All about Diabetes

Almost everyone knows someone who has diabetes. Almost 7% of the population in US have diabetes, a serious, lifelong condition. In 2005, about 1.5 million people aged 20 or older were diagnosed with diabetes. Most of these cases are a direct result of poor eating habits, higher body weight, and lack of exercise.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism—caused by lack of insulin or insulin resistance. Most of the food we eat is broken down into glucose, simple sugar in the blood. Glucose is the main source of fuel for the body.
After digestion, glucose passes into the bloodstream, where it is used by cells for growth and energy. For glucose to get into cells, insulin must be present. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, a large gland behind the stomach. When we eat, the pancreas automatically produces the right amount of insulin to move glucose from blood into our cells.

In people with diabetes, however, the pancreas either produces little or no insulin, or the cells do not respond appropriately to the insulin that is produced. Glucose builds up in the blood, overflows into the urine, and passes out of the body in the urine. Thus, the body loses its main source of fuel even though the blood contains large amounts of glucose.

What are Types of Diabetes?

Type 1 - insulin dependent diabetes, where there is a lack of insulin production by the pancreas and needs treatment by insulin injections to stay alive. It is an autoimmune disease most often occurs in children and young adults.

Type 2 – diabetes, where the body is still producing insulin but either not enough and or the body is resistant to it. It is more common than type 1 diabetes.

Gestational –diabetes is caused by the hormones of pregnancy or a shortage of insulin. Women with gestational diabetes may not experience any symptoms.

Who Is At Greater Risk Diabetes?

Type 1:

Siblings of people with type 1 diabetes.
Children of parents with type 1 diabetes.

Type 2:

People with a family history of diabetes.
People who are overweight.
People who do not exercise regularly.
Women who have had a baby that weighed more than 9 pounds at birth.

Of these factors the most significant factor is Obesity. There is a direct relationship between the degree of obesity and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and this holds true in children as well as adults. It is estimated that the chance to develop diabetes doubles for every 20% increase over desirable body weight.

What are the risks associated with Diabetes?

Diabetes is associated with long-term complications that affect almost every part of the body. Because a person with diabetes may not process fat properly, there tends to be damage to the blood vessels in the body, which increases the chances for high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes. Diabetes can also have long-term effects on the eyes, because tiny blood vessels in the retina* become weakened. If these blood vessels burst, they can cause bleeding and scarring in the eye, or even blindness. The chance of nerve damage, and of developing kidney disease, is also increased in a person with diabetes. Finally, foot health can become an issue for people with diabetes, because the condition can affect circulation to the feet, small cuts or wounds can turn into serious infections without proper care. Adults with diabetes are at high risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). In fact, at least 65 percent of those with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke.

People with diabetes must take responsibility for their day-to-day care. Much of the daily care involves keeping blood glucose levels from going too low or too high. When blood glucose levels drop too low—a condition known as hypoglycemia—a person can become nervous, shaky, and confused. Judgment can be impaired, and if blood glucose falls too low, fainting can occur. A person can also become ill if blood glucose levels rise too high, a condition known as hyperglycemia.

How is obesity treated?

How is Obesity treated?

Losing weight is simple, not to say that it is necessarily easy. Proper nutrition can cure all diseases and can prevent diseases too.But all Nutrition is food and not all food is nutritious. This simple concept is very much important while loosing weight.The food can be compared to a fuel for functioning of car. Any excess fuel poured in the fuel tank of the car gets wasted in the car. ( a 5 lr fuel tank never can hold 1000 lr fuel) . But in our body the excess food (fuel) gets stored as fat for future use. It is definately not needed to store it if we continue to give the food regularly needed by the body.The storage capacity is just the nature of our body, to prevent us from drought or starvation conditions which existed in the old days. But now a days food is abundant and it is the cause for obesity in delveloping countries. It is definately much harder to carry this stored fat and our body needs more fuel just to perform this storage function by the body. so we put more strain to the body by eating excess.
So Proper planned nutrition and diet plays major role in effective weight loss.

· Life style change
The first step in weight loss is to achieve a reasonable goal, which is to begin making lifestyle changes by increasing physical activity and limiting calories. A reduction of 6-10 lbs can significantly decrease the cardiovascular health risks of overweight or obese people.
Loosing 10% of the weight at a rate of 1-2 lbs per week improves health and sets a good starting in the journey of weight loss.

