Top 5 things all diabetics must do

As you are aware, diabetes is an increasingly common problem not only in adults but with children and young people too. Preventing or delaying diabetes is possible with a few lifestyle changes. And for those who have been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, changes in lifestyle can prove beneficial to keep it under control. This is important and should not be taken lightly as diabetes can lead to other serious health complications. There are few simple things which if done regularly can keep you safe and absolutely fine.

5 ways to combat diabetes.

1) exercise - do minimum 45 to 30 minutes of exercise like brisk walking (for people with heart ailments make sure that you have done stress test/tmt). Keep yourself physically active all the time this will help you in losing weight, controlling blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol. It will also improve insulin sensitivity in your body. 
2) high fiber diet - include high fiber foods like fruits, vegetables, leafy vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, cinnamon, green tea in your diet. This will improve your blood sugar level and also reduce your risk of developing diabetes and helps you to lose weight. Do not get into fad diets and tv commercials as they are often misleading.
3) reduce stress - tension and worry releases certain chemicals (stress hormones) which can increase your blood sugar level. Try relaxation therapy like meditation, yoga, music and soundful sleep.
4) restrict intake of alcohol - alcohol increases body weight, triglyceride (cholesterol) level and blood pressure. They may make you unaware of symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar which may be dangerous). They are empty calorie with no nutritional value. Permissible limit is 2 drinks (60ml) a day for men and 1 drink (60ml) for women, it is also not advisable to smoke.
5) regular check-ups - make sure that you regularly check your blood sugar levels and modify treatment from your diabetologist doctor (if required.) your body and your friend/ relative / colleague's body are different, so is your need of medicine for diabetes as well. What works best for them may not be right for you. So it is my sincere request is to avoid any self medication as it can be dangerous. Regularly undergo screening for early detection of diabetes complications like eye, nerve, heart, foot, kidney.

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Top 5 Things All Diabetics Must Do

Diabetes is growing to be the epidemic of modern days. The challenge here is it is not just about managing your sugar levels, but the whole lot of symptoms that diabetes brings with it. From bones to teeth to kidneys to wounds, diabetes affects all body systems. It is therefore very essential to watch out for symptoms of diabetes and curb it in its early stages. This will help control diabetes significantly along with its effects on the whole body.

Diabetes Complications-

Long-term complications of diabetes develop gradually. The longer you have diabetes   and the less controlled your blood sugar   the higher the risk of complications. Eventually, diabetes complications may be disabling or even life-threatening. Possible complications include:

Cardiovascular disease. Diabetes dramatically increases the risk of various cardiovascular problems, including coronary artery disease with chest pain (angina), heart attack, stroke and narrowing of arteries (atherosclerosis). If you have diabetes, you are more likely to have heart disease or stroke.
Nerve damage. Excess sugar can injure the walls of the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish your nerves, especially in your legs. This can cause tingling, numbness, burning or pain. Left untreated, you could lose all sense of feeling in the affected limbs. 
Kidney damage. The kidneys contain millions of tiny blood vessel clusters (glomeruli) that filter waste from your blood. Diabetes can damage this delicate filtering system. Severe damage can lead to kidney failure or irreversible end-stage kidney disease, which may require dialysis or a kidney transplant.
Eye damage. Diabetes can damage the blood vessels of the retina (diabetic retinopathy), potentially leading to blindness. 
Foot damage. Nerve damage in the feet or poor blood flow to the feet increases the risk of various foot complications. These infections may ultimately require toe, foot or leg amputation.
Skin conditions. Diabetes may leave you more susceptible to skin problems, including bacterial and fungal infections.
Hearing impairment. Hearing problems are more common in people with diabetes.
Alzheimer's disease. Type 2 diabetes may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease. 
The following are some of the basic must do's if you have diabetes. These can go a long way in preventing adverse diabetic side effects.

Diet: Whether diabetic or not, it is always important to watch your diet. You are what you eat. Eat what your body needs, reduce refined foods, processed foods and increase the amount of whole grains and fruits and vegetables. Eating small frequent meals goes a long way in managing sugar levels than binging at one meal and starving the rest of the day. Reduce intake of saturated fats; include more lean meats. Choose grilling and steaming over frying and roasting. Diet is very important in diabetes. Recommended foods - Healthy carbohydrates, Fiber-rich foods, Heart-healthy fish and Good fats. Foods to avoid - Saturated fats, Trans fats, Cholesterol and Sodium
Exercise: Every week, make sure about 2 hours is dedicated to physical activity. This could include any exercise of your choice, brisk walking, swimming, cycling, aerobics, hiking, jogging, skipping, gymnastics, or playing games like football or basketball. While in most cases, the person can do these on their own, in some people, supervision may be required.
Watch your weight: For a diabetic person, controlling weight to a desirable level of BMI of 18 and 23 is very important. Obesity is one of the predisposing factors for diabetes, and reducing weight controls the onset of diabetes and helps the progression of symptoms in diabetics.
Smoking: Another risk factor for diabetes onset, quitting is the best option. If not feasible, reducing smoking and gradually quitting should be aimed at. Not just diabetes, the effects on overall health will be evident almost immediately after quitting.
Stress management: One of the main risk factors for diabetes, there is no getting away from stress. Everybody has their stresses but the trick is to manage it well. Whether it is music or meditation or medication or counselling, make sure stress levels are managed. This also helps prevent diabetic complications like heart disease and stroke and promotes well-being.
Constant Checkups: Periodic check-up of blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels, eye exam, dental checkup, foot checkup to test for nerve damage are all extremely important. Take your medications regularly without fail.
Diabetes requires a change in lifestyle, which may seem tedious initially. But after a while, it will become the norm and then diabetic control does not feel like something additional that is to be done.

