Friday, August 15, 2008

How to Lower Blood Sugar Naturally

Diabetes is quite the common condition in the US, especially with the rate of obesity. Even though having diabetes is hard to deal with and being on a diet is not fun it is something that you have to do to stay healthy. High blood sugar can be very dangerous to your health, which is why it is important to lower it immediately when you know it is too high. Some people, even though they follow a diet, still have high blood pressure and need to know how to lower it and keep it down. Here are some changes you can make to your life to lower your blood pressure. 

First of all, if you do not exercise you need to start. No, you do not have to become on of those fitness fanatics but you still need to exercise. Try talking a good walk a few times a week, you will want to start of slow and not walk too far or too fast. You can try to take a walk around the block for starters. Do not start off power walking but you do not just want to “stroll” either, choose a pace in the middle that you are comfortable with and will not tire you out quickly. 

Many people who have diabetes have found that their condition was due to them being too overweight or obese. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who do not really understand that being overweight or obese can lead to other serious health risks including, but not limited to, diabetes. Therefore, if you have diabetes and you are overweight or obese you should do your best to loose all that extra weight. This will not only help your blood sugar but it can also help prevent you for getting more illnesses. 

You should remember that most carbs are bad and will turn to sugar in your body. Even if you are following a diet plan you should lower you carbohydrate intake. For example if you are on a high carb diet you should lower your carb intake to medium and if you are on a medium carb diet you should lower you intake to low. A high carb diet consists of breads, pastas, potatoes and hard beans. A medium carb diet consists of most nuts, some vegetables and many fruits. A low carb diet consists of leafy green vegetables, salad mixes, meat and most other green vegetables. 

These are just three things you can do to lower your blood sugar and keep it down. You should know the signs of having blood sugar that is too low or too high, this can help save you in tough spots. It does not matter how you are lowering your blood sugar, you should always keep a few pieces of hard candy easily accessible in case your blood sugar gets too low. Signs of low blood sugar are headaches, sudden hunger pangs, fainting or dizziness, sweating, and confusion. Naturally lowering your blood sugar can be a blessing if it is done correctly. 

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Recommended diet for gestational diabetes

Gestational Diabetes is a condition that affects a small percentage of pregnant women, about 4%. It is really unknown why pregnant women seem to get have this disorder only for the brief nine months they are pregnant since the it goes away once the baby is born. However, the reason is not really what is important, what is important is that mother and baby stay healthy through the pregnancy. In order for this to happen the mother needs to follow a special gestational diabetes diet plan. 

Just like a person who is not pregnant and has diabetes, a pregnant woman with gestation diabetes needs to be on a special diet plan. Unfortunately, gestational diabetes can have harmful effects on the fetus, this does not happen all the time but it can happen. The baby can have various birth defects or the baby can be born too early which can be a cause of infant death if the body is not developed enough. It is also possible that fetuses that are exposed to diabetes while still in the womb could have type two diabetes later on in life. This is why it is so important for the mother to follow the diet plan that was set up for her but her prenatal care giver. 

There are routine screenings for gestational diabetes that are done during the second trimester that are recommended to help protect both the mother and the baby. These tests usually occur around the 24th to the 26th week but can be sooner or later. The diet plan will include many changes that the mother may not be used to but they are important to keeping the both of them healthy through out the pregnancy and making sure the mother does not develop pregnancy induced hypertension, another serious condition that is more common. 

The most basic changes include reduced intake of sugars such as white tablet sugar and syrups you may use on things like pancakes. The sugars will be replaced by a diet of complex carbohydrates and a balance of essential nutrients. To help the mother get started on a gestational diabetes dietary plan she will see a professional dietician that will give her a list that will make meal planning much easier for her and her family. The list is called an exchange list and has been used in all kinds of health situations that involve a person having to be on a special diet.  

Gestational diabetes can be controlled and the risk of harm the baby can be lowered as long as the mother remembers to follow her diet plan. The mother can also use carbohydrate counting as an effective way to control her diabetes. Having gestational diabetes is not fun but it is something that many women have to deal with and watch out for while pregnant. It is important to protect the unborn child from birth defects and being born too early if at all possible. It is also important that the mother follow doctors instructions very carefully in order to stay healthy. 

Diabetic Food List- What's good for your health?

When a person has diabetes it is difficult to know what this person can and can't eat. It must be very difficult to this person to nourish themselves. You would think of course that the person would have a limited diet of what they can eat but surprisingly, there are many things that they can eat. There are places you can go to get a diabetic food list.

  As stated, there are many places that you can go to get a food list for diabetics. There are many, many sites online that are dedicated just to letting the public know what is good for a person with diabetes and what is bad for that person. You can also consult your doctor or even a health clinic near you to obtain a copy of said list.

Today we will cover some of the foods that have made it onto the diabetic food list. This is to give members of today's audience an idea of what a person with diabetes goes through everyday and open society's eyes to the fact that it is not that easy to live with this disease. Even though it is common, doesn't mean that living with it is easy.

Now first and foremost, it should be known that a person with diabetes should eat from all of the 5 food groups and make sure that they have plenty of protein, vegetables, fruits, nutrients, Lipids and carbohydrates in their diet. This is where the diabetic food list comes in handy, you will be able to tell which fruits and veggies that you can eat for example.

It should be stated at this time that if you are diabetic, then you know that you should definitely eat more vegetables than fruit because fruit tends to be on the sweeter side, the whole point of being diabetic is that you can't have too much sugars right? Also, it is common sense that you should stay away from sugars such as ice cream, chocolate and any types of sweet desserts because these are loaded with sugars that the diabetic food list will define as NOT the type of foods you should eat.

It is also stated that a person with diabetes should stay away from fats like fried foods and animal fats. This will not only harden your arteries but also add to the waistline too! A person who is following the diabetic food list will surely be eating steamed foods or boiled foods. There are some dishes that you can prepare that are steamed that taste divine! 

It bears mentioning that the only types of oils that the diabetic food list recommends for someone with diabetes to cook with are olive oil, soy bean oil and finally corn oil. Now here is a quick run-down of what a person can eat that is in fact recommended by the diabetic food list.

 Milk, can drink fresh milk but never sweetened milk.
 Vegetables, both fresh and/or steamed or boiled vegetables will provide your body with the nutrients that you require to get through the day.
 Grains
 Meat, should at least have an intake of at least 100 grams per meal, be sure not to eat meats with a lot of fat.
 Eggs
 Fiber, every one needs fiber in their diet to stay regular!