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Showing posts with label Diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diet. Show all posts

Friday, September 25

Over long term, diet and exercise are best to prevent diabetes




In a head-to-head comparison over 15 years, diet and exercise outperformed the drug metformin in preventing people at high risk for diabetes from developing the disease.
Metformin, which helps control blood sugar and can be used alone or in combination with insulin to treat type 2 diabetes, also lowered the risk of developing the disorder in the study group, just not as much as making healthy lifestyle changes did.
"The lifestyle intervention was more powerful in preventing or delaying diabetes development during the original three-year Diabetes Prevention Program and remains more powerful over the entire 15-year study," said professor David M. Nathan of George Washington University in Rockville, Maryland, a coauthor of the new paper.
"However, there are specific subgroups in which the lifestyle intervention had an even more powerful effect - specifically, those older than age 60," Nathan told Reuters Health by email. Metformin was relatively more effective in people younger than 60 and those who were more obese, he said.
The researchers followed up with the surviving participants of a diabetes prevention study between 1996 and 2001 that compared people randomly assigned to either an intensive lifestyle intervention or 850 milligrams of metformin twice daily and a group taking a placebo.
The participants were all overweight or obese and had elevated blood sugar levels, both factors that put them at very high risk for developing diabetes.
At the end of that study, the people following the lifestyle intervention, which included a low-fat, low-calorie diet and 15 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise daily, had a 58 percent lower risk of having developed diabetes compared to the placebo group. Those taking metformin were 31 percent less likely to have progressed to diabetes than those on placebo.
Since the lifestyle intervention had worked so well, all participants were offered a version of it for one year after the study concluded.
As of 2014, almost 90 percent of the original group, or 2,776 people, had been followed since the end of the first study, and based on their original group assignments, they were offered lifestyle reinforcement seminars twice yearly or continued to receive metformin.
After an average of 15 years, diabetes incidence was lower by 27 percent in the lifestyle intervention group and 18 percent in the metformin group compared to the placebo group.
In 2014, 55 percent of the lifestyle group, 56 percent of the metformin group and 62 percent of the placebo group had been diagnosed with diabetes, according to the results in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.
The researchers also tested for changes in the tiny blood vessels of the kidney and retina and for nerve damage over time, all of which are associated with diabetes. The presence of these "microvascular complications" did not differ between groups overall. But among women in particular, the lifestyle group was less likely to show this kind of damage.
People who did not develop diabetes were almost 30 percent less likely to have kidney, retina or nerve damage than those who did.
"The complications that we were studying represent the early manifestations of this microvascular disease and were generally asymptomatic," Nathan said. "It usually takes 10-20 years for these complications to become clinically serious."
It was surprising that although lifestyle changes did reduce the risk of diabetes, they did not always reduce the risk of microvascular complications, according to Dr. Anoop Misra, director of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases for Diabetes Foundation India, who authored a commentary alongside the new results.
"Metformin could be especially useful in people who are unable to follow diet and exercise strictly, who are obese, have polycystic ovarian disease, or cannot walk or exercise due to physical infirmity," Misra told Reuters Health by email. "It is a low cost drug, and could be useful in underprivileged populations also."
As the American Diabetes Association recommends, Nathan said, lifestyle interventions should be the first choice for diabetes prevention, with metformin recommended for younger and more obese people.

How strong is the science behind the U.S. Dietary Guidelines?


The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans influence nearly every aspect of how we eat, from the information on food labels to the ingredients in school lunches to the nutrition advice doctors give.
They're updated every five years, and new guidelines are expected this fall, after a report from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.
The committee's leader has emphasized the importance of including only the best medical evidence and said all committee members are vetted.
But an article published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal said the report used to set the guidelines might be biased and could come from an incomplete survey of the current research.
The 2015 report "used weak scientific standards (which) seems to have made the report vulnerable to internal bias as well as outside agendas," food journalist Nina Teicholz wrote in the British Medical Journal.
    Nutrition experts said the debate likely won't change the guidelines or the way consumers eat -- but it may spark frustration as they try to get a clear answer: What does a healthy diet look like?

