Diabetics Should Avoid

If you have type 2 diabetes and are currently overweight then you probably have already been instructed by your doctor to lose weight and to get on a low-fat diet immediately. Every diet will probably work in the beginning, but you are special and you need to make sure that your diet is one that you can stick with for the long haul.

You may want to ask yourself whether or not the diet that is planned for you is one that you can stay on for years to come. You should also want to research whether or not your current diet will provide enough nutrition on a daily basis that your body needs. And last but not least, you need to be sure that your diet will not only help you lose weight, but will also help control your blood glucose, as well as lower your blood fats.

If all of your needs are met from the above questions, then you're probably set and can enjoy this diabetic diet without any problems. However, if you're unsure whether or not you'll enjoy this diet in the future, or if it's actually producing the results needed to your diabetic needs, then you may want to research more options.

Watch Out For The Following Diets

When you first decide to explore all of the publications on diabetes nutrition that are sold in bookstores, you're bound to come out more confused than ever before. This is because there seems to be no end of opinions on what makes a sound diet. The fact of the matter is that you are diabetic and there are specific needs that a diabetic must have within his or her diet. So when you are digging deep into your research, be very cautious about the following diets:

1. Watch out for diets that praise low or no fat foods. Your body needs calories and when people stick to a diet that has little to no fats, they usually end up eating more and more carbohydrates to make up for the calories needed. And as you know, diabetics must pay extra special attention to their carbohydrate intake. Eating too many carbs can really disrupt your treatment. In addition, research has shown that it is quite healthy for the body to consume certain type of fats.

2. Be careful of diets that promote eating a lot of protein while reducing carbohydrates to a minimum. While low fat diets tend to increase a person's carbohydrate intake, a low carbohydrate diet that promotes high protein intake tends to not give the body enough energy it needs, while causing many people to eat too much meat and saturated fat. This is the bad fat and it is not good for you all.

Diabetics: Learn To Trust Your Dietitian

Diabetics: Learn To Trust Your DietitianHaving a personal dietitian can be one of the greatest attributes in your defense against complications that may stem from diabetes. This is especially true if you have type 2 diabetes because your health can worsen to dangerous levels due to poor nutrition and obesity. Your dietitian can help ensure that you are eating the right foods in order to keep your weight down and your blood glucose levels normal.

Type 1 diabetics can also benefit from having a personal dietitian. As a person with type 1 diabetes, it is crucial that you understand how certain foods will interact with your insulin injections. A personal dietitian will educate you on carbohydrate calories as well as train you on knowing exactly how much insulin you may need to take during mealtimes.

Not only does a quality dietitian help you understand food and gives you a proper meal schedule, but they will also take stock of how and when you eat your foods, which is just as important as what you are eating. For example, you'll be conscious of when you were consuming most of your calories. You'll take notice and understand where these calories are coming from. You'll be able to assess whether or not certain foods fit your regimen by simply looking at labels. All of these things are signs of a quality dietitian that not only tells you what to eat but helps you understand why you were eating those foods in the first place.

Your personal dietitian will also educate you on food portions. Most people, especially diabetics, have a misunderstanding on exactly what a portion size really is. Between fast food commercials and mixed messages from restaurants, we are inundated with the thought that a portion should be three times the size that it really should be. A good dietitian will explain to you just why you need to lower your portions of food and help you to train yourself to be satisfied with these smaller servings.

Last but not least, be sure that your dietitian is willing to be flexible with variations of meal planning and food types. A diabetic diet does not have to be rigid nor does it have to be filled with boring foods. Diabetic diets are nutritious for anyone, even men and women that do not have diabetes. Although there are some strict rules about certain calories, meal portions, and carbohydrates, it leaves plenty of room for tasty foods and satisfying meals.

Diabetes Symptoms

Type 1 diabetes symptoms are a common condition within the United States with something in the region of about one million sufferers and some 10,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. It is especially common in children and young adolescents, but is also often seen in adults in their late 30s or early 40s.

Type 1 diabetes is essentially an autoimmune disease in which the body's own immune system attacks the cells in the pancreas which produce insulin and production is either significantly reduced or eliminated altogether. Exactly what triggers this autoimmune response is unknown although it may well be triggered by some forms of viral infection. There are also various theories that it may be caused by the production of antibodies in response to the protein in cow's milk, a reaction to excessive levels of vitamin D or a reaction to certain drugs, including some antibiotics. At the end of the day, however, the true cause of type 1 diabetes remains a mystery.

