Eating healthy foods, taking vitamins, and getting plenty of exercise are a must in natural diabetes health care. Just following part of this system, such as taking the supplements and eating healthy food, will not be enough. Both of these are good habits, but you need to complete all three to maintain your diabetic health. Perhaps you don’t think you can find time to exercise for even 30 minutes a day. Then ask yourself this question, “Which fits my schedule better, exercising for 30 minutes a day or spending time at the doctor’s office, waiting in line at the pharmacy, taking daily insulin injections/pills, and frequent blood glucose level checks? (All of this, when done properly, can take as much as 150 hours a year–not counting travel time to and from the necessary locations.) Chances are that getting a few minutes of exercise each day is a much better alternative. After all, maintaining your diabetic health is a choice worth making.
Regardless of your health status, getting plenty of exercise is an important part of attaining and maintaining your diabetic health needs. There is no replacement for exercise. However, before adding exercise to your daily diabetes health regiment, be sure you talk to your doctor and ask the following 10 questions:

1. How hard can I exercise?
2. How can I monitor my exercise?
3. What is my target heart rate?
4. Are there any exercises I should not do?
5. What symptoms of diabetic health concerns—hypoglycemia, heart problems, etc… should I look out for?
6. What, if any, precautions do I need to take?
7. How should I change my eating habits?
8. Is there a time of day that would be better for exercising?
9. What, if any, changes do I need to make when adding exercise to my diabetes health routine?
10. Can my oral agents work differently due to exercise?

Once you have met with your doctor, you are ready to implement exercise into your diabetes health regiment. If you have a specific exercise program in mind, great! If not, here are a few tips to keep in mind as you design your diabetic health exercise routine.

• Find an exercise that appeals to you. If you enjoy what you are doing, you are more likely to stick with it.
• Choose a time of day that best fits your schedule.
• Wear the proper shoes and clothing.
• Get a friend to exercise with you. This will keep you motivated and also provides help should you experience any sudden drops in blood sugar levels.
• Don’t get discouraged. If you miss a day (or more) due to sickness, just start again when you are feeling better.

Top 3 Exercises for Maintaining Diabetic Health:

While any activity is better than nothing, there are 3 exercises that are particularly useful. These exercises are as follows:

1. Walking – Whether you walk around the block, in the trials at a local park or on a treadmill, it doesn’t matter. Just taking a brisk walk for a total of 30 minutes a day is a fantastic way to improve your diabetes health.
2. Jogging – Be sure to stretch the muscles in your legs and feet before starting. Also, avoid jogging on concrete or asphalt because it creates too much resistance for your body. In addition, be sure to wear shoes that are designed for jogging and replace them when they begin to wear out.
3. Strength training -If you plan on using weights and related equipment, it is recommended that you work out with a partner. However, you can go solo as long as you are careful.

Attaining diabetic health can be done if you are willing to put in a little extra effort. Start moving on your way toward healthier living.

In order to control diabetes, you MUST understand carb counting. So read the page on that if you don’t already understand it, before you dive into other diet topics.

Knowing how to do it, and DOING it are two separate issues. I find it is harder to actually control my diet when I am discouraged, or when I feel like it isn’t really going to matter anyway. It is much easier when I am pregnant (there is another life at stake that I WILL protect!), when I have encouragement from family to do so, and when people around me do not make it harder to do by bringing in foods that are not wise.

But mostly, it is a matter of determination. If I am determined to do it, I do, and I don’t cheat. If I am not, I make more mistakes. Remember, I am currently controlling my diabetes strictly with diet, so if I overdo, I cannot compensate with insulin, I will have a problem instead. I have such a low glucose tolerance right now that there is almost no room for error. I even have to watch my consumption of “free” foods.

The thing that helps me the most is having quick foods on hand that I can use in a hurry, combined with making sure we do NOT have foods in the house that are not healthy. There are three steps and options to this:

1. Clean out your cupboards. Get rid of everything that is not healthy, and don’t buy anymore. Don’t tell yourself that you’ll switch as soon as you run out, you’ll just sabotage your efforts. Get rid of it, because keeping it will cost you more in medical care than the box of pasta or can of peaches is worth.

