Health and Vitality for People With Diabetes - Vitamin Supplements

Our bodies need the proper fuel in order to function at optimal levels. For the diabetic, this is more important since there is an imbalance present that threatens health and vitality. For any individual, a healthy well-rounded diet is the foundation When diabetes is present, this becomes even more important, as does the need to learn which foods to eat and when.

It is well known that no single food provides "all the nutrients in the amount that you need" (The 2000 Dietary Guidelines for Americans) and the meats, dairy and grain products, and many fruits and vegetables in today's daily diet will not be adequate sources of vitamins and minerals. These are the substances found naturally in plants and animal foods that are essential in minute quantities for the normal growth and activity of the human body..

Vitamins are highly beneficial diabetes supplies. For added protection against the risks which go hand in hand with diabetes, people who live with unstable blood glucose levels may want to consider a range of supplements including vitamins to best complement their diet.

A pair of supplements that encourage health and vitality are vitamins C and E. Each of these vitamins is considered an antioxidant, a substance involved in the prevention of cellular damage caused by free radical formation. Free radicals are present in the environment thanks to pollution, ultraviolet light, X rays, cigarette smoke and even the body's own metabolism. A diabetic patient may be prone to such damage - there is a higher risk for health concerns such as premature aging, nerve diseases, heart disease and cancer. Both these antioxidants are believed to play a role in disease prevention. Supplementing a diabetic diet with antioxidants is certainly worth discussion with your personal clinician and Health Care team.

Studies have revealed that supplementation results in an improvement in blood glucose levels and also in cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The introduction of any supplement into the diabetic diet should always be with the knowledge of the patient's personal physician and health care team and he or she will likely be prescribed a limited/maximum dose mg per day in order to avoid any adverse side effects such as an upset stomach or kidney stones.

Vitamin C is already well known to have a substantial beneficial impact on human health. It can help healing, and boosts the immune system, increasing protection against colds and viruses.. It assists the absorption of iron from green vegetables. People with diabetes tend to have lower levels of vitamin C. Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water soluble vitamin found in citrus fruits and juices, strawberries, kiwifruit, cantaloupe, pineapple, tomatoes and fresh green vegetables such as kale, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, and green peppers.

Vitamin C helps keep Vitamin E in active form.

Water soluble vitamins don't stay around in the body, they travel in cellular fluid and the bloodstream and what is not used immediately is excreted. So they need replacing often.

Vitamin E is fat soluble antioxidant and will be stored in the body until it is needed. The long term benefits of Vitamin E supplementation are not proven and less is known about its role in disease prevention. Evidence from studies in the last decade supports the belief that daily dosages of Vitamin E supplements improve insulin resistance in overweight adults who also have low levels of antioxidants and so delays the onset of Type 2 diabetes. Studies continue to explore the belief that vitamin E supplements help in the prevention of heart disease, cancer and the optimal health of kidneys and eyes.

Current recommendations are that the diabetic should take no more than a small dosage of vitamin E per day but at this level the antioxidant function may not be so effective. Further research on vitamin E supplements is ongoing, and for this reason alone the health care team or the patient's clinician must be involved in determining the right dosage for each patient with diabetes..

Learning to manage diabetes takes time, discipline, the right fuel and information. Supplement the daily diet and those diabetes supplies with the vitamins that bolster health and vitality!

How To Control Diabetes and Prevent Unwanted Health Complications?

Diabetes, also known as Diabetes Mellitus, is a metabolic disorder that is becoming increasingly common among people. The carbohydrates consumed by us are converted in to glucose and are made to enter the muscle, fat and liver cells. This fuels or energizes you to perform day to day tasks. An organ pancreas secretes insulin which allows the transportation of glucose from blood stream to the body cells. If this chain of phenomena gets disrupted due to some reason, glucose builds up in blood, leading to diabetes. Diabetes may be classified in to the following types:

1. Type1 diabetes: In this type, body produces less insulin. The amount produced is not sufficient for moving the glucose from blood stream to body cells. As a result glucose collects in blood making you diabetic.

2. Type1 diabetes: In this type, the body cells become unresponsive to insulin. Consequently they fail to absorb the glucose from bloodstream.

3. Gestational diabetes: This type affects women who are pregnant.

Diabetes produces symptoms like excessive thirst, excessive hunger, frequent urination, weight loss, fatigue, blurry vision, irritability and slow healing of wounds. The possible diabetes triggers are heredity, aging, obesity, consumption of high fat diet, pregnancy, excessive alcohol intake, over-eating habits, stress, hypertension, high blood triglyceride levels and physical inactivity. Diabetes can lead to life-threatening complications like, heart disease, stroke, renal failures, blindness, leg ulcers and nerve damage.

Ways to control diabetes:

1. Self monitoring is now possible with devices like Glucometer. This is a boon. You can check your blood glucose levels any time you want and at home. This will help you to take timely precautions and control your soaring blood glucose levels.

2. You can control your diabetes by using external or implanted insulin pumps.

3. Intake of oral hypoglycemic drugs like Thiazolidinediones, Meglitinides, Sulfonylureas, Biguanides etc would help you to keep your glucose levels in check.

4. Consume a diet low in saturated fat and concentrated sweet and rich in fiber.

5. Exercise regularly to do away with obesity, inactivity and also for accelerating the metabolic rate. Brisk walking is quite beneficial as a diabetes control measure.

6. Give up alcohol drinking and smoking.

7. Relieve your stress through yoga, meditation, deep breathing or spas.

8. Learn from a professional the method of injecting insulin. You have to sincerely stick to the routine of taking insulin injections daily. Generally a patient has to take 2-3 insulin injections each day prior to meals.

9. Go for regular medical check ups. It will help you in controlling your diabetes.

10. You can try out the following home remedies for diabetes control:

a) Drink bitter gourd juice every morning to control your diabetes.
b) Chew fresh curry leaves two times daily to get rid of diabetes.
c) Soak fish berries in water overnight. In the morning, crush the berries to extract the juice. Drink it to lower your blood glucose levels.
d) Mix half teaspoon each of dry, powdered bay leaf and turmeric powder with 1 tablespoon Aloe Vera juice. Take the mixture twice daily to check your diabetes.
e) Boil 10-15 mango leaves in 1 glass water. Keep overnight. In the morning, strain and drink the water in empty stomach.