Natural Remedies for Type 2 Diabetes
Natural Food Remedies For Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is also known as adult onset diabetes. This means you have developed the disease as an adult instead of being born with a defect which causes your body to not produce enough insulin. Type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the United States over the last fifteen years or so. In fact, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that the number of people diagnosed with diabetes has more than doubled in the last 15 years, and 54 million more people have prediabetes.Now, diabetes is such a large topic that we can't begin to cover it in just one article, but we will be publishing additional articles throughout the coming weeks and months to try and cover it in much more detail.
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Generally, type 2 diabetics are considered to be "non insulin dependant". Many can control their blood glucose levels with the foods they eat, though some will take oral medications to help as well. Some type 2 diabetics however, do have to take one or more insulin shots each day when they're diabetes is not able to be controlled by other means.
There are herbs available at almost any health food or herbal supplement store, which are natural sources of insulin - the best is known as GoldenSeal. These can be beneficial to many diabetics, depending on the severity of their condition and what other medications their doctors have them on.
One of the best remedies for diabetes however, is to simply change the types of foods you eat. This may not solve all of your diabetes problems, but it does help tremedously in most cases.
First, you'll need to cut sugar from your diet. This may sound obvious to some, but it's not uncommon to see diabetics eating foods and drinking liquids which are quite sugary. It's also not easy to cut all sugar from your diet, because almost everything bought prepackaged in stores today contains added sugars.
So the most important step involved in changing your diet is to learn to read the food labels. Glucose is a form of sugar. So is fructose. Many things that end in "ose" are forms of sugar. Sucralose however, is a sugar substitute. This substance is made from sugar cane but it is not a form of sugar to your body.
The next dietary step you'll need to take, is eliminating or drastically reducing the amount of simple carbohydrates you eat. Carbs are converted to glucose in our bodies. And the more simple a carbohydrate is, the more sugar it provides us. White breads, pastries, white enriched pastas, cookies cakes and candies... these are all sources of very quick, simple sugars that can cause severe problems with our body's blood sugar levels.
There are also many fruits and vegetables which are quite high in natural sugar, and these can be quite problematic for diabetics. Fruits such as watermelon and cantaloupe will make your blood sugar rise quickly. Potatoes and carrots can too, but the effects of these are not quite as severe.
This is very brief start to dietary changes you should consider if you're diabetic or at risk of becoming so in the future. We'll look at additional food changes in later publications.
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/aag/ddt.htm
Diabetes and The Glycemic Index
One of the most frequently used home and natural remedies is food. What you eat, or don't eat, plays the largest role in how healthy you are throughout your life.
Controlling your diabetes naturally with food is easier to do when you know what the glycemic index is, and how to use it to your advantage.
The glycemic index, also known as the GI, tells you how fast foods raise your blood sugar levels when you eat them. Some foods are known to raise your blood sugar levels very quickly, while others will raise it slowly, and help it to stay at more balanced levels for longer periods of time.
When you eat too many foods which cause your blood sugar levels to raise quickly, your body usually trys to counteract that quick rise by releasing more insulin. Diabetics are unable to release enough insulin to deal with such a large spike however, so they must use medications to control the blood sugar levels instead.
By using the glycemic index though, you're able to choose foods which don't cause such blood sugar spikes so quickly and drastically. This allows you to keep your blood sugar levels more balanced throughout the day, and potentially can allow some diabetics to reduce their prescription medications, or not require them at all anymore.
Figuring out the GI of many foods is complicated, but there are charts and books you can buy for easy reference. Essentially though, all foods are rated based on how fast they cause your body's blood sugar levels to rise. Everything is weighted against either pure glucose, or plain white bread. In either case, glucose or white bread are given a GI value of 100, and they're the base for determining the values of other foods.
Very low GI foods have values of 39 or less. Low GI foods are generally 40-54; Moderate is 55-69; High is 70 and above.
Lower GI foods will be digested more slowly by your body, which causes a much slower rise in blood sugar and much less demand for more insulin. These foods also sustain your energy for longer, and often help keep you feeling satiated for longer as well, so you don't over eat.
