Are you listening to your food label?

Whether you are counting carbohydrates, are following the exchange diet, or you are on  the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet you can increase your chances for success  by reading your food labels and understanding what they mean.

Look at the serving size and compare that to the number of carbohydrates is in a serving.   Most servings of carbohydrates for a diabetic are 15 grams.  If one serving is higher than  15 grams you will have to eat less than the suggested serving size to stay on track with  your meal plan.

Sugar- Free or High Carbohydrates?

Sugar-free foods may grab your attention as something safe and yummy to add to your shopping cart. But look at the carbohydrate count first. Most foods that are made sugar- free using artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes have higher carbohydrate counts.

Check the fat content too, look for a low percent of your daily intake and ideally it will be monounsaturated as opposed to polyunsaturated or saturated fats.

Get Facts on Testing for Diabtes

 There are additional tests to the initial tests that will be taken when you are first diagnosed with diabetes  there will be more that are administered at different times and intervals to make sure you  are staying healthy.  Some of these tests you will do your self at home daily while others  will be done during annual or semi-annual trips check-ups at with your doctor.

The test you are going to perform more often will be testing your blood sugar level.  This  is done at home using a glucose monitor.  Depending on how new the disease is to you  and how well controlled your blood sugars are you may be testing once per day up to  seven times per day.  If you are testing first thing in the morning only, it is a good idea to  test seven times a day at least once per week to monitor your blood sugar levels before  and after each meal and before going to bed.

Testing for ketones in your urine isalso  another daily test that you will do at home.  This is  done once per day in the morning after fasting through the night.  The presence of  ketones in your urine can signify that you are not eating enough food or that you body is  not processing it properly.  A second test should be done in the evening if you find  ketones in the morning.  If they are still present at the second test, a call into the doctor is  warranted to prevent the onset of diabetic ketoacidosis.

Your doctor will order a blood test called a Hemoglobin A1C at least once per year.  This  test looks at the average blood sugars that have been in your system for the previous three  months.  It will give a good overall picture on how well you are managing your diabetes.

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Want Diabetes Reversible Help

 Diabetes is a disease in which the body either lacks insulin or does not produce enough insulin to break ingested glucose into cells.  As a result, the glucose remain in the blood and damage blood vessels.  A high content of glucose in the blood is called hyperglycemia and is often a precursor to heart attack and stroke.  People who have diabetes have twice as much of a chance of having a heart attack and stroke as those without this condition.

In addition to diabetes itself being a risk factor for heart attack and stroke, there are other risk factors that people with diabetes should be aware of to reduce their risk factor for heart attack and stroke.  This includes central obesity.  Studies by the American Heart Association have indicated that while obesity in itself is a risk for a heart attack, carrying excess weight around the waist increases your risk of heart attack.  This is believed to be due to the fact that abdominal fat increases bad cholesterol more than fat on other areas of the body.

Weight is a key element to many sicknesses and diseases. Maintaining a balance diet can be very beneficial to our health.  We must learn to read the ingredients on the label.

One of the first step to losing weight is to set a short-term goal for yourself.  You can do this on  your own but can also get help from your doctor or a dietitian.  A good goal when  starting to lose weight is to take a small percentage of your overall weight and aim to lose  that much in your time frame.  For instance, if you weigh 200 pounds aim to lose weight  5% of your body weight to begin (10 pounds).  When you lose weight as a diabetic you  are helping your body by lessening your insulin requirements.  Weight loss will also assist you in keeping your blood sugar levels under control.

The Natural Health Source

Nutritional Supplements

For many years, people have been talking about and taking nutritional supplements.  What started out as natural herbs, has now grown into a trend that people use on a daily basis.  These days, you can find supplements more sophisticated than ever, available in many different forms such as liquid, capsules, pills, and teas.  There are some that are still home grown, although they aren't as popular as those that are commercially supplied.

In general, nutritional supplements are taken to help with diets that are missing vital nutrients and minerals.  They come in many different forms as stated above, and provide one or more of vital sources such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, and amino acids.  Although they aren't intended to replace meals, nutritional supplements can be taken to enhance your diet.

There are many reasons why you should take nutritional supplements.  One reason, is the environment.  With the environment rapidly changing, there is more toxin in the air, in the water we drink, and the foods we eat.  With our bodies having to work twice as hard to eliminate these toxins, it is always wise to take supplements and help our bodies to get rid of the harmful toxins.

Stress is also a factor on your body.  Stress can put your body at risk for many different things, such as a lower resistance for diseases.  Therefore, if you take supplements, you can get your immune system built back up and help your body function a lot better.  There are many different nutritional supplements you can take, such as glyconutrients, that will help you combat stress.

