Diabetes in various forms affects up to 5percent of the world population with 12 million diabetics in Western Europe alone. Of the different ways in which diabetes presents, noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) is probably the most commonly encountered genetic disease. NIDDM or Type II diabetes is multifactorial, depending also on environmental factors including obesity, sedentary lifestyles and nutritional imbalances.
Yoga has shown some beneficial results in curing diabetes. The yoga exercises that are prescribed for curing diabetes is different from hatha yoga exercise because it involves positions tailored to treat certain conditions, as well as meditation, relaxation and stretching exercises.
One of the studies conducted to cure diabetes was the one set up by the Yoga Biomedical Trust, founded in 1982 by biochemist Dr Robin Monro, and an Indian yoga research foundation which discovered that practicing yoga for 30 minutes a day for one month helped reduce blood glucose levels in some diabetics.
The yoga patients took part in one or two 90-minute sessions a week and were asked to practice at home. The classes included the specific yoga exercises of the spinal twist, the bow and abdominal breathing.
At the end of the 12 weeks blood sugar levels fell significantly in all patients in the group and were slightly raised in a control group which had not joined in the yoga sessions. Three yoga students managed to reduce their medication, including one man who had not changed his drug regime for 20 years.
It has been known for a long time that exercise is helpful for diabetics. Yoga therapy may help reduce stress levels which could play a part in maturity onset diabetes. But one drawback is that some patients would find it hard to keep up the regular sessions needed to sustain the benefit. All the patients said they would like to see these classes set up on a permanent basis but we don’t have the money.
It is not necessarily the exercise component of the yoga therapy package which is most important, because there is not enough physical exercise to account for the changes, but stress reduction has a lot to do with it. Stress hormones increase sugar levels in the blood. People also benefit from the stabilization of their moods which yoga brings, an increased feeling of well-being and a feeling of being more in control, which may help with their diet control.
Ann Marier
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/can-yoga-improve-or-even-cure-diabetes-for-some-people-106061.html
For most of the history of humanity man ate a diet of wild game and natural vegetation including some seeds, nuts, and fruit during certain sea-sons. In our era, with the advent of processed foods, mankind’s diet has undergone a radical change. People are eating foods that never existed in nature before, foods which the body was never designed to utilize. The result is that the heavy consumption of refined sugar, and refined flour products too, has led to serious health problems for those who regularly eat them. Today 65% of Americans are overweight, and 27% are clinically obese. Even children are starting to show more and more symptoms of this growing health problem. Diabetes is starting to appear more frequently in the very young. When we look at the diet of the typical American, it is easy to see how this has happened. The average American each year consumes 125 pounds of sugar in the form of 300 cans of soda, 200 sticks of gum, 18 pounds of candy, 50 pounds of cakes and cookies and 20 gallons of ice cream. I want to make clear just how much sugar is found in the sodas people are drinking each day. There are 7 to 8 teaspoons of sugar in some form, in the average soda drink. If you have a soda at lunch, one as a snack in the afternoon, one with your dinner, and one as you watch TV or go out for a final snack later in the night, you have consumed 28 spoonfuls of sugar.
Americans are also consuming too many foods which are made from highly refined flour, which act just like sugar in the body, such as pasta, bread and cookies and cakes. In addition to all the many obvious sources of sugar in the typical American diet, sugar is used as an inexpensive additive to improve the taste of many items in which the producers in order to increase profits use cheaper inferior ingredients or use less expensive ingredients. Among these items, you may have guessed, because they taste so sweet, are ketchup, and jams and jellies, which really should have no added sugar and should be made primarily from the fruit. Fruit flavored drinks and fruit flavored yogurts, and especially, sweetened canned fruit have unnecessarily large amounts of sugar in some form in them. But it is also surprising how much sugar, unhealthy sugar, is found in items like peanut butters, bread, soups, pickles, mustard, canned dishes like baked beans, and salad dressings. Even American’s general idea of proper cui-sine contributes to this problem. Making potatoes a staple at almost every meal has been an additional negative health factor. Potatoes, among all other vegetables, are the one of the most likely to affect the body in the same way as refined sugar.
