the majority of the childhood cases of diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes Symptom

Without an adequate supply of insulin glucose builds up in the bloodstream instead of being used by the cells. The body is unable to use this excess glucose for energy despite the high levels in the bloodstream which can lead to an increase in both hunger and fatigue. Another type 1 diabetes symptom is frequent urination, which in turn will lead to excessive thirst.

It can take some years, but eventually the insulin producing beta cells of the pancreas are completely destroyed by the body's own immune system. Once no more insulin is being produced it needs to be supplied from another source, often insulin injections, in order to help the body function properly.

Other specific type 1 diabetes symptoms are:

* weight loss despite normal or increased appetite
* blurred vision
* nausea and vomiting
* abdominal pain
* fatigue
* absence of menstruation in women

Diagnostic approach

* urinalysis shows glucose and ketone bodies in the urine
* fasting glucose level of 126 mg/dL or higher
* random (non fasting) blood glucose level exceeding 200 mg/dL (should be confirmed with a fasting glucose test)
* insulin test
* C-peptide test – low or undetectable levels of the protein C-peptide, a by-product of insulin production.

Treatment and care

Occasionally a newly diagnosed diabetes patient may require hospitalization to initially regulate insulin levels. However, since diabetes is a chronic disease the emphasis will be on managing both the short and long term diabetes-related problems. Patient education plays an important role in the ongoing management and dietary changes are almost always necessary together with self glucose monitoring and long term glycemic control.

A long term goal is to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke as diabetes sufferers tend to be at higher risk. Lifestyle changes are often required to manage this risk. Increased exercise, stopping smoking and an appropriate diet are all required. These changes can allow a sufferer to take control of their disease rather than allowing the diabetes to take control of them.

Control Of Diabetes Through Different Treatments

There are three different types of diabetes and each requires different treatment. Diabetes is not curable, it is a life long disease that can however be kept under control with proper care. Type 1 diabetes care – this type of diabetes is also known as insulin dependant diabetes; it often starts in childhood or before the age of 20. This type of diabetes occurs when one’s immune system gradually attacks and destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.

These are the typical symptoms of Type 1 diabetes: frequent urination excessive thirst unexplained weight loss unexplained hunger blurred vision numbness of lower limbs or tangling sensation tiredness and fatigue dry itchy skin sores that are slow to heal nausea, vomiting and stomach aches

People with Type 1 diabetes must use insulin daily failing which, can lead to glucose fluctuation in the blood stream and that can turn into an emergency situation at times. Proper monitoring of the blood sugar levels can alleviate the fear of having to be faced with such an emergency. The control of the sugar level can now be done right in your home with a specialized easy to use machine.

Type 2 diabetes care – in this case of diabetes the body fails to use properly insulin which is needed to take and use sugar from the blood cells, thus, causing high blood sugar.

Treating type 2 diabetes often needs planning your meals carefully in order not to raise blood sugar in the blood; when this step is not enough you will need to take specific medicines to bring down the blood sugar. In due time diabetes can cause severe side effects such as:

kidney failure – which can be treated only by kidney transplant Heart attack Amputation of limbs Blindness

The main way to take control of your diabetes is to educate yourself and learn how to efficiently keep down the blood sugar levels in your body. This requires perseverance on one’s part especially if you are taking care of a minor. Constant checking of your blood sugar level, often 4-5 times a day will help you take charge and not have to deal with an emergency situation.