Posts Tagged ‘diabetic diet’

Pomegranate juice drink Reduces the risks in diabetes

Fresh pomegranate juice may be helpful for people with diabetes to decrease their risk of coronary disease.

An interesting new study shows that diabetes sufferers who drank pomegranate juice for a duration of three months had a reduced chance of atherosclerosis (or hardening of the arteries). Also, the pomegranate juice appeared to slow up the absorption of unhealthy ldl cholesterol by the suferrer’s immune cellls.

Folk with diabetes have increasing probability of atherosclerosis, which contributes to heart disease, strokes and other cardiovascular difficulties.

These studies illustrate that the antioxidants in pomegranite juice might be extremely effective in decreasing the risk of coronary complications associated with diabetes.

“In most juices, sugars are present in free, and harmful, forms,” says medical expert Michael Aviram, of the Technion Faculty of Medicine in Haifa, Israel, in a news release. “In pomegranate juice, however, the sugars are attached to unique antioxidants, which actually make these sugars protective against atherosclerosis.”

Folk with diabetes aren’t able to reaact to sugar normally and are usually advised to monitor their intake of food and beverages high in natural or processed sugars, which includes fruit juices.

In the research, discussed in the journal Atherosclerosis, experts analyzed the effects of drinking a specially poduced strong pomegranite juice that is the equivalent to a normal sized glass of fresh pomegranate juice, each day for 3 months in 10 healthy adults and 10 adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Pomegranate juice drinks did not affect overall levels of cholesterol, however specialists discovered it diminished the uptake of oxidized “bad” LDL cholesterol by immune cells, which is a major contributing factor to atherosclerosis.

Although pomegranate juice contains a similar level of sugars as other fruit juices, Aviram suggests they were pleasantly surprised to find that the sugars in pomegranate juice did not worsen diabetes mellitus indicators, such as blood glucose levels, in the participants suffering with diabetes.

Healthy Eating for Diabetes Patients

When faced with the diagnoses of Diabetes, there is much that the healthcare provider can do to help patients today. However, eating right is something the patient can-and must-do for themselves. Food and blood glucose levels walk hand in hand for Diabetes sufferers, making mealtime an effective method to keep the disease at bay. The subsequent article discusses how eating right can lead to better health and solid management of a complicated disease.

For many, the do-it-yourself method of food regulation is difficult. Changing eating habits is hard to do. There are new diet trends offered seasonally each year for people continually searching for a way to eat right. One important fact for the diabetic to keep in mind is that healthy eating for them is very nearly on par for healthy eating for everyone else-it’s just that healthy eating is a must rather than an option. Healthy eating is comprised of a wide variety of foods with balanced meals that range with carbohydrates, proteins and fat. All calories must be accounted for, so keeping a food diary is a good way to start your journey into a healthy eating lifestyle.

For the diabetes sufferer, meals must be planned to keep blood glucose levels safely under control. Intake must be carefully weighed against insulin doses, medication and exercise to avoid extreme fluctuation of blood glucose levels. Meal planning may seem like a novelty at first, but after a week or two, you can recycle your plans and accomplish your healthy eating lifestyle more rapidly than you may have thought possible. Most healthcare providers will refer diabetes patients to a dietician or nutritionist to discuss a healthy eating plan. Talk about what you like to eat and find out if it can be worked into an eating plan.

A dietician will also be able to inform you about calorie counting, counting fat grams, counting carbohydrate grams, counting sodium grams, counting food exchanges, and any of your own individual goals for keeping healthy and maintaining an active lifestyle. Dieticians that have experience working with diabetic patients will provide you with a new way to look at food and eating so that the diabetes can be managed successfully.

While preparing your healthy eating plan you should also discuss your activities, your target range for blood glucose levels and how you may be able to prevent other diseases simply by eating healthy. Whether you have gestational, type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you will want to include as wide a variety of foods as possible. Use the standard food pyramid as a good rule of thumb when planning your daily intakes. To keep your body and heart nutritionally happy, protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins and minerals in proper proportion are necessary.

Sources of carbohydrates include bread, grains, pasta, fruit, vegetables, legumes, and dairy products. Excellent protein sources are poultry, meats, dairy products, eggs and fish. For fat, look to meat, dairy products, nuts and oils. Most patients, however, need to keep weight under control, so focusing on good carbohydrates and protein becomes increasingly more important fat intake. Your caloric intake must be spent wisely and it’s best to avoid fats from bacon, bacon grease, butter, lard, cream cheese and coconut oil. If you crave sweets, consider using artificial sweeteners instead of sugar to keep your blood glucose levels in check.

While a dietician will be able to individualize your healthy eating plan, there are some general tips that all diabetes patients can keep in mind when it comes to eating healthy:

*Use a nonstick vegetable spray for cooking instead of oils.
*To flavor foods without adding additional calories, season your meals with herbs.
*When eating poultry, remember that breast meat is leanest.
*Avoid pastas that contain eggs or fat; select converted, brown or wild types of rice.
*Choose “choice” or “select” cuts of meat which are lower in fat.
*Try to eat fresh or frozen vegetables. If eating canned vegetables, be sure to rinse them to reduce the amount of sodium.
*When it comes to oils, choose olive, canola, soybean, corn, sesame or safflower.

While eating healthy and learning the ins and outs of nutrition may seem daunting at first, it will ultimately prove both rewarding and empowering.

Controlling your disease by eating right is key to this and may other diseases.

Jacob Mabille writes for Free Health Articles (www.freearticlesarchive.com) where you can find more health tips and related articles

Weight Loss and Diabetes Study Shows Positive Results

Weight Loss and Diabetes Study

Losing weight is the main factor in reducing the risk of diabetes for raised-risk, obese patients, a recent study suggests.

In brief, Weight Loss helps lower the risks of becoming a sufferer of Diabetes

Those taking part in the intensive lifestyle intervention part of the Diabetes mellitus Prevention Program, which involved cutting fat with the target of decreasing body weight by 7%, also decreased their chance of developing diabetes by 58 percent a period of 3 years, according to Dr. Richard F. Hamman at the scheme’s coordinating center at George Washington University in Rockville, Maryland, USA..

On the preliminary stages of the study all the people involved were heavier than doctors recommend and had a lowered ability to adequately metabolize glucose (sugar), giving them a high chance of becoming a sufferer of diabetes mellitus.

A further target of the intervention was to get those participating to do a small amount of exercise for at least two and a half hours weekly, the medical researchers add in their report published in the September 2006 issue of Diabetes Care Publication.

Doctor Hamman and his research team were trying to locate factors that were the most effective in lowering the probablility of developing diabetes, shedding weight, doing more physical exercise or reduced fat intake. Those participating cut the fat intake in their foods to less than 25% of their calories injested, and also reduced the total calorie consumption if their weight loss was not enough by just minimising the fat.

Weight loss was the most helpful factor in stopping development of diabetes, whilst reducing the fat and increasing exercise helped those involved reduce weight, and exercise helped them keep the weight off and stay healthy, the doctors stated.

Diabetes is a little understood disease where the energy from the food that is eaten remains as glucose sugar in the blood. Left untreated, this leads to other conditions such as heart problems, neuropathy, and organ damage. At the moment the only option for sufferers is to control the problem by a healthy diet plan, exercise and medication or insulin injections. It is estimated that there are more sufferers of diabetes living in the community who are unaware of their condition, than there are diagnosed sufferers. This research shows that the general improvements in health associated with weight loss also lead to a reduction in the incidence of diabetes.