Can you answer Anne’s question about Diabetes?:

I live in Boise, ID, I want to avoid having to take insulin, and I am able to control my diabetes by diet, but need to know what a diabetic diet would cost me.

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Whether you’re perfectly healthy (at the moment…) or you’re dealing with low blood sugar or hypoglycemia issues, it’s time to start taking responsibility for your own health and stop looking for the quick fix. It’s time to stop taking the “toxic chemicals” we are all addicted to, starting with sugar.

Cutting out sugar is hard, and withdrawal can last a couple of weeks, but the well-being you can experience when you’re free of sugar is amazing!

You want to feel better and keep your low blood sugar and hypoglycemia symptoms in check? Then get off the sugar roller-coaster! Now!

Anita Flegg, author of Hypoglycemia: The Other Sugar Disease, tells this story:

“Eating sugar makes us feel good. I used to crave sugar constantly and I realized that I was addicted. That sounds extreme but I found that one sugary treat inevitably lead to another. What could I call it but an addiction?

These continual sugar ups and downs are very hard on the system and long-term sugar ‘abuse’ causes wear and tear on your body. As a result, you will probably feel tired, hungry, irritable and unable to concentrate.

The best way to feel better is to get off the ‘sugar roller-coaster’. It’s not easy but the see-saw blood sugar level problem can’t finally be solved until your system gets used to being without the instant gratification of the sugar ‘hit.’

Knowing that I would feel sick by the end of the day was never enough to make me stop. When I was single, there were days when I ate nothing but cookies for supper – a whole bag of cookies!

Yes, I felt sick afterward. Did that stop me from doing it again? No. When I got home from work, I was hungry and my blood sugar level was low. Although I didn’t know it, I was reacting to low blood sugar.

Why didn’t the cookies solve the problem?

Each cookie made me feel better, but each sugar spike was followed immediately by a surge of insulin. The insulin would rapidly bring my blood sugar level back below what felt good so I would have another cookie. I didn’t realize at the time that those were hypoglycemia symptoms.”

This is the danger of using sugar. When these cravings hit, the best thing to do is to eat a protein food – nuts, cheese, egg or meat. Protein foods break down slowly and the sugar is released into the blood stream slowly. No sugar spike means no insulin surge and no more cravings.

Consider “treating” your next sugar craving by eating a small amount of a protein food. Worth a try…

Eliminating sugar from your system has major benefits that make it all worthwhile. Your head will feel clearer, you will have more energy, and you will probably be much less irritable. Your family will appreciate it, too!

Here are some strategies for making the transition easier.

-Every time you have an overwhelming craving for something sweet, have a small protein snack. This is not a quick fix, and may not make you feel better right away, but it will help your body get used to getting slow release (rather than quick hit) foods.

-Try to engage your mind. Go out with friends, work on your hobby, go for a walk or to the gym.

-Find a buddy who will support you in your effort to quit sugar – someone you can talk to whenever you need some moral support and some reassurance that it will be worth it.

-Remind yourself over and over that you will get through this and, when you do, you will feel better than you have in years!

Remember, you are worth the effort, and when you are ready, you will be able to do it.

Here is yet another reason to cut sugar out of your diet. This comes from RealAge:

“A diet that includes an overabundance of foods that rapidly boost blood sugar, such as sweets or sugary soft drinks, may boost colorectal cancer risk, according to research. In a study, women who had an abundance of these foods in their diets had almost a three-fold increase in colorectal cancer risk.”

Yet another reason to cut out the sugar in your diet.

Here’s a not-quite-complete list of sugars that may be lurking in food (in alphabetical order):

Barley malt or malted barley, Beet sugar, Brown rice sugar, Brown rice syrup, Brown sugar, Cane juice, Cane sugar, Cane syrup, Cane syrup solids, Caramel or Caramel coloring, Confectioners’ sugar, Corn sweetener, Corn syrup, Corn syrup solids, Crystalline fructose, Date sugar, Dextrin, Dextrose, Disaccharide, Fructo-oligosaccharides, Fructose, Fruit juice concentrate, Galactose, Glucose, Glycerin, Granulated sugar, Hexitol, High-fructose corn syrup, Honey, Invert sugar, Lactose, Levulose, Malt, Maltodextrin, Maltose, Maple sugar, Maple syrup, Microcrystalline cellulose, Molasses (all kinds), Natural sweeteners, Polydextrose, Powdered sugar, Raisin juice or syrup, Raw sugar, Rice syrup, Simple syrup, Sorghum, Sucanat, Sucrose , Sugar cane syrup, Syrup, Turbinado sugar, Unrefined sugar.

