ABC of Diabetes!

What is DIABETES?
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or alternatively, when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. Hyperglycaemia, or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads to serious damage to many of the body's systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.

Type 1 diabetes (previously known as insulin-dependent or childhood-onset) is characterized by a lack of insulin production.

Type 1 diabetes is rapidly fatal.
Symptoms include excessive excretion of urine (polyuria), thirst (polydipsia) , constant hunger, weight loss, vision changes and fatigue. These symptoms may occur suddenly.

Type 2 diabetes (formerly called non-insulin- dependent or adult-onset) results from the bodys ineffective use of insulin.

Type 2 diabetes comprises 90% of people with diabetes around the world, and is largely the result of excess body weight and physical inactivity.
Symptoms may be similar to those of Type 1 diabetes, but are often less marked. As a result, the disease may be diagnosed several years after onset, once complications have already arisen.

What are common consequences of DIABETES?

Over time, diabetes can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves.

Diabetes Facts
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 180 million people worldwide have diabetes. This number is likely to more than double by 2030.
In 2005, an estimated 1.1 million people died from diabetes

Almost 80% of diabetes deaths occur in low and middle-income countries.
Almost half of diabetes deaths occur in people under the age of 70 years; 55% of diabetes deaths are in women.

WHO projects that diabetes deaths will increase by more than 50% in the next 10 years without urgent action. Most notably, diabetes deaths are projected to increase by over 80% in upper-middle income countries between 2006 and 2015.

Do & Dont For DIABETIC PATIENTS
Fortunately or unfortunately for the diabetes patients, there are many dont's and only a few do's. But these few do's are so powerful, if done properly, they are the cure-all for the diabetes.

Firstly, confidence and the will power to develop a fighting spirit in life, are the cornerstone for meeting the diabetes challenge. Mind is more subtle than the body. Body is made up of gross material. The same is not the case with the mind. The subtle is always more powerful than the gross.

Let me tell you about the do's first. You need to have a definite schedule for walking and for doing the right type of exercises. There are many types of physical exercises and yoga asanas, but you , in consultation with the physiotherapist, should decide, which are the right ones for you.

Similarly, the early morning walks go a long way in controlling the blood sugar levels. Avoid intensity of workouts, but swimming, walking and moderate biking and working on treadmill will do good for glucose tolerance, glucose control and in the area of overall metabolism.

Let your diet be in agreement according to the laws of nature. You will know more about it in the later part of this article.

The word diet frightens some persons, thrills many. The main purpose of the diet is to understand your food. Why you eat, what you eat! Formerly, you ate as per the demand of your stomach. Now your mind is also involved in the eating exercise.

Mind will instruct you to eat right things at the right time and avoid certain types of food altogether! When I say, diet, I have no intention of making you to starve. Eat plenty, but eat the reasonable ones and shun the unreasonable. Need has to score over taste.

I don't wish you to confuse with counting the calories. Stop eating, when you feel that you want a little more. There needs to be enough 'elbow room' in the stomach for the process of digestion.

Now, you know the causes and the reasons that led you to the pedestal of diabetes.

Avoid all types of sweets, refined sugar, oily food, foods that have too much carbohydrates and junk food. Treat junk food and processed food full of additives, as your enemy. Avoid cheese, cream and other dairy products. You are encouraged to take fruits and vegetables in which the fiber content is more. You need to avoid constipation at all costs.

Try to develop the habit of living in a relaxed atmosphere. Mental stress is also the main cause of tension, leading to the portals of diabetes.

You know, you need to defeat diabetes. Why then smoke or drink? Both are the trusted agents of the diabetes.

Let food be Thy medicine and the medicine be Thy food...the old saying goes thus!

10 Tips for Good Digestion!

1. Eat in order of digestibility. You should eat the easiest to digest foods first in each meal and slowly move towards the more complex. Think of a highway, if the slowest cars are in front they'll hold up the faster cars behind them, causing a traffic jam. The same goes for your food. Eat those fastest to digest first and save the tougher to digest foods for the second half of your meal.

Here are the time sequences for different food groups:
* Water & Juices: 20-30 minutes
* Fruits, Smoothies, Soups: 30-45 minutes
* Vegetables: 30-45 minutes
* Beans, Grains, Starches: 2-3 hours
* Meat, Fish, Poultry: 3 or more hours

2. Drink warm or hot liquids with your meal. Ice cold drinks can slow down the digestive process, think of it as putting ice on a muscle. The muscle stiffens and does not function as well. Warm or room temperature water, juice, or decaf tea will encourage proper digestion. (Just remember the traffic jam drink liquids prior to
meals)

3. Eat at regular meals times. It is important to be regular with what you eat and the times of day you eat. Eating similar food groups and at similar times each day has a regulating effect on your digestive system. Regular in means regular out.

4. Be conscious of what you eat and your portion sizes. Over consumption is the number one cause of indigestion. Our brain signals the feeling of fullness about ten minutes after we're actually full. So stop eating before you are full. Odds are you'll feel full ten minutes later!

5. Chew your food completely and don't talk while eating. Incomplete chewing and talking while eating can cause premature swallowing. Our digestive systems are not designed to digest large pieces of food, when we put large pieces in our stomachs it can lead to incomplete digestion (aka: digestive discomfort).

6. Relax while eating your meal. Eating when you are rushed increases your stress and slows down the digestive process.Create a nice calming atmosphere when eating and make sure you can devote time to eating.

7. Practice good posture. When you slouch or hunch over extra pressure is put on the digestive organs in your abdomen. This extra pressure can cause poor digestion. You should practice sitting with your shoulders back and your chin tucked in. This will allow more room for the digestive organs and will help improve digestion.

