NHS To Give Free Fitbits And One-to-one Weight Loss Coaching To Thousands Of Obese Brits In Bid To Slash Diabetes

NHS to give free Fitbits and one-to-one weight loss coaching to thousands of obese Brits in bid to slash diabetes

THOUSANDS of tubby Brits will be given free fitness trackers and one-to-one weight loss coaching on the NHS at a cost of £1.2million.
Health chiefs hope the pilot project will help 5,000 at risk of type 2 diabetes keep the disease at bay.
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Patients will be given a mix of wristbands, phone apps, weighing scales, and podcasts and be monitored for up to a year.
The gadgets will work with nutrition and health advice, stress counselling, and personal coaching sessions. The exact combination an individual receives depends on which of five schemes they are enrolled on.
The wristbands will monitor exercise, sleep quality and eating frequency, while the apps will deliver motivational messages and track users’ progress. Support staff will deliver most sessions via phone or video calls.
NHS England, Public Health England and Diabetes UK will launch the project in eight areas this month.
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Interventions that prove most successful could be rolled out nationwide. Simon Stevens, of NHS England, said “This is the latest example of the NHS getting practical and serious about new ways to support people staying healthy.”
Diabetes can lead to amputations or early death and accounts for ten per cent of NHS spending. Type 2 diabetes is linked to being overweight and is largely preventable.
Kid friendly TV ads for sugary cereals blamed for child obesity crisis Continue reading

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Good Food List for Diabetes

The American Diabetes Association published extensive dietary recommendations for adults with diabetes in the November 2013 issue of “Diabetes Care.” In this report, the association does not recommend any 1 specific diet that all people with diabetes should follow. Instead, the ADA provides a framework for healthy eating that can be tailored to personal preferences and individual needs. Generally, the ADA recommends a diet composed mostly of nutrient-dense whole foods. This means eating natural, unprocessed foods whenever possible and avoiding fast food. Aim to eat a variety of nutritious foods, including nonstarchy vegetables, lean meats, low-fat dairy products and healthy fats and oils.
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The ADA recommends that you fill half your plate with nonstarchy vegetables. Such vegetables are nutrient powerhouses but low in calories and carbohydrates, so filling up on veggies can help with portion control. The list of nonstarchy vegetables includes leafy greens such as spinach, kale, collards, turnips, mustard and lettuce. Broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts are perfect for roasting or steaming. Celery, carrots, radishes and bell pepper strips make good snacks and salad toppers. Mushrooms, onions and garlic are easily added to soups, stews and omelets. So put vegetables on the shopping list and load up on your favorites.
Lean Meats and Fatty Fish
Protein is an important part of a healthy diet. In people with type 2 diabetes, protein may improve the body's ability to respond to insulin. Good sources of protein include chicken, turkey, lean cuts of beef and Continue reading

Type 2 diabetes: Study explains link to sleep hormone melatonin

Researchers have discovered that increasing levels of the sleep hormone melatonin reduces the ability of insulin-producing cells to release insulin. Also, they found the effect is stronger in people who carry a particular gene variant that is linked to higher risk for type 2 diabetes.
The study, led by Lund University in Sweden, is published in the journal Cell Metabolism.
The findings mark the culmination of work that goes back to 2009, when Lund researchers showed that a variant of the gene that codes for the protein known as melatonin receptor 1B (MTNR1B) increases the risk for type 2 diabetes.
Melatonin is a hormone that helps to maintain our day-night cycle, or circadian rhythm, by regulating other hormones. The amount of melatonin in our blood varies through the day. It is affected by light and peaks during the darkest time, at night.
Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. It is produced and released by the beta cells of the pancreas, in response to spikes in blood sugar, such as during digestion.
In type 2 diabetes, which accounts for nearly 90 percent of diabetes, the body either does not produce enough insulin, or cells become less effective at responding to it, which increases demand on the beta cells to produce more. Both of these result in increased levels of blood sugar, which eventually causes serious damage to organs.
In the new study, the researchers worked with lab-cultured beta cells and mice to show that insulin-producing cells respond to increased levels of melatonin by reducing the amount of insulin they release. These signals are conve Continue reading

Dietary Interventions for Type 2 Diabetes: How Millet Comes to Help

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Type 2 Diabetes Overview and Associated Complications
Diabetes is a chronic disease that is characterized by high level of blood glucose also known as hyperglycaemia. According to WHO 2015 published figure1, 9% of the world population aged 18 and above has contracted diabetes and an estimated 1.5 million deaths per year are attributed to diabetes directly. It is well known that glucose level of a diabetic patient increases dramatically beyond the normal range after a meal. It is also true that their blood glucose level would soon drop as the body failed to store the excess glucose for later use.
Diabetes is classified into Types 1 and 2. Type 1 diabetes is also known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes as the patients’ pancreas cannot produce or produces little insulin and often presents itself from childhood (Diabetes.co.uk, 2016c). Type 2 diabetes (T2D), however, often first appears in adults when the body becomes resistant to insulin or fails to make sufficient amounts of insulin (Martin et al., 1992; Weyer et al., 2001). T2D comprises 90% of people with diabetes around the world (NHS choice, 2014). This can largely be the result of excess body weight and physical inactivity. Added complication to T2D is that it presents less marked symptoms than Type 1 diabetes and is often diagnosed only when complications have already arisen.
Major complications caused by hyperglycaemia include atherosclerosis that hardens and narrows the blood vessels. Other diabetes-related complications are heart disease, stroke, retinopathy, and kidney failure (Bitzur et al Continue reading

10 Holiday Survival Tips If You Have Diabetes

Some of my patients with diabetes ask me what’s the big deal if their blood sugar levels go up a little or they gain a few pounds over the holidays. They say they can always lose the weight afterward and get their sugar levels under control.
To an extent, that could be true. If you’re in good overall health, doing well with your diabetes control and manufacturing reasonable amounts of insulin, a day or two of indulging a bit more than usual in holiday food shouldn’t be a problem.
How long that overindulgence goes on, and how many times, though, are important factors. The holidays can easily extend well past New Year’s. If you slip into bad eating habits, you can do long-term damage, raise your blood sugars and gain weight.
You can keep your weight and blood sugar levels under control during the holidays using these tips.
1. Maintain your schedule
If you overeat, trying to catch up by skipping a meal afterward may cause you to overeat when you have your next meal or if a snack is available. Even on your holiday and days away from work, try to get up, eat, exercise and take your diabetes and any other medications about the same time as you usually do.
2. Check your blood sugar frequently
If you are taking insulin or medications that lower your blood sugar, check your blood sugar more frequently during the holidays, especially before driving a car or adjusting your insulin doses. Make allowances for the changes in your work and exercise schedules as well as your eating opportunities.
3. Budget your sweets and treats
To keep your blood sugars from skyrocketing, include Continue reading