    The research behind a healthy diet

    The 2015 dietary guidelines report relied on existing reviews of the evidence base, rather than conducting original reviews, but the committee left out important studies, according to Teicholz, who wrote the book, "The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet." The reviews have examined, for example, clinical trials and observational studies on whether there is a link between saturated fat consumption and heart disease and have come up with conflicting results.
    The result is that the 2015 dietary guidelines report overstated the evidence for the health risks of saturated fats and understated the importance of a low-carbohydrate diet, Teicholz said. Although the recent report broke with earlier publications by exonerating cholesterol and avoiding a limit on total fats in the diet, it did state that saturated fats should not exceed 10% of total calories.
    "I think (Teicholz) has really put her finger on something important here," said Jeff Volek, a professor of human sciences at Ohio State University, who has criticized the dietary guidelines in the past. "The committee certainly missed the boat on a lot of existing data" that suggest saturated fats are not associated with heart disease and other chronic health problems, Volek said. He argued that the advisory committee didn't give enough credit to some large analyses, as well as some of his own studies on saturated fat and heart disease.
    Advice to restrict saturated fat has backfired, Volek said, because people replaced those calories with carbohydrates and sugar, and rates of obesity and diabetes in the country continue to rise. Instead, diets low in carbohydrates and without limits on saturated fats should be an option, especially for people with diabetes and prediabetes, he said. He noted that the 2015 report does include some changes he sees as positive, such as not recommending a limit on total fat.
    Barbara Millen, chairwoman of the most recent advisory committee, told CNN that all of the best studies on saturated fat and carbohydrates were considered for the report. To be included, studies had to meet a long list of criteria, such as looking at health effects of dietary components over a long enough period of time.
    The committee relied on existing analyses of research only if they included the most relevant studies, said Millen, who is president of Millennium Prevention, a company that develops technologies to manage diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. If not, the advisory committee commissioned its own original analyses.
    Criticism of the British Medical Journal piece was published in The Verge, which said some of the studies Teicholz noted were not relevant or were outside of the purview of the report. The focus of the committee's report, the Verge writer noted, is on maintaining health and not on preventing disease.

    Exploring conflicts on the committee

    The British Medical Journal article raises the possibility of conflicts of interest among members of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. For example, Millen's Millennium Prevention sells mobile apps for monitoring health, and the report recommends self-monitoring technologies. Other members of the committee have received research funding from companies that make vegetable oil products and groups that advocate eating nuts.
    There could be pressure to maintain status quo guidelines, possibly because scientists have staked their careers on certain dietary paradigms or because of pressure from food industry groups, Volek said.
    The committee might not be in the best position to judge the most relevant studies, said Edward Archer, an obesity theorist at the Obesity and Nutrition Research Center at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture "choose people who are going to agree with previous guidelines," Archer said.
    But Millen said consultants and committee members were extensively vetted and "determined to have no conflicts that were related to this report, end of story."
    "What is important is that you are very transparent about (potential conflicts of interest), and the vetting the federal government does is extraordinary," Millen said.
    The points raised in the journal article probably won't change much about how consumers eat, said Jeanne P. Goldberg, professor of nutrition at Tufts University and director of the graduate program in nutrition communication and behavior change. These reports used to set the guidelines are too complicated for the average person to use as dietary guides, and professionals and policymakers have probably already formed their opinions, Goldberg said. She is not on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, but two of her Tufts colleagues are.
    She said the report is a good update, and science will always involve adding more data and gathering expert opinions.
    What the controversy could do is cause "consumers to want to throw up their hands (because) it plays out in the media as 'the science can't get it right,'" Goldberg said.

