Stress Treatments Help Control Type 2 Diabetes

Patients with type 2 diabetes who incorporate stress management techniques into their routine care can significantly reduce their average blood glucose levels.

Stress can increase glucose levels in people with diabetes, making them more susceptible to long-term physical complications such as eye, kidney or nerve disorders.

This is the first large study to show that a simple, cost-effective treatment can have a meaningful therapeutic effect on the control of blood sugar, said the researchers. Such stress management techniques include instructions on how to identify everyday life stressors and how to respond to them with such techniques as progressive muscle relaxation and breathing exercises.

Patients in the stress management group showed, on average, a 0.5 percent reduction on the hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) test- a standard laboratory test used to determine average blood glucose levels in people with diabetes.

However, 32 percent of the patients in that group showed an even greater improvement by lowering their glucose level by 1 percent or more. That amount of glucose level reduction is what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers sufficient when reviewing drugs seeking approval for diabetes control.

The patients were randomly enrolled in the educational sessions either with or without stress management training. Stress-management techniques were taught by nurses or graduate students specifically trained for the study.

The training included progressive muscle relaxation, mental imagery, breathing techniques and instructions on how to modify one’s physiologic, cognitive and behavioral responses to stress.

Diabetes Care

Exercise And Type 2 Diabetes

Exercise alone can play an important therapeutic role in patients with type 2 diabetes by contributing to glucose control and to beneficial carbohydrate metabolism and insulin sensitivity.

Exercise habits of diabetics with good diabetic control were compared with those having poor control. Regular exercise correlated “positively and significantly” with glycemic (blood sugar) control. However, most adults with the disease do not exercise regularly. The association of exercise with diabetic control is independent of age, body mass index, race, smoking, alcohol intake, diet, and diabetic medications.

Did You Know?

The brain gets most of its energy from blood sugar, so if glucose stays in the bloodstream rather than being metabolized into body tissues, the brain has less fuel available to store memories.

Sugar Blocker

More than 2, 600 years ago, Charaka a famous Ayurvedic physician, wrote about a strange plant. Writing in ancient Sanskrit, he noted that this herb could block the absorption of sugar. Over the centuries, it became known in Hindi as “gurmar” which roughly translates to “sugar destroyer.”

Today, we call this herb Gymnema Sylvester. Find more about this herb with Google Search Box.

Drugs and side effects

Diabetic drugs keep blood sugar down. However, you will have to be on them for life. Worse still, there are side effects. Indeed, in August 2000, the United States Food and Drug Administration asked the manufacturer of the drug Rezulin (troglitazone)-a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus-to remove the product from the market. Severe liver toxicity as a result of drug usage had resulted in deaths.

However there are natural approaches that work remarkably well for those with mild and moderate diabetes.

Diabetes Treatment

Modern Medicine (Western)

Drugs

Insulin
Low fat diet
Objective: Symptom treatment

Traditional Medicine (Eastern)
Herbs
Minerals-vanadium and chromium

Low carbohydrate diet

Objective: Looking for the cause

Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes?

Some recommendations for a diabetic diet depend on the type of diabetes you have. In Type 1 diabetes the focus is mostly on matching food intake to insulin. You'll need to know when your insulin peaks and how quickly you metabolize different foods. In Type 2 diabetes the concern may be more oriented to weight loss in order to improve the body's ability to utilize the insulin it does produce.

In both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, as well as in gestational diabetes, the overall goal is to gather enough nutritional information to maintain a healthful diet and avoid large fluctuations in your blood sugar levels.

Noninsulin-dependent diabetes

Noninsulin-dependent diabetes (Type 2), also called adult-onset diabetes, results from the inability of the cells in the body to respond to insulin. About 90% of diabetics have this form, which is more prevalent in minorities and usually occurs after age 40. Although the cause is not completely understood, there is a genetic factor and 90% of those affected are obese. As in Type I diabetes, treatment includes exercise and weight loss and a diet low in total carbohydrates and saturated fat. Some individuals require insulin injections; many rely on oral drugs, such as sulphonylureas, metformin, or acarbose.

Insulin-dependent Diabetes

Insulin-dependent diabetes (Type I), also called juvenile-onset diabetes, is the more serious form of the disease; about 10% of diabetics have this form. It is caused by destruction of pancreatic cells that make insulin and usually develops before age 30. Type I diabetics have a genetic predisposition to the disease. There is some evidence that it is triggered by a virus that changes the pancreatic cells in a way that prompts the immune system to attack them. The symptoms are the same as in the non-insulin-dependent variant, but they develop more rapidly and with more severity. Treatment includes a diet limited in carbohydrates and saturated fat, exercise to burn glucose, and regular insulin injections, sometimes administered via a portable insulin pump. Transplantation of islet cells has also proved successful since 1999, after new transplant procedures were developed, but the number of pancreases available for extraction of the islet cells is far smaller than the number of Type I diabetics. Patients receiving a transplant must take immunosuppressive drugs to prevent rejection of the cells.