So, before you buy a snack food you think is safe because the list of ingredients does not contain the word “sugar”, think again. I suggest you print this article, cut out the paragraph above and take it with you on your next trip to the grocery.

Buyers beware!

Eat well, be well, live well!

Daniel G. St-Jean

Editor of Help For Hypoglycemia

Publisher of the Help For Hypoglycemia Blog



Thanks to Daniel St-jean for contributing this article to our Diabetes blog:

What Causes Diabetes

Can you answer Molly’s question about Diabetes?:

I am going to start seeing the perinatologist for uncontrolled gestational diabetes. Will I still see the OB on a regular basis and only go to the perinatologist for the diabetes also? Will my regular OB still do the delivery or will the perinatologist do it? What can I expect out of my visits with the new doctor and what sort of extra testing will they do on the baby if I have to take insulin?

What Causes Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease caused by the inability of the body to properly produce insulin, a hormone that helps the body convert food to energy. In type 1 diabetes the body does not produce insulin at all. This type of diabetes is usually diagnosed during childhood. In type 2 diabetes the body does not produce enough insulin or it produces insulin which is ineffective in regulating the body’s blood sugar levels. This type of diabetes is usually diagnosed later in life and is commonly called adult onset diabetes.

Diabetes is an important health concern because incidence of the disease worldwide is increasing. It is also associated with other health risks and is expensive to treat and control. Also, diabetes is a major cause of death worldwide.

The number of cases of diabetes is increasing around the world. The incidence of diabetes in 1995 numbered about 135 million worldwide, about 4.0% of the population. Diabetes affected 170 million people in 2000 and is projected to affect about 300 million people by 2025, about 5.4% of the population. India, China, and the United States have the largest number of cases.

In a recent year direct medical expenses in the United States for diabetes totaled $92 billion, up from $44 billion five years earlier, according to the American Diabetes Association. Another $40 billion was spent on permanent disability expenses. Care for diabetes represents about 11% of the total health care expenditures in the United States. In 1997 annual health care costs for a person with diabetes averaged $10,071 and increased to $13,243 by 2002. That annual rate is more than 5 times greater than the average annual health care costs for a person without diabetes. Also diabetes accounted for an annual loss of about 88 million disability days.

The mortality rate for people with diabetes runs about 5.2% of all deaths according to the World Health Organization. In 2000 about 2.9 million deaths worldwide were caused by diabetes. In another 4.5 million deaths diabetes was a contributing factor.

The good news is that type 2 diabetes can be delayed or prevented from ever developing. Before people develop type 2 diabetes, they nearly always develop the condition known as “pre-diabetes.” This condition occurs when blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Studies have shown that people with a pre-diabetic condition can control the condition with lifestyle changes or with medicine. With reasonable treatment they can greatly increase their chances that they will never develop diabetes.

The American Diabetes Association created a publication called, “The Prevention or Delay of Type 2 Diabetes.” The following are some of the findings and recommendations from the ADA.

About 41 million Americans have the pre-diabetic condition. There are two tests commonly used by physicians to determine whether a person has pre-diabetes. One test is called the fasting plasma glucose test, or FPG, and the other is called the oral glucose tolerance test, or OGTT. Both tests have a normal range and a diabetic range. The range in between indicates the pre-diabetic condition.

The FPG test is more convenient to patients, less expensive, and easier to administer than the OGTT test. On the other hand the OGTT will detect more cases of glucose intolerance and undiagnosed diabetes than the FTP test. Either test should be repeated in 3 year intervals.

Once a diabetic or pre-diabetic condition has been diagnosed, a person has two choices of treatment. One strategy is to use lifestyle modifications such as a change in diet and an increase in physical activity, and the other strategy is to use glucose-lowering drugs that have been approved for treating diabetes. Studies indicate that the drug therapy is about half as effective as the diet and exercise therapy in delaying the onset of diabetes. Lifestyle changes have been proven effective as a way to prevent type 2 diabetes from developing from the pre-diabetic condition. Diet and exercise, in many cases, are able to return the blood glucose levels to the normal range.