Diabetes - 6 Ways You Can Prevent it

Diabetes is caused in your body due to an insulin imbalance or improper functioning of insulin, and it can affect multiple parts of your body within a short time. Therefore, regular check-ups of your body are very essential to know if you have diabetes.

Once you find out that you have tested positive for the disease, you need to become even more thorough in your testing to find out if your blood sugar levels are rapidly fluctuating. If they get out of hand, they may cause medical emergencies that may be impossible for you to tackle alone at home.

Hence, daily monitoring of blood sugar is of great importance, and can be done in the following ways-

  Monitoring with a meter - In this rather simple but effective way, you have to draw blood from a small puncture on your skin made with the help of a needle or small pricking device. The blood is placed on a strip and then introduced on a testing meter, which displays accurately your blood sugar levels.

  Meters that monitor blood from several body parts - There are meters that monitor glucose levels in blood from several parts of the body. These parts include the base of the thumb, and the forearm too. This method of diagnosis is particularly helpful for those whose blood sugar levels constantly fluctuate, as this device provides an average of blood sugar levels from different parts of the body, as a composite whole.

  Continuous glucose monitoring systems - Known as interstitial glucose measuring devices popularly, they give results not as accurate as the other two devices, but still a fairly accurate estimate.

How to keep your sugar levels in constant control?

If your blood sugar levels are too high or too low, you have to bring them to normal via treatment, and if they are at a harmless level, you have to maintain it at that mark. There are several ways to maintain your sugar levels at acceptable rates. They are-

  Daily regulated exercise - Daily exercise dramatically helps your health if you have diabetes because it increases your insulin sensitivity and promotes better utilization of it in your body. Exercise is also helpful to guard you against other illnesses related to high bad cholesterol, or a weak immune system.

  A balanced, healthy diet - A balanced diet helps you keep your sugar levels in check while providing you with the requisite nutrients for making your body even healthier. Make sure to include an abundance of fresh fruits and green leafy vegetables in your diet, and cut down intake of fast, processed and extremely sugary foods/beverages.

  Drinking plenty of water - Drinking adequate water hydrates your body, and contributes to a healthy diet. It also reduces your risk of diabetes and guards you against diseases like gallbladder stones which are caused due to a lack of water in your body.

  Stay mentally sound and stress-free - Controlling your stress and anxiety levels can work wonders for your diabetes. If you make it a goal to stay stress-free about factors that are beyond your control, and be optimistic about life in general, it could work wonders for control of your diabetes.

Diabetes is a potentially life-threatening disease with a host of secondary complications. To avoid the worst of it, make sure you go for regular medical checks. If you do happen to be diagnosed with it, perform regular tests to check your levels, and take adequate measures to keep it under firm control.

Ways To Monitor Blood Sugar And Followup Care!

What complications are associated with diabetes?

Diabetes is a serious disorder which happens when your body has an unreasonably high level of blood sugar, which further leads to harmful effects. Diabetes has a wide variety of complications associated with it, and they start to build up slowly and gradually. Some of the common complications are:

Retinopathy

In simple words, diabetes leads to eye damage by making the eye exposed and prone to severe eye disorders like cataracts and glaucoma. If you have retinopathy, then you may also have face the consequence loss of vision or permanent blindness.

Skin conditions

During diabetes, your skin health is bound to degrade to a large extent. Your skin will become thin in texture and more prone to cuts and breakages due to internal skin cell damage. Thus, the skin gets more exposed to the bacterial and viral infections and its healing process also slows down as the cell division takes longer than usual.

Nephropathy

Nephropathy refers to kidney damage which is caused due to diabetes. The kidneys act as a filter system to the body and they filter out waste materials from the blood. Diabetes causes damage to the blood vessels of the kidneys which may further result in serious kidney disorders and may increase the risks of a sudden kidney failure.

