Natural Diabetes Management with Exercise

If you discovered a "secret weapon" that would literally cut your risk of developing diabetes in half, you would want it?

What if in addition it also helped you to lose weight, would you consider this something of a great find?

Now, what if I told you that this wonderful "discovery" that cuts your risk of Type II diabetes by 50 percent and helps you lose weight were absolutely free? Would you still be interested in the possibility?

Well, grab your walking shoes and start lacing up! The Diabetes Prevention Program performed a study in 2001 that showed simply walking 30 minutes a day for five days a week did all this!

In fact, the average participant in the program lost a stunning 15 pounds in a single year, just by walking.

This is great news, because according to Dr. Anrea Kriska, associate professor of epidemiology at Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, women who are sedentary are more likely to develop diabetes than those females who exercise.

Her study too, performed in 2003 showed similar results when individuals began and kept with a walking program. If you believe you've waited too long to exercise, that you're beyond hope, think again. Dr. Kriska said that these benefits ". . . hold up no matter the initial weight of the walker."

And you can even be more effective at the natural approach to managing diabetes if you add exercise to your daily list of "musts." Exercise will naturally help you shed some of the excess body fat which is a part of the problems you're having with your blood sugar levels.

Body fat blocks your muscles from being able to actually use the glucose that is in your bloodstream. You'd be amazed that even a small reduction in fat produces a noticeable benefit in the utilization of the glucose. And all of this leads to a natural reduction in your blood sugar levels. Of course, the more fat you lose, the more efficiently and more normally your body will use that extra blood sugar.

The good news here is that the exercise need not be strenuous. If you're not up to walking 30 minutes all at once, don't worry. Recent research shows that you could break that 30 minutes into smaller increments and still receive the same benefits.

The other great news that research has recently shown is that you don't need to be a speed walker to reap the health benefits of walking. Even walking at a normal pace provides your body with enough movement to help improve your overall health!

Note: Some statements in this article may not be approved by the FDA. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional medical advice.

Natural Diabetes Management with The Glycemic Index

The glycemic index is a food chart which tells you how quickly certain foods raise your blood sugar levels after eating them. This method of controlling blood sugar levels is still a bit controversial, and it's highly misunderstood too.

When you eat anything - meals, snacks, drinks, anything - your body responds. If you eat or drink something with high levels of simple, quick sugars, your body will respond by quickly showing a rise in blood sugar levels. In healthy people, the body will immediately release insulin to lower those blood sugar levels fast. In diabetics however, the high blood sugar levels can be dangerous.

Now the whole premise of the Glycemic Index, is to learn which foods raise your blood sugar quickly, which raise it at more moderate levels, and which raise it slowly. The slower your blood sugars rise after you'e eaten, the better you're able to manage, maintain and regulate your Diabetes. Foods which raise your blood sugar more slowly also tend to help keep you feeling full and satiated for longer periods of time, and are often lower in fat or higher in fiber too.

The most common misunderstanding most people have with the glycemic index, is that they think they're supposed to only eat certain things and avoid other things. Most diets and eating plans work this way. The glycemic index however, is designed to help you make better eating choices, not tell you what to eat or not eat.

Most people also don't realize that there are conditions which can change the glycemic load of certain foods. Boiled potatoes for instance, have a GI rating which is lower than instant mashed potatoes. But if you mash those boiled potatoes with a fork, you've instantly created a higher GI food.

Glycemic index ratings are also based on certain portion sizes. Many people for instance, think they're not supposed to eat carrots when using the Glycemic Index to control their blood sugar levels, because carrots have a GI rating of 71. But that rating is for cooked carrots only. Raw carrots have a much lower GI rating, and you'd have to eat an entire pound to get that large of a glycemic load from them.

Another example is pasta. Most people think they're not allowed to eat pasta when using the Glycemic Index to regulate their blood sugar levels, but this is not always the case. How well you cook your pasta will change the Glycemic Index rating for it. Undercooked pasta, also known as "al dente" pasta, has a lower GI load then pasta that is cooked until fully soft. Instant rice has a much higher GI rating than long grain or wild rice, and instant oatmeal has a higher GI rating than old fashioned cooked oatmeal. Even the differences in ripeness of a banana can dramatically change the glycemic load from eating that fruit.