    US diet committee calls criticism 'woefully inadequate and factually incorrect'


    Earlier this week, the British Medical Journal published an error-laden "investigation" of US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee's February report, which informs the new dietary guidelines that the government will release later this year. Because of the journal's prestige, a number of news outlets — including Time, Newsweek, and Mother Jones —reported the story without questioning the faulty reporting. Now, the committee is shooting back.
    The "article is woefully misleading and in many cases, factually incorrect," the committee writes in its response, published on the BMJ's website. The response also points out that the author of the investigation, Nina Teicholz, "is a self-identified investigative reporter who has been on a quest for quite a long time to promote her own book in the popular press entitled The Big Fat Surprise: Why butter, meat and cheese belong in a healthy diet."
    TEICHOLZ HAS BEEN "ON A QUEST FOR QUITE A LONG TIME TO PROMOTE HER OWN BOOK."
    Every five years, the US government publishes a new set of dietary guidelines. These guidelines are incredibly important; they affect everything from school lunches to scientific research. But the BMJ got snookered into publishing some pro-fat propaganda — providing more ammunition for a meat industry that wants to nix the committee's advice on lowering the consumption of red meat.
    As The Verge reported on Wednesday, the BMJ's investigation is full of erroneous statements. For instance, Teicholz faults the committee for "deleting meat" from the list of recommended foods. She does this even though the report clearly states that "lean meats can be a part of a healthy dietary pattern." She also says that the committee's analysis of nutrition science overlooked a number of key studies, including one performed on people with type 2 diabetes. This criticism is ridiculous; the dietary guidelines aren't supposed to be used to manage an illness, so including that study in the committee's analysis would have been incorrect. The guidelines can only be used to promote good health and lower the risk of chronic illness — once someone receives a diabetes diagnosis, the guidelines aren't applicable anymore.
    The committee addresses and refutes Teicholz’s claims, calling them unfounded:
    The BMJ report is also highly misleading by stating that the 2015 DGAC continues to recommend low-fat high carb eating patterns. The DGAC report explicitly states that "dietary advice should put the emphasis on optimizing types of dietary fat and not reducing total fat" and that "The consumption of ‘low-fat’ or ‘nonfat’ products with high amounts of refined grains and added sugars should be discouraged."
    FAULTING THE COMMITTEE FOR "DELETING MEAT."
    When The Verge spoke with Teicholz about her statements regarding the supposed "deletion of meat," she countered that "the report does not have a clear sense of what it wants to say." When we pointed out that a study on type 2 diabetes is entirely irrelevant, she showed a shaky understanding of the committee's mandate. "I guess that your point is [the committee] has a mandate to prevent diabetes and not cure diabetes," Teicholz told The Verge on the phone. "Well I think if you talk to any scientist they will [say] you don’t have one approach for preventing a disease, another for fighting a disease, and another for curing a disease — it’s all part of the same approach of what is a healthy diet."
    Starting Tuesday, The Verge reached out to the BMJ six times by email and six times by phone. Press officers responded on occasion and promised that an editor would get back to us — but so far, none have.
    It is truly unfortunate that the BMJ saw fit to publish such a poorly reported and abysmally fact-checked "investigative" piece (a note at the bottom of the article states that it was, apparently, fact-checked). Now that the story has spread to mainstream outlets, the faulty and inaccurate investigation will likely be used by the meat lobby to undercut the sciencebehind the 2015 dietary guidelines.

    Monday, February 2

    Vegan Food - Veganism



    Diet plays a critical role when it comes to our overall health and well-being. As such, it is important to establish the best type of diet that will enable your body to generate the necessary energy, as well as fight off diseases. The internet is awash with many ideas on some of the diets that you can consider in your meals. It can be quite confusing when you are searching for the best or most effective diet to meet your expectations. One of the common types of diets is the veganism.

    Veganism is a vegetarian diet that focuses on eliminating certain foods from your diet. Some of the foods excluded from the diet include meat, dairy products, eggs and other animal related ingredients. Due to the nature of their diets, vegan’s diets include grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and beans. It is worth to note that vegans have their own hot dogs, ice cream and cheese. Sticking to a vegan diet comes with a number of benefits. Some of these benefits include avoiding diets related to conditions such as cancer and diabetes. In essence, most of the medical and health problems facing people emanate from the diet. In this case, the fat from meats and cholesterol from beef products is a leading cause of heart-related conditions. As such, avoiding these foods in your diet is a great way of ensuring that you remain healthy.