The failure of the body to produce insulin results in a buildup of glucose within the blood and it is this which gives rise to a wide range of symptoms.

In many people the first signs of type I diabetes will be an inability to regulate water within the body which will be seen as excessive urination and thirst. At the same time, because the body is not able to take up the glucose that it needs from the blood to provide it with energy, the brain also triggers the need to eat and sufferers feel very hungry. Additional Type 1 diabetes symptoms caused directly as a result of the failure of the body to receive the energy that it needs are a feeling of tiredness, as well as increasing nausea and blurred vision.

Other type 1 diabetes symptoms to look out for will include muscle cramps, which are often caused by an electrolyte (sodium, potassium, calcium, or bicarbonate) imbalance and numbness or tingling in both the hands and feet.

It is also quite common to experience a drop in weight which may in part be the result of the body burning fat to replace its lost source of glucose energy, but which is much more the result of the body's loss of water. As it is unusual for someone with an increased appetite to start losing weight this is often a good indication of the presence of type I diabetes.

Also, although bedwetting is common in young children, a marked increase in involuntary urination during the night can also be a sign of the onset of type 1 diabetes.

In most cases the onset of type 1 type diabetes will be quite gradual and by the time the symptoms are severe enough to warrant a visit to the doctor he will be able to trace the onset of the disease back several weeks or even months. In other cases however the type 1 diabetes symptoms can appear quite suddenly as an emergency which will require a visit to a hospital emergency room. In this case nausea, vomiting and severe stomach pains can lead quickly to breathing difficulty and the sufferer can lapse into a coma and die without prompt treatment.

As type 1 diabetes is common in children it is often easy to mistake the type 1 diabetes symptoms for those of a range of other common childhood illnesses and so it is particularly important to be on the lookout for the signs and to consult your doctor if you are in any doubt.

Bariatric Surgery Things You Should Be Aware Of

Bariatric Surgery Things You Should Be Aware Of
When all other measures fail to control morbid obesity, weight loss surgery is a source of hope to the overweight. American doctors perform weight loss surgery over 140,000 times a year.
The oldest form of weight loss surgery is the most familiar, stomach stapling. In this 30-year-old procedure, most of the stomach is sliced and then stapled shut.

After the procedure, only a small pouch remains. Shrinking the stomach so it can only hold half a cup of food makes it easier to feel full.

In fact, most people who have weight loss surgery feel full after eating the amount of food that you could put on a coffee saucer. It becomes impossible to eat more than two quarter-cup servings (about 50 grams altogether) of anything at a single meal. Weight loss follows calorie restriction.

The newer and now more common form of weight loss surgery, the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, also makes the stomach surgically smaller. In this procedure, however, the stomach is not dissected and stapled shut.

In this newer form of weight loss surgery, the stomach is cut and sutured, or sewn, and the intestines are moved so that the end of the stomach is connected farther down the intestine.

This procedure leaves a smaller stomach that fills more quickly. It also leaves a shorter length of intestine to absorb fats (and other nutrients) from the smaller amounts of food that are eaten.

With this form of weight loss surgery, you don't just eat less. Your intestines absorb less of the food you do eat. Roux-en-Y bariatric surgery produces quicker and more significant weight loss than just stapling or banding the stomach.

There's also a third approach to weight loss surgery, the lap band.

The benefit of the lap band is that the weight loss surgery to install it can be laparoscopic, that is, done through an incision as little as one inch (25 mm) wide. Lap band surgery can even be an outpatient procedure, with the patient going home the same day. After lap band surgery, many patients go back to work in three to four days and resume all normal activities (except eating) within a week. The other gastric bypass procedures require a minimum of four days in the hospital and six to eight weeks before resuming an active lifestyle.

Another advantage of lap band surgery is a much lower risk of infection. Lap band surgery goes around the stomach, not into the stomach. The bacteria in the stomach do not leak into other parts of the body, and the risk of infection is greatly reduced. Lap band surgery is much less painful than the other procedures. And since pain in the muscles is so much less, patients are very unlikely to develop pneumonia or other breathing problems.

