WAY TO PREVENT YOU FROM DIABETES

It is important to learn to learn all about diabetes. It is a disease in which the body’s ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin is impaired, resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates and elevated levels of glucose in the blood.

It is a chronic disease that affects millions of people in the world. Uncontrolled cases can cause blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and other serious conditions. Fortunately, this disease is preventable. 

Prevention is better than CURE....Here are some methods to avoid getting diabetes.

1. Reduce Sugar and Refined Carbs From Your Diet

2. Work Out Regularly

3. Drink Water as Your Primary Beverage

4. Lose Weight If You're Overweight or Obese

5. Quit Smoking

6. Follow a Very-Low-Carb Diet

7. Watch Portion Sizes

8. Avoid Sedentary Behaviors

9. Eat a High-Fiber Diet

10. Optimize Vitamin D Levels

11. Minimize Your Intake of Processed Foods

12. Drink Coffee or Tea

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3 simple ways to lose weight fast

There are many ways to lose a lot of weight fast. However, most of them will make you hungry and unsatisfied.

If you don't have iron willpower, then hunger will cause you to give up on these plans quickly.

The plan outlined here will:

• Reduce your appetite significantly.
• Make you lose weight quickly, without hunger.
• Improve your metabolic health at the same time.

Here is a simple 3-step plan to lose weight fast.

1. Cut Back on Sugars and Starches

The most important part is to cut back on sugars and starches (carbs).

These are the foods that stimulate secretion of insulin the most. If you didn't know already, insulin is the main fat storage hormone in the body.

When insulin goes down, fat has an easier time getting out of the fat stores and the body starts burning fats instead of carbs.

Another benefit of lowering insulin is that your kidneys shed excess sodium and water out of your body, which reduces bloat and unnecessary water weight (1, 2).

It is not uncommon to lose up to 10 pounds (sometimes more) in the first week of eating this way, both body fat and water weight.

This is a graph from a study comparing low-carb and low-fat diets in overweight/obese women (3).

The low-carb group is eating until fullness, while the low-fat group is calorie restricted and hungry.

Cut the carbs, lower your insulin and you will start to eat less calories automatically and without hunger (4).

Put simply, lowering your insulin puts fat loss on "autopilot."

BOTTOM LINE:Removing sugars and starches (carbs) from your diet will lower your insulin levels, kill your appetite and make you lose weight without hunger.

2. Eat Protein, Fat and Vegetables

Each one of your meals should include a protein source, a fat source and low-carb vegetables. Constructing your meals in this way will automatically bring your carb intake into the recommended range of 20-50 grams per day.

Protein Sources:

• Meat - Beef, chicken, pork, lamb, bacon, etc.
• Fish and Seafood - Salmon, trout, shrimps, lobsters, etc.
• Eggs - Omega-3 enriched or pastured eggs are best.

The importance of eating plenty of protein can not be overstated.

This has been shown to boost metabolism by 80 to 100 calories per day (5, 6, 7).

High protein diets can also reduce obsessive thoughts about food by 60%, reduce desire for late-night snacking by half, and make you so full that you automatically eat 441 fewer calories per day... just by adding protein to your diet (8, 9).

When it comes to losing weight, protein is the king of nutrients. Period.

Low-Carb Vegetables:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Spinach
• Kale
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Swiss Chard
• Lettuce
• Cucumber
• Celery
• Full list here.

Don’t be afraid to load your plate with these low-carb vegetables. You can eat massive amounts of them without going over 20-50 net carbs per day.

A diet based on meat and vegetables contains all the fiber, vitamins and minerals you need to be healthy. There is no physiological need for grains in the diet.

Fat Sources:

• Olive oil
• Coconut oil
• Avocado oil
• Butter
• Tallow

Eat 2-3 meals per day. If you find yourself hungry in the afternoon, add a 4th meal.

Don’t be afraid of eating fat, trying to do both low-carb AND low-fat at the same time is a recipe for failure. It will make you feel miserable and abandon the plan.

The best cooking fat to use is coconut oil. It is rich in fats called medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). These fats are more fulfilling than others and can boost metabolism slightly (10, 11).

There is no reason to fear these natural fats, new studies show that saturated fat doesn’t raise your heart disease risk at all (12, 13).

To see how you can assemble your meals, check out this low carb meal plan and this list of 101 low carb recipes.