A surfeit of carbohydrates in any form will lead to gaining weight and eventual obesity, but it is sugar in all its forms, and refined flour in our diets that do the most harm. They lead to a fast rise in blood sugar, which causes the pancreas to produce a large amount of insulin to lower our blood sugar quickly, because high blood sugar is dangerous to our health. Unfortunately, this strong dose of insulin makes the blood sugar drop below our normal level and makes us feel down in mood. In order to compensate for this psychological effect, we are driven by cravings to seek an immediate repeat of our ingestion of sugar to again raise our blood sugar to make ourselves feel better, and so the cycle continues on and on. This results in our taking in more calories than are necessary to supply energy to the body. The end result is overweight and eventual obesity. The high amounts of insulin also have other deleterious effects.
They make the insulin receptors become less and less sensitive, requiring the pancreas to produce larger and larger amounts of insulin each time, to deal with same amount of high incoming sugar. Eventually the receptors become very insensitive to the incoming insulin, and the person has developed a condition referred to as insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance aggravates another problem which results from the production of insulin in the body. When insulin in the body is high, another hormone called glucagon is low. Glucagon is a hormone which promotes the release and utilization of fat from the fat storage cells for energy. So that when glucagon is present, you will be burning and thus reducing your fat stores. In other words, you will be losing weight and the weight will be a loss of fat. However, the high level of insulin in insulin resistant people keeps them from burning any of their fat stores. They can only burn incoming sugar and carbohydrates, and when they are depleted, they will begin to break down and use muscle tissue as a source of energy. This is, again, because the insulin has blocked getting access to the body’s fat by blocking the production of the necessary hormone, glucagon. Now you understand why people who have eaten a lot of sugar, and sugar acting foods like refined flour and grains, and potatoes, in their life all the time have had trouble losing weight, or permanently keeping off any weight they have lost through extreme measures like very strict diets or fasting.
Eventually people on these refined high carbohydrate diets exhaust their pancreas, which stops generating any insulin at all, and they become diabetic, and must take insulin regularly to keep their blood sugar from staying at dangerously high levels.
There is another serious problem with too much sugar, sugar addiction. For many years people have spoken of sugar addiction because of the seemingly addictive behavior of people who have a strong desire for foods with sugar. However, it is only recently that it has been scientifically been shown to be a genuine addiction. Rats fed sugar showed classic signs of withdrawal when their sugar “fix” was taken away from them. When they were allowed to eat sugar again, they binged on it. The sugar had triggered natural pleasure producing opiods in their brains. The effect is similar to morphine and heroin, though not as powerful. Actual studies of these animals’ brains showed an accelerated growth of dopamine receptors in the nucleus accumbens in their brains. This helps explain why people who eat sugar regularly, have strong cravings and seek a sugar “fix” many times throughout their day.
You are probably addicted to sugar if you have the following: if you have cravings for food containing sugar, if you can’t stop eating after one piece of candy or one bite of cake or other baked goods; if you can’t go for more than a few hours without experiencing a letdown with fatigue or irritability or anxiety; if you have to have your sugared coffee and donuts or other baked goods every morning and have and eat candy and other sweets in your home all the time; if you regularly drink sugared sodas during the day to give yourself a pick-me-up because you’re dragging.
Nutritionally, refined sugars present another problem. It takes vitamins and minerals to digest and assimilate ingested refined sugars. Unprocessed sugar cane juice is rich in vitamins and minerals and provides some nourishment to the body, though it is still too high in sugar to be good for the body. But refined sugar is an empty calorie, which uses up valuable vitamins and minerals in order to be digested without supplying any of them. Thus, eating a lot of refined sugars depletes the body of these valuable health promoting factors. That’s why, you now can understand, even overweight people who have become so because of large amounts of sugar in their diets, can actually suffer from malnutrition.