The disadvantage of lap band bariatric surgery is that not everyone can have it. The FDA at one time required that recipients of lap band bariatric procedures be at least 18 and no more than 50 years of age. It's also utterly essential not to be allergic to the material used to make the band. And if you overeat after you have a lap band in place, the effect is a little like pulling a napkin through a napkin ring. Too much food can stretch the band so that it damages the stomach. Lap band surgery is easier, but requires more discipline.

There is no form of weight loss surgery that is a complete cure for obesity all by itself. Lifetime attention to diet and exercise are still necessary. But successful weight loss surgery can give you the boost you need to regain control of your life and become truly, lastingly, healthily thin.

Thinking of Getting A Tummy Tuck?

Thinking of Getting A Tummy Tuck?
It's no secret most people hate the mere thought of exercising and dieting. Most will give up long before seeing any measurable results. Those with above average will power are among the few that will be successful in losing weight. However, once the desired weight has come off, the journey is far from over. Most skin loses it's elasticity and it's ability to "snap back". This is due to the loss of a considerable amount of fat, which leaves behind loose skin. Those visions of looking like a swimsuit model quickly disappear when most realize they may instead look like thin people in baggy clothing. Fortunately, you can get that tight, youthful-looking skin with a tummy tuck operation.

A tummy tuck is a surgical procedure whereby the existing skin is cut out and the remaining skin is stretched out over the area to be tightened. The tummy tuck is then complete once the skin is sewn back on.

If you're thinking of getting a tummy tuck, there are certain criteria which must be met. Your overall health must be good. You shouldn't undergo a tummy tuck if you are currently suffering from any kind of illnesses or if you have a serious pre-existing medical condition. You should also expect realistic results after your tummy tuck. Although outstanding results can be achieved, you may not look quite the same as the model in the swimsuit catalog whose skin was never stretched to begin with. With that in mind, a tummy tuck will virtually eliminate all the loose skin that used to stretch during the times you were larger, and you may in fact look and feel quite attractive in that swimsuit.

While these factors may be an important consideration prior to surgery, you may want to give equal consideration to certain factors after the surgery has taken place. Don't expect to be able to just walk out of the hospital and go to a photo shoot. Recovery time after a tummy tuck can be weeks to months, even though most should be able to resume normal activities within a few weeks. Patience is extremely important. Post-pregnant women often undergo a tummy tuck to get rid of the stretched skin resulting from pregnancy. Before doing so, be absolutely sure that you are done with having children. If you were to become pregnant after a tummy tuck, you will undo everything done from surgery, plus risk additional damage from the surgically operated area.

If you're too impatient and want immediate results, you might find yourself extremely stressed during recovery. This may not be in your best interest, as stress hinders full recovery and will only prolong the time required. If you have pre-existing mental or emotional conditions, you may want to think twice about undergoing surgery. The effects of the recovery and the anesthesia can exacerbate emotional problems and will also hinder recovery.

The above is just a sampling of some considerations to be aware of prior to undergoing a tummy tuck operation. Please be sure to check the wealth of additional resources available to you to get the complete picture.

Low-Fa2011 + Exercise = Weight Loss

Low-Fat + Exercise = Weight Loss
Reducing your saturated fat intake is only part of the healthy body formula. You need to burn more calories than you consume in order to avoid having that excess food stored as body fat. That's where exercise comes into play.

These exercise tips can get you started on the road to losing weight and keeping it off:
Always check with your doctor before starting an exercise program. This is especially true if you have, or are at risk of having, heart disease, diabetes, or you are seriously overweight.
Practice moderation by beginning with light and low impact exercises like walking, and gradually increase your intensity as your body begins to become conditioned to increased activity.
Aim for at least 30 per day of light cardiovascular activity each day. You don't have to do all 30 minutes at once. You can spread it out over the day if you want to.
Easy to do exercises include walking instead of taking the car on nearby errands. Take the stairs instead of the escalator when you're going to the office or shopping at the mall. Take a walk during lunch time.
Start doing things that are both fun and provide exercise. Gardening, bike riding, window shopping downtown.
You can make exercise more enjoyable by wearing headphones and listening to music, or doing your exercises with a friend.
Here are some dietary tips that can change, or save, your life:

These foods have been linked to various health conditions including cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease. Not all of these foods have been linked with all of these conditions, but each of them are worth avoiding when possible.
High in saturated fats, these foods should be avoided at all costs: All saturated fats and oils found in butter, lard, palm and coconut oil, bacon grease.
Replace these foods with: Soft margarine (no fat kind), olive, safflower, soy, corn, canola, and peanut oil.

