Diabetes and Diet

Most of us think of diabetes as a disease caused by eating a lot of sugar. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, diabetes is a grave condition which affects the composition of our blood, the very element of life. Diabetes is the condition where the body’s ability to regulate the amount of glucose in the body is seriously impaired. The basic composition of the blood is highly altered and this affects almost every aspect of our health and life. It cannot be stressed enough that you should look out for the early warning signs of this horrible, life-altering condition. The sooner you recognize diabetes, the sooner you can get it treated, and the easier it will be on all concerned.

One of the early warning signs of diabetes is thirst, frequent and powerful thirst. The body tries to compensate for the altered blood composition by copious drinks of water. Another early warning sign is violent nausea. The stomach-turning nausea is not due to eating anything disagreeable or toxic. Attendant symptoms are a feeling of breathlessness, dizziness, and anxiety.

The abnormal blood composition damages the nerve fibers. This leads to a secondary condition known as neuropathy. Though neuropathy attacks the entire nervous system, the damage to the optic nerves is the first to get noticed. Often, the neuropathic attack damages the retina to such an extent that the patient suffers from lifelong vision problems.

The digestive system is very susceptible to diabetes-induced neuropathy. Flatulence, hyperacidity, diarrhea, and constipation are warning signs of diabetes. The nerves that control the bladder may also suffer functional impairment, leading to frequent urgent urination, with embarrassing consequences at times.

The natural healing that takes place is badly affected. Actually, the blood is the connective tissue which is vital to the healing process and to general health. Certain constituents of the blood generate the fibrin which clots the blood, preventing bleeding from most injuries and wounds. The blood forms a scab over wounds, protecting them from infection. None of this happens when a person has diabetes. A small nick while shaving just won’t stop dripping blood. A small playground injury will remain open for weeks on end, turning red and sore and festering all the while. These are sure-shot signs that diabetes is present.

So what prevents us from waking up to the presence of diabetes early enough? Unfortunately, there are common explanations for all the signs I’ve described. We tend to go for the common explanation to a sign rather then getting all alarmist about it and suspecting diabetes. So when we have the runs, we tend to suspect that especially pungent curry we had a week ago. Vision problems are attributed to staring at the computer monitor. And so on and so forth… The main thing is that diabetes gets itself entrenched and no one suspects a thing!

Do yourself and your family a favor! Do not take any of these signs lightly. At the most, the doctor will prescribe a routine test for diabetes. If it comes out clear, you’ll have the positive satisfaction that yes, you know it isn’t diabetes! On the other hand, if the test does indicate diabetes, then you’ll thank yourself for acting on those early warning signs! Take care; this is really a matter of health!

Ned D’Agostino
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/the-early-warning-signs-of-diabetes-680251.html

Diabetes is a very serious medical condition. It occurs when your body does not produce and use enough insulin (which controls glucose levels). Diabetes can be categorised as either Type 1 or Type 2 and is a condition which is on the rise. You therefore need to know what to look out for.

If you have diabetes you may not notice any symptoms but there are two main signals; hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar/glucose) and hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar). If you are hypoglycaemic then your insulin has lowered your glucose levels too much and this may lead to dizziness, shaking, hunger pangs and sweating. On the other hand if you are hyperglycaemic this can result in weight loss, nausea, dizziness and/or light headedness.

Some more extreme symptoms you may notice as a diabetic are peripheral neuropathy (the loss of nerve functions in the arms and/or legs) and diabetic retinopathy (when the blood vessels of the eyes change, limiting or even eliminating vision). If you notice any of these extreme symptoms you should seek emergency medical care immediately. This will reduce the chances of permanent damage to your body.

If you start to recognise any of the symptoms listed go and see your doctor immediately. They will discusss your family’s medical history, any history of diabetes in the family, any medication you are taking and any medication you are allergic to. Your doctor is then likely to recommend one of the following tests to you:

FINGER STICK TEST:- This involves pricking your finger to draw a single drop of blood, placing this drop on a disposable test strip and then analysing the concentration of glucose in your blood using a small glucose meter machine. This test is the easiest but has approximately 10% of the accuracy of a laboratory test.