One of the main reasons to take nutritional supplements is due to poor eating habits.  Those who have busy lifestyles, sometimes don't eat as healthy as they should.  Often times, it can be very hard to take the necessary time to eat a healthy meal.  Whenever we can't get a healthy meal, we can always look towards supplements.  They will enhance our diets and give us the nutrients that our bodies need for energy, health, and many other purposes.

Those of us that are athletic or exercise, will need more nourishment for the body.  As you work out or play sports your body will need more nutrition.  Some good examples of supplements include protein, vitamins, and minerals.  You can find them in many different foods, or use vitamins and nutritional supplements that contain them.

If you are looking to lose weight, nutritional supplements may come in handy.  Anytime you decide to diet, you eat much less and may end up missing on foods that contain essential vitamins and minerals.  If you take some nutritional supplements on the other hand, your body won't miss any of the important vitamins and minerals it needs.  To make things even better, you can also get supplements that will help you lose weight as well, along with giving your body everything it needs to function and carry out your normal everyday routine.

No matter how you look at it, nutritional supplements are great for many things.  You find them in your local   nutrition store, or online. There are many different supplements to choose from, giving you everything you need to get the right nutrients and vitamins.  If you've been looking for a way to get the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals your body needs - look no further than nutritional supplements.  They are available at a great price - with many excellent manufactures offering you plenty of innovative products.

Detox your body in order to function well. 

Irritable Bowel Syndrome is believed to be due to  the abnormal function (dysfunction) of the muscles of the organs of the  gastrointestinal tract or the nerves controlling the organs. The nervous control  of the gastrointestinal tract, however, is complex. A system of nerves runs the  entire length of the gastrointestinal tract from the esophagus to the anus in  the muscular walls of the organs. These nerves communicate with other nerves  that travel to and from the spinal cord. Nerves within the spinal cord, in turn,  travel to and from the brain. (The gastrointestinal tract is exceeded in the  numbers of nerves it contains only by the spinal cord and brain.) Thus, the  abnormal function of the nervous system in IBS may occur in a gastrointestinal  muscular organ, the spinal cord, or the brain.

The nervous system that  controls the gastrointestinal organs, as with most other organs, contains both  sensory and motor nerves. The sensory nerves continuously sense what is  happening within the organ and relay this information to nerves in the organ's  wall. From there, information can be relayed to the spinal cord and brain. The  information is received and processed in the organ's wall, the spinal cord, or  the brain. Then, based on this sensory input and the way the input is processed,  commands (responses) are sent to the organ over the motor nerves. Two of the  most common motor responses in the intestine are contraction or relaxation of  the muscle of the organ and secretion of fluid and/or mucus into the organ.

As already mentioned, abnormal function of the nerves of the  gastrointestinal organs, at least theoretically, might occur in the organ,  spinal cord, or brain. Moreover, the abnormalities might occur in the sensory  nerves, the motor nerves, or at processing centers in the intestine, spinal  cord, or brain. Some researchers argue that the cause of functional diseases is  abnormalities in the function of the sensory nerves. For example, normal  activities, such as stretching of the small intestine by food, may give rise to  abnormal sensory signals that are sent to the spinal cord and brain, where they  are perceived as pain.

Other researchers argue that the cause of  functional diseases is abnormalities in the function of the motor nerves. For  example, abnormal commands through the motor nerves might produce a painful  spasm (contraction) of the muscles. Still others argue that abnormally  functioning processing centers are responsible for functional diseases because  they misinterpret normal sensations or send abnormal commands to the organ. In  fact, some functional diseases may be due to sensory dysfunction, motor  dysfunction, or both sensory and motor dysfunction. Still others may be due to  abnormalities within the processing centers One area that is receiving a great  deal of scientific attention is the potential role of gas produced by intestinal  bacteria in patients with IBS. Studies have demonstrated that patients with IBS  produce larger amounts of gas than individuals without IBS, and the gas may be  retained longer in the small intestine. Among patients with IBS, abdominal size  increases over the day, reaching a maximum in the evening and returning to  baseline by the following morning. In individuals without IBS, there is no  increase in abdominal size during the day.

There has been a great deal  of controversy over the role that poor digestion and/or absorption of dietary  sugars may play in aggravating the symptoms of IBS. Poor digestion of lactose,  the sugar in milk, is very common as is poor absorption of fructose, a sweetener  found in many processed foods. Poor digestion or absorption of these sugars  could aggravate the symptoms of IBS since unabsorbed sugars often cause  increased formation of gas.

Although these abnormalities in production  and transport of gas could give rise to some of the symptoms of IBS, much more  work will need to be done before the role of intestinal gas in IBS is  clear.

Dietary fat in healthy individuals causes food as well as gas to  move more slowly through the stomach and small intestine. Some patients with IBS  may even respond to dietary fat in an exaggerated fashion with greater slowing.  Thus, dietary fat could--and probably does--aggravate the symptoms of IBS.

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