8. Don't eat late at night. Our bodies, including our digestive system, slow down in the evening hours as it gets ready to rest and rejuvenate. When we put food into our stomachs at these late hours there are not enough digestive enzymes to properly digest it. This undigested food sits in your stomach and will often disturb your sleep.

9. Take a brisk walk after eating. Forget about not be active for 30 minutes after each meal. Increased physical activity actually helps jumpstart your digestive system and increases the production of digestive enzymes. This will lead to more complete digestion of your food and less digestive discomfort!

10. Try a spinal twist. Spinal twists allow excess toxins in the digestive system to be released, which has a calming effect. While in a cross legged sitting position, slowly turn to the right and hold while taking 5 deep breathes then repeat this process on the left side.

Stress:Causes and Effects!!

Prime Causes

A stress-free existence is, perhaps, a mirage. Hans Selye aptly commented: "Complete freedom from stress is death!" The pressures of modern living ensure that stress is always lurking in the background. It is generally assumed that adverse life events or challenges called stressors cause stress. If this stress becomes very intense or chronic, it leads to stress-related diseases.

However, this phenomenon is not as simplistic as it sounds. Different individuals subjected to the same stressful event may react differently, with responses ranging from extreme to mild to absent.

Although the causes of stress are myriad, we could loosely categorize these into common and uncommon stressors. Common stressors comprise disease, academic stress (heightened during examinations), marital discord, separation or divorce, career stress, bereavement and unemployment.

The uncommon ones include overcrowding, commuting, sleep deprivation, shifts (home, school, career), malnutrition, drug abuse, phobias, excessive exercise, noise pollution, et al.

It isn't just adults who fall prey to stress. Modern lifestyles are exacting a toll on impressionable kids and unsuspecting teenagers too. In the words of Dr Chugh: "A fairly large number of children have stress problems related to studies and unrealistic parental expectations. And there are huge numbers of stressed teenagers. These are cases related to academics, relationships, parental expectations, drug and alcohol abuse and even sexual experimentation that backfires. Examination stress is phenomenally high, especially during board exams."

Frustration through sexual deprivation, social or peer pressure to conform, and the struggle for professional advancement all cause stress. It was Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) who pointed out that if psychic energy is unable to meet its original objective, it fixes upon an alternative. This impulse leads to sublimation. It can also lead to stress. While the individual adapts to the situation, if pressures become unbearable or persistent, he may enter a state of chronic stress.

Most of these stressors can ultimately impair immune functions.

Insidious Effects:
As early as the 2nd century AD, the deleterious effects of stress were recognized. In his treatise on tumors, De Tumoribus, the Greek physician Galen noted a greater tendency for development of breast cancer among melancholic women than those with sanguine traits.

Earl Wilson drove this point home laterally in his pithy observation on hypertension: "One way to get high blood pressure is to go mountain climbing over molehills."

Stress can be the culprit in palpitations, heart attacks, migraine and tension headaches, eating disorders, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, diabetes, backache, chronic fatigue syndrome, dermatitis, allergies, colds and coughs, asthma, insomnia, stammering, phobias, depression, premature aging… The list is endless.

In many illnesses, however, there may be multiple pathways by which symptoms occur, and stress may act as a predisposing, precipitating, and/or sustaining factor. Not surprisingly, many of these ailments are associated with immune alterations. The influence of stress may also be complex and indirect. In his study of gout, H. Weiner (1977) discovered that exacerbation were connected to dietary habits. Flare-ups typically occurred during periods of stress when patients exhibited less dietary control, guzzled greater amounts of alcohol, took medication less regularly and got insufficient sleep.

Can stress really cause illness? The ecumenical belief holds that an individual's emotional state can directly affect his well being. Empirical evidence demonstrates that a variety of personality traits and stressful life events are correlated with both the provocation and the increased incidence of many psychosomatic disorders, including cancer.

B.H. Fox (1978) hypothesizes two primary cancer-causing mechanisms. The first, 'carcinogenesis', involves an agent or mechanism which produces cancer by overcoming the body's natural resistance. The second, 'lowered resistance to cancer', permits a potential carcinogen normally insufficient to produce cancer to do so due to a weakened emotional state, for example.

Researchers like D.M. Kissen (1969) have argued that the stress of adverse circumstances and the loss of a loved one can lead to cancer by psychological mechanisms of "despair, depression and hopelessness".

Some researchers have linked the theory of learned helplessness to health. Helplessness has been defined as "the psychological state that frequently results when events are uncontrollable". It is used interchangeably with hopelessness, describing a feeling that a situation is without solution. Hopelessness has often been associated with early relapse and mortality in cancer studies. Examining survival rates of patients post-surgery and 10 years after a psychological interview, S. Greer (1985) found telling conclusions. Those displaying a helpless attitude or a stoic acceptance had recurrent disease or died earlier than those responding with 'denial' or a 'fighting spirit'.

In the 1950s, Dr Franz Alexander of Chicago found that strong but inhibited aggressive impulses led to increased muscle tension, a contributing factor in rheumatoid arthritis. Along with anxiety, it raised blood pressure, as though the body "were constantly in preparation for a fight which never takes place". Dr Alexander showed that high blood pressure is rare among African blacks, but frequent in American blacks-an incontrovertible proof of the damaging effects of a more stressful environment.

An American study in the 1970s discovered that 20 out of 25 new diabetics had suffered the loss of a loved one or a severe setback shortly before the symptoms developed.