What is Candida?

Candida albicans is a yeast-like fungal organism found in small amounts in the normal human intestinal tract. Normally kept in check by the body's own helpful bacteria, C. albicans can increase in numbers when this balance is disturbed to cause candidiasis of the intestinal tract, or yeast infections of other parts of the body. C. albicans causes thrush. Also called Monilia albicans.

Believe it or Not?

Smoking may increase the risk of developing diabetes, according to new research by investigators at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues.

What is Stevia?

Stevia is processed from the herbal plant “Stevia Rebaudiana”. When refined into a white powder extract (stevioside), Stevia becomes 200-300 times sweeter than sugar creating an intense effect upon the taste buds without raising blood sugar levels and contains no carbs or calories. Research indicates that both diabetics and persons suffering from hypoglycemia may use Stevia.

Benefits of Stevia:

1. Stevia is almost calorie-free.

2. It prevents cavities.

3. It does not trigger a rise in blood sugar.

4. It does not feed yeast or other microorganisms such as candida which can cause vaginal infection to diabetics.

5. It increases energy and aids digestion by stimulating the pancreas.

How can you satisfy your sweet tooth without sugar?

There are a number of strategies:

1. Create desserts from fresh, unprocessed fruit, with no sweeteners added. Sugar free fruit salad is a classic example of this approach. There are a number of classic desserts that can be served in a version based on this theme, such as Ambrosia, Balsamic Berries and Minted Melon.

2. Cut out desserts, or only serve dessert as a very occasional treat. Believe it or not, even the strongest and most demanding sweet tooth will eventually quiet down, if your sugar addiction is not being fed.

3. Use alternative or natural sweeteners. Which alternative sweetener you use will be influenced by your reasons for giving up sugar, and by your own taste buds. Natural sweeteners include honey, and Stevia.

Special Diabetic Barley Soup

Ingredients
1 cup pearl barley
5 cloves whole garlic, roasted
2 litres chicken stock, steeped from 1 ½ chicken breasts
simmered in three litres water
2 tbsps vegetable oil
2 large onions, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
150g turkey ham, cut up
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 ½ tsps sea salt or to taste
1 tbsp chopped parsley

Method

1. Wash barley and soak it in a bowl of water for three hours. Drain.
2. Heat oil in pan and fry onions.
Add carrots and celery, then the barley and fry for three minutes.
3. Add chicken stock, pepper and roasted garlic and simmer over low heat for at least an
hour, or until barley is soft.
4. Add salt to taste and serve the soup garnished with chopped parsley.

Hot Pick

Maybe my blood sugar will start to fall too!

Lowering blood glucose levels with Barley

Barley, whose Latin name is “Hordeum vulgare”, has been cultivated for more than 10, 000 years.

Since ancient times, barley has been used for healing purposes and has been known to the Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Athletes in Greece and Rome in those days were known to eat barley bread to give them strength.

Eating barley regularly is a preventive measure against diabetes. Evidently this is true because barley is high in fibre which prevents blood sugar levels from rising too high.

Tips

15. Walk whenever you can. Walk the stairs, walk if you don't need to drive, park as far as you can and walk to your destination.

16. If you have been sedentary for a long time, gently ease into the active lifestyle.Take a couple of weeks to slowly condition your body until you are able to exercise for 30 minutes each time at a reasonable intensity.

17. Help out at home by washing the car or doing the gardening. Keep active.

Tips: Continued

11.Take insulin or medications as prescribed.
12. Take good care of your feet as diabetes may damage nerves and reduce the blood flow to your feet.
13. Get regular eye exams. Diabetic retinopathy can cause blindness. Early detection and treatment can slow the process and save your sight.
14. Have regular medical checkups.

Retinopathy:Diabetic Blindness

Diabetic retinopathy is an eye disease that can cause decreased vision and blindness. Depending on a patient's condition, diabetic retinopathy can progress quickly or slowly. Factors that may hasten the progress include heavy smoking and poorly controlled hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol).
It occurs when the eye vessel leaks and the retina becomes ischaemic, or half-dead. Since the retina lacks oxygen, it produces a substance which induces the formation of new blood vessels which are abnormal.
These abnormal blood vessels can bleed suddenly and lead to immediate blindness. It is not easy to reverse this as it requires major surgery.

Tips-Continued

7. Read the labels of processed food before buying,either low in, or free of fat and sugar.
8. Eat sensible amounts of complex carbohydrates: rice, noodles, bread, tubers, etc.
9. Eat more beans, vegetables and fruits as these yield low amounts of calories.
10. Get your doctor/dietitian to design the diet plan for you.