Higher GI foods on the other hand, cause quick rises in your blood sugar levels, and leave you feeling hungrier sooner. These higher GI foods also wreak havoc on your blood sugar levels and insulin needs.
Some foods will surprise you when you see their Glycemic Index values. Cheerios for instance, considered to be a healthy breakfast cereal, has a GI value of 74. So eating this as a breakfast meal is something diabetics would want to do on rare occasions instead of daily.
Another example is instant potatoes, which have a GI value of 83, and baked potatoes, which have a GI value of 85. Both of these are higher than french fried potatoes which has a glycemic index value of 75.
Sugar free yogurt on the other hand, has a GI value of 14, and yogurt with sugar added tends to run about 33 on the GI scale.
This is just a simple introductory overview of course, but these examples show how using the Glycemic Index to determine which foods you'll eat or avoid, can help you to manage your diabetes naturally.
Statements made in this article may not be approved by the FDA, and should not be taken as professional medical advice.
Source: The Good Carb Cookbook, Avery/Penguin Putnam Publications
Diabetes and Body Fat
Another excellent, completely natural way to help combat your diabetes, is to lose some of the extra body fat you've been carrying around.
When you carrying extra fat on your body, the glucose in your blood is unable to get to the muscles where it's needed. The extra fat cells block the absorption of the glucose, which keeps the levels high in your blood.
The body produces extra insulin to help combat the circulation high glucose levels, but after a time the pancreas will wear out and be unable to keep producing high levels of insulin. And as long as you have extra fat on your body, it will not be able to be used by the muscles at it should be.
By getting rid of some of that fat, sometimes even just a small amount, your body will start being able to use the glucose properly again, thus your blood sugar levels will start going down naturally.
Losing body fat is not always easy. You can take herbs or other supplements to help curb your appetite and this will help you lose weight. You can also change the way you eat and this too will help you lose weight. The best option however is to do those two steps along with adding exercise to your daily activities.
Now there are several herbs which you can choose to take as a daily supplement to help keep your blood sugar levels balanced better, but these alone will not help as much as they could, if you're still making poor eating choices and not getting enough exercise.
GoldenSeal is a natural source of insulin and will lower your blood sugar levels. Care should be taken by hypoglycemics when using this herb.
Licorice Root on the other hand, will raise your insulin levels and is quite helpful for hypoglycemics. Diabetics of course should avoid this herb.
Garlic is an herb that will naturally help regulate blood sugar levels in your body, and Chickweed is an herb that will help control hunger so you don't eat as much.
Now while herbs will help quite a bit with managing and controlling diabetes naturally, another very important factor is the foods you eat. Some diabetics do quite well sticking to low or moderate carbohydrate diets, while others control their diabetes naturally using the Glycemic Index.
Time and time again however, exercise has proven to be the number one natural way to control and manage diabetes. In some cases, losing as little as ten pounds of body fat is all some people need to make a drastic difference in managing this disease.
Exercise does not have to be strenuous, boring or painful either. Start with simply getting more movement and activity into your day. If you like taking care of your yard for instance, try putting in a small flower garden then weeding and caring for it several days each week. When the weather is nice, go for a walk with friends or family members. If you like to dance, join a beginner's dance class.
There are many simple, easy, and fun ways to add more exercise and activity to your day. And doing this will help you lose weight, which in turn will help you to manage and control diabetes too.
Natural Diabetes Treatments
If you've been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, you still have time to start taking care of your body better so that full blown diabetes doesn't develop. If you already have diabetes though, it's doubly important that you start taking care of yourself much better than you have in the past. You doctor will have a lot of advice and resources to give you when you're diagnosed with diabetes, and there are many natural treatments for diabetes that often help too.
Be sure to tell your doctor when you start including natural diabetes treatments into your daily regimine though, because this will change the medical treatments he or she is giving you, and could possibly require adjustments in your medications. So they'll need to monitor you closely as you start making changes to your lifestyle.
One of the most important natural diabetes treatments there is involves food. What you eat or don't eat throughout each day will have a major impact on your diabetes management and treatments.