    Secondly, vegans eat foods that are rich in nutrients and vital components that boost the body’s immune system. Studies reveal that vegans are less likely to fall ill from lifestyle illnesses that accost people who are not vegans. In essence, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits have a high content when it comes to nutrients and fiber. These plant-based nutrients contain high levels of protein. Some of the foods that contain high protein content include the peanuts, soy, and beans. Having them in the diet has a major impact on the general development of the body. As such, vegans tend to remain healthy and strong when compared to people who are not vegans.
    If you would like to be a vegan, it is important to do so in a gradual process. Essentially, to be a long-term vegan, you need to start by being a vegetarian. In fact, most of the vegans were vegetarians who made a gradual shift to becoming vegans. Even if one could jump straight into it, you need to establish some of the challenges that you will encounter. Having the right information will enable you to have the right frame of mind when you are becoming a vegan.
    The choice to be a vegan is quite liberating. Vegans do not struggle with the urges and cravings that lead them to eat toxic food substances. In addition, being a vegan is a great way to uphold animal rights. As most vegans agree, avoiding to eating meat gives the animals the right to exist freely in the world. In the end, it is an effective way of perpetuating a cruelty-free society.

    Wednesday, January 7

    Foods to eat to lose weight


    Food to lose wight
    Foods to eat to lose weight
    One year, you're filling your pantry with only fat-free "goodies." The next, just juice and raw veggies, please. The year after that, you're eating like a caveman.
    It seems we'll try anything and everything to lose weight. And often we learn the hard way that most fad diets fail. But a more recent approach, developed by dietitian and therapist Ellyn Satter, is promising to change the way people look at weight loss.
    "Eating competence" — an alternative to those here-today-gone-tomorrow diets — is especially promising around the holidays because it's designed to make you feel good again about eating, allowing you to eat food you enjoy while teaching you to be more in tune with your body. According to research first published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, people who are competent eaters make healthier food choices and have healthier body weights and cholesterol and blood pressure levels.
    These simple steps will get you started in the new year and, hopefully, change your outlook — and waistline — for good.
    1 Crowd out less nutritious foods, but don't restrict them. Tell people they can't have pizza for five days and what do they crave? Pizza. On day six, what do they eat? Pizza. A lot of pizza. Numerous research studies have shown that for long-term weight loss success, restrictions don't work. Rather than taking away problem foods, add in more and more healthy ones. Serve a salad with your pizza. Next, add in some sautéed veggies. Tack on a beautiful fruit salad. Before long, the pizza is no longer a solo act.
    2 Forget the numbers. Eating healthy shouldn't be a complicated mathematical equation. Rather than calculating total calories, grams of fat and all that, simply read a food item's list of ingredients. Look for a short list fewer than five ingredients is a good rule of thumb and be wary of anything that sounds like a chemical or that you wouldn't stock in your own pantry. If a food has ingredients that sound like real food, most likely it will be good for you, too. No calculator required.
    3 Be mindful of your hunger cues. So often, we get in our own way. We eat because we're bored, sad or stressed, not necessarily because we're hungry. The first step in overcoming this tendency is to be mindful of your body's hunger—and fullness—cues every time you eat. Assess clearly what your body is telling you. Then eat enough to make you full and no more. It's amazing what your body will tell you if you simply take your time and pay attention.
    4: Make mealtime a habit. Commit to making mealtime a regularly scheduled part of your day, and treat it like any other important appointment on your calendar. Our bodies perform best when they get food on a regular basis. If you skip lunch a few days or push dinner off until 9 p.m., your metabolism goes haywire.
    5: Sit down for your snacks. We've all been there: It's 9 a.m. and you're starved because you only had time for a cereal bar for breakfast. Or it's 2 p.m. and the vending machine monster is calling your name. But the habit of grabbing and gobbling "whatever works" can add up. For a healthier approach, think about snacks as mini-meals. Include a healthy balance from at least two food groups, and actually take a minute to sit down and enjoy it.
    6: Learn to like your veggies. If the words "Finish your veggies before you get dessert" still haunt you, it's time to make peace. People who don't love veggies tend to give up on them rather than making them flavorful by preparing them with infused olive oils, sea salt and different herbs. Try all those (no fancy recipes required), and be patient. It can take people several dozen times to learn to like a new food.
    7: Eat food you enjoy, without the guilt. Do you love a chocolate croissant? How about a frosted brownie? Great news: You can still eat all of them. The goal here is to make the forbidden foods seem like ordinary foods, so you can eat them in ordinary ways (instead of hiding in the pantry and gobbling down eight cookies as fast as you can). About once or twice a week, enjoy your favorite treat as an afternoon snack. Or include a serving of dessert with your meal—it's even OK to eat it before you eat your veggies. Just make sure to savor the flavors and enjoy the experience, without the guilt. Make it normal and you won't need to binge.

