Diabetes Guidelines

Diet plays a key role in controlling your blood sugar. A healthy-eating plan tailored to your needs will do that and more. Majority of people affected with diabetes are overweight or obese. In fact, your risk of getting diabetes increases the more weight you put on.

So controlling your diet can be the key to reducing the risk of diabetes as well as improving your symptoms if you are already affected by this disease people often refer to as “the silent killer.”

Everybody knows that maintaining a good diet is a healthy choice for every person. But for diabetes patients, this statement means something more significant than the recent fad over healthy living.

For diabetes patients, having a healthy diet means eating in a way that reduces the risk for complications that are commonly associated with their conditions, including heart disease and stroke. For them, a healthy diet could mean the difference between die-abetes and live-abetes.

Eating healthy involves eating a wide variety of foods that encompasses the whole diet spectrum of vegetables, whole grains, fruits, non-fat dairy products, beans, lean meats, poultry, and fish.

No, you do not have to eat all of that, but a little bit of this and that enough to balance the three basic food groups (Go, Grow, and Glow) is what you should aim for.

Tip #1: Preparing a Meal Plan

When you go on a diabetes diet, the first things you need to do is to prepare a meal plan. This will serve as your guide to how much and what kinds of food you can choose to eat at meals, and even at snack times if you wish to include that.

Now, be sure that your meal plan fits in with your schedule and eating habits. That way you will not be likely to ruin your diet simply because your work schedule conflicts with your meal schedule.

Keep in mind your end-goal: To keep your blood glucose in levels that are easy enough to maintain.

In addition to that somewhat myopic diet goal for diabetes, you also want to follow a meal plan that will help you improve your blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well as keep your weight on track.

All these – blood pressure, cholesterol and weight – are factors that contribute to the worsening of your diabetes symptoms, so controlling them could very well mean controlling your diabetes.

When preparing a meal plan, be sure to balance uptake and down take – that is, food and exercise, respectively. Additionally, your doctor may have prescribed you with insulin or oral medications to help you manage your condition.

Take those medications into account as well when you plan your meal plan, making sure that the food is balanced with the drugs. The whole thing sounds like it’s a lot of work but with a few suggestions from your physician and/or dietician you can start building a meal plan that is best for you and your condition.

Tip #2: Use the Diabetes Food Pyramid

The Diabetes Food Pyramid, released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is composed of six food groups (arranged according to how much you should eat from the least to the most and based on carbohydrate and protein content):

• Fats, sweets, and alcohol
• Milk
• Meat, meat substitutes, and other proteins
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Grains, beans, and starchy vegetables

Fats, sweets, and alcohol are the one food group that diabetes patients should avoid.

The problem with diabetes involves a certain malfunction in the way our bodies make use of glucose in the blood. It is either there is too much glucose in our blood because we ate too much food rich in sugar so that the hormone responsible for regulating glucose – insulin – is unable to cope. Or, our cells are defective so that even though we have enough insulin to handle the job, our cells do not respond.

In order to control the levels of glucose in the blood stream, controlling Diabetes Diet is important. The intake of fats, sweets, and alcohol and other generally “unhealthy” foods should be minimized and only for special treats.

As for the rest of the food groups, here are the serving sizes recommended by the American Diabetes Association:

• Meat and Meat Substitutes: 4-6 oz. per day and divided between meals. This is equivalent to ¼ cup cottage cheese, 1 egg, 1 tbsp peanut butter, or ½ cup tofu.
• Milk: 2-3 servings per day
• Fruit: 2-4 servings per day
• Vegetables: 3-5 servings per day
• Grains and Starches: 6-11 servings per day, equivalent to 1 slice of bread, ¼ of a bagel, or ½ of an English muffin or pita bread.

Use this Diabetes Food Pyramid only as a guide in planning your meals. If you want a more individualized option, consult your dietician.

Tip #3: Draw Lines on Your Plate

Another good way to ensure that you are eating a balanced diet is to draw a line across your plate. It could only be an imaginary line. As you sit there for a meal, the exercise might even prove to be fun.

