Your Dietary Recommendations

diet pills

The obesity epidemic has cast a new spotlight on proper dietary requirements for all Americans. Consider that, since the seventies, the childhood obesity rate has more than tripled and that 80% of adult Americans are now considered overweight or obese! The toll that obesity takes on the economy is great, as Medicare and Medicaid are strapped to the max with obesity-related conditions. In fact, obesity is clearly linked to the development of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, cancer, strokes and other unfortunate ends. The bright light at the end of the tunnel is doctors’ assurances that it’s never too late to start trying to lose weight and that even losing just ten pounds significantly reduces the risk of disease and death.

The “2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans” are the most current recommendations for diet nutrition, at least until the 2010 edition comes out. According to the guidelines, a “healthy diet” is one that is full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products, including lean protein like poultry and fish, beans, eggs and nuts, and is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, sodium and sugar. Consumers are encouraged to make smart choices and eat a wide variety of foods, while staying within the caloric needs for their height and weight. Each day, Americans should be consuming calories, amino acids, essential fatty acids, minerals and vitamins. While requirements change for people depending upon their size and level of physical activity, the average person consumes around 50 grams of fat and 2,000 calories per day to remain at a stable weight.

For someone with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, the normal dietary rules may not apply. Generally, most diabetics will need to reduce the amount of fat consumed (particularly saturated fat), quit smoking and reduce alcohol consumption to no more than 3 or 4 per day. Diets should be rich in mono-unsaturated fats (like olive oil), oily fish, starchy whole grain carbohydrates (bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, cereal), and fresh fruits and vegetables. A diabetic will need to check his or her blood sugar level before eating to see that it’s 70 to 130 and then again a few hours after eating to make sure it’s below 180. People with low blood sugar will need to have certain snacks handy, like fruit juice, hard candy, sugar or honey, soft drinks and milk. Small or medium sized women should eat 1,200 to 1,600 calories per day (6 starch, 3 vegetables, 2 fruits, 2 milks, 4-6 ounces protein and up to 3 fats). Larger women or small to medium sized men should have 1,600 to 2,000 calories (8 starch, 4 vegetables, 3 fruits, 2 milks, 4-6 ounces protein and up to 4 fats). For more information, check out the Diabetes Food Pyramid at www.nih.gov.

Some people wonder, “What about diet pills? Are they safe? Do they work?” The short answer, according to Redbook Magazine, is yes. In some instances, drugs like fen-phen and ephedra have helped people lose weight but with dangerous side effects, such as mood swings, nausea, anxiety, hypertension and even addiction. Two new drugs on the market are Alli, which is a drug blocking fat absorption and Zimulti, which helps you slim down and lower cholesterol. Both offer safer alternatives that work. People who take Alli ($54 for the starter kit) are able to block about 100 to 200 calories per day and lose 50% more weight than those who aren’t on it. What is the downside? Loose, oily stools and possibly a lack of Vitamin A and D. Zimulti reduces insulin and appetite and helped dieters lose two-and-a-half more times the weight than those who were not taking it. The downside is that many people taking it experienced anxiety and/or depression. The best way to lose weight is the old-fashioned combination of diet and exercise, although these little pills can help severely obese individuals who feel they need that extra head start.

Treating Diabetes with Cinnamon

The wonders of treating ailments with Cinnamon.

Southeast Asia is known for its cinnamon.and the uses for Cinnamon is quite popular. From treating a variety of ailments like kidney, liver and hearing problems, to keeping meat from spoiling, and cinnamon aids in keeping diseases from spreading due to its antibacterial properties.

Now the next drug in your medicine cabinet might come from the spice aisle of your local grocery store

Today Cinnamon is used for weight control and Type II diabetes. The Bellville Nutrition Center is under the auspices of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. Their 2003 study found that cinnamon lowered glucose, triglycerides and LDL cholosterol, as well as improved diabetes problems.

Although research is still preliminary, doctors and researchers are getting excited about the diabetes and cholesterol-fighting potential of cinnamon.

Cinnamon probably “can’t harm in small doses, it may help and it’s not adding calories,” said Melinda Maryniuk, a senior dietician at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

A small study completed last year on the possible health benefits of cinnamon was “very exciting and promising,” according to Dr. Andrew Greenberg, director of the obesity metabolism laboratory at Tufts University, who is so intrigued he has begun studying it himself.

The 40-day study, of 60 people in Pakistan with Type 2 diabetes, found that one gram a day of cinnamon — one-fourth of a teaspoon twice daily — significantly lowered the subjects’ blood sugar, triglycerides (fatty acids in the blood), LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol, and total cholesterol.

“Cinnamon is a lot less effective than statins” at lowering cholesterol levels in the blood, according to Dr. Frank Sacks, a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. Statins have been tested in rigorous studies on 70,000 people for five years or more. Compared to that, he said, the research on cinnamon is weak.