· Food

Proper diet and nutrition is a very important part of staying healthy—for everyone—and especially for a obese/overweight person. By decreasing daily calorie intake by 500 calories calories you will lose about 1 pound per week. Approximately if the target weight (Normal weight range of BMI) is say 110 lbs then the calorie intake per day should be aimed to 1100 per day with nutritious foods and healthy foods.
The healthy foods include good carbohydrates (complex carbohydrates), proteins, vegetables, fruits, minerals, fiber and good fats. Each body needs 1-2 grams of protein per kg body weight. By reaching the daily allowance of protein each each day, the metabolism can be increased and that can help to burn the stored fat. Consumption of excess carbohydrates and fats can result in storage of fats and
not burning of fats. So care should be taken in consuming carbohydrates and fats.
The easiest and best way is to start herba life products. Herbalife shakes has no cholesterol, low carbohydrate, no transfat and low salt. It is rich in protein and full of essential nutrients and fiber. Also Herbalife is the only food, which provides enzymes, and ginger and other nutrients that facilitate assimilation of the nutrients in to our body effectively .That makes herbalife the ideal food for every nutritional need and for effective weight loss.

Exercise:

Another factor helping weight loss includes exercise. It helps to increase metabolism and is one less opportunity to eat during the day. You should exercise for at least 30 minutes, 5 times a week. Regular exercise helps to burn calories. But even if lot of calories are burned by exercise, if the calorie intake by consuming foods are more, then weight loss will not be effective.

All About Obesity

What is Overweight and Obesity and why is it a Problem?

Overweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) greater than 25 and obese as a BMI of 30 or greater. Most individuals with a BMI over 25 are entering into the zone of increased health risk.
Obesity leads to chronic diseases. A poor nutritional choice raise our risks for obesity and with it comes obesity related metabolic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and respiratory problems, and endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon cancers. It’s not just adults who are overweight; many of our kids are overweight too.

Why are we getting obesity?

The causes of obesity in today’s lives are Genetic basis, over abundance of food, and our technological society with its emphasis on labor saving devices, efficiency and time saving. We are less active in our everyday lives; it is not just that we are not exercising, but that the incidental activity of everyday life has been reduced or eliminated by technological advances. We don't walk as much, or as far, and we don't expend as much energy operating machinery or manual. Consequently, it has proved very difficult for many people to control their weight in the second half of the 20th century.

Other Causes of Obesity
Some illnesses may lead to or are associated with weight gain or obesity. These include:
Hypothyroidism, a condition in which the thyroid gland fails to produce enough thyroid hormone. It often results in lowered metabolic rate and loss of vigor.
Cushing's syndrome, a hormonal disorder caused by prolonged exposure of the body's tissues to high levels of the hormone cortisol. Symptoms vary, but most people have upper body obesity, rounded face, increased fat around the neck, and thinning arms and legs.
Polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition characterized by high levels of androgens (male hormone), irregular or missed menstrual cycles, and in some cases, multiple small cysts in the ovaries. Cysts are fluid-filled sacs

Why have we not been effective in treatment of obesity?

There are a number of reasons for this. Obesity, its etiology and effects, the biology of adipose tissue (which is fat storage organ) and goals of treatment have been poorly understood. Nutrition has not been considered an important part of the medical curriculum. No long-term effective medical treatments have been available.

Despite the lack of real assistance from the medical profession, the obese have been stigmatized. Obese patients have become disheartened after their attempts at weight loss. They have turned to other treatments and therapists, mostly without success. The vast majority of these treatments, some costly, are ineffective. Patients are still looking for the magic, which will enable them to lose weight without effort and then to keep it off.

What should we do about obesity?

Two major options for obesity are being discussed now everywhere. One says that weight loss and control must remain an individual responsibility, whereas the other one argues that in some individuals morbid obesity is inevitable because of their genes, inherent appetite drives and metabolic set points, and that they will inevitably need help to control weight. The life style can affect the Blood pressure, blood Cholesterol ,blood glucose level and fat content. So a change in lifestyle is pretty much needed.

When lifestyle changes are not enough, an appropriate treatment is needed. The goals of such treatment should not necessarily be to normalize body weight, but to optimize health. A reduction of 6-10 kg can significantly decrease the cardiovascular health risks of overweight or obese people.