These foods contain trans fatty acids and/or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and should be eaten only in very limited quantities: Hard margarines, most snack crackers, most cookies, corn and potato chips, shortening.
These meats contain high levels of fat and can cause serious arterial blockage and heart conditions. They should be eaten very sparingly: corned beef, pastrami, pork and beef ribs, beef steak, ground meat, most frankfurters, pork sausage, bacon, liver, kidney, and processed deli meats.
Replace with these foods with skinless chicken or turkey, turkey or chicken frankfurters, ground turkey, occasional lean beef, veal, pork, lamb, fish, and vegetable dishes including beans, peas, pasta, or rice.

Try not to eat more than 2 oz of meat, fish, or poultry per day. Replace the rest of your meal with healthy vegetables, pasta and rice.
Be careful of fat that's hidden in dairy products. Drink either fat-free or 1% milk. Replace other dairy products like cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, and snack cheeses with their no-fat or low-fat versions.
Avoid eating high fat snack crackers, cake, cup cakes or muffins, and replace them with low-fat baked versions.

Lose Weight june2011

Lose Weight by Eating More
Certain foods are extremely difficult for the human body to convert into body fat - not impossible but damned near impossible. By consuming calories derived from these foods, the anabolic margin of error is extended dramatically, which means it will be easier to lose fat and gain muscle, if you choose.

Lean protein, protein devoid of saturated fat, has been the staple, the bedrock nutrient of elite athletes for 50 years. Why? You can eat a mountain of lean protein and not get fat - assuming you train with intensity sufficient enough to trigger muscle growth. Lean protein is difficult for the body to break down and digest. As a direct result of this digestive difficulty, the body kicks the metabolic thermostat upward to break protein down into subcomponent amino acids.

The human body wants to preserve stored body fat as a last line of defense against starvation. If overworked and under-fed, the body will preferentially eat muscle tissue to save precious body fat.

Obese people that go on crash diets, precipitously slashing calories, might lose 100-pounds of body weight, yet still appear fat. Despite losing from say 350-pounds to 250-pounds, they still appear fat because they still are fat. The body has cannibalized muscle tissue and saved the fat. Though they might weigh 100-pounds less, they still possess 25-40% body fat percentile.

Lean protein is the bedrock nutrient in the physical renovation process because it supplies muscle tissue battered by a high intensity weight workout with the amino acids needed to heal, recover and construct new muscle tissue. Lean protein is a bedrock nutrient in the physical renovation process because it causes the basal metabolic rate (BMR) to elevate; the metabolic thermostat, the rate at which our body consumes calories, increases when digesting protein. Lean protein is a bedrock nutrient in the physical renovation process because it is damned near impossible for the body to convert it into body fat.

The other bedrock nutrient in the physical transformation process is fibrous carbohydrates: carrots, broccoli, green beans, bell peppers, spinach, cauliflower, onions, asparagus, cabbage, salad greens, Brussels sprouts and the like. Fibrous carbohydrates, like lean protein, are nearly impossible for the body to convert into body fat. Fibrous carbohydrates require almost as many calories to digest as they contain. A green bean or carrot might contain 10-calories yet is so dense and difficult to break down that the body has to expend nearly as many calories to break down that bean or carrot as the vegetable contains.

Fibrous carbohydrates have a wonderful "Roto-Rooter" effect on the internal plumbing: as they work their way though the digestive passageways they scrape mucus and gunk off intestinal walls and help keep sludge buildup to a minimum. For this reason fibrous carbohydrates are the perfect compliment to a lean protein diet. Too much protein can cause bile buildup: fiber is the Yin to protein's Yang. The two nutrients should be eaten together.

Both protein and fiber have a beneficial dampening effect on insulin secretions. It is no accident that professional bodybuilders, the world's best dieters, capable of reducing body fat percentiles to 5% while maintaining incredible muscle mass, construct their eating regimen around protein and fiber.

