Archive for January, 2012
Bestsellers About Diabetes
Betty Crocker’s Diabetes Cookbook by Betty Crocker shows you easy everyday meals that you can prepare for a diabetic person. This cookbook puts flavor and variety back onto the menu for people with diabetes and their families. Betty Crocker is the most trusted friend in American kitchens and now she has teamed up the International Diabetes Center to create an essential source of easy-to-make recipes and nutrition information for the increasing number of people who have diabetes. This recipe book features Carbohydrate Choices which is the newly simplified approach to meal planning recommended by the American Diabetes Association.
Diabetic Cookbook by The Healthy Recipe Source provides over 500 delicious diabetic recipes to help you start enjoying food again as a diabetic. This recipe collection is sure to please anyone who needs to watch their diet without sacrificing their taste buds. This is the perfect book for the millions of people with diabetes who need to be careful at maintaining their diet. You will find recipes for desserts you may have thought you could never have like cookies, cakes, and fudge. With these recipes, you can make all these treats and more without worrying about slipping off your diabetic diet.
The New Glucose Revolution for Diabetes by Dr. Jennie Brand-Miller is the definitive guide to managing diabetes and prediabetes using the Glycemic index. This is the first comprehensive guide to using the glycemic index to control type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, and more. This book features the most accurate and latest information with new findings by the authors. It includes recipes for all types of diabetes including gestational diabetes and juvenile diabetes. There are also recipes for related conditions such as obesity and celiac disease plus practical guidance on sugar, sweeteners, alcohol, snacking, and eating out at restaurants. Read the rest of this entry »
Diabetes and Menopause
You might be thinking what is the connection between diabetes and the menopause? Well, for ladies reaching that certain age, it can be very traumic. Menopause is not necessarily a negative experience. It is sometimes called a “change of life” as there are a lot of changes going on in a woman’s body, both as menopause approaches and afterwards.
The menopause marks an important transition into the last third of a woman’s life. It gives the woman and her health professionals an opportunity to review health risks, plan preventive activities, and establish monitoring strategies. This is especially important in women with diabetes because of the compounding menopausal cardiovascular risk and those associated with diabetes. The importance of the menopause is often not appreciated by women with diabetes, nor by their health professionals, and opportunities to avoid future problems may be missed.
Menopause is a natural process that women go through as the child-bearing years come to an end and the ovaries cease to release eggs every month. Menopause is usually defined as the point when periods stop. Menopause is not an event, but a slow process, often lasting up to 10 years. It starts during the age of 40s (sometime late 30s) and the average age for most women to have their last period is 51, where the female sex hormones hormones, estrogen and progesterone, begin to decline.
How menopause affects diabetes
As you approach menopause, ovaries gradually stop producing the hormone estrogen and progesterone. Both of these hormones affect insulin which is the hormone produced by the pancreas that deliver glucose which is life sustaing to every cell in the body. Read the rest of this entry »
Gestational Diabetes – Diet Plans, Menus and Recipes
Gestational diabetes also known as Gestational Diet Mellitus (GDM) is a condition in which a woman who normally doesn’t have sugar, gets diabetic during her pregnancy. This diabetic condition now occurs widely throughout the world, 5% of all pregnant women have gestational diabetes, and the mother has nothing to worry about her delivery or her child as long as she keeps the sugar levels under control. The sugar levels should be closely monitored to avoid complications during the delivery period.
A hormone called insulin is responsible for getting the glucose from the blood into the cells of your body. If you are diabetic, then your body is not producing as much insulin as is required, or your cells are not using it the way it should be used.
If the gestational diabetes is in the mild stage then it can be controlled purely through proper diet. In some cases where the diabetes is in a more progressed state you may have to take insulin to bring your blood sugar levels under control. Your physician will know what to do, and when a diet needs to be followed, he will draft out the diet taking into account your present eating habits making sure that you get all the necessary vitamins and nutrients.
General Guidelines:
Eat a variety of foods and make sure that most of your calorie content comes from carbohydrates and foods that are rich in fiber.
It is recommended by the American Diabetes Association to eat three small to moderate sized meals per day and two to four snacks every day. It is also advisable to have a bedtime snack just before you get into bed.
Never skip meal. Your blood sugar level will be consistent if your meals and calories are distributed evenly throughout the day.
Meals should be taken around the same time every day.
Do not wait till you are burning with hunger to start eating. When you do eat like this, your blood sugar levels will rocket up.
Restrict your intake of foods and juices that are rich in simple sugar like sodas, colas and fruit juices. These foods will quickly raise your sugar levels so limit their intake or if possible avoid them altogether. Instead of drinking fruit juices, you can eat fresh fruits which are also rich in fiber. Also, milk contains lactose which is a form of sugar. So if you drink more than two glasses of milk a day you may need to think for another source of calcium and avoid drinking more that two glasses of milk a day.
Get some exercise. It need not be something that is strenuous and physically exerting. A simple walk after your meals has been shown to work wonders on gestational diabetes.
Drink lots of water to maintain the body’s water levels.
Continuously monitor your body’s blood sugar levels and keep a record of them. Read the rest of this entry »