Here’s a list of some of the negative health effects of sugar, and the refined flour products and potatoes that act like sugar within the body. Sugar can:
… cause an increase in insulin being generated in the body
… cause an increase in insulin sensitivity
… overstress the pancreas causing damage
… cause diabetes … cause weight gain and obesity
… produce a significant rise in triglycerides
… reduce helpful high density cholesterol, known as HDLs
… promote an elevation of harmful cholesterol, know as LDLs
… increase total cholesterol
… cause atherosclerosis
… increase systolic pressure
… cause hypertension
… upset the body’s mineral balance
… promote tooth decay
… cause hyperactivity, anxiety, concentration difficulties, and crankiness
in children
… lead to alcoholism
… cause depression
If you are seriously craving sugar, you should avoid all sugars. The following is a list of sugars and sweeteners that act like sugars, though you may not have recognized them as sugars before reading this article. Of course, if a label just says “sugar,” you will avoid that too!
AVOID THESE SWEETENERS: corn syrup, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, honey, sucrose, maltodextrin, dextrose, molasses, rice milk, almond milk, white grape juice, fruit juice sweetened, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, date sugar, cane sugar, corn sugar, beet sugar, succanat and lactose.
There are many other points to be made if one wishes to guide oneself correctly. Raw sugar and brown sugar, which was at one time sold in a lot of health food stores and still may be found in some supermarkets, is actually highly refined white sugar with some molasses put back in to give it brown color. Fructose doesn’t increase leptin, a hormone that decreases your appetite, and doesn’t suppress ghrelin, the hormone that makes you hungry. Thus, people who eat food containing fructose are likely to take in more calories, not less. And remember, almost all simple sugars, fructose included, and not just refined white sugar, are metabolized quickly and raise insulin levels too quickly. Just like refined white sugar, they play a role in creating insulin resistance. In addition, fructose is converted into triglycerides more efficiently than glucose elevating triglycerides that are linked to an increased risk of heart disease. Fructose converts to fat more readily than any other sugar, and some believe its prevalence in our present food supply has made it an important factor in making Americans fatter and fatter.
Eating small amounts of fruit will not provide unhealthy large amounts of natural fructose, but fruit juices are best avoided as being too high in fructose for the body to assimilate without generating too much insulin. Aside from limited amounts of fruit, avoid fructose in food just as you would table sugar. One of the best ways to limit your intake of fructose, in general, is to eliminate soda and fruit juices from your diet.
Most artificial sweeteners are increasingly considered to be unhealthy for the body. Aspartame is the technical name for the brand names NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and Equal-Measure. Aspartame, which is frequently found in diet sodas, accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious. In addition, Aspartame suppresses serotonin production, the chemical in the brain that contributes to your feeling satisfied after a meal. The end result from ingesting Aspartame, just as it was from people eating fructose, is that people are less satisfied with their food and tend to eat more. Diet sodas may actually be increasing your total intake of calories.
Finally, artificial sweeteners in general, just like real sugar, give you an intense experience of tasting something sweet, which psychologically stimulates cravings to consume even more sweet tasting things.
In general, you will be better off health wise if you only buy products that say “no sugar added.” Jams should say fruit only. Often fruit juices are added to the food item, but don’t be fooled, this is an unhealthy form of concentrated sugar too, even though it is originally from fruit. And remember, cocaine and heroine are derived from natural sources, but no one would say they are good for your health. A lot of poisons start out as plant material too. So do not be fooled by people who insist certain sugars are healthy because they are made from natural sources.
YOU ARE READY TO GET HEALTHIER AND FEEL BETTER
Always keep in mind
Sugar is nutritionally worthless and is full of fattening calories Sugar creates cycles of emotional highs and lows, and is chemically additive Sugar is very bad for your body’s health
READ FOOD LABELS
If sugar appears in the ingredients in the first few listed items:
DO NOT EAT THAT PRODUCT
Always keep in mind except for occasional fruit, it is best if you avoid eating any sugar at all.
Many people are addicted to sugar and should avoid all sugars permanently for optimal health.
And remember refined flour products in bread, bagels, pasta, and cookies and cakes, act just like sugar in your body, as do potatoes and potato products too.
