Gestational Diabetes During Pregnancy

Has your doctor diagnosed you with gestational diabetes (GD or GDM), a form of diabetes that appears only during pregnancy? While it might feel overwhelming at first, it turns out that this pregnancy complication is much more common than you might think. In fact, up to 9.2 percent of pregnant women have GD, according to a 2014 analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Know that with careful monitoring and treatment, it can be managed, and you can have a safe and healthy pregnancy.
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What causes gestational diabetes?
Who's most at risk?
What are the symptoms?
How is it diagnosed?
What are the complications?
How can you prevent gestational diabetes?
How is it treated?
What happens to mom and baby after birth?
What causes gestational diabetes?
Gestational diabetes usually starts between week 24 and week 28 of pregnancy when hormones from the placenta block insulin — a hormone produced in the pancreas that regulates the body's metabolism of fats and carbs and helps the body turn sugar into energy — from doing its job and prevent the body from regulating the increased blood sugar of pregnancy effectively. This causes hyperglycemia (or high levels of sugar in the blood), which can damage the nerves, blood vessels and organs in your body.
Who’s most at risk for gestational diabetes?
While researchers aren't certain why some women get gestational diabetes while others don’t, they do know that you may be at an increased risk if:
You are overweight. Having a BMI of 30 or more going into pregnancy is one of the most common risk factors for gest Continue reading

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Has A British Man Really Been Cured of Type 1 Diabetes?

I have been living with type 1 diabetes for 25 years now. The relentlessness of type 1, and the fact that I will probably live with this non-preventable condition for the rest of my life never goes away, but I have almost made peace with it.
A few days ago, I saw something that gave me pause. “British man with type 1 diabetes to receive tests after coming off insulin,” read Diabetes.co.uk’s headline. The article goes onto say that, “Daniel Darkes, from Daventy in Northamptonshire, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes seven years ago. But his recent tests have baffled doctors as his pancreas has shown signs of working properly again.”
My first thoughts upon reading this were, “this can’t be true,” and “what’s the real explanation here?” There are many types of diabetes including type 2, LADA, and monogenic. Maybe he actually had one of those types instead of type 1. Usually, tests can determine this quickly though, so why was it not the case with Dan?
I live in the UK and I wanted to get to the bottom of things. I managed to get in touch with ‘Miracle Dan’, as he’s been called by his friends. Although he is saving the specific details of his recent test results from the U.S. for an upcoming exclusive interview with another media outlet, he spoke to me and answered some of my questions about everything that has been happening.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and your diabetes. When were you diagnosed?
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes back in February 2011 at the age of 23, after just leaving the army. I started a new engineering job and withi Continue reading

What Causes Diabetes In Dogs? The Signs, Symptoms And What To Do About It

Did you know one out of every 300 dogs is diagnosed with diabetes? Especially in senior and middle aged dogs, diabetes is becoming frighteningly common in dogs today.
Once your dog gets diabetes, he will most likely need insulin for the rest of his life. So it’s really important to do everything you can to prevent your dog from becoming diabetic.
There are many things that can contribute to the risk of your dog getting diabetes … but the good news is, there are also lots of things you can do to help prevent it and minimize the risk.
So we called on an expert to tell us how to do that. At Raw Roundup 2017, Dr Jean Hofve gave a talk on canine diabetes and its connection to diet and environmental factors and the best ways to prevent it.
But first, what is diabetes and what’s the difference between the two types of the disease?
What Is Diabetes?
Diabetes is all about glucose and how the body handles it. All cells use glucose as their primary source of energy.
The pancreas produces the hormones that control glucose … primarily insulin and glucagon. The pancreas is mostly made up of tissue that secretes digestive enzymes … but about 5% of the pancreas is made up of beta cells that produce insulin.The body’s cells need glucose for energy – it’s their primary fuel. But glucose can’t get into those cells without the help of insulin. Dr Hofve explains insulin as the key to a lock … the cells need the “key” (insulin) to let the glucose in.
When glucose can’t get into the cells without insulin, it builds up in the blood. This causes hyperglycemia, meaning too Continue reading

Diabetes Can be Reversed In 30 Days With One Simple Change

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 days is an American independent documentary film that features six people with diabetes who changed their diets in order to manage their diabetes better. As the title suggests, all the participants adopted a raw vegan diet, and stuck to it for a period of 30 days. The results were breathtaking and confirmed what Dr. Gabriel Cousens, a physician and raw food advocate, suggested earlier: diabetes can be cured in some cases. The documentary was founded by the Movement to Reverse Diabetes Naturally (RDN).
Type 1 and 2 Diabetes
There are 246 million people in the world with diabetes, and one person dies from this disease every ten seconds. We are seeing a world epidemic, and according to the Western medicine, there is no cure for it. Diabetes is a metabolic disease. It affects the cells’ sugar supply through impaired insulin production. In type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system destroys insulin-producing cells. Type 2 is the more common type of the disease, where insulin does get produced, but there is not enough of it or the body cannot use it well enough. When there isn’t enough insulin in the blood, sugar (glucose) starts building up in the blood and doesn’t reach the cells, so they can’t function normally.
A New Approach
Dr. Cousens developed a new approach for treating diabetes at his Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, a retreat center based in Arizona. The method combines a radical change of diet and a strict exercise regime. It’s a 3 week detox program under supervision. Dr. Cousens who claims that his approach helps 53% Continue reading

World Diabetes Day 2017: Women and diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose (or blood sugar), which leads over time to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. The most common is type 2 diabetes, usually in adults, which occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn't make enough insulin. In the past three decades the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has risen dramatically in countries of all income levels. Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin by itself. For people living with diabetes, access to affordable treatment, including insulin, is critical to their survival. There is a globally agreed target to halt the rise in diabetes and obesity by 2025. Continue reading