How Can We Be Safe From Amputation In Diabetes?
Amputation is not a direct result of the diabetes, but a consequence of chronically high blood sugar levels over a long period of time in diabetic patients who ignore their condition. Basically, a surge of little sugar crystals with sharp edges circulate through your blood stream when blood glucose levels are too high. This is less of an issue when they travel through the arteries (interstates) and large veins (highways), but when they enter the tiny capillaries (narrow streets) where blood oxygen and waste are exchanged at the cellular level they start to have issues and scrape up against the sides. This damages the capillary blood vessels (often in the feet due to gravity) and interferes with healthy circulation. As a result the tissue in the affected areas are starved of oxygen and unable to get rid of the metabolic waste they produce - when this damage reaches a level where there are more damaged vessels than healthy ones it can act like a tourniquet on the affected limb. In order to prevent this from happening you need to stay on top of your diabetes. Find a doctor (physician, not a chiropractor or other alternative medicine practitioner) you like and see them regularly. Follow the advice they give you and always take your medication as instructed. Check your blood sugar regularly to make sure it is not too high or too low. Eat healthy to reduce the amount of simple sugars that surge through your bloodstream. Exercise regularly to improve your cardiovascular health. By doing all of these things to stay on top of your diabetes you can maintain the same blood glucose levels of a non-diabetic and lead a normal healthy life. I have a close friend who is diabetic and in much better shape than I am. He eats well and lifts weights everyday. He is jacked! He also checks hi Continue reading >>
Is There Any Scientific Basis To Suggest That The Paleo Diet Is Actually Healthy?
The paleo diet is actually one of the few diets that is based on science. Few (if any) paleo adherents are preaching a literal, "live like a caveman" type of dogma. The paleo lifestyle is about living in a way that is optimal for the modern human animal, viewed through the lens of evolution. The "caveman" thing is the straw-man that haters use to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Over the past few years, there has been an increasing amount of studies. If you search for "paleo" or "ancestral" in pub-med you will find a large number of recent studies linking paleo diets with reduced inflammation, blood pressure, lipid profile and glucose tolerance, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, weight loss, etc. Gary Taubes and Dr. Peter Attia have created NuSci.org, a non-profit to conduct even more studies on the subject. Part of the caveman straw-man is that "because much of the food our ancestors ate doesn't exist anymore, its impossible to REALLY eat a paleo diet." Nobody argues that the animals and plants in existence now are the same as they were 10,000 years ago. In fact, most of the plants and animals available now aren't the same as they were 50 years ago due to factory farming and mono-crop agriculture. This is why the paleo lifestyle encourages finding the highest quality, most nutritious food you can. Grass-fed meats, wild-caught fish, organic fruits and vegetables, etc. And if you can't afford, or can't find it, that's OK. Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. I think the cartoon that Craig posted as part of his "answer" says more about his ignorance than it does the Paleo Diet. To think that prehistoric humans dropped dead at 30 is preposterous. That's the AVERAGE age of prehistoric man, which was abnormally low due to high rates of infant mortality and the Continue reading >>
Today Morning I Did My First Sugar Test On An Empty Stomach Using A Kit And Got A Reading Of 100. Am I Borderline Dieabetic? Or Does 100 Map Onto Sugar Level Of A Normal Non-diabetic Person?
Your fasting blood sugar level is fine, you don't have diabetes, not even pre-diabetes (impaired fasting blood sugar), no other tests needed. If you're at high risk of developing diabetes (obese, one of the parents have type 2 diabetes, a woman has had gestational diabetes) repeat at yearly intervals. See the Mayo websit Tests and diagnosis A fasting blood sugar level less than 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) is normal. A fasting blood sugar level from 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L) is considered prediabetes. If it's 126 mg/dL (7 mmol/L) or higher on two separate tests, you have diabetes. For decades an oral glucose tolerance test haven't been done to diagnose diabetes. Some are using glycated hemoglobine (HbA1c) levels instead of fasting blood sugar to diagnose diabetes An A1C level of 6.5 percent or higher on two separate tests indicates that you have diabetes. An A1C between 5.7 and 6.4 percent indicates prediabetes. Below 5.7 is considered normal. HbA1c levels at least in Europe isn't given as a percentage anymore, but to have consistent lab to lab result as mmol/mol, see this conversion chart NGSP HbA1c (%) to IFCC HbA1c (mmol/mol) conversion chart Continue reading >>