“There are certainly substances in plants that have very strong biological effects, so the concept is fine,” he said. And plant derivatives “are being intensively researched at many places — that’s a hot topic.”

But it’s also “a little weird,” he said, that the USDA study found that the beneficial effects of cinnamon lasted for at least 20 days after people stopped taking it. “I don’t know of any drug or product whose effects persist for 20 days.”

A professor of nutrition at the Public School of Nutrition at the Harvard school of Public Health was amazed at the long-lasting results. Dr. Anderson of the US Dept of Agriculture said, “Cinnamon makes cells more sensitive to insulin.” An active ingredient in cinnamon, proanthocyanidin, worms its way inside cells, where it activates the insulin receptor. Once this receptor is activated, whether by insulin or cinnamon, chemical reactions occur allowing the cell to use energy from sugar.

Also, top scorers in the antioxidant are clove and cinnamon. An early study by Richard Anderson of the USDA showed that as little as a half teaspoon of cinnamon a day significantly reduced blood sugar in people with diabetes, and that there are benefits to cinnamon (and to the other spices) that go beyond “just” reducing blood sugar.

Finally, there may be an indirect health benefit to be had from cinnamon, according to Taiwanese scientists writing in the July 14 issue of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. Cinnamon oil, they found, kills mosquito larvae more effectively than DEET, a common pesticide and mosquito repellent. Cinnamon contains sulphur, the seventh mose prevalent substance in human’s and dog’s bodies. Dogs love cinnamon. Fleas, ticks, flies and mosquitoes hate sulphur.

In 2004, the Tiwanese people found that if they sprinkled cinnamon around the island, it killed mosquito larvae more effectively than DEET,(a common pesticide.) On July, 2004 a recommendation was made by the Agriculture and Food Chemistry Dept. in Taiwan to use cinnamon to repel insects. Yet, if the dogs found the cinnamon and ate it, it wouldn’t hurt them. Dogs love cinnamon.
Test using cinnamon against adult mosquitotes are in the beginning process.

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Author: Wray R. Herring
http://www.diabeteslearningctr.com/
Wray has first hand knowledge and experience in caring for
some one with Diabetes.
For Additional information and products click on http://www.diabeteslearningctr.com
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The Diabetes Diets

Diet for Diabetes

There is some confusion around the most appropriate diet for the diabetic with no single regime being proven to help the condition.

There is conflicting dietary advice given almost every day from so called experts in their fields. This is made worse by the popular press selectively reporting snippets from medical papers that often has the effect of skewing the misinterpreting the original message.

Refined white sugar and products containing this substance are not going to be helpful for the diabetic simply because of the absorption of this substance into the blood as glucose. But there is more to a diet suitable for diabetics than just sugar considerations.

There have been claims of type 2 diabetes being cured by diet alone although most diabetes associations claim that no cure for diabetes exists.

Christian Roberts of the University of California undertook research into diet and diabetes and found that in 50% of those studied, who followed a diet based on pritkin principles, the type 2 diabetes symptoms were reversed.

The regime for this study involved participants exercising for one hour every day and following a diet that was based on vegetables and whole grains with a little animal protein.

Another small study in the USA concluded that high fibre diets assisted in keeping blood glucose levels low.

There is controversy over the dietary recommendations being offered by the diabetic associations both in the UK and the USA . Many associations advise diabetics to follow a low fat, carbohydrate based diet.

The problem everyone faces in deciphering what represents a safe diet, whether they are diabetic or not, is in knowing which research to trust. Just about every piece of research undertaken has an agenda to be fulfilled. It may be that the research is being sponsored by a drug company to prove the benefits of a particular drug treatment; it may be that the research is undertaken by someone who is simply setting out to prove a pet theory. There is too little research that is truly independent and undertaken without prejudice to the outcome.

It has been suggested, and some would say proven, that an Atkins type diet high in fat and protein and low in carbohydrate is the most suitable for a diabetic and it would certainly seem logical that restricting (particularly refined) carbohydrates would help to prevent elevated glucose levels in the blood stream.

There is a link between insulin, glucose and cholesterol – particularly what is termed “bad cholesterol” and proponents of the Atkins diet claim that cholesterol levels are not adversely affected by this diet regime. Of course there are contrary views.

It is important for diabetics to realize that everyone has an individual metabolism and physiology. What may be a healthy diet for one person could be life threatening for another. A diet based around healthy protein – organic white meat and fish; natural carbohydrates – vegetables, salads and fruit; and monounsaturated fat supplemented by the essential fatty acids is a good starting point. Once this is established there is no reason why, under controlled conditions, individuals should not try introducing whole grains to see what effect they have on their glucose levels. In this way diabetics can assess for themselves what represents a healthy, life saving diet.