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Heavy Smoking Tied to Advanced Kidney Cancer

Smoking increases the risk of advanced kidney cancer, researchers report. In a new study, a team from Duke University Medical Center reviewed the cases of 845 patients who had had surgery for kidney cancer -- or renal cell carcinoma -- between 2000 and 2009. They found that current and former smokers were 1.5 to 1.6 times more likely to have advanced cancer than nonsmokers.

Heavy smoking (smoking for a longer period of time and smoking more) was associated with advanced renal cell carcinoma. Kicking the habit reduced the risk of advanced disease by 9 percent for every 10 years that a former smoker was smoke-free, the investigators found.

The findings were slated for presentation Sunday at a special press conference at the American Urological Association's annual meeting, in Washington, D.C. Another study scheduled for presentation at the same briefing found that rates of bladder cancer did not fall along with lower rates of smoking in the United States.
The researchers examined a national database and found that lung cancer rates declined along with decreasing per capita consumption of cigarettes between 1973 and 2007, but the same type of consistent decline was not seen in bladder cancer rates.

There may have been a decrease in bladder cancer due to smoking, but that decrease may have been offset by other factors contributing to a rise in bladder cancer over the last few decades, the researchers at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse said in a news release from the American Urological Association.

"These two studies shed new insight into the role that smoking might have for two important urologic cancers," news conference moderator Dr. Toby Kohler said in the news release.
"For kidney cancer, it is true that kidney tumors are more often being detected these days when they are smaller. However, smoking seems to confer a much greater risk that the cancer may be more aggressive. Cessation of smoking seems to lower the risk," Kohler said.

"For bladder cancer on the other hand, the decrease in smoking rates has not impacted the incidence to the same degree that it has for lung cancer, suggesting that there may be other factors which are becoming more important for the development of the disease," he added.

Because these studies are being presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about bladder cancer.

Extracted from Yahoo! News

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Seven natural remedies for seasonal allergies

 With spring starting, allergy sufferers are dreading the onset of allergy season. Perhaps you are like so many patients for whom the typical allergy medications don’t work that well.

For those of you who think you may have run out of options, there are powerful natural alternatives that can help prepare your body in advance to prevent allergy symptoms and treat them if you already are suffering.

 Seven natural remedies for seasonal allergies:

1. Begin with a non-allergenic diet: Although allergens are external, it is actually our body’s response to them that is the cause of the allergy -- it is an allergic reaction. If your body is already inundated with food allergy triggers, your immune system will be hyper-wired to react to external allergens. Eliminate wheat, dairy, and excess sugar, the most common allergens.

2. Try a spoonful of honey: Choose local honey produced by bees that live in your area. The theory is that consuming honey may be much like immunotherapy, in the same way that allergists introduce tiny doses of an allergen to reduce sensitivity. As bees collect nectar from flowers, they inadvertently pick up pollen grains, which get into the honey, creating homeopathic immunotherapy.

Using honey as a preventive works best with a daily dose several weeks or months before allergy season. For example, New York City recently approved beekeeping, and one brand, called Hi-Rise Hive, is sold at local health food stores.

3. Take vitamin C and quercetin: Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and also a mast cell “stabilizer.” Mast cells are tiny cells that line the mucous membranes, which when exposed to an allergen, release histamine.

Histamine in the bloodstream is the cause of symptoms such as, eye irritation, sneezing, and a runny nose. Vitamin C makes mast cells less reactive, thus reducing allergy symptom, and quercetin is a powerful flavonoid that enhances the effects of vitamin C.

Take 1500mg of vitamin C with 500mg quercetin at the first signs of allergies and repeat every four to six hours as needed. This crafty combination can put a sneezing attack to rest within 20 to 30 minutes. Another great product, Natural D-Hist also contains singing nettle leaf, bromelein (an enzyme), and N-acetyl cysteine (thins mucous).

4. Drink stinging nettle leaf tea: If you have come in contact with this perennial, you probably remember the sting. But it's safe and healthy in drink form. Steep the tea for 10 to 15 minutes to obtain the full benefits of the medicinal oils.

5. Sooth your nose with a neti pot: Seasonal allergies are usually due to pollen from flowering plants, grasses, and trees that become stuck in the nasal passages. Pollen triggers the inflammatory process that we call allergies. One way to reduce symptoms is to wash the allergens out with salt-water.

Neti pots have been used since ancient India to clear nasal passages. Using a neti pot or a saline nasal rinse, such as Sinucleanse, is a great way to help reduce allergy symptoms.

