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Drinking With Diabetes: Dangers And Guidelines

Drinking with Diabetes: Dangers and Guidelines

Drinking with Diabetes: Dangers and Guidelines

As we all know, diabetes involves following a careful diet plan, and that might mean having to cut back on some of your favorite indulgences.
Wine and other alcoholic beverages are just a few of the treats that diabetics should enjoy sparingly – something that is often overlooked during a Q&A with the doctor.
Dangers of Drinking Alcohol with Diabetes
Because the body processes alcohol in the same way it processes fats, drinking can cause your blood sugar to rise. However, excess alcohol can actually have the reverse effect, causing your blood sugar to drop to dangerously low levels. Additionally, some insulin or other medications can be negatively affected by alcohol.
But don’t throw out the bottles just yet; if you are very careful with your alcohol intake, you should be OK having a drink on a special occasion.
Alcohol Consumption Guidelines for Diabetics
Medical professionals encourage diabetics to follow these consumption guidelines:
Do not drink more than two alcoholic beverages within 24 hours. (One alcoholic drink = 5-ounce glass of wine, 1.5-ounce "shot" of liquor or 12-ounce beer).
If you are following a calorie-controlled meal plan, one drink of alcohol should be counted as two fat exchanges.
Drink alcohol only with food.
Drink slowly.
Avoid "sugary" mixed drinks, sweet wines and cordials.
Mix liquor with water or diet soft drinks.
Most of us enjoy a drink every now and then, and your diabetes shouldn’t deprive you – so long as you handle your alcohol intake carefully and responsibly.
Type 2 diabetes is different from type 1 diabetes in many ways. As its al Continue reading

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Diabetes Diet: Eight Foods To Put On Your Shopping List

Diabetes Diet: Eight Foods To Put On Your Shopping List

We can get most of our nutrition needs met by eating a varied diet of fresh foods; however, some edibles - such as those listed below - are particularly helpful for managing diabetes.
Consider putting these eight items on your grocery list if you are working on weight maintenance or loss, and better blood sugar control:
Avocado. Avocado, one of those fruits that tastes more like a veggie, is a treasure trove of vitamins and minerals, including magnesium that benefits insulin sensitivity and heart health. Eating avocado promotes blood sugar stabilization and weight loss because its load of healthy fat and fiber slows the digestion of carbohydrate, and leaves us feeling full longer.
Avocado makes an excellent mayonnaise substitute on sandwiches, or in egg and chicken salads. It can serve as a butter replacement on breakfast toast.
Walnuts. Another food high in fiber and healthy fat is the walnut. Besides being helpful with weight reduction and glucose management, studies suggest regular walnut consumption strengthens blood vessel walls, and reduces LDL cholesterol levels. Walnuts make a great snack option, salad topping, and are easily combined with other nuts and seeds to create a tasty trail mix.
Cinnamon and Ginger Cinnamon has gained some notoriety for its blood sugar lowering properties. Sprinkle cinnamon on toast, oatmeal, cooked carrots, and sweet potatoes, or use it as a sugar substitute in tea.
Ginger, with its anti-inflammatory effects, may help lower fasting blood sugar in those with diabetes. Enjoy its flavor and health benefits by grating fresh ginger into dressi Continue reading

Our Country Is Waking Up: Eating Vegan Is The New Prescription to Treat Diabetes

Our Country Is Waking Up: Eating Vegan Is The New Prescription to Treat Diabetes

The time has arrived; no longer is a vegan, plant-based diet being seen as a trendy, hippie fad. It’s finally seen as an Rx treatment to take on one of the largest killers of our time: diabetes. Diabetes affects 115 million Americans every single day. More cases develop year by year, despite what we’ve done to eliminate soda in some cities, eliminate a large majority of high-fructose corn syrup on the market, and even list calorie content on fast food menus for people to make better choices. Those are a step in the right direction, but aren’t solving the diabetic problem. What is? A fiber-rich, plant-based diet – simple as that.
The Simple Solution to a Really Big Problem
The Center for Disease Control says that 86 millions Americans now have prediabetes. That’s a major problem if they end up joining the already 29 million Americans that already have it. Neal Barnard, M.D., and founder of The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, recently shared his take on the new findings that show a plant-based diet prevents and treats Type 2 diabetes and helps those with Type 1 diabetes manage, and eliminate some symptoms.
Our Country is Getting a Wake-Up Call
We’ve long known how a plant-based diet supports and prevents diabetes, but we’ve yet to see medical organizations and the government wake up to this crazy (yet simple and smart) notion themselves. Many medical professional believe that their patients simply won’t stick to a plant-based diet, and that may very well be true if they don’t have the right knowledge and motivation to do so. Luckily, organi Continue reading

Four Herbs That Help With Diabetes Management

Four Herbs That Help With Diabetes Management

Nature offers us support for health and healing with its abundance of medicinal herbs.
A medicinal herb is a plant, or part of a plant, which is used in its entirety to enhance our physical well being. Each herb contains hundreds, sometimes thousands, of naturally occurring chemicals that work together synergistically to help us heal.
Some herbs have been used for millennia to treat illnesses such as diabetes. If you are struggling to maintain good glucose control, or want to strengthen your resistance to diabetes complications, consider talking to your diabetes care team about adding herbal supplements to your daily regimen.
Your physician or diabetes educator can make sure any herb you take is compatible with your prescription medications, and whether an herb is contraindicated for pregnant women, children, or for those with certain other medical conditions.
Four Helpful Herbs
Here are four diabetes-helpful herbs can be taken alone, or used in combination.
Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridum) is a member of the ginseng family, and is sometimes called armored ginseng, or northwest ginseng (it grows in the Pacific Northwest). Devil’s club helps balance blood sugar levels, is a calming digestive tonic, and is reported to help some people lose weight.
Goat’s Rue (Galega officinalis) contains a compound called galegine that helps the body balance glucose levels and supports the breakdown and absorption of dietary fats and proteins. In Europe, Goat’s rue has been used for centuries to treat diabetes.
Dandelion root (Taraxacum officinalis) is a gentle, effective liver tonic Continue reading

“Online Revolt” Infuriates Diabetes Establishment

“Online Revolt” Infuriates Diabetes Establishment

Last week, we saw the news that the world’s largest diabetes organizations, including the International Diabetes Federation, the American Diabetes Association, the Chinese Diabetes Society, and Diabetes India, are embracing bariatric surgery as a radical new approach to treating type-2 diabetes. According to these experts, surgery should be the standard protocol for many patients.
At the same time, these experts are becoming increasingly dismissive of diet and lifestyle approaches to reversing type-2 diabetes. The crux of the problem is that “the experts” recommend a low-fat, higher-carbohydrate approach, which simply doesn’t cut the mustard when compared to low-carb, higher-fat approaches.
In the information era, however, the truth always comes out.
Today, The Times is reporting on what they are referring to as “an online revolt by patients.” Diabetes.co.uk, a health organization that opposes the official dietary guidelines for diabetes treatment, launched a study, which included over 120,000 participants, the majority of whom suffer from weight related type-2 diabetes.
These people ate low-carb diets for 10 weeks, in defiance of the UK government’s Eatwell Guidelines, which mimic official US guidelines.
Over 70% of participants lost weight and improved their blood glucose levels.
“The results from the low-carb plan have been impressive and this is a solution that is clearly working for people with type 2 diabetes,” said Arjun Panesar, chief executive officer of diabetes.org.uk
David Unwin, a family doctor and clinical expert in diabetes, added, “For ma Continue reading

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