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

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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

Diabetes and Hair Loss: Why It Happens and What to Do

A lesser-known side effect of diabetes is an increased risk of hair loss. This is usually owed to the impact of diabetes on the body, but can also be caused by certain medications.
Hair loss can begin with the onset of diabetes and, for some individuals, is an early diabetes warning sign. Anyone with unusual hair shedding should talk to a doctor.
Potential Causes of Hair Loss
There are several reasons why diabetes may cause thinning hair.
Poor circulation. Any damage to the small blood vessels limits oxygen and nutrients reaching the extremities, including feet, hands, and the scalp. Undernourished hair follicles (roots) may weaken and loose their grip on hair strands, and if the situation persists, will not be able to generate new shafts.
Hormone imbalance. Diabetes can cause fluctuations and glitches in our body’s hormone production. An imbalance in hormones affects the growth cycle of hair. This is why some women experience hair loss while pregnant or during menopause.
Compromised immune system. If the immune system is weakened by stress or illness, the scalp is more susceptible to disease. Many scalp conditions such as fungal and bacterial infections can lead to patches of hair loss.
Slow cell rejuvenation/telogen effluvium. Diabetes can slow the body’s cell regeneration time, disrupting the growth cycle of hair.
At any give time, most of our hair is in a growth phase called anagen, while up to 15 percent of our hair is in a resting phase called telogen. Illness, stress or hormonal fluctuations can cause a larger percentage of the hair to enter telogen (the resting Continue reading

How Much Sugar Can a Person With Diabetes Have?

If you have diabetes, you've probably been told to watch your sugar intake or eliminate sugar altogether. But does that mean you can't ever eat any sugar or can you still enjoy a sweet treat now and then?
While it's best to speak with your doctor, dietitian, and diabetes educator about how much sugar you can have each day, chances are you'll be able to eat some sugar as along as you're careful about how much and how often.
For most people, whether or not they have diabetes, a healthy diet can include some sugar, probably about 20 to 35 grams of sugar a day. For reference, a teaspoon of sugar has about 4 grams of sugar. A candy bar can easily have 30 grams sugar, and a can of sugar-sweetened soda has around 40 grams of sugar.
So, one sweet treat could put anyone over the healthy limit. And, keep in mind many foods have sugar in them even though they're not sweet tasting.
But Didn't Eating Sugar Cause My Diabetes?
Technically, no. Eating sugar doesn't cause diabetes, or at least not all by itself. Being overweight or obese increases your risk of having type 2 diabetes and eating lots of sugary foods may have been part of the reason for your weight gain.
Managing your weight can be an important part of treating your diabetes and that probably means cutting back on added sugars and high-fat foods and eating a balanced diet with more whole-grains, fresh veggies, healthy fruit, and lean protein sources.
As far as the amount of sugar you can have? It really depends on how many calories you are taking in every day, and the amount has to fit into your overall carbohydrate intake.
Ch Continue reading