Vitamin D: Making Sure You Get Enough

Not too long ago, vitamin D was all the rage. Claims about the benefits of this vitamin abounded, with declarations about its ability to help fight conditions ranging from cancer to depression to multiple sclerosis. While some of these claims have been shown to be unfounded, it is still a necessary — and essential — nutrient that all of us need, and many of us fall short. Here’s how to make sure you’re getting enough of this important vitamin.
What does vitamin D do for us?
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin.
Bone health: We need this vitamin to absorb calcium and to build strong bones (this is especially important to keep in mind, as people who have diabetes are at higher risk for bone fractures). A lack of calcium raises the risk of osteomalacia (bone softening) and osteoporosis (porous, fragile bones). Besides helping the body to absorb calcium, vitamin D regulates levels of calcium and phosphorous, which is necessary for bone health and to prevent hypocalcemic tetany, a condition involving spasms related to not enough calcium in the blood.
Immune function: A strong, healthy immune system is vital for helping us to ward off diseases and infections such as the flu and the common cold. In particular, vitamin D allows T cells, the “killer cells” of our immune system, to react and fight off infection.
Inflammation: Inflammation is the body’s immune response to a negative stimulus, such as bacteria or viruses. While acute inflammation is helpful — fighting an infection, for example — chronic inflammation can occur due to the immune system attacking the body, Continue reading

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28 Experts Share Their Advice: How To Better Cope With Diabetes

Life is hectic as it is. There is the stress of school, the stress of job, the stress of doing a good job, the stress of being a good parent, child, friend, employee… you name it.
However, imagine, the added level of stress one has to deal with when it comes to diabetes and its management.
Having diabetes can cause both physical and emotional stress on the body, which in turn can further deteriorate ones’ health. When you are stressed, your blood sugar levels rise. When your blood levels rise, we all know the implications and complications it can cause to your body.
In order to respond better to our readers. we recently interviewed experts in the field of mental health for some of their wise advise.
We asked 28 experts (psychologists and psychiatrists) to answer the following question we are asked often: How people with diabetes can better cope with the stress that diabetes can lead to?
Please read below their responses.
We hope that this article is useful to you and teaches you some tools and techniques which can help you cope with your diabetes. Learning to better cope with your diabetes will help in keeping your stress levels lower and therefore, your blood sugar levels low as well. We would love to hear from you so please share with us your thoughts or any other comments in the box below.
1. Dr. Mark Komrad MD
There are well-established links between diabetes and clinical depression. First, we know that depression is associated with a 60% increase in the risk of developing diabetes, due to poor lifestyle habits common in those with depression. Second, if you have di Continue reading

Why is My Blood Sugar Normally High in the Evening?

The excess of sugar in blood level leads to a condition called diabetes, which is caused due to the nation utilization of sugar to energy. If this situation remains, the catabolism decreases and body suffers from various diseases which affect the internal organs. For a person, who has diabetes must have a watch on his blood sugar which is often seen to take a peek during evenings. Well, there can be various reasons as for why blood sugar levels rise during the afternoon or might be hours after having a good meal.
What makes the blood sugar level to rise?
In many cases, after you have your dinner, the food is being broken down into simpler substances like glucose. Now glucose can be utilized for utilization by the body and broken down into energy. While you are at rest the lover releases glucose in the bloodstream, that’s why there is the excess of glucose in the blood and while on being tested it shows the higher level of blood sugar.
The tendency, when the insulin released from the liver does not meet the requirement to utilize the glucose, thereby accumulating the excess of it during morning 3 am and waking up time is called the dawn phenomenon.
The solution is that you have to change the time of having dinner and then medication. Have an early dinner and thereby have medicine, so that it has enough time to work on your increase blood sugar level.
Somogyi phenomena: It’s been seen that people who take insulin during evenings are often subjected to low blood sugar at mornings. The reason is that rebound hyperglycemia, and this is very common in children who are affecte Continue reading

Smoking And Diabetes: Risks, Effects, And How To Quit

The health risks of smoking are well known, and most smokers already know the risks they are taking. For people with diabetes, however, smoking is a serious risk factor for numerous health issues they may face. Smoking may even cause diabetes. Quitting is the best course of action smokers can take for their health. However, some strategies may reduce the health effects for some of those with diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, accounting for at least 90 percent of cases worldwide. Type 2 diabetes is also closely linked to certain lifestyle factors, including smoking. In fact, smokers are 30-40 percent more likely than non-smokers to develop diabetes. People who have diabetes already and who smoke are more likely to have uncontrolled diabetes.
Smoking damages cells and tissues, increasing inflammation. It also causes oxidative stress, which is when molecules called free radicals damage cells. Both these conditions are linked to an increased risk of diabetes. They can cause other health problems, as well, including cardiovascular disease.
Research further suggests that heavy smoking increases abdominal fat. Even in people who aren't obese or overweight, excess abdominal fat is a risk factor for diabetes.
Health risks of smoking
The health risks of smoking are numerous, and researchers are constantly uncovering new health concerns associated with smoking. The habit of smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, while more than 16 million Americans have a smoking-related disease.
cardiovascular disease, including coronary h Continue reading

Strategies for Stabilizing Insulin Absorption Rates

Strategies for Stabilizing Insulin Absorption Rates
Last week, I introduced the topic of insulin absorption . I laid out the basics, and then gave a nice, cheery list of all the things that can go wrong with how our bodies handle incoming insulin. This week, well revisit that list and talk about some strategies for managing this issue.
The first issue we went over last week was site selection. For both infusion sites and for shots, this is very, very important. Repeated use of a single site leads to the buildup of scar tissue, another issue I highlighted last week. Over time this scar tissue can impede insulin absorption so badly that an area of your body simply becomes unusable for taking in insulin. Scar tissue CAN heal over time, but areas with severely built up scar tissue can take years to recover and become absorbent again. The better solution is to avoid developing scar tissue in the first place (as much as possible, at least).
Rotating our injection sites is key. The methods people use vary (some people have said they rotate their sites in the shape of a W on either side of the belly button, moving left to right across the belly, then moving on to the next are of the body and following a similar pattern there; others rotate in a clockwise circle around the belly button [at least 2 inches away], and so on). But there are a few general rules. When you move to a new site, it should be at least 2 inches from the last site, particularly for insulin pumps, as the previous area can become overly saturated with insulin, and so the next round of insulin needs to be far Continue reading