Karen’s Free Health and Fitness Tips

Imagine life if you couldn’t…

1. Attend a symphony

2. Bungee jump in Queenstown, New Zealand

3. Create a scrapbook

4. Dine at a fine restaurant

5. Explore the ancient Mayan caves

6. Fly in a helicopter over the Grand Canyon

7. Go on an African Safari

8. Host a radio show

9. Invent something

10. Join a gym

11. Kiss the ones you love

12. Love and be loved unconditionally

13. Meet your favorite celebrity

14. Never say never

15. Own an expensive article of clothing

16. Play a Grand Piano

17. Quit a bad habit

18. Ride on a motorcycle

19. Swim with the dolphins

20. Travel to Iceland

21. Understand a new language

22. Visit all 50 states

23. Watch the Northern Lights

24. eXperience the feel of sand between your toes

25. Yodel in the Appalachian Mountains

26. Have a Zest for life

The truth is that if you are diagnosed with diabetes, you may not be able to do some these things. Science and medical studies have proven that diabetes lowers life expectancy by seven or eight years of unsuspecting people. Diabetes steals your life from you, leaves you heartbroken, unhealthy, and exhausted.

Diabetics know that in order to control this disease, it requires consistent efforts. Eating healthy, exercising regularly and monitoring blood sugar levels are all important aspects in order to prevent serious complications or even death. Diabetes is a chronic and progressive disease. Complications can have a devastating impact on someone’s health as the disease progresses, often resulting in blindness, amputation and lengthy dialysis treatments.

Diabetes is caused primarily by dysfunction of the pancreas and is characterized by impaired carbohydrate metabolism due to inadequate insulin action or secretion. It has become an epidemic in North America. It is increasing in alarming rates much faster than expected. The World Health Organization predicted an increase of only 39% from 2000 to 2030. However, recent results show that nearly one in 10 people have the disease today. As people become more obese through diets high in fat and calories and indulging in a more sedentary lifestyle in front of the TV or computer screen, diabetes will continue to become a major health concern.

Until now we all knew that diabetes is incurable. The patient has to sustain this ailment throughout the life. But science never gives up. The medical experts in Canada claim that they have finally cracked the hard nut! They have got a breakthrough solution for diabetes in the year 2009. It is the capsaicin injection. However, they say it would only be able to cure the type 1 diabetes.

Let us first try to understand this ailment in a better way:

. In the type 1 the islet cells of your pancreas stop making insulin. Then the insulin has to be supplied daily (sometimes twice a day) by injections. In the type 2 the patient’s body looses the insulin sensitivity. Hence the patients must lower down their glycemic diet. Also they need medications and insulin shots in order to manage the blood sugar levels.

. The doctors always thought that the type 1 diabetes could not be ever reversed. Now the Canadian researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto have done this on a mouse. The scientists bred some mice to have type 1diabetes. Then they investigated the function & the role of the sensory nerves in the pancreas. They specifically charted the effect on the insulin producing islet cells. They came a across a neurochemical called substance-p produced in the nerves. It causes inflammation around the islet cells and hence damage & prevent them from producing insulin.

Do you know that diabetes and weight loss are inter-related? Studies show that obese people are more prone to diabetes than others. Obviously, the only way to cure diabetes is to lose weight. Both diabetes and obesity are caused due to poor diet as well as physical inactivity. People who eat junk foods and live a sedentary lifestyle, such as sitting at the office desk for long hours, are more likely to suffer from diabetes than others. In this article I will tell how to cure diabetes and weight loss at one go!

Why does diabetes occur at all: Diabetes occurs when insulin fails to control the level of glucose present in blood. Usually, the role of insulin is to control the level of glucose in blood by distributing it in different parts of the body, such as brain, or by using it to produce energy. When however, the amount of insulin produced by our pancreas falls short of the amount of glucose present in blood or when the insulin produced by the body cannot properly control the blood sugar level, then diabetes occurs.

A new useful study on diabetes has been done by the Researchers at the University of Florida who have been able to reverse diabetes in mice. What the researchers did was used a simple injection of immature cells, or stem cells, right below the skin, and the mice were able to regulate the amount of glucose in the bloodstream. Cells were harvested from the pancreas that were in early stages of development and cultured in a laboratory until they developed islets of Langerhans.