    Saturday, January 5

    More Than Just a Diet For Losing Weight












     





    More Than Just a Diet For Losing Weight

    A suitably planned course of dietetic treatment, in conjunction with suitable exercise and other measures for promoting elimination is the only scientific way of dealing with obesity.

    The chief consideration in this treatment should be the balanced selection of foods which provide the maximum essential nutrients with the least number of calories.

    To begin with, the patient should undertake a juice fast for seven to ten days. Juices of lemon, grape fruit, orange, pineapple, cabbage, celery, may be taken during this period. Long juice fast up to 40 days can also be undertaken, but only under expert guidance and supervision.

     In the alternative, short juice fasts should be repeated at regular intervals of two months or so until the desired reduction in weight is achieved. After the juice fast, the patient should spend a further four or five days on an all-fruit diet, taking three meals of fresh juicy fruits such as oranges, grapefruit, pineapple and papaya. Thereafter, he may gradually embark upon a low-calorie well- balanced diet of three basic food groups, ( i ) namely seeds, nuts and grains, ( ii ) vegetables and ( iii )fruits, with emphasis on raw fruits,
    vegetables, and fresh juices.

    The foods which should be drastically curtailed or altogether avoided are high-fat foods such as butter, cheese, chocolates, cream, ice-cream, fat meats, fried foods, and gravies; high
    carbohydrate foods like bread, candy, cake, cookies, cereal products, legumes, potatoes,
    honey, sugar, syrup and rich puddings beverages such as all-fountain drinks and alcoholic
    drinks

    Monday, December 3

    A Novel Diet for Hypoglycaemia














    The high animal protein diet generally prescribed for hypoglycaemia is not suitable for this
    disorder. It may help control the condition temporarily, but it is harmful in many other respects and may result in other diseases like heart trouble, arteries, kidney problems and cancer.

    The ideal diet for hypoglycaemia should be based on three basic food groups, namely grains, seeds and nuts, vegetable oils. Seeds, nuts and grains should be the main constituents of the diet. Seeds and nuts should be taken in their raw form. Grains, in the form of cereals, should be cooked. Cooked grains are digested slowly and release sugar into the blood gradually six to eight hours after meals. This will keep the blood sugar level normal and constant for a long period.

    Persons suffering from low blood sugar should take six to eight small meals a day instead of two or three large ones. Eating raw nuts and seeds such as pumpkin or sunflower seeds or drinking milk, butter milk or fruit juices between meals will be highly beneficial. All refined and processed foods, white sugar, white flour and their by-products should be completely eliminated from the diet.

    Coffee, alcohol and soft drinks should also be avoided. The consumption of salt should be reduced as an excessive intake of salt causes loss of blood potassium, which causes blood
    sugar to drop. The following is the menu suggested for hypoglycaemia.
    * On rising: Fresh fruits such as apples, peaches, melons, berries, avocado or a glass of fresh fruit juice.
    * Breakfast: Nuts, seeds, fruit, cottage cheese and buttermilk.
    * Mid-morning: Fruit, fruit juice or tomato juice.
    * Lunch: Cooked cereals and milk.
    * Mid-afternoon: A glass of fruit or vegetable juice or a snack consisting of nuts.
    * Dinner: Vegetable salad with a cooked vegetable from among those allowed, one or two slices of whole wheat bread, cottage cheese and butter milk.
    * On retiring: A glass of milk or buttermilk.
    Vegetables which can be taken in hypoglycaemia are asparagus, beets, carrots, cucumbers,
    egg-plants, peas, radishes, tomatoes, spinach, kale, lettuce, beans, baked potatoes. Fruits
    which can be taken are apples, apricots, berries, peaches, and pineapples. Consumption of citrus should be limited.

