17 Herbs And Spices That Fight Diabetes

17 Herbs and Spices That Fight Diabetes

You can make your meals even healthier (and tastier, too!) while strengthening your fight against the diabetes-inducing inflammation in your body. How? We will look to nature and whole plant foods.
All of the herbs and spices listed here have anti-diabetic and/or anti-inflammatory properties and can be sprinkled on any meal to help reduce the chronic inflammation in your body. So when you're cooking your next meal, toss in some of the herbs and spices listed below. And don't be afraid to experiment in order to get it just right: By trying new combinations, you'll learn which herbs and spices offer the best flavors for your dishes and how much you prefer to use.
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is that aromatic kitchen herb that reminds us of summer, Italy, and good eating times. It is fragrant in salads, soups, and pesto. In a study of herbal infusions of kitchen herbs, turmeric, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, and basil were the five front-runners in flavonoid content. And basil, specifically, lowers blood sugar.
Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillum) is the European form of blueberries. Bilberries are superior to blueberries because they are blue throughout, whereas our form is blue only on the outside. And the blue color carries anthocyanins—the wholesome antioxidants that fight diabetes, strengthen your heart, and lower inflammation and blood fats.
A study conducted at the Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition found that regular consumption of fresh bilberries (400 grams daily) reduced inflammation markers and improved glucose tolerance in people with features of metabolic s Continue reading

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A Major Shift in Diabetes Treatment Targets and Goals

Out with the old, in with the old and new?
In the not too distant past, patients with diabetes were managed by targeting a specific range of blood glucose values. Like anything else in the medical community, these ranges fluctuated as expert consensus and opinions changed over the years as new findings became available. As proof of this, one needs look no further than the history of the American Diabetes Association’s “Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes,” which is released annually. As an example, in 2014, the ADA changed the range of targeted fasting blood glucose from 70-130 mg/dl to 80-130 mg/dl. While this change does not appear to be overwhelming, it was decided that tight control to 70 mg/dl increased the incidence of hypoglycemia, which is recognized as a dangerous sequela of diabetes treatment. Another example is the discovery by Dr. Samuel Rahbar in 1968 that hemoglobin A1C is elevated in patients with diabetes. It took several years for this idea to take hold, but following the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial in 1993, and the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study in 1998, with established HbA1C as a useful clinical marker in type 1 and type 2 diabetes respectively, the ADA agreed in 2010 that HbA1C be used in the diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes. Since then, it has been widely regarded that HbA1C should be maintained below 7 to achieve “good control,” and, more importantly, to minimize the risk of adverse cardiovascular events and improve overall survival.
In the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, discus Continue reading

Diabetes can be prevented and reversed with carbohydrate restricted diet, says UAB expert

According to a new comprehensive financial analysis reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Washington Post diabetes leads a list of just 20 diseases and conditions that account for more than half of all spending on healthcare in the United States.
U.S. spending on diabetes diagnosis and treatment totaled $101 billion in 2013, and has grown 36 times faster than spending on heart disease, the country's No. 1 cause of death, researchers reported.
University of Alabama at Birmingham Professor of Nutrition Barbara Gower, Ph.D., conducts research on diet composition and disease risk and says that diabetes can both be prevented and reversed with a carbohydrate restricted diet.
Type 2 diabetes can be managed with diet alone in many cases. However, this message is not getting to the patients; they are told to take drugs. A clinic at UAB treats diabetics with a diet that dramatically reduces carbohydrates. In most cases, patients can eliminate all medication.
"They are thrilled to stop injecting insulin, and they question why "no one ever told them" they could control their diabetes diet alone," Gower said. "The conventional advise to diabetics is to eat carbs, and then inject insulin - or take other drugs.
Why do this?
"The medication is needed because diabetes is a disease of carbohydrate intolerance; if the patient does not eat carbs, they do not have to use medication," she said.
"I use the 'cigarette' analogy. We know it is bad to smoke, so we tell patents not to smoke. Why don't we do the same thing with sugar and processed starches? The excuse I he Continue reading

Vitamin D’s Role In Preventing Type 1 Diabetes

Vitamin D supplementation could possibly reduce the risk of type 1 diabetes in susceptible children.
Type 1 diabetes mellitus (TIDM) has been found to be more frequent in people who live at higher altitudes. These people are also at higher risk of developing a vitamin D deficiency. Since vitamin D is related to immune system regulation and increased autoimmunity, it is a potential contender in T1DM prevention. It has been suggested that vitamin D may be related to lower risk of T1DM in infants. Some studies have failed to find a relation between childhood dietary vitamin D and islet autoimmunity (IA). However, dietary intake of vitamin D is only one of the sources that depicts serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D). 25(OH)D is the precursor of vitamin D, and a good indicator of vitamin D levels in the body. Numerous other studies have found mixed results on whether 25(OH)D is associated with IA and T1DM. This is perhaps due to study design issues, population diversity, and/or failing to consider genetic variation.
Genes vital to the vitamin D pathway include, GC, CYP27B1, CYP24A1, VDR and RXRA. GC transports 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)2D. CYP27B1 transforms 25(OH)D to 1,25(OH)2D. CYP24A1 is responsible for degradation of 1,25(OH)2D. VDR and RXRA both enable 1,25(OH)2D. Genetic variations of these genes may result in ineffective or insufficient levels of 25(OH)D and past studies have failed to consider this. Therefore, the main goal of the following prospective study, called The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY), was to evaluate 25(OH)D blood levels Continue reading

''Free'' Foods for Diabetes

A List of Foods That Don't Impact Blood Sugar
In diabetes meal planning, blood sugar control is the main goal. Typically, people with diabetes are advised to follow carbohydrate-controlled diets in order to minimize blood sugar spikes and manage their disease. Since many foods contain carbohydrates, this can be a challenge. One must learn not only which foods contain carbohydrates, but how to control those portion sizes and divide the carbohydrate foods appropriately into meals and snacks for the day.
During this process of learning and planning, you may also hear about "free foods." In the diabetes world, ''free'' foods are defined as foods (or drinks) that contribute a very small amount of carbohydrates and are also very low in calories. There are two categories of ''free'' foods.
Category #1: Even though this group is called "free," people with diabetes cannot eat them with reckless abandon (the name is slightly misleading). Rather, these foods are considered "free" because when eaten in specified portions, they do not need to be added to a person's allotted carbohydrate amount for a meal or snack. That's because these particular foods, although they may contain a small amount of carbohydrates, have a very minimal impact on blood sugar levels.
In order for a food or drink to be in this category (and not count as a carbohydrate food in diabetes meal planning), it must contain fewer than 5 grams of carbohydrates and less than 20 calories per serving.
These foods should be limited to no more than 3 servings per day, spread throughout the day. If all three servings were eate Continue reading