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When you think of blood sugar levels, you probably immediately think of people diagnosed with diabetes. However, the incidence of diabetes is definitely on the rise, particularly here in the U.S. Are you aware that today, even children in grade school are now being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, in ever-increasing rates? Many experts describe childhood type-2 diabetes as being ‘epidemic’ in our society. This is alarming news indeed. This is why all of us need to monitor our sugar consumption as well as that of our children.
Even if you are a non-diabetic person you might well ask why diabetes is becoming so common, across all age groups and ethnicities, and really what concern should it be of yours? Type-2 diabetes is essentially a disease manifested by an inability of the body to manage blood sugar levels, due to an overtaxed pancreas which cannot keep up with the amount of sugar being processed. While modern life has provided us with many time-saving food production and processing techniques, in the form of convenience foods and ready to eat meals, therein lies the rub. When you rely on packaged, refined, highly processed foods for a significant portion of your diet, you are automatically increasing your sugar intake and thus, your blood sugar levels, exponentially.
Sodas have become the beverage of choice with kids and adults alike. Candy bars, cookies and pastries are put in the lunch bag for ‘dessert’. A typical school kid’s lunch may consist of a baloney sandwich, a bag of chips, a soda and dessert.
Read the label on the packaged baloney to see if it doesn’t contain added sugar, usually in the form of ‘fructose corn syrup’, used commercially as a ‘taste enhancer’, which makes it more appealing to the taste buds. The chips, while usually not containing added sugar, contain a lot of salt, which causes the body to retain water, contributing to weight gain and even obesity. The soda speaks for itself, as does the candy bar or other unhealthy ‘dessert’. While this lunch is quick to assemble and convenient, the cumulative effect of this sort of lunch is an overworked pancreas and increased blood sugar levels.
If you’re an adult, on the run with a busy schedule, eating in this manner on a regular basis puts you at greater risk of developing type-2 diabetes.
The moral to this story? Try to get into the habit of developing menus made with fresh produce and meats. Make up a big batch of homemade spaghetti sauce to freeze in meal sized portions, instead of reaching for the more expensive and sugar added commercial jars. Choose juice instead of soda, looking for those with labeling declaring ‘no sugar added ñ natural fruit sugar only’. A piece of fruit is a far better dessert choice than sweet treats.
Diabetes carries with it so many dietary restrictions and life-threatening complications. A preventative approach to your diet can save you and your family members from falling victim to this devastating disease. Watch your sugar intake now, so you won’t find yourself having to monitor your blood sugar levels four times a day in the future. Good health to you!
Treatment For Type 2 Diabetes
04/11/09
The most important treatment for type 2 diabetes is a proper diet. There are no drugs, supplements or herbs that will compensate for a poor diet. While the need for supplements in a diabetic is no different to the needs of others, dietary guidelines show many adults do not get enough of the essential vitamins and minerals. These ideas might help you to get the vitamins you need from food as well:
- eat a variety of fruit and vegetables. The brighter, darker colored ones are more nutrient dense, they provide more vitamins and minerals
- eat more raw and unprocessed fruit and vegetables
- chose starchy foods, go for whole-wheat or whole-grains such as cereals, brown rice, whole wheat pasta and barley
- eat legumes, (peas, beans and lentils), often. Use them in soups or bean salads or include them in tossed salads
- eat or drink several calcium servings each day, eg. low-fat milk, yogurt or cheese
Several of the supplements available do claim to solve a variety of diabetes-related health issues and people with diabetes do take them. Many claim to help lower your blood sugar levels. Some health care providers say to avoid them, others say they may have a role in managing your sugar levels. The trouble is many of these therapies have not been tested as much as traditional medications.
1. Chromium is said to lower blood sugar levels. Several studies are in progress to see whether it is effective for people with high blood sugars.
2. Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) benefits include improving insulin sensitivity and lowering blood sugars. Some studies have shown ALA lessens the pain of nerve disease also.
3. Vanadium may act like insulin and help make insulin receptors better able to use glucose.
4. Magnesium is a mineral involved in the breakdown of carbohydrates and improved insulin action. Low levels of magnesium has been associated with higher blood sugar levels.
Always take care when taking supplements as large doses are also potentially toxic. Some supplements may also interact with other supplements or prescribed medications. Don’t hesitate to tell your health care provider about the supplements you are taking so he can guide you with how they will affect your type 2 diabetes and blood sugar levels.
nowing how to lower blood sugar level is key to maintaining a healthy life and prolonging life, even if you have diabetes already. If you know how to reduce blood sugar, then you probably know how to control other factors in your life as well, such as general food intake, sugar levels and your intake of sugar, fat and carbohydrates.
Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that causes whole regions of the body to fail. It is never a joke to have diabetes so the proper steps have to be taken to make sure that the blood sugar does not rise too often above the normal level. If a diabetic’s blood sugar level spikes or drops too drastically, there just might be a chance that the person would faint or suffer from a diabetes-linked convulsion.
To lower blood sugar level, you must first attend to the most basic concern of any diabetic, your diet. Once your attend to your diet and take away from the equation the most unnecessary of intakes, then your are well on your way to naturally stabilizing your sugar levels. If you don’t, of course the opposite would take place, and of course you would not want that.
The second way to lower your blood sugar is by increasing your intake of bitter gourd and other such vegetables. Still another step is to exercise often, and on a very regular basis. This will ensure that the body would be burning all the sugar that it needs to burn to keep going at a facilitated pace.
If you want to check your blood sugar with a clinic or a chemical diagnostic center, you would probably have to go through fasting for twenty four hours without food- which means if you plan to have your fasting blood sugar level taken, if it is six pm now you won’t eat until the twelve hour mark or twenty four hour mark.
Monitor blood sugar because it will be your first line of defense against all the other problems brought about by a rise in blood sugar. Unfortunately, you would not be able to feel immediately when sugar levels are not stable. Unstable sugar levels are often detected too late, because the people who are suffering from these spikes or drops already faint or feel other debilitating symptoms.
A diet plan for diabetes is most useful to make sure that the diabetic would be on good route to complete recovery from the dreaded metabolic disorder. Remember that this is not a disease per se, but it can cause several diseases if you continue to not pay attention to its presence. In the final analysis, you need all the help that you can get to fight this thing, and because of this, you must not only rely on things like medication and doctor’s advice. You must also take charge of your own body and help heal it in the ways that you know how.