We must eliminate refined food products from our diets and choose carefully, selecting high-fiber, non-starchy vegetables as our carbohydrate choices. In this way, we generate less insulin and avoid any insulin resistance and the adverse health effects that result. Remember, even fruits that are relatively low in carbohydrates will generate some insulin in the body to deal with the sugars they contain. Since one of the goals of low-carb eating is to generate as little insulin as possible, enjoy eating fresh fruit, in reasonable moderate amounts. On the other hand, dried fruits should be much more limited because they have a high concentration of sugars. And remember, as noted above, fruit juices are too high in sugars to be appropriate for a low insulin generating diet. Berries, on the other hand, are a good choice.
Jeffrey Rose
http://www.articlesbase.com/nutrition-articles/sugar-and-health-64562.html
Problems of achieving a satisfactory erection are fairly common. If the problem does not originate from lack of lust and is great enough to make normal intercourse impossible, the condition is called erectile dysfunction (impotence). Erection problems are caused by combined physical and psychological factors.
THE ERECTION MECHANISM
The penis has three bodies containing a dense network of blood vessels along all its length. During erection blood is filled into the vessels of these bodies. The bodies then engorge, make the penis hard and rise it up. The filling of these bodies occur when the vessels leading blood to the penis relax and vessels draining the penis constrict their volume.
Before and during erection nerves lead impulses to the genitals. The nerve ends in this area then releases the substance nitrogen oxide. Nitrogen oxide will diffuse through the genital area and the penis and stimulate the reaction of the blood vessels in the penis.
PHYSICAL CAUSES OF ERECTION PROBLEMS
Erection problems can occur because of disorders in the nervous system sending impulses to the genital area, problems with the blood supply to the penis and anatomical problems in the penis or genital area. Specific causes can be:
- Accidents, stroke, surgery or tumours hurting brain areas or areas in the spinal cord responsible for erection impulses.
- Multiple sclerosis, a disease hurting the isolating sheets around the neural fibres in the brain and spinal cord, can give erection problems.
- Accidents or diseases hurting nerves from the spinal cord to the genital region.
- Atherosclerosis caused by age or an unhealthy lifestyle, giving narrowing and hardening of blood vessels to the genital region.
- Injury to the erectile bodies caused by inflammation, accidents or diseases.
- Congenital malformations in the penis or genital region, for example hypospadias and epispadias.
- Peyronie’s disease, a common inflammatory disease causing abnormal bending or twisting of the penis, and sometimes also hinder the filling of blood into the erectile bodies, sometimes gives problems for the erections.
- Circumcision causing the penile skin to be too tight, or causing extensive inelastic scars.
- Side effects of medicines, such as medications taken for high blood pressure or depression.
- Zinc deficiency.
- Heart disease.
- Diabetes causing injury to the nerves and blood vessels to the penis.
. High blood pressure (hypertension).
. Liver or kidney disease.
- Alcohol or drug abuse impairing psychological and neural functions.
PSYCHOLOGICAL CAUSES OF ERECTION PROBLEMS
Psychological causes can interfere with the erection process by distracting a man from stimuli that normally would give him sexual arousal. Psychological issues account for about 40% of erection problems. Erection problems in men under age 50 are most likely to be caused by psychological factors. Psychological causes of erection problems include:
- Anxiety for not being able to perform sexually as well as the partner demands.
- Prolonged emotional upset, such as worrying, anxiety or anger due to a man’s economical, professional or social situation.
- Relationship problems, for example when the woman has different preferences of sexual practice than the man.
- A man who looses sexual desire for his partner may develop erection problems.
- Recently widowed men can get erection problems.
- Some men have difficulty having sexual intercourse with their partner after she has given birth because he does not like the changes that the birth process has caused to the woman’s body.
CAUSATIVE TREATMENT
When a specific organic and psychological condition causes problems for the erections, this problem should be treated with appropriate methods that will vary according to the actual disease.
If the cause is heart disease or atherosclerosis, lifestyle changes and training adapted to the medical situation can often improve the general health situation and improve the erectile abilities.
If the cause of the erection problems is a problematic penile shape, for example curved or twisted penis by Peyronie’s disease, using a mechanical penis reaction device for some time may help.