    Wednesday, November 28

    Losing Weight with the Lemon juice diet

    Lemon
















    You want to lose your weight try this metod its so simple and easy...

    Another effective remedy for obesity is an exclusive lemon juice diet. 
    On the first day the patient should be given nothing but plenty of water. 
    On the second day juice of three lemons mixed with equal amount of water should be given.

    One lemon should be subsequently increased each day until the juice of 12 lemons is consumed per day. 

    Then the number of lemons should be decreased in the same order until three lemons are taken in a day. 

    The patient may feel weak and hungry the first two days, but afterwards the condition will stabilise itself.

    Saturday, May 5

    Create Your Own Healthy Eating Plan For Greater Weight Loss


















    One of the hardest things about losing weight is finding foods that are nutritious, tasty and low fat and so the ideal way to ensure that food is varied as well as nutritious is to create your own healthy eating plan. This is not difficult to do providing you are able to plan ahead.
    If your lifestyle borders on erratic and unorganized, then rethinking your association with food on the run is vital. Developing a positive mindset is important when you start any healthy eating plan; this is simply because making changes to your current eating habits can be difficult but instead of seeing it as a negative process or as a necessary evil, think of your healthy eating plan as a challenge and one where you will succeed.

    Learning all about the nutritional values of food needn't be a chore because the more that you can comprehend what those food sources will do for you individually; this will help you to develop a healthy relationship with food. When you create your healthy eating plan, you also change your connection with food entirely and this means avoiding issues such as comfort eating. Creating your own healthy eating plan will pay dividends in the long run and offers many benefits in the process.

    Our food pyramid, look here >> Food Pyramid
    Some of the benefits of creating your own plan include:

    · Fresh, nutritious food suited to your individual requirements
    · Helps you to plan ahead so you buy only the food that is necessary saving you money on your weekly shop
    · Frees up time during the week so that you can relax with family or do the things that you want to do.
    · Preparing food ahead also helps to stop you from snacking in between meals.
    · Learning to enjoy food. Mealtimes should be an occasion and one to be shared with family and friends. Too often mealtimes are rushed.

    If you seriously wish to lose weight then it is imperative that you change your current eating habits. It can help to keep a food journal for a while so that you can start seeing any recurring eating patterns and if negative patterns do start to emerge, then they need to be addressed and eliminated. Stress or problems in general could make you waiver on your diet forcing you to comfort eat, if you feel that this could happen you need to create an alternative way in which to deal with those negative situations.

    Once you understand how to make a diet work for you then it will no longer be an uphill struggle. Learn to work with your individual needs but just keep the focus on reaching your goal weight so then you will be much more likely to stick with your healthy eating plan.

    Kevin Graham serves as the Managing Director at Empower Me Photo. Empower Me Photo provides tools to help those seeking to stay on their diet or exercise program over the long run - by showing how you are going to look AFTER you lose the weight.

    You will be amazed at how you are going to look - and your empowering photo can be in your hand as quickly as tomorrow. And you will be inspired, motivated, and yes, EMPOWERED, to stay on your program over the long run.

    You are welcome to download our free 7 Secrets to Visualize Your Future using the world's best weight loss tool.

    Our Weight Loss Success Stories are impressive.

    Saturday, October 1

    Type 2 Diabetes and preventions for it...












    What is Type 2 Diabetes?
    Type 2 Diabetes, also known as non-insulin dependent or adult-onset diabetes, is the most common form of diabetes and usually develops in overweight people after the age of 40 due to the body not responding to insulin properly, causing there to be too much glucose (a type of sugar) in the blood.

    The risk of developing type 2 diabetes is increased by being overweight and inactive, having a family history of diabetes, and eating too much fat and refined carbohydrates.
    Type 2 diabetes can be managed, and in some rare cases reversed, through healthy eating, weight control and physical activity.

    How to prevent type 2 diabetes with diet.
    As type 2 diabetes is predominately a lifestyle disease, following a healthy eating plan and regular exercise is the best way to stave of this disease. 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise most days should be maintained.