2. Buy good foods. The more natural, the better, the fresher the better. Keep lots of fresh veggies, uncured meats, whole grain ingredients, whole potatoes, fresh fruits, and other healthy foods in the house.

3. Keep stocked up on healthy snacks and quick fix. You can try buying healthy stuff, but most of it has too many additives, and not enough really good stuff in it, so your best bet is really to make stuff in large batches and freeze it. We make whole wheat pockets, pizzas, breads, snack bars (fruit and chocolate), cinnamon rolls, whole wheat english muffins and bagels, and other baked goods in large batches, and freeze them. We pre-cook meats and re-freeze them so they are fast to thaw and use. We make extras of favorite foods and save them for another meal. We buy pre-washed and cut veggies, and other fast but healthy items. We cook large batches of hashbrowns (made from skin-on potatoes), or country breakfast (potatoes, eggs, sausage or ham, and veggies), freeze it and use it when we are in a hurry. We keep enough on hand to always be able to make a quick breakfast shake, or have a fast protein item with a shake.

It takes time to prepare ahead, but it helps so much in keeping the diet in check. When I need something, I can grab it and eat it, and I often need food very quickly when I am hungry. Having something healthy on hand means that I am not overcome by impatience, or by a genuine emergency when I really NEED something now!

When we are on the run, we generally take extra with us. This insures that if we get stuck somewhere, we won’t be forced to eat something unhealthy just because there were no good choices. If we eat at a restaurant, we choose the best possible meals, high in veggies, and low in refined carbs. We carry bottled water everywhere, so a drink is never a problem either.

I also buy a few packaged snack items, because they can be stored for longer periods. My favorite for both nutritional value, lower sugar, and reasonable price, is SlimFast Optima products. I can get them in either 1 or 2 carb exchange items, and I routinely have a few stuffed in my purse just in case I need something while I am out and about. They still have a lot of sugar (sugar alcohol does count), and are not very natural, but they have a better nutritional balance than granola bars, and even better than the diabetic specific bars or shakes. Dannon yogurt smoothies are also a fast and relatively healthy item to carry along.

We prepare every time we go someplace, and we take a day every week or two to make large batches of items we regularly use. Since our family is larger than most, we have to do that more frequently. Home baked goods will store nicely in the freezer for a month or more though, so the average family could easily bake less often than we do. My kids help with it, and all of them know how to make at least one regularly used item, with the younger ones getting supervision or help from the older kids or adults in the home. All of the items we make are nutrition controlled, which is the best possible food available. We keep the ingredients as natural as possible (with as little Splenda as we can use for the treats), and make our own recipes for things that we love but cannot eat in regular forms.

We also use specialized ingredients if we like them better. We use Hard White Wheat and mill our own flour because it makes the BEST baked goods ever. We mill Durum wheat for pasta flour, because it makes a difference in making very tasty pasta (half and half with hard white wheat flour). We use Basmati Brown Rice, because it tastes SO good – better than any white rice ever, and with no nasty bitter taste that is so common to brown rice. We use a certain brand of dried pasta because it not only tastes good, it is the most economical.

I use specific appliances to simplify food prep. I have a good crock pot which gets used for boiling wheat, for making casseroles, soups, stews, and more. I also use the crock pot for cooking beans while I sleep, for batch cooking meats ahead of time (makes a terrific stock also which simplifies even more meals). I have good pans for baking large batches of baked goods ahead, and we have a KitchenAid Mixer which gets a lot of use for everything from baking to mixing homemade sausage. A food processor lets us rapidly shred cheese or whole potatoes (skins on) for cook ahead batches of many items, and a chopper helps us rapidly chop large amounts of nuts for snack bars. A good blender makes morning smoothies a snap, and a good wheat mill sees a lot of use producing flour for all that stuff. We also have an oat roller because we much prefer the fuller flavor of freshly rolled oats.

I have many specialized recipes, many of which are in the Recipes section. I make sure that any supplements I use are worked into my daily routine, and that if they go with meals, that I find a way to take them with me when I have to be out for the day (I end up spending entire days either traveling, or in medical offices for appointments with my youngest son).