On the marked you can also find herbal products to treat injured or diseased blood vessels in the genital area. These products typically contain herbal elements that experience has proven to stimulate tissue repair in blood vessels.
POSSIBLE FUNCTIONAL TREATMENT
It is not always possible to cure the condition causing erectile problems. Still the problems can be overcome by medication that stimulates the vessels leading blood to the penis to relax and the vessels draining the penis to constrict. These drugs typically achieve this task by stimulating the release of nitrogen oxide in the genital area.
Viagra and Cialis are the best known pharmacological treatment for erection problems. In spite of what people often think, these drugs do not increase the sexual drive. If the sexual excitement is there, Viagra can help to achieve erection, if the drive and excitement lack in the first place, Viagra will not help.
There are also herbal products on the market that stimulate the erection mechanism. Erection oils give an instant erection response, but the response only last 2-3 hours. Erection or potency pills take a longer time to give effect, but the effect lasts for many hours. The herbal product will often contain components that increase the sexual excitement in addition to improving the pure erection mechanism.
If it is not possible at all to achieve erection with any treatment, surgical implants can help to make the penis stiff and raised up enough to perform an intercourse. One type of implant is partly rigid bodies that make the penis permanently partially erected. Another type of implant is inflatable bodies that can make the penis fully erected when the need rises.
Knut Holt
http://www.articlesbase.com/men’s-issues-articles/erection-problems-and-possible-treatments-61250.html
Low carb diet by Dr. Atkins continues as possibly one of the most accepted low carb diets on the market today. Low carbohydrate, high protein Atkins diet attractiveness has helped spring numerous similar diets who operate on the same values of high-protein, low-carbohydrate eating diet. Nowadays people who want to lose weight have a lot of high protein diets to choose from.
Tests have verified that high-protein, low-carbohydrate intake has numerous good effects as well as create considerable fat burning with no need to limit calories. Lots of people who make use of the low carb, high protein diet invented by Dr. Atkins have for a long time been reporting this effect. There are studies that show that low carbohydrate eating improves triclycerides, lowers blood sugar for diabetics and people with beginning diabetes and boosts good cholesterol (HDL). Low carb, high protein diet plan has been continuously confirmed to enhance insulin sensitivity, decrease blood pressure and cut blood insulin levels. If we judge it against diets low in fat, high protein, low carb dieters also lose a reduced amount of muscle mass.
Although not medically proven, there are numerous various positive effects testified by people on low-carb, high-protein diet by Dr.Atkins. Some of these include energy increase, reduced longing for candys, enhanced attentiveness, improved temper and decrease of depression kind of signs.
Nonetheless there are also several advantages that are exclusive to the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Dr. Atkins diet. If you are one of countless people who have been trying to lose weight with low fat diets in previous years you will get pleasure from eating all of those forbidden foods that once you could not touch. Butter, steak and cream are a regular element of low carb diet devised by Dr. Atkins. Many people enjoy eating foods once off limits to them. People on high protein diet devised by Dr. Atkins are permitted to consume their full of rich meats, cheeses and fats and oils.
Diet invented by Dr. Atkins is also undemanding to make use of if compared with majority of other protein high diets that are on the market today. There are a few of simple carbohydrate calculations that you are going to need to learn, but when you do that, you are going to be free to have a meal of any food you want from the acceptable food listing.
Dr. Atkins furthermore emphasized the need of finding your own individual carb level. Various individuals have unique degree of carbohydrate tolerance. While some of us put on weight on just 90 grams of carbs per day, other people can eat as many as 120 grams of carbs daily. During your ongoing dieting phase and pre-maintenance stage of the low carbohydrate, high protein diet by Dr.Atkins, you will ascertain your individual carb count that is going to help you establish your carb goal from now on.
The status of high-protein, low-carb diet devised by Dr. Atkins can even be a double-edged sword for the anyone trying to lose weight with it. Given that there is plenty of tips accessible about the low carbohydrate Dr. Atkins diet, which makes it simple to get resources and support, but can at the same time confuse you. There have been scores of Atkins books written and furthermore there are infinite amounts of websites that provide you with group support, information and tips. However nearly everyone has heard of diet by Dr. Atkins and almost has his or her own outlook about it. You need to be aware that there are scores of misconstructions around the world regarding the features of the Atkins diet, and you are going to, without a doubt, have to stand up for your newly discovered eating technique from time to time.