Cardiovascular diseases

This means that if you are having excessive diabetes, then you are at a risk of having a major heart attack or a heart stroke. Additionally, increased blood sugar levels also lead to other heart-related diseases like chest pain, narrowing of arteries etc.

Neuropathy

It is a complication related to the nervous system of your body. The complication generally occurs in the legs as there is a numbness, burning or tingling sensation in the legs. This happens due to the extra sugar in the body, which damages the walls of the blood vessels. In the worst case scenario, you can lose sensation in the legs.

However, it is always desirable that you go and visit a doctor if the conditions persist for a longer time. Additionally, you can also depend upon some domestic care measures to bring your blood sugar levels under control.



What complications are associated with diabetes?

Diabetes is a lifestyle disease that can easily be managed by controlling our diet. Along with being aware of your sugar intake, your diet should help you lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. However, this does not mean you have to resign yourself to a lifetime of tasteless food.

Here are a few diet tips that can help manage diabetes: 

Choose high fiber carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are an essential element of the daily diet but have a huge impact on blood sugar levels. Hence, it is important to pick the right carbohydrates. Your diet should have a limited amount of refined carbohydrates such as white bread, pasta, soda etc. and should be focused more on high fiber carbohydrates such as brown rice, sweet potatoes, rolled oats and bran flakes that are digested slowly. This prevents your body from producing excessive insulin.
Be sweet smart: The key to indulge your sweet tooth and controlling diabetes is moderation. Abruptly, removing sugar from your diet can make you crave for it. Instead, gradually lower your sugar intake. If you can't miss out on the dessert at the end of a meal, reduce the amount of carbohydrates in your meal. Adding healthy fats like peanut butter, yogurt or nuts to your dessert can also slow down the digestive process and thus control blood sugar level.
Keep a food diary: When you are diabetic, it is very important to eat at regular intervals. Eating frequent, small meals are often better than fewer large meals. Try and maintain a food diary to keep track of your calorie intake. This helps identify problem areas of where your body is getting excessive calories from. When you are aware of the calories associated with things you eat, it is easier to cut down on snacks and replace unhealthy snacks with healthier options.
Choose fats wisely: It is impossible to completely cut out fats from your diet. While some fats such as liquid vegetable oils and commercial baked goods are unhealthy, others have important health benefits. Unsaturated fats are the healthiest and safest. Replacing your vegetable cooking oil for olive oil and biscuits with nuts are easy ways to make smart choices with your fat intake.
Go green: Green leafy vegetables are low on carbohydrates and high on nutrients. Thus, make them an integral part of your meal. Vegetables like kale, spinach, lettuce, etc. can be eaten raw or cooked. Along with being nutritious, they also add texture and color to your meals, thus making them more visually appealing.
If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a doctor and ask a free question.

5 Tips To Control Diabetes Through A Diet!

Ayurveda, the traditional way of healing is known to be a crucial and effectual therapy for a lot of ailments. Since the primitive ages, mankind has been approaching Ayurveda for remedial purposes and in most instances have reaped fruitful results. Ayurveda seeks to heal diseases using natural herbs that are said to resonate well with the four elemental constituents of beings, i.e air, water, earth and fire. Ayurveda uses myriad herbs and natural ingredients in a unique proportion to impart physical as well as spiritual wellness. One of the most common and yet fairly formidable disease plaguing modern lives is diabetes, induced by imbalance in the blood sugar levels in the human body. 

Ayurveda recommends the use of a few select herbs to control and alleviate the blood sugar imbalance.

Gymnema Leaf: Indigenously called gurmar, Gymnema leaves regulate the insulin level in our body. It not only prevents absorption of sugar in the intestine, but also stimulates cell growth in the pancreas. As a consequence, the insulin levels in the body is maintained and the blood sugar problems get neutralized.
Cinnamon: Cinnamon is replete with polyphenols that trigger off a healthy count of insulin secretion. Cinnamon has other beneficial properties as well. Whether consumed as tea or sprinkled on food as a flavor, Cinnamon can be instrumental in combatting blood sugar imbalance.
Fenugreek seeds: A common find in most Indian kitchens, Fenugreek seeds are well known for their health advantages.  Its pungent sweet flavor adds to the taste of many dishes. But most importantly, fenugreek seeds extensively keep the blood sugar level in control. 
Basil Leaf: Basil leaves are one of the most commonly used natural remedies for a wide range of diseases. The basil extracts are used in various food items and are extremely effective in curbing the excessive presence of blood sugar in the body. In general as well, basil leaves regulate the metabolism to a large extent.
Coccinia Indica: This herb protects the vital organs from any damage caused due to diabetes. It stabilizes the breakdown of starch in the body.
Azadirachta Indica: Common known as Neem, this herb is perhaps an indomitable medicine for increasing glucose tolerance. Neem is also used in allopathic medication on account of its various healing qualities.

Ayurveda and Blood Sugar Imbalance

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