The first step, of course, is to imagine that you are drawing a line through the center of your plate. Then, divide one of the halves into two.

Then, fill this section with grains or starchy foods, such as rice, pasta, potatoes, corn, or peas.

The other section should comprise your meat and meat substitute group – meat, fish, poultry, or tofu.

Next, fill half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables. You can place there broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, salad, tomatoes, and cauliflower.

Last, add a glass of milk and a small piece of roll, and eh voila! You are ready to eat.

Tip #4: Reading Food Labels

With food labels, it all comes down to the Nutrition Facts. It’s that list of nutrition information found on the package of foods sold in the grocery store. Reading food labels can help you make wise choices about the foods you buy. The labels will tell you what ingredients were used, the amount of calories, and other pertinent information essential to a diabetes patient.

For instance, a typical food label would contain the total amounts per serving for the following nutrients:

• Calories
• Total fat
• Saturated fat
• Cholesterol
• Sodium
• Total carbohydrate
• Fiber

Use the nutrition facts found in food labels to compare similar types of foods and buy the one that contains fewer calories, lower fats, cholesterol, etc.

Pay close attention to free foods like sugar-free gelatin desert, sugar-free ice pops, sugarless gum, diet soft drinks, and sugar-free syrups. Just because they are called “free” does not mean they are entirely free of calories so don’t be overconfident. Instead, read the label. Most free foods should have less than 20 calories and 5 grams of carbohydrates per serving.

Another thing, “no-sugar added” means no sugar was added during the manufacture and packaging of the foods. The ingredients do not include sugar. However, the food may be high in carbohydrates still so be sure to read the label carefully.

Fat-free foods could still mean that they contain lots of carbohydrates. Often, they contain almost the same amount of calories as the foods they replace so be sure to pay attention to the label. Buying fat-free foods instead of regular foods does not necessarily mean that you are making a wise choice.

Tip #5: A Word about Sweets
Now, you know that sweets are generally discouraged among diabetes patients. However, having diabetes does not necessarily mean that you cannot have sweets. Imagine how bad life can be for the sweet tooth with diabetes. But as long as you keep your intake of sweets in moderation, there is no reason you have to eschew sugar from your life forever. After all, glucose (sugar) is still the most basic source of energy that the body needs.

So sweeten your foods with these following options:

• Sugar and other sweeteners with calories: honey, brown sugar, molasses, fructose, cane sugar, and confectioners sugar

• Reduced calorie sweeteners: erythritol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol, and xylitol

• Low calories sweeteners: ascelfume potassium, aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose

Research has overturned the long standing belief that sugar caused diabetes. The new studies show us that sugar has in fact the same effect on blood glucose levels as other carbohydrates like bread and potatoes. Based on this discovery, experts agree that a diabetic can now consume sugar as long as they incorporate it into their meal plan the way they would with any ordinary carbohydrate-containing foods.
Now that you have been pointed to the right direction with these tips to improve your diabetes diet, you can go ahead and live a healthier, fuller life where nothing – no carb nor sweets – is denied you, as long as you keep it all in moderation.

Nishanth Reddy
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/top-5-diabetes-diet-tips-for-creating-healthy-meal-plan-58626.html

New research indicates that people with serious mental illness — which include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major clinical depression — die, on average, 25 years earlier than the general population. Sixty percent of premature deaths in persons with schizophrenia are due to medical conditions such as cardiovascular, pulmonary and infectious disease.

Unfortunately, people with serious mental illness also suffer from a high prevalence of modifiable risk factors, in particular obesity and tobacco use. Compounding this problem, people with serious mental illness have poorer access to established monitoring and treatment guidelines for physical health conditions.

Our nation?s healthcare system tends to be fragmented, with increased reliance on specialists who address very focused aspects of the health/illness continuum.