The best way to eat is to eat often. If you eat 3,000 calories a day the best way is in five 600-calorie feeding or six 500-calorie feedings instead of a breakfast containing 400-calories, a lunch of 1000-calories and a late dinner of 1,600-calories. Avoid calories easily converted into body fat

Eat Healthy and Lose Weight

Eat Healthy and Lose Weight
If you accept the analogy that our bodies are like an engine, then it follows that this engine will perform better if it receives the type of fuel that it was designed to run on. In years gone by, before artificially processed and manufactured foods, our bodies normally received the correct nutritional balance every day.

As more and more families saw both the husband and wife holding down jobs outside the home, the dynamics of eating, exercise and nutrition began to change. "Convenience" and "fast foods" became the norm, and farms were gradually replaced by processing plants. Today, the average meal is so laden with artificial preservatives and saturated fat that our bodies are starving for the ingredients that they need, and overflowing with the ingredients that they don't need.

This nutritional imbalance manifests itself through weight problems, skin problems, tiredness, disease, and overall poor health. Although this problem has reached pandemic proportions, you can reverse the effects of poor diet in your own life if you truly want to.

Garbage In - Garbage Out

While this phrase may have been coined for the computer industry, it's very relevant when it comes to our own body. Every moment that we are alive, our body is busy manufacturing the chemicals, fluids, proteins, and tissues that are required to keep us healthy. Food, or rather the nutrition that is derived from food, is what the body depends upon to handle all of these tasks.

Everything that we consume is used, stored, or discarded by the body. The body's particular nutritional needs can vary widely depending upon what's going on inside and outside of us at any particular time. Our body makes decisions on whether to burn carbs or fat based upon our immediate energy needs, how long it has been since our last meal, and the general condition of our health.

The body burns fuel in a very specific order. Alcohol is burned first because our bodies have no way to store it for later use. Protein is burned next, then carbohydrates and, finally fat.

Because fat is consumed last, and the average person has a diet which is rich in fat, our bodies store the fat away to be used at a future time. How is this fat stored? You guessed it; it's stored as fatty tissue. And that's why we call being overweight "fat".

French Women2011

French Women Don't Get Fat - Book Review
French women seem to enjoy breads, desserts, and wine, but then don't gain the weight. American women, on the other hand, just think about snacking and magically put on ten pounds. In her bestselling book, French Women Don't Get Fat : The Secret of Eating For Pleasure, Mirelle Guiliano reveals the secrets that French women have at staying healthy and trim.

French Women Don't Get Fat begins with the account of the author, Mirelle Guiliano, growing up in France. By a stroke of luck she was sent to America in her teenage years as an exchange student. In America, she was introduced to brownies and cookies - which quickly became favorites. In no time at all, Mirelle put on twenty pounds. When it was time to return home she was a little nervous about what her family and friends would think of the "new" Mirelle. The story of seeing her family for the first time after being away is funny and heart wrenching at the same time. I can't do justice to this story, so I would recommend buying the book and reading it on your own. Later, her mother set up a secret meeting with their family physician, "Dr. Miracle", who helped her to shed the extra pounds, and more importantly, taught her how to live like a French Woman.

This book is not a miracle diet. In fact, French Women Don't Get Fat isn't a "diet" book at all. What it does is suggest ways to help you live a balanced, healthier lifestyle. The first thing the book suggests is to take an inventory of what you eat for a couple of weeks. By looking at your food journal, you should be able to see what your "offenders" are - meaning what foods you are overeating. For example, Mirelle's offenders were sweets. Once you recognize what foods you are eating out of balance, your next step is to identify why you overeat in this category. For example, if your "offender" is bread, you might notice that you are eating a lot of bread when you go to restaurants. You could then decide to only have one slice before your meal comes. The book also discusses changing the way you think. You aren't skimping on the bread because you are depriving yourself something you love, you are merely saving room for other things. The pleasure of most foods is in the first few bites, as French Women Don't Get Fat points out. After that we are just eating on autopilot. If you can avoid eating without thinking, you can avoid eating excess food. French women eat with their heads and do not leave the table feeling stuffed or guilty.