Herbs For Diabetes - Diabetes Self-Management

Herbs for Diabetes - Diabetes Self-Management

Herbs, better called plant medicines, can often help manage blood sugar levels. An incredible variety of plants lower blood sugar and improve insulin function, but theres a lot to learn to make them work.
First, speak with your doctor you should not start relying on plants or stop your medicines on your own. Youll need to work closely with your diabetes health-care provider, and youll need to do some research and monitor yourself. Still, millions of people are using plant medicines, and a number of them have written to Diabetes Self-Management to tell us that theyre working.
Herbs scientifically shown to help diabetes
Many of these studies used rodents, or even test tubes, but they certainly show that herbs could potentially work. And we have thousands of human anecdotes supporting their use. Here are some of the best documented.
The vegetable/fruit called bitter melon , bitter gourd, or karela seems to stop insulin resistance. It gets glucose into cells. You can cook with it (many Chinese recipes incorporate this ingredient), eat it raw, or juice it. You can get it at Asian markets or farmers markets, or sometimes in supermarkets. It can also be taken as capsules or a tea.
Okra , a vegetable used in stews and gumbos, reduces insulin resistance and slows glucose absorption in rodents. You can cook with okra, eat it raw, or soak it in water and drink the water. You can also buy capsules.
Turmeric is one of the tastiest diabetes treatments. You can cook with it or take capsules, or sprinkle the powder on food. It absorbs better if you take it with black pepper. Th Continue reading

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Expert: Diabetes, And How To Recognise The Signs

There's an estimated 225,840 people living with Diabetes in Ireland; and the prevalence of Type 1 Diabetes is on the rise. Typically diagnosed in childhood, people with Type 1 Diabetes account for approximately 14,000 – 16,000 of the total diabetes population in Ireland. It's estimated that there are 2,750 people under 16 years-of-age living with Type 1 diabetes, and up to 5 Irish children and teenagers are diagnosed each week.
But what exactly is Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes? What are the signs to look out for, and how can symptoms be managed? Vicky Doyle, Health Promotion Executive for Diabetes Ireland, is here to give you all the answers.
What is Diabetes mellitus?
Diabetes mellitus is a lifelong condition caused by a lack, or insufficiency of Insulin: A hormone of vital importance, that's made by your pancreas. It acts like a key to open doors into your cells, letting sugar (glucose) in. But in Diabetes, the pancreas makes too little insulin to enable all the sugar in your blood to get into your muscle and other cells to produce energy. If sugar can’t get into the cells to be used, it builds up in the bloodstream: So, Diabetes is characterized by high blood sugar (glucose) levels.
Before you got Diabetes
Before you got Diabetes, your body automatically kept your blood sugar exactly at the right level. Here’s how that worked: After a meal containing carbohydrates, sugar is absorbed into the blood stream very quickly. The amount of sugar in your blood must not get too high or too low. Two hormones – Insulin and Glucagon – were produced in the pancreas, to ensure t Continue reading

Latinos targeted in diabetes education efforts

Latinos targeted in diabetes education efforts
BELTON Adjusting times and locations may not be enough to attract those in the Hispanic community to diabetes education classes.
Latinos make up the fastest-growing demographic of the U.S. population. They also are experiencing the fastest increase in the rates of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
According to an American Diabetes Association analysis of diabetes health data, 52.5 percent of Hispanic women and 45.4 percent of Hispanic men will have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes in their lifetimes.
Reaching out with education opportunities was the discussion at the most recent meeting of the Bell County Diabetes Coalition.
Baylor Scott & White has offered a diabetes education classes Power Over Diabetes, but none of the participants have been Hispanic and the majority of patients hospitalized for complications related to diabetes have been Hispanic, said Becky Calhoun, Baylor Scott & White nurse and an instructor for the class. A translator is available for each class.
Do Well, Be Well, a diabetes class offered by AgriLife Extension was held at Churches Touching Lives For Christ was well attended, but not by Hispanics, said Martha Williams, Williams, retired nurse and diabetes educator. Williams and Anna Morrow, community worker with Central Texas Food Bank, taught the classes.
Williams moved to Temple from the Valley, where she taught diabetes education classes in the colonias.
Morrow brought the Diabetes Box Program, a partnership between the food bank and Baylor Scott & White, to the food pantry. The program included on Continue reading

Diabetes can lead to infertility

Diabetes is a non-communicable disease and it has become rampant in our society.It can now be likened to a plague. It is characterised by the absolute or reduced production of insulin, a hormone responsible for regulating blood sugar, or a relative insensitivity of the bodys cells to this hormone, leading to persistently elevated blood sugar levels.
Blood sugar must be strictly regulated within a range and any changes out of this range can be debilitating to ones health. If its too low, the body cannot function properly and when its toon high it can lead to death.
Also, if too high (hyperglycemia), many body functions are compromised, the body becomes a nidus for an unpleasant micro-organism to flourish, metabolic processes are altered, many organ systems like the heart, kidneys, brain are affected and they can shut down, if blood sugar is not controlled.
This processes can lead to elevated blood sugar and a disease called diabetes mellitus.
Diabetes can either be type one, in which the bodys own natural defences see the pancreatic beta islet cells (where insulin the blood sugar reducing hormone is produced) as enemies and destroy them; a process known as autoimmune disease.
Or type two, which consists of an array of dysfunctions characterised by hyperglycemia and resulting from the combination of resistance to insulin action, inadequate insulin secretion, and excessive or inappropriate glucagon secretion (glucagon is the hormone that causes processes that increase blood sugar, has the opposite effect of insulin).
There are genetic factors engineering the susceptib Continue reading

Juicing for Diabetes: Is It a Good Idea?

Juicing can be a good way to get in some extra fruits and vegetables. But youll miss out on important nutrients, and for people with diabetes, the health trend may have other drawbacks.
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Not all juices are created equal, and using vegetables, like celery, kale, broccoli, and cucumber, can help reduce the spike in your blood sugar.
When Lori Chong bought a juicer, she hoped she would be able to create low-carb concoctions that wouldn't spike her blood sugar too much. As a person with diabetes herself, Chong understands the importance of tracking carb intake.
But within weeks, Chong, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, had set aside her juicer and returned to eating full fruits and vegetables instead. Now, she hardly uses the device at all.
Juicing for People With Diabetes: Is It Safe?
I dont think juicing is the best idea for people with diabetes, says Chong, who has type 1 diabetes. She explains that people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes need to control their blood sugar not only throughout the day, but at any individual point in the day as well. While juicing can be safe if you focus on nonstarchy, or low-carbohydrate, vegetables and limit diabetes-friendly fruits , the overall carbs in juices can add up quickly, Chong says. Consuming too many carbs can be dangerous for people with diabetes, as theyre broken dow Continue reading