Fragmentation is most notable in the separation between the treatment for mental and physical illnesses. This separation is an artifact of how services have been funded historically, with the preponderance of funding for mental illness treatment coming from states and directed toward state psychiatric facilities that were often — literally and figuratively — far away from the mainstream of medical delivery.
What Can Be Done to Address this Tragedy?

There are solutions to this epidemic of premature death and morbidity among persons with mental illness. Policy makers can provide the policies, resources, and leadership to close this gap. We will have accomplished this goal when we can say that:

- Adequate funding is available to allow every provider of public mental health services to assess the physical health status as well as mental status of clients served in the public mental health system.

- States are learning from and following the examples of states such as Missouri and Louisiana, which are implementing primary care medical home initiatives with explicit mechanisms and financing integrated treatment between the mental health and primary care providers for coordination of services.

- State legislatures can create the policy infrastructure through statute or regulation to ensure that there is a strong working partnership between community mental health and community health provider organizations. These policies can define roles for these organizations, establish referral protocols, or allow for the cross-placement and reimbursement of clinical staff.

Disease Management: Another Promising Approach

Usual medical care often fails to meet the needs of chronically ill patients, even in managed, integrated delivery systems. The medical literature suggests strategies to improve outcomes in these patients. Effective interventions tend to fall into one of five areas: the use of evidence-based, planned care; reorganization of practice systems and provider roles; improved patient self-management support; increased access to expertise; and greater availability of clinical information. The challenge is to organize these components into an integrated system of chronic illness care. One approach to meeting these goals is through the creation of disease management programs.

Disease management (DM) is an approach to care coordination for individuals with chronic or persistent medical conditions for two important reasons: improved quality of care and decreased cost. Quality is improved because treatment is coordinated across the spectrum of care for individuals with these conditions using evidence-based practice guidelines and education on illness self-management. States have also been able to reduce costs through this approach.
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) issued a letter to state Medicaid directors encouraging the adoption of DM. Currently, DM is now widely used in states for asthma, diabetes, hypertension and other persistent medical conditions, and increasingly for enrollees with serious mental illnesses.

Washington State Example

On June 28, CMS approved a state plan amendment (SPA) for Washington State that uses the Benchmark Plan option to offer regular Medicaid State plan services plus disease management (DM) services to adult Medicaid recipients with complex medical needs. The benchmark State plan option provides States with the opportunity to offer an alternative benefit package to beneficiaries without regard to comparability of services, a traditional Medicaid requirement.
Medicaid recipients statewide will be identified by a contractor based on claims history, referred by a provider, or may be self-referred. Eligible recipients include those who are diagnosed with certain chronic medical conditions, including: diabetes, heart failure, coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, renal failure, and chronic pain associated with musculoskeletal conditions and other chronic illnesses, including co-morbid depression and/or anxiety.

In addition to the traditional State Medicaid plan services, individuals enrolled in the DM program will receive assistance in locating a primary care provider (”Medical Home”) and additional benefits tailored to specific health needs, including:

- Condition-specific education;

- Access to a nurse call line;

- Regularly scheduled telephonic health care management and support; and

- Care coordination, including feedback to the primary care physician.

Linda Rosenberg
http://www.articlesbase.com/mental-health-articles/an-avoidable-tragedy-the-relationship-of-premature-death-and-serious-mental-illness-696271.html