Most successful natural diabetes treatments begin with changing the foods you eat. Reduction or elimination of most sources of sugar is critical for diabetics, because too much sugar intake can literally kill you. Sugar can be a bit more complicated than we expect it to be though, because of the way modern day foods are processed and packaged.
Many foods have actual sugar added to them, and those are fairly easy to spot by looking at the labels. Other foods though, are processed in ways which make them very much like sugar within our bodies. Instant foods for instance, are absorbed so quickly by our bodies that it's almost like we're eating regular sugar when we eat those. Liquid and microwave foods are the same way, as are highly processed foods such as white bread and pasta.
If you'd like to start treating your diabetes naturally with food, you'll want to learn about how carbohydrates work in our bodies, and how the glycemic index works. In most cases, a low or moderate carbohydrate diet or the glycemic index diet are the best choices for helping to treat and control diabetes.
The next most important way to treat diabetes naturally is through exercise. Exercise is so important as a natural treatment for diabetics because it helps burn body fat. And body fat blocks absorption of blood sugar by our muscles. By reducing some of your body fat, the muscles will be able to use some of that extra glucose that's floating around in your blood, thus your blood sugar levels will be reduced naturally.
Many diabetics also treat their disease naturally by using herbal supplements. One such herb for instance, which is a natural source of insulin, is GoldenSeal. Taking this daily may help control your diabetes, particularly if it's combined with dietary and physical changes such as we've mentioned above.
Diabetics should avoid licorice herbs and foods though, because these will raise your blood sugar levels.
Natural Diabetes Management
If you are diabetic, whether you're taking medications to help control the disease or not, you may be wondering if there are ways to help manage your diabetes more naturally. And the good news is: Yes. Managing diabetes naturally is fairly simple to do, but not everyone finds it easy. Because it requires changes to your lifestyle.
Most people with adult onset diabetes, otherwise known as type 2 diabetes, got the disease because of the way they've lived their lives so far. Genetics plays a major role in diabetes of course, that's been proven in many studies. But lifestyle choices plays a major role as well. Foods high in sugar or starch, and little to no exercise are major contributing factors to getting this disease. And managing it naturally is done via the same methods.
Now there are natural herbs and remedies which will help manage diabetes as well, but the true success comes from making several changes to your lifestyle. Taking herbs alone will not help much if you continue to try and eating foods high in sugars and starches for instance. Like most natural remedies: Managing diabetes naturally needs to be a whole life and whole body approach.
The first step to take towards managing your diabetes, is to change how you eat. If your doctor has not taught you this yet: Learn about carbohydrates, and how your body uses them. One of the biggest difficulties with managing diabetes is that diabetics often choose the wrong types of food to eat. This is usually caused by lack of knowledge about the different types of carbohydrates, and what those carbs do within your body.
Eating instant or microwaved foods for instance, will cause your blood sugar levels to rise more rapidly than eating whole foods. A bowl of instant oatmeal for breakfast is healthy nutrition-wise, but not always the best choice for diabetes management because it can cause your blood sugar levels to rise too quickly. A better choice would be old-fashioned oatmeal that must be cooked before you can eat it, and the best choice would be having eggs for breakfast instead.
Using food for your diabetes management is often just a matter of lowering the amount of simple starches, carbs and sugars you put into your body, or choosing "better" carbs which raise your body's blood sugar levels at a much slower rate.
The second key lifestyle change you must make in order to manage your diabetes naturally, is to start getting more exercise. Exercise will help your body shed some of the excess body fat, and that body fat is part of the blood sugar problems you're having.
Body fat blocks your bodies muscles from being able to use the glucose that's circulating around in your blood stream. By reducing even a small amount of the extra fat you have, you're helping your body to start using some of that extra glucose. This lowers your blood sugar levels naturally. And the more fat you lose of course, the more efficiently and normally your body will be able to make use of that extra blood sugar.
You'll still have to be careful with the foods you eat of course, because your body is unable to produce the normal amounts of insulin commonly needed for today's modern day diet. But by reducing the extra fat on your body, you'll have a little more leeway in the types of foods you'll be able to eat without causing as many of the common problems diabetics have.
Note: Some statements in this article may not be approved by the FDA. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional medical advice.