Diabetes Complications

Diabetes affects the way the body handles fats, leading to fat accumulation in the arteries and potential damage to the kidneys, eyes, heart, and brain, and statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) may be prescribed to prevent heart disease. It is the leading cause of kidney disease. Many patients require dialysis or kidney transplants. Most cases of acquired blindness are caused by diabetes. Diabetes can also affect the nerves, causing numbness or pain in the face and extremities. A complication of insulin therapy is insulin shock, a hypoglycemic condition that results from an oversupply of insulin in relation to the glucose level in the blood.

Symptoms of Diabetes

1. Dry mouth.
2. Increased thirst
3. Frequent urination
4. Increased appetite (Type 1 only)
5. Unexplained weight loss (Type 1 only)
6. Feeling week, tired and dizzy
7. Frequent skin infections
8. Slow healing wounds
9. Recurrent vaginal infections
10. Blurry vision
11. Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
12. Fast, shallow breathing
13. Fruity-smelling breath

Tips-Continued

4. Avoid oily and fatty food (e.g. deep fried dishes, chicken skin and fatty cuts of meat;they're rich in calories.)
5. Cut down on sugar and highly sweetened foods and drinks.
6. Resist the urge to snack unnecessarily.

How to lower your blood sugar levels

The bittergourd is famous for its ability to help diabetics in decreasing sugar levels. This is not a joke but a reality where I and my mother have benefited a lot from its juice. Believe it or not, I managed to bring down my blood sugar level from 20 to 7 in just a month, naturally without pills.
Here is the recipe of the healing juice:

1. Wash and clean 1 kg of bittergourds
2. Peel off the skin and cut them into small pieces.
3. Put all the pieces of the bittergourd into a mixer or a blender and blend them until you get a smooth solution.
4. Don't strain the juice and don't add sugar or honey into it.
5. Now, the juice is ready for you to drink;drink once daily and regularly.
6. Keep the remaining juice in your fridge.


diabetic recipe

Bittergourd-The Wonder Vegetable for Diabetics

The bittergourd is the climbing crop and needs support.When young, the seeds of this plant are white and are coated by aril that is red after ripe. This unique vegetable is eaten during the period of the young level and has bitter taste.The bittergourd or so called 'peria' in Malay language, is eaten as 'ulam' or salad boiled with chilli sauce or is mixed in cooking like curry or stir-fry ketchup.

Tips-How To Fight Diabetes

1. Don't overeat.
2. Eat smaller than normal portions.
3. Stick to breakfast, lunch and dinner times.

What Is Pre-Diabetes? Gestational Diabetes?- Are Both the Same?

Pre-diabetes is a state when your blood glucose level is higher than normal but not quite high enough to have you diagnosed as being diabetec. However, you need to take some precautions as this condition enough to put you at higher risk of developing a heart attack or stroke.

There are 3 conditions that are commonly found in people with pre-diabetes:

i) high blood pressure ii) high blood lipids (fats in the blood) iii) obese or overweight

Pre-diabetes does not present any symptoms, so it is encouraged that you take a simple blood glucose test at a clinic.

If your reading is 5.6 to less than 7.0 mmol/L (fasting) or 7.8 to less than 11.1 mmol/L (2 hours after food), the doctor will perform specific blood tests to confirm whether you're in pre-diabetes state or have developed Type 2 diabetes.

Gestational Diabetes develops only during pregnancy. Like Type 2 diabetes, it occurs more often in African Americans, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, and among women with a family history of diabetes. Women who have had gestational diabetes have a 20 to 50 percent chance of developing Type 2 diabetes within 5 to 10 years.

Source: New Sunday Times / Peter Lenkefi

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism the way our bodies use digested food for growth and energy. Most of the food we eat is broken down into glucose,the form of sugar in the blood. Glucose is the main source of fuel for the body. Diabetes causes glucose to back up in the bloodstream. As more and more glucose remains in the bloodstream blood glucose or blood sugar levels can rise too high.

There are two major types of diabetes. Consider the following information as it relates to both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.

In type 1 diabetes (also called juvenile-onset diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes), the body completely stops producing any insulin. Insulin is a hormone that enables the body to use glucose to produce energy. Sufferers of type 1 diabetes must take daily insulin injections in order to survive.Type 1 diabetes usually develops in children or young adults; however, it can occur at any age.

Type 2 diabetes (also called adult-onset diabetes or non insulin-dependent diabetes) results when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin and/or is unable to use insulin properly .Type 2 diabetes happens when your body either cannot produce enough insulin or does not use the insulin it makes properly. Insulin is ahormone produced by the pancreas. Many of the foods we eat such as bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and fruit are converted into sugar and give us the energy we need to maintain life. Insulin gets the sugar into the cells.

Diabetes is a life-long condition. High blood glucose levels over a long period of time can cause blindness, heart disease, kidney problems, and amputations. Good diabetes care and management can prevent or delay the onset of these complications.

Author: Peter Lenkefi

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