FAST PLASMA GLUCOSE TEST:- You cannot eat for 8 hours before this test. Before you arrive you will have blood drawn and tested. Once tested your blood reading should not be above 126 mg/dl. Otherwise, you could be diabetic and will need to confirm through either a Glucose Tolerance Test or Glycosylated Haemoglobin Test.

If you are diagnosed with diabetes as a result of the tests do not be alarmed. The majority of diabetes cases can be managed by improving your diet and using natural remedies. Even if you feel completely normal you should still get yourself tested by a professional doctor. It’s the only way to identify the problem and if neccessary start taking preventatory measures.

Tom Parker
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/testing-yourself-for-diabetes-241210.html

My dad died from untreated diabetes last year (stroke/thrombosis), and it really frightened me because I know I am also at risk. I used to live on takeaways, get ZERO excersize and guzzle sugary drinks and snacks non stop. My dad never took the risk of diabetes seriously, so neither did I.

When he died I made a big effort to turn my life around, I lost two stone just by cutting out the take aways and walking a bit. I still had the occasional chocolate bars, take aways and alcohol however up until a couple of months ago.

In the last couple of months, in an effort to lose another two stone I’ve started a fairly strict 1,000 calroie per day diet. I initially tried to cut out all sugars from my diet (including fruit) but found this too difficult so I gave in and reintroduced fruit and honey.

At the moment my everyday diet is as follows:

Breakfast – either no added sugar museli with skimmed milk OR fruit with yoghurt and 1 tablespoon of honey

Snacks – One or two plums or pears

Lunch – Small portion of meat and salad, or maybe something like beans on toast

Dinner – Small portion of meat and salad or vegetables, and for desert a zero fat zero sugar yoghurt with 1-2 teaspoon of honey.

I drink either water or green tea (sometimes coffee – no sugar), and very occasionally naturally cloudy apple juice. I have 1-2 glasses of wine every friday evening, other than that no alcohol. I don’t have any fizzy drinks and certainly no diet drinks (because of the aspartame).

So I do still have sugar but its either from fruit or honey – I know both fruit and honey are high in sugar, it’s just not refined sugar. So does this still put me at risk of developing diabetes? And if I keep this diet up, will I be safe from diabetes?

Your father presumably had type 2 diabetes which comes on in later life? In case you don’t know the difference I will explain – In the pancreas are the islets of langerhans which produce insulin to process the sugar you eat – its a supply and demand system – when working properly the islets of langerhans produce exactly the right amount of insulin to deal with however much sugar you have eaten quickly. With type one diabetes this system does not work at all and the person will need insulin injections and a carefully worked out amount of sugar. With type 2 diabetes the supply and demand mechanism wears out. You may well have inherited the tendency to wear out the mechanism early but you have done the right thing to protect it. If you were eating loads of sugar and then none and then loads again your insulin production would veer all over the place and wear out more quickly – by stabilising sugar and losing weight you are not putting it under too much stress.

If you do develop diabetes however type 2 diabetes is much less serious and is usually controlled by diet – a similar diet to the one you have set out. You do need sugar and cutting it out completely will not help you – I am not sure if you realise there is sugar in all carbohydrates? The thing to do now is to eat healthily generally and avoid big intakes of sugar in food or alcohol – we should all do this. Have the occasional treat but in moderation. If you start to develop diabetes you will know by becoming very thirsty and sweaty after meals and feeling groggy and tired before them. You will smell a sweet smell on your skin and a smell of pear drops in your urine. (This smell is also produced by losing weight so don’t panic if you smell that now)

Here is a good link – follow it now but also allow yourself the odd treat.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Diabetes-type2/Pages/Diet.aspx

I’m 5’1", 146 lbs, BMI of 27.6 (pretty close to obese), and I’m 13 years old.
I want to lose a total of 36 lbs by August 15th (my 14th birthday) but I’m not sure where to start.
I walk and jog a lot, eat pretty healthy (no pork, love vegetables and fruits), but my weight fluctuates like crazy. It seems like every other month I’m either 10 lbs heavier or 10 lbs thinner. I want to lose weight because a lot of people in my family have diabetes and are overweight. Well that’s enough about me. Now to my question:

Where do I start and how do I keep going? Does anybody know any good diet/excersize plans that actually WORK (and won’t kill me or work me until I pass out)?
Oh yeah and I forgot to add: I’m a girl. =]

when i was your age i started to wanna lose weight (im 16 now) you can always use an elleptical, or treadmill, etc. make sure yu eat in moderation, dont cut down ur calorie intake to 1000 or less
but i reccoment the jillian michaels 30 day shred (google it) it helps soooo muchhh (its an excersise video)

plz help nobodys answering

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Akm.Hq4lSGrGU8mpD4MrK8Xty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20100407131915AAerYBo

What is Pre-diabetes? This is a fact that before developing diabetes mellitus type 2, almost always that patient develops Pre-diabetes condition. Though we will not diagnose that person as diabetic, but if he or she will not control his or her blood suger level, he will probably have diabetes mellitus in future. In pre-diabetes, blood sugar levels are in higher limits, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes mellitus. In USA only, more than 54 million people have pre-diabetes condition.During pre-diabetes damage to heart and circulatory system may already be occuring.

Various studies have shown that if you control your pre-diabetes condition earlier, then there are very less chances to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus, or you can delay it to develop. So always try to manage your blood glucose under control limits when you are in pre-diabetic stage to prevent yourself from developing type 2 diabetes.

Do you have Pre-diabetes Condition, How to Tell? There are two important tests that can tell you that you are having pre-diabetes condition. 1-The fasting plasma glucose test (FPG) 2: Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Your doctor can do any of these two tests. Fasting Plasma Glucose Test values for pre-diabetes are between 100mg/dl to 125mg/dl. If your glucose level is below 100mg/dl, then you have normal metabolism, if above 125mg/dl then you have Diabetes. It means if your level is between 100-125mg/dl, then you will have pre-diabetes. In case of OGTT, if less than 140mg/dl, then normal, between 140-200mg/dl is pre-diabetic condition and above 200mg/dl is diabetic condition.

How you can prevent pre-diabetes? Pre-diabetes can be very lethal to your health if you will not manage it seriously. Sooner or later you will probably have type 2 diabetes. There are two simple things that you can do to get rid of this pre-diabetes situation. You can also even get your glucose level within normal limits if you follow these 3 steps. A: Change in your diet habit. Try to avoid sweets in your diet. B: Half hour moderate exercise C: Weight reduction. Just 30 minutes daily moderate physical activity or exercise, along with a 5-10% reduction in body weight, can produce a 58% reduction in diabetes

Who should get tested for pre-diabetes? If you are overweight and above 45 years of age, then you should have your FPG and OGTT. If you are not overweight and above 45, should consult your doctor. If you are below 45 and overweight, you should also check your fasting plasma glucose level.

How often should I be tested? If you are having normal blood glucose levels you should have FPG test every 3 years. If you have pre-diabetes, you should be checked for type 2 diabetes every year after your diagnosis of pre-diabetes.

Children pre-diabetes Children have much less chances of developing pre-diabetes condition, however if they are very obese then one must think of pre-diabetes condition and get yourself be checked for pre-diabetes.

If you want to know more about Prediabetes Symptoms Diet Management , visit our site.

Armughan
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/every-person-before-developing-type-2-diabetes-almost-always-has-prediabetes-70369.html

Im a female, 15 years old and for a few years now ive had a dark brown ring around my neck, also black on my thighs and on my armpits. I exercise everyday and earlier this year took a mile running regime. i also trampoline daily and love eating fruits/vegetables. Recently i have been eating alot more than usual, but found myself not full, also on certain occasions not everyday but i find myself overly thirsty. I have been snapping and been quite mean to friends and co-workers that i usually get along quite well with, and ive been sleeping alot more then usual. Ive also been experiencing a little bit of blurriness and have decided to go to my opticians. i was wondering if anyone could shed light on this situation. Thankyou.

But you never thought to go to doctor for blood draw testing? That is the first thing you should do. It does not matter how active you are or how well you think you are eating.

Now, go get that doctor’s appointment as soon as possible so you can first off, set your mind at rest, and secondly you can start treatment if necessary as soon as possible. You have classic signs.