Note: Some statements in this article may not be approved by the FDA. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional medical advice.

Glycemic Index Eating Tips

If you'd like to try the glycemic index diet, or you'd simply like to try eating foods based on their glycemic load to see how well it can help you naturally manage your blood sugar levels, there are many ways to get started. The first thing you'll need to do is get a copy of a Glycemic Index (GI) food chart to use for reference. There are many GI chart resources available freely on the Internet too, so you might be able to simply print those out and stick them on your fridge.

If you're a diabetic or hypoglycemic taking medications to help manage your blood sugar levels, you'll also need to inform your doctor that you'll be trying the GI diet, or integrating some of the GI principals into your eating plans. This way your doctor can help monitor your blood sugar levels, and adjust your medications as needed. Diabetics who take insulin regularly will need to keep a close eye on their blood sugar levels too, and call their doctor if you start noticing frequent blood sugar lows.

Now here are some simple tips for trying the glycemic index food charts in your daily eating plans:

1. Realize there is almost always an alternative food choice. If you happen to like having oatmeal for breakfast, you can lower the glycemic load and speed of blood sugar impacts by eating old fashioned cooked oatmeal instead of instant. You can try sweet potatoes, or yams, instead of white potatoes. Try boiled white potatoes instead of baked, and try pumpernickel or whole grain breads instead of white.

2. You don't have to avoid most high GI foods, you simply need to eat them in moderation. Eating smaller food portions will help lower the GI load on all foods, and only eating high GI foods occasionally will help minimize the overall impact those foods have on your everyday blood sugar levels.

3. Think in terms of meals instead of foods. If you choose to eat a food which has a higher GI rating, you can help minimize the overall impact on your blood sugar levels by having lower GI foods in the same meal. So if you want to have instant oatmeal for breakfast for instance, you can help balance it out a bit by sprinking some fiber bran on top and having strawberries.

Adding proteins, fiber, and good fat food sources can lower the overall GI load of your meal too, as can adding acidic foods such as lemons or vinegar. These foods help reduce the speed at which carbohydrates are absorbed into your body, thus creating a more gradual rise in blood sugar levels instead of quick high ones.

4. Realize that the Glycemic Index is a guideline to help you. It's not a set in stone diet that says what you can or cannot have. Some foods are very high in nutrition even though they may have a moderate to high GI rating. Don't avoid those foods, just eat them in smaller portions. You need the nutrition they provide.

Note: Some statements in this article may not be approved by the FDA. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional medical advice.

What is Insulin Resistance

Insulin is a type of hormone your body uses to help turn sugars you eat into fuel. After you eat a meal, there are higher levels of sugar, or glucose, circulating through your blood. The pancreas releases insulin to dispatch that blood sugar into cells for use as energy.

For many people however, some say as many as one in four Americans, the tissues of the body stop responding to insulin. When you have insulin resistance syndrome, your body's muscle cells are unable to absorb the sugar properly, so your body will make more insulin to try and force the sugar into your cells.

Insulin resistance is part of another syndrome referred to as Syndrome X. This term actually refers to a number of multiple health conditions which tend to be present along with insulin resistance. Both Syndrome X and Insulin Resistance are indicators of people who have much higher risks of developing type two diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.

The combination of symptoms commonly seen with Syndrome X and Insulin Resistance include high blood pressure, high triglycerides, obesity, decreased "good" HDL cholesterol and higher "bad" LDL cholesterol levels.

Most people with insulin resistance tend to carry fat around the middle of their body. This is referred to as having an apple shape, and people who have this shape often have much higher risks of developing other health problems over time. Fat cells around the middle of your body are said to release fat into your blood stream much more easily than fat cells located in other areas of your body.