    How to control type 2 diabetes with diet.
    Diet has a huge influence on not only controlling weight, but also blood glucose levels. When suffering from diabetes of any kind it is recommended that you follow a healthy eating plan based on high-fibre foods, as well as choosing foods low in saturated fats and sodium. Only eating a moderate amount of sugars is also recommended.

    Tuesday, September 13

    Diet for Hypoglycemia






















    The high animal protein diet generally prescribed for hypoglycaemia is not suitable for this disorder. It may help control the condition temporarily, but it is harmful in many other respects and may result in other diseases like heart 4trouble, arteries, kidney problems and cancer. 

    The ideal diet for hypoglycaemia should be based on three basic food groups, namely grains, seeds and nuts, vegetable oils. 

    Seeds, nuts and grains should be the main constituents of the diet. Seeds and nuts should be taken in their raw form. Grains, in the form of cereals, should be cooked. Cooked grains are digested slowly and release sugar into the blood gradually six to eight hours after meals. This will keep the blood sugar level normal and constant for a long period.
    Persons suffering from low blood sugar should take six to eight small meals a day instead of two or three large ones. Eating raw nuts and seeds such as pumpkin or sunflower seeds or drinking milk, butter milk or fruit juices between meals will be highly beneficial. All refined and processed foods, white sugar, white flour and their by-products should be completely eliminated from the diet.

    Coffee, alcohol and soft drinks should also be avoided. The consumption of salt should be reduced as an excessive intake of salt causes loss of blood potassium, which causes blood sugar to drop. The following is the menu suggested for hypoglycaemia.

    * On rising: Fresh fruits such as apples, peaches, melons, berries, avocado or a glass of fresh fruit juice.

    * Breakfast: Nuts, seeds, fruit, cottage cheese and buttermilk.

    * Mid-morning: Fruit, fruit juice or tomato juice.

    * Lunch: Cooked cereals and milk.

    * Mid-afternoon: A glass of fruit or vegetable juice or a snack consisting of nuts.

    * Dinner: Vegetable salad with a cooked vegetable from among those allowed, one or two slices of whole wheat bread, cottage cheese and butter milk.

    * On retiring: A glass of milk or buttermilk.

    Vegetables which can be taken in hypoglycaemia are asparagus, beets, carrots, cucumbers, egg-plants, peas, radishes, tomatoes, spinach, kale, lettuce, beans, baked potatoes. Fruits which can be taken are apples, apricots, berries, peaches, and pineapples. Consumption of citrus should be limited.

    Friday, August 12

    Great Honey Cure for Overweight















    Ingestion of honey is an excellent home remedy for obesity. It mobilises the extra deposited fat in the body and puts it into circulation which is utilised as energy for normal functions.

    One should start with small quantity of about 10 grams to be taken with hot water. The dose can be gradually increased.

    Fasting on honey-lime juice water is highly beneficial in the treatment of obesity without the loss of energy and appetite. In this mode of treatment, one spoon of fresh honey should be mmixed with the juice of half a lime in a glass of lukewarm water and taken at regular intervals.

    Thursday, June 30

    One off the best juice diet for Asthma


     















    Asthmatics should always eat less than their capacity.
    The patient should fast for a few days on lemon juice with honey and thereafter resort to a fruit juice diet to nourish the system and eliminate the toxins. Gradually, solid foods can be included.

    The patient should, however, avoid the common dietetic errors. Ideally, his diet should contain a limited quantity of carbohydrates, fats and proteins which are acid-forming foods, and a liberal quantity of alkaline foods consisting of fresh fruits, green vegetables and germinated gram.

    Foods which tend to produce phlegm such as rice, sugar, lentils and curds as also fried and other difficult- to- digest foods should be avoided. Breakfast may consist of prunes, orange or berries or a few black raisins with honey. 

    Lunch and dinner should consist of a salad of raw vegetables such as cucumber, lettuce, tomato, carrot and beets, one or two lightly cooked green vegetables and wheat bread. The last meal should preferably be taken before sunset or at least two hours before going to bed.
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