6. Inhale steam with essential oils: Bring water to a boil in a saucepan and then turn off the heat. Place 4 drops eucalyptus oil, 1 to 2 drops tea tree oil, and 3 drops rosemary essential oil. Drape a large towel over your head and inhale deeply for 5 to 10 minutes.

7. Give acupuncture a shot: Acupuncture can be effective, and it is thought that  acupuncture may temper an overactive immune system. Applied locally, it can help reduce nasal and sinus inflammation that is the cause of much of the discomfort from allergies.

Extracted from Yahoo Site:
Wrote by Vincent Pedre M.D 

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Can You Drink Too Much Water?

Drinking too much water can lead to a condition known as water intoxication and to a related problem resulting from the dilution of sodium in the body, hyponatremia. Water intoxication is most commonly seen in infants under six months of age and sometimes in athletes. Water intoxication and hyponatremia result when a dehydrated person drinks too much water without the accompanying electrolytes.

Water Intoxication Occurs When You Drink Too Much Water

When too much water enters the body's cells, the tissues swell with the excess fluid. Your cells maintain a specific concentration gradient, so excess water outside the cells draws sodium from within the cells out into the serum in an attempt to re-establish the necessary concentration. As more water accumulates, the serum sodiu concentration drops -- a condition known as hyponatremia.

Water intoxication produces the same effects as would result from drowning in fresh water. Electrolyte imbalance and tissue swelling can cause an irregular heartbeat, allow fluid to enter the lungs, and may cause fluttering eyelids. Swelling of brain tissues can cause seizures, coma and ultimately death unless water intake is restricted and a hypertonic saline solution is administered. If treatment is given before tissue swelling causes too much cellular damage, then a complete recovery can be expected within a few days.

Problems Arise if You Drink Too Much Water Too Fast

You are unlikely to suffer from water intoxication, even if you drink a lot of water, as long as you drink over time. As a general guideline, 8-12 eight ounce glasses a day is a common recommended intake. The bottom line is this: it's possible to drink too much water, but unless you are running a marathon or an infant, water intoxication is a very uncommon condition.

To learn more, visit About.com.

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Drink water at least 6 glasses a day

Water is the universal solvent of living matter. Around 60% of out bodies are made up of water. Kidneys need water to filter the blood and eliminate unneeded substances through the urine; the digestive system need water so that the feces are not too dry or hard, causing strain; the skin needs water to maintain itself firm and healthy; and even the bones should contain an adequate proportion of water to maintain their elasticity hardness.

In effectively way, we need to apply watter externally as well as internally and also everyday we should try to drink at least six glasses of water between meals (two glasses before breakfast, two more glasses before noon meal and the other two more before the evening meal.

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The Benefits of Quitting Smoking

 











As well as reducing the risk of getting a smoking related illness, there are other benefits to quitting smoking. Toxic substances in tobacco smoke travel throughout the body, causing damage in many different ways.  A person’s increased risk of contracting disease is directly proportional to the length of time that a person continues to smoke as well as the amount smoked. However, if someone stops smoking, then these chances gradually decrease as the damage to their body is repaired.

* Change after quitting smoking:

When smokers quit, within twenty minutes of smoking that last cigarette the body begins a series of changes.

            After one day:

-         Nicotine levels down

-         Carbon Monoxide levels reduced

-         Blood pressure is lowered

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Complementary Feeding For Children

 “Breastfeeding for 2 years or longer helps children to develop and grow strong and healthy” 

Complementary feeding means giving other foods in addition to breast milk starting at 6 month of age and continuing until the infant is 2 years old. The periods from six months of age until 24 month of age is critical to a child’s growth and develop their brain. You, as health workers, have an important role in helping families during this critical time.

Breastfeeding for 2 years or longer helps a child to develop and grow strong and healthy. From 6-12 months, breastfeeding continues to provide half or more of the child’s nutritional needs, and from 12-24 months, at least one-third of their nutritional needs.

As well as good nutrition, breastfeeding continues to provide protection to the child against many illnesses and provides closeness and contact that helps the infant and young child’s psychological development.
 

All children should receive complementary foods and continue to breastfeed until they are at least 2 years old. Many Cambodian children stop breastfeeding too early (before they are 2 years old) and many are not fed the proper complementary food or enough times each day. These two problems are the main reasons for malnutrition in young children in Cambodian.

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