The key to succeeding with diet has been, for me, largely a matter of eliminating as many situations where I have no choices as I possibly can. By preparing ahead, I can provide my own choices, and I don’t have to live by anyone else’s rules. ]]> http://www.naturaldiabetics.com/diet-tips-and-strategies/feed/ 3 http://www.naturaldiabetics.com/processed-foods/ http://www.naturaldiabetics.com/processed-foods/#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:10:39 +0000 Laura Wheeler http://natural.infotrustllc.com/?p=266

First, they took out the bran and less elegant parts of the foods to clean up the appearance and smooth out the flavor. Then they put preservatives in, to make it keep longer on the shelves and handle being shipped long distances. In an effort to make the foods appear healthier, they threw in a few nutrients, called it “enriched”, and proceeded to perpetuate the myth that it was just as healthy as it had started out to be. Only it wasn’t.

Processed foods have five strikes against them:

1. Age. No matter how you preserve it, it has still been processed in factory after factory, from product to product, before it gets to you. It is neither fresh nor wholesome once it reaches your table.
2. Refining. Parts have been separated out, and the greater percentage of the naturally occurring nutrients have been stripped out in the process. Those nutrients occur naturally in a unique balance, and many trace nutrients are normally present which are essential for long term health – during refinement, most of the balanced nutrients are removed. And since most of the ingredients used in processed foods have been subject to this treatment, it is not just one or two ingredients with the problem, but the majority of them.
3. Enrichment. The problem with enriched foods is that they only add back in what they think is important. Usually that means a handful of the nutrients that were originally removed are put back in, in quantities and proportions that they would not normally occur in. And most enriched foods contain the same added nutrients, resulting in too much of them, and none of the ones that are considered less important (but which are responsible for balancing many body systems).
4. High in fats and sugars. They are typically higher in unhealthy fats, and have added sugars that are either unnecessary, or in unnecessarily high amounts. You get very high amounts of the things you need the least of, and very little of things you ought to get a lot of.
5. Preservatives and chemicals. Preservatives are the least of it, since chemicals are added for other purposes also, including to make the texture smoother, to make the ingredients mix easier in the factory, to keep powders from caking before they are even used in an end product, to keep color consistent longer, etc. Many of them are added at multiple stages of manufacturing.

In our world, we really cannot get away from it. I mill my own flour, and bake my own bread in an attempt to reduce the amount of processing and refining that our food is subject to, but even then, you can’t completely escape it. You can reduce it though, to whatever degree you feel is appropriate.

The major issue with refined foods is that when foods are overrefined, the nutrients that help the body to balance itself are left out, and it makes maintaining good health more difficult. Simply switching from white flours to whole wheat can make a significant difference to many diabetics within a few weeks. Eating a few meals with fresh vegetables instead of canned or just those that are included in pre-packaged meals, can also make a difference. Choosing foods with less processing, eating simpler meals, and cooking a few more things from scratch can also improve diabetic control in unexpected ways. And an unexpected bonus is that you will feel less hungry – really! When your body gets the nutrients it is craving, it signals you that it has had enough much sooner!

In the recent “low carb” frenzy, the logic is to remove even more from foods, and to process them more, not less. The best solution to lowering harmful carb impact is NOT to take out carbs, but to eat healthier ones! I’ll use low carb foods only when they are the only alternative to white flour or high sugar items. Whole grain is healthier any day, even if it IS higher in carbs.

It is a simple matter to change from white rice to brown, from white pasta to whole wheat, and to choose whole wheat bread instead of white. You have thereby reduced the amount of processing in many of your foods. Other changes can come one at a time, as you figure out what is simple and what the next logical step is.

It is important to do what you CAN do. Start with what is simplest for you, and make changes one at a time. If you know that something is going to be too inconvenient, then figure out a way to make it more manageable before you dive in, so you don’t subject yourself to repeat failures.

Better nutrition and fewer chemicals do result in improved health.

If you have read some of the other pages in this site, you’ll know some of the issues I have against refined flours. Basically, the nutrients are stripped out, and then a handful are added back in, resulting in too much of some, and too little of others.

When flour is refined, it is not just bran that is removed. The wheat germ, an important part of the grain containing oils and the nutrients in the grain that are responsible for the potential for life and growth in the grain, is removed also. The remaining white starch is relatively devoid of nutritional variety.