For Salacia Oblonga herb Capsules and Extract Write to Botanika
herbalpowders@operamail.com treeseeds@operamail.com
treeseeds@rediffmail.com : : : : WWW.SALACIAOBLONGACAPSULES.COM
Traditional Indian medicine, herb Salacia oblonga may help treat
diabetes Posted By: News-Medical in Medical Study News
Published: Tuesday, 8-Feb-2005 Printer Friendly Email to a
Friend : : : : Herbs used in traditional Indian medicine to
treat diabetes seems to lower blood sugar and insulin levels in
a manner similar to prescription drugs, a new study reports.
Researchers gave extracts of the herb Salacia oblonga to 39
healthy adults, and the results were promising. The largest dose
of the herb extract – 1,000 milligrams – decreased insulin and
blood glucose levels by 29 and 23 percent, respectively. : :
“These kinds of reductions are similar to what we might see with
prescription oral medications for people with diabetes,” said
Steve Hertzler, a study co-author and an assistant professor of
nutrition at Ohio State University. : : Salacia oblonga, which
is native to regions of India and Sri Lanka, binds to intestinal
enzymes that break down carbohydrates in the body. These
enzymes, called alpha-glucosidases, turn carbohydrates into
glucose, the sugar that circulates throughout the body. If the
enzyme binds to the herbal extract rather than to a
carbohydrate, then less glucose gets into the blood stream,
resulting in lowered blood glucose and insulin levels. : :
“Lowering blood glucose levels lowers the risk of
disease-related complications in people with diabetes,” Hertzler
said. “Also, poor compliance with diabetes medications often
hinders the effectiveness of these drugs. It may be easier to
get someone to take an herb with food or in a beverage, as
opposed to a pill.” : : The study appears in a recent issue of
the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. : :
Thirty-nine healthy adults participated in four separate meal
tolerance tests. These meals, which were given in beverage form,
were spaced three to 14 days apart. Each participant fasted for
at least 10 hours before consuming the test beverage. : :
Participants were asked to drink about two cups’ worth of the
chilled beverage, which contained zero, 500, 700 or 1,000
milligrams of Salacia oblonga extract. Afterward, the
researchers used the finger-prick method to draw blood samples
from each person every 15 to 30 minutes for three hours. These
blood samples were used to determine insulin and blood glucose
concentrations. The biggest changes in blood glucose and insulin
levels usually happen within the first two hours after eating. :
: The beverage that contained the highest concentration of the
herbal extract – 1,000 milligrams – provided the most dramatic
reduction in insulin and blood glucose levels. Insulin levels
were 29 percent lower, while blood glucose levels were 23
percent lower as compared to the control drink, which contained
no herbal extract. : : As Salacia oblonga can cause intestinal
gas, the researchers had the study participants collect breath
hydrogen samples hourly for eight hours after drinking the test
beverage. The participants collected their breath in small
plastic tubes. The researchers then analyzed these breath
samples for hydrogen and methane content – the level of either
substance in the breath corresponds to the level contained in
the colon. : : The subjects also rated the frequency and
intensity of nausea, abdominal cramping and distention and gas
for two days after consuming each test meal. : : While the test
beverages containing Salacia oblonga caused an increase in
breath hydrogen excretion, reports of gastrointestinal
discomfort were minimal, Hertzler said. : : Right now he and his
colleagues are trying to figure out what dose of the herb is
most effective, and when it should be taken relative to a meal.
: : “We want to know how long it takes for the herb to bind to
the enzymes that break down carbohydrates,” Hertzler said. “The
participants in this study took the herb with their meal, but
maybe taking it before eating would be even more effective.” : :
The researchers also want to study the effects of Salacia
oblonga in people with diabetes. : : “A lot of studies show that
lowering blood sugar levels reduces the risk for all kinds of
diabetes-related complications, such as kidney disease and nerve
and eye damage,” Hertzler said. “We want to see if this herb has
this kind of effect.” : : Salacia oblonga is still relatively
difficult to find in the United States, Hertzler said, although
there are manufacturers that sell the herb through the Internet.
: : This study was supported by the Ross Products Division of
Abbott Laboratories in Columbus. : : Hertzler is continuing to
conduct Salacia oblonga studies with the Ross Products Division
of Abbott Laboratories. He has no links to the company beyond
this affiliation. : : Hertzler conducted the work with former
Ohio State colleague Patricia Heacock, who is now at Rutgers,
the State University of New Jersey; Jennifer Williams, a
clinical scientist with Ross Products Division, Abbott
Laboratories; and Bryan Wolf, a former research scientists with
Ross Products Division

Goldie
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/herbal-medicine-for-type-two-diabetes-221.html