Lifestyle changes include a combination of losing 5% to 10% of body weight, reducing total fat calorie intake, reducing saturated fat calorie intake, increasing fiber intake, and exercising at least 150 minutes per week. One study, called the Diabetes Prevention Program study, showed that a treatment using the combination of 30 minutes per day of moderate physical activity and a 5% to 10% reduction in body weight resulted in a 58% reduction in the incidence of diabetes.

The type of physical activity recommended by the ADA includes aerobic exercise, strength training, and flexibility exercises. The goal of the aerobic exercise is to increase heart rate, raise the breathing rate, and exercise the muscles. The goal is to exercise for 30 minutes a day, 5 days per week. The 30 minutes can be split into 10 minute intervals. This type of activity includes brisk walking or running, dancing, swimming or water aerobics, skating, tennis, bike riding, gardening, and house cleaning. Strength training, performed several times a week, helps to build more muscle, making everyday chores easier, and helps to burn more calories, even at rest. Flexibility exercise, simple stretching, helps to keep joints flexible and helps to reduce chances for injury during other activities.

Dietary changes are an important part of a pre-diabetes treatment. A body mass index test (BMI) can be administered and calculated easily. A BMI test result that is greater than 25 means that a person is above their ideal weight and a person with a BMI result greater than 30 is considered obese. The goal in the first instance is to decrease body weight by 5% and in the second instance by up to 10%. It is recommended that a person consult a physician who can help to develop a dietary plan that will achieve the desired weight loss.

The effects of type 2 diabetes are expensive and dangerous to one’s health. Fortunately, diabetes can be delayed or prevented by adopting a reasonable program of diet, weight control, and exercise.



Thanks to Kevin Sinclair for contributing this article to our Diabetes blog:

Cure For Type 2 Diabetes

Type one diabetes is far less common than type two diabetes and it will affect younger individuals. It is most found in people under the age of 40 and mostly under the age of fourteen. There are people who have been diagnosed with it after forty but it is very rare. Diabetes is a serious issues and type one is the worst. It is associated with the lack of insulin. It is a dysfunction of the pancreas where it will just stop making insulin in the amount the body needs to maintain a normal level of glucose in the blood. Many people who have type one diabetes will have symptoms of hyperglycemia.

Hyperglycemia is where your glucose is too high in the blood. Meaning your blood sugar is too high. The common symptoms of hyperglycemia or diabetes type one is frequent hunger, frequent urinating, and frequent thirst. You will also experience blurred vision, fatigue, weight loss, your healing power will be low (meaning it will take you a long time to heal a wound or cut), dry mouth, dry or itchy skin, and you could have impotence for males. Your immune system will become weak and you will be able to pick up infection easily.

The reason why you are always hungry is because your body can not use glucose as an energy source. It is also, why you tire out easily. Since the body can not absorb sugar or glucose into the blood cells you will release it through frequent trips to the bathroom. Since you make many trips a day to the bathroom, your body realizes that it is losing excess water and that’s why you will become thirsty. When it comes to the symptoms, you may experience them all together or it may take some time for your body to go through the process. Most likely though it will be gradual.

The changes of developing type one diabetes is 3.7 to 20 per 100, 000. Over 700,000 Americans have type one diabetes, which adds up to be about ten percent of the total population that has the disorder. It is more common to have type two diabetes. The reason why people develop the disorder is because an autoimmune disorder. The body will start to see it’s own tissue as a foreign object and then it destroys the body’s ability to make insulin. It has been rumored to be a cause from the mumps, rubella, measles, influenza, polio, or other viruses. That’s why it is very common in young children because those epidemics affect younger children more often than older adults. Diabetes is also genetic. You may simply have the disorder because an immediate family member has it.

As for treatment, type one involves injections of insulin. It is absorbed in the blood stream and absorbed by the cells that need insulin and it will then control the levels of sugar in the blood. You can find more information on http://www.all-about-diabetes-symptom.com/



Thanks to Kenneth Langlet for contributing this article to our Diabetes blog:

New Treatment For Diabetes