What is left of the grain is little more than a bit of simple carbohydrate, which converts so rapidly to sugar in the body that it is not far different from eating sugar directly. Addition of preservatives and chemicals does not help the situation any, nor does the addition of supplementary vitamins and minerals. They are added back in unnatural amounts and proportions, and only a small amount of the total number are added back in. Added nutrients also may not be in the most digestible forms.

The problem I have with refined flour is not just that it is not a healthy food… I mean, that is pretty evident to ME, anyway. The problem I have with it is that it is EVERYWHERE. I cannot escape it! If I buy a meal anywhere that is already prepared, it will have white flour in it. I prefer whole wheat, and it simply is not available many places. In larger cities there are more choices, but where I live, they are pretty unimpressive. There are two places in town with “whole wheat” tortillas (both of which are actually mostly white flour, but better than plain white), two places where I can get “wheat bread” with a meal, and two places where I can get a hamburger without the bun, which I will do if that is the best I can do. Pretty pathetic.

When you select “healthier” choices in a restaurant, you may not have much choice. If they say they have a whole grain option, you pretty much have to trust that it actually is. When you choose things from the grocery store shelf you can read the label and make a choice based on actual ingredients. But you have to know what you are choosing!

• 100% whole wheat means just that.
• “Wheat flour” means white flour.
• “Multi-grain” means some whole grain, some white flour.
• “Whole grain” means some whole grain content, but just how much varies from package to package.
• “Low Carb” means that they have refined and processed it MORE, not less.

Read the ingredient label to be sure, items with no flour except “whole wheat flour” are best, next best are those with “whole wheat flour” first, and “wheat flour” after.

In our world, you practically cannot get away from it entirely, but a diet of predominantly healthier foods WILL make enough of a difference to be worth the effort. ]]> http://www.naturaldiabetics.com/refined-flour/feed/ 0 http://www.naturaldiabetics.com/weight-loss/ http://www.naturaldiabetics.com/weight-loss/#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:20:58 +0000 Laura Wheeler http://natural.infotrustllc.com/?p=241

There are two issues here with diabetes: unintentional weight loss, and intentional weight loss.

Diabetes causes unintentional weight loss when blood sugar levels are too high. This is because there is plenty of energy there, but the body cannot use it, so it begins to metabolize body fat, or muscle, instead. This can cause rapid weight loss and intense and frequent hunger in people with diabetes that is out of control.

Many people though, who have insulin resistant diabetes, or who have insulin insufficiency combined with insulin resistance, have a difficult time losing weight when they wish to. Weight loss can be an important help in gaining control over diabetes, but it is not as simple as just eating less and watching the pounds drop off.

In order for weight loss to occur, it must almost always be accompanied by an increase in activity. If it is not, then the body will simply adjust to the new caloric intake, and maintain the current weight in spite of lower intake. So regular exercise is going to be essential for success. Exercise has its own benefits for blood sugar control as well, so it will give back more than just one thing.

Many people resort to “low carb” diets to lose weight. It is never about eliminating carbs! Diets too low in carbohydrates can be very dangerous for diabetics, and long term can cause serious health problems for anyone. Diabetes control, AND weight loss, both hinge on getting a healthy amount of carbohydrate, getting healthy KINDS of carbohydrates, balancing carbs with proteins and fats, and getting sufficient exercise to burn more than you consume.

Rapid weight loss is not healthy either. An average of 1 lb a week is rapid enough that it is on the high end of what is safe for most people. 1-2 lbs a month is usually what a body will settle into once it adjusts to the new limits.

The hardest thing about weight loss is that you have to develop new habits. That takes a month, and the second and third weeks are the hardest. You have to go in with the mindset that what you are doing, you’ll do for the rest of your life. If you do it just as a temporary diet, it will never work.

I have battled weight for years. I have not gained for about 10 years, but neither have I lost permanently, partly because I cannot exercise effectively right now due to a muscular disorder. Long term, I hope that I can find a solution to the problem, because I know that losing some of the weight would help my ability to control my blood sugar.

Make sure that you speak with your doctor about any diet plans before you dive in, and make sure you monitor your blood sugar carefully as you adjust diet and exercise. You need to make sure you get enough to avoid hypoglycemia, but not so much that you defeat your purpose.