When you carry excess fat cells around your middle, that fat can start releasing into your blood stream within three to four hours of eating a meal, instead of many hours later as happens when the fat is stored elsewhere. This additional and quicker release of fat cells can cause your triglyceride levels to raise, which in turn lowers your HDL, or "good" cholesterol.

While it's not fully known which problem causes which complication, it's generally agreed upon that losing weight is one of the first steps to treating insulin resistance. Some say that insulin is unable to reach the muscle cells as easily because the fat is actually in the way and blocking it. So your body must release more insulin to force the sugar through the fat to where it's needed. If this is the case, then it's another good reason to start losing some of that extra fat.

Exercise is one of the biggest recommendations for helping insulin resistant people to lose weight, because the muscle mass accumulated from exercise helps to burn excess fat from your system as much as the additional activity does.

So in the following sections we'll look at the various treatment approaches and options for insulin resistance.

Glycemic Index Food Tips

Many diabetics are looking for more natural ways to help keep their blood sugar levels under control, and some have discovered the Glycemic Index. The glycemic index is a food chart which rates the affect various foods have on your blood sugar levels. All glycemic index (GI) ratings are computated based on either standard white bread, or straight glucose. Because two methods are used, some GI charts will vary slightly based on which base food item was used for the computation.

Using the Glycemic Index, diabetics can get a general idea of how quickly their blood sugar levels might rise after eating certain foods. Anything with a GI rating of 54 or less is considered a low GI food, which means it will raise your blood sugar levels slowly. Very low GI foods have a rating of less than 39, medium GI rated foods range from 55 to 69, high GI foods are at 70 or above.

Glucose and white bread have a base rating of 100 on either type of GI food chart - which is high of course - and all other foods are compared against them. There are many foods with higher GI ratings, and many with lower ones.

But this rating system is where things can get confusing. If you try to eat foods based on their standard GI rating only, then you may find you're not having much success with controlling your blood sugar levels. You might also feel that some of the ratings make no sense at all. Many people mistakenly assume they're supposed to avoid everything with a GI rating of 70 or higher, and some even think they're supposed to avoid any foods which rate higher than 55. What they don't know is that the base food GI rating can change given different variables.

Not all oatmeal is the same for instance. Instant oatmeal has a higher GI rating than old fashioned cooked oats does. But that's not the most confusing part... sometimes how you cook your foods will change the GI rating too. Pasta for instance, that's eaten while still firm has a lower GI rating than fully cooked soft pasta does. And if you boil one inch cubes of potatoes, you'll have one GI rating, but simply mashing those cubes with your fork will increase the glycemic load of the very same potatoes.

Many fruits have low glycemic loads, but if you cook or chop those fruits, you're often increasing the glycemic load they'll produce. And some fruits are naturally high in glycemic load. Watermelon for instance, has a GI rating of 72.

So glycemic index charts are simply a starting point to use for controlling your blood sugar levels naturally.

Note: Some statements in this article may not be approved by the FDA. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional medical advice.

Note: Some statements in this article may not be approved by the FDA. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional medical advice.

Type 2 Diabetes

30 years ago it was rare for people under 50 to have type 2 Diabetes.

Now younger people are contracting the disease in increasing numbers.

We are altering our genetics by our diet and exercise routines. Processed modern foods contain far too much sugar.

The body has a problem when there is too much glycogen present. Someone who has been overweight or puffy are predisposed. Someone who tends to gain weight head-to-toe rather than just around the middle is likely to be pre-diabetic.

These problems occur when there is too much insulin in the blood.

When we can control insulin production in our bodies we see blood pressure and weight go down.

However, the standard diabetes diet as proposed by the American Diabetes Association includes 65% sugar forming foods (carbohydrates) .

We must slowly lower the insulin levels over a period of approximately 6-8 weeks. .

At the same time certain nutrients can be added to your diet to help fight the disease.

Insulin Resistance Disorder - this is caused when the body produces too much insulin. This, in turn, produces obesity, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, kidney problems, vision and nerve problems.

When we can control the production of insulin in the body we can normalize many or all of the bad side effects from too much insulin in the body.