There are also some of the other downsides for using the high-protein, low-carb Atkins diet. You should count carbs in every piece of food you eat to be assured that you are keeping within your individual carbohydrate boundary. Additionally, there is the matter of Induction, the most intensely contested phase of the plan. Induction can be tough to come through if you have been on a diet that centers on carbs and sugar. Moreover, loads of individuals have a go at Induction and mistakenly judge that this is the method that the whole diet will be. They quit without even starting the genuine diet by Dr.Atkins.
Every now and then even if it does not occur very often, some individuals are going to live through a carbohydrate crash frequently during the 3rd and up to 5th day of the Dr. Atkins diet. Such sort of reaction is a result of their body experiencing the ketosis phase or using fat as fuel instead of carbs. The sensation is short-lived but lots of people trying to lose weight have sworn off high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets entirely because of this small accident.
Overall, with the few trivial shortcomings considered, high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet invented by Dr. Atkins continues to be one of the most used high protein diets because of one simple reason. It works. A lot of people have succeeded with the high protein, low carbohydrate diet by Dr.Atkins and the high-protein, low-carbohydrate approach to dieting.
Luka Zimmerman
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/prevent-diabetes-with-high-protein-low-carb-diet-132138.html
A diabetic’s body does not produce enough insulin to manage the sugar levels within the body. Therefore, it is important that the diabetics strictly follow a charted plan of foods to lower blood sugar strict diet. A diet high in fiber, but low in fat is most often recommended for diabetics.
Before listing out the tips on how to lower Blood Sugar, one must be acquainted with what actually High Blood Sugar means. It is precisely defined as an elevated level of the sugar glucose in blood otherwise phrased as ‘the spillage of glucose into the urine (glucosuria) converting the urine sugary.
Good food for diabetes includes raw, edible vegetables such as soft root crops, dark, green and leafy vegetables and brightly colored vegetables. On the one hand, if a person already has these foods on his or her diet to begin with, then diabetes would not become part of the equation in any case.
Intake of low carb diet is perhaps the most well known way to reduce blood sugar level. Good examples of low carbohydrate foods include soy milk, pearled barley, and kippered herring. High fiber foods such as dry beans, oatmeal, bran or raisin bran cereal, whole grain bread and peanuts help to manage diabetes. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
The French bean also termed kidney beans are a wonderful choice. If cooked properly they have an amazing taste. These beans are rich in fiber and proteins with a reasonable amount of complex carbohydrates. The dietitians strongly recommend French beans to diabetics to lower blood sugar level.
Another thing you can do is get off of simple carbs. White bread, refined sugar, white potatoes, all of these can make your blood sugar levels spike. If you’re craving sweet stuff, go for sugar free snacks.
Proteins such skinless chicken or turkey and fish are also great foods that lower blood sugar levels. Low-fat dairy products such as cheeses and milk are also beneficial.
Drinking unsweetened tea helps you regulate normal glucose levels in blood because it acts as a blocker for sugar. Green tea is best in effectively generating lower your blood sugar levels after having eaten foods that are high in sugar. It should be noted, however, that you shouldn’t take too much sugar with the thought that the tea can regulate it itself. Twice of thrice of tea intake is recommended for diabetics.
Vitamins are constantly being innovated to be able to cure or help regulate a lot of diseases in a person’s body, one of which is diabetes. You can get a prescription or some health advice from your doctor with regards to the kinds of vitamins you can take everyday. If not, just make sure that the vitamins you buy are made from natural herbs and plants to avoid any side effects.
Drinking herbal tea aside from the usual 8 glasses of water can also contribute to your efforts to regulate blood sugar that have gone down severely. It contains compounds that act as a sugar blockage, which not only helps in reducing the unwanted amount of sugar in the body but also reduces the chances of being diabetic for life.
peterhutch
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/lower-blood-sugar-levels-via-natural-ways-685713.html