Those cells were then put into a syringe. This was then put and injected into the mice right below the skin. Then the cells began to act like normal islets of Langerhans cells several days later, therefore, reversing diabetes. Similar methods of reversing the diabetes have been used previously. The methods that were used were similar for skin grafts and other similar procedures. Only these stem cells became functional before being injected into the mice. This study lasted for three months and it was found that the immune systems of the mice did not attack the stem cells. Therefore, the researchers believe that growing cells in cultures circumvented the normal immune attack response. But they could not determine how long it would last.

I hadn’t been feeling very well for about a year. I kept feeling run-down where even walking to get the mail, or making dinner, took more energy than I had. I would eat things with sugar in the hopes the sugar would wake me up, but it kept doing the opposite. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me.

Eventually I went to the doctor and he ordered a four hour blood test. That consisted of me getting stuck five times in four hours. The tests came back that yes, I was glucose intolerant, or had pre-diabetes. This means I have a significant risk each year of progressing to full-blown diabetes. This also means I have an elevated risk for heart disease and stroke. This means I am scared.

It is a bit of a shock learning you have a disease. When they first told me, I really didn’t know much about diabetes. Was it like a cold and it would go away? Could they fix me? And last of all, why me?

What are the early signs and symptoms of juvenile diabetes? Juvenile diabetes is having a sudden onset. The cause of juvenile diabetes is destruction of insulin producing beta cells of the pancreas. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas which changes the glucose in the energy needed by the body. The most common in children is type 1 diabetes mellitus. The early signs and symptoms of the disease include:

Frequent thirst and desire of sweet drinks as child suffering from diabetes urinates very often. Unusual urination due to high level of glucose in the blood as when there is high level of sugar in the body kidneys start getting rid of it. Irritability and changes in the behavior. Sudden drop in the weight of the child because body uses fat and proteins for energy in place of glucose. Extreme fatigue and weakness in the child. Changes in the eyesight the child may have blurred vision. Acute symptoms as nausea and vomiting. Increased appetite in the child. In untreated and undiagnosed cases diabetic acidosis is seen also known as diabetic coma. Child may complain of dry mouth and throat Pain in abdomen. In toddlers and infants diaper rashes are seen which are not improved after the application of medicated creams.

What one eats is very important from the point of view of his health.
The chief concern while monitoring and controlling diabetes is to see that the sugar level does not cross the normal range. This means that one needs to cut down on certain types of food and consume regularly those foods, which are good at regulating diabetes.

People with diabetes should try to maintain a healthy weight and eat a diet that is:

« low in fat

« low in sugar

« low in salt

« high in fruit and vegetables (at least five portions a day)

« high in starchy carbohydrate foods, such as bread, chapatti, rice.

There is no such food that people with diabetes should never eat. In addition, there is no need to cut out all sugar. But, people with diabetes should try and eat only small amounts of foods that are high in sugar, fat. So, if you have diabetes you can treat yourself to cakes and biscuits once a blue moon, as part of a balanced diet.

What foods to eat?

Dealing with diabetes doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have developed diabetes; dealing with diabetes means that you need to educate yourself in avoiding developing this disease, because to some degree, it can be avoided. You need to arm yourself with knowledge to avoid getting it or to keep it under control if in fact you or your loved one has been diagnosed with it.

Diabetes is a very devious disease that is chronic, meaning that it will last a lifetime. It affects the production of insulin in the body which is a hormone that is necessary to having a normal metabolism. Diabetes causes many health problems, such as blindness, kidney failure, stroke, limb amputation, premature death and heart disease.

Diabetes-the Facts
There is no cure for diabetes Diabetes can be managed Exercise and diet can prevent or delay diabetes
Since diabetes is a disease that is so horrible, affecting different body parts from eyes to limbs and very many in between, and since it can be prevented, everyone should do whatever they can to avoid developing this debilitating condition.

Of all the diseases that afflict human beings in this century, diabetes is perhaps the most common disease. In this article I will tell you how you can get rid of diabetes easily.

The awful thing about diabetes is that it is not easy to detect its symptoms. Sometimes a diabetes patient will show no symptoms at all, until the disease has reached malignant proportions. Some people think that too much craving for sweet foods is an indication that the person is suffering from diabetes. In my opinion, it is nothing but a myth. There are far too many people who have a sweet tooth but don’t suffer from diabetes. Do you know what causes diabetes?

Diabetes is usually caused because of lack of insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps us to derive energy from foods. We may eat lots of foods, but since our body is deficient in insulin, these foods never add to our nutrition and we don’t derive any energy from them.