Posts Tagged ‘diabetes’
Not very long ago, it was not at all out of the ordinary to see blind people strolling along the streets tap-tapping away with their white sticks, being guided by a dog, usually a Labrador, but I have not seen anyone like that in Britain for years, as far as I remember.
That has to become a good thing; it has to mean that we are starting to cure or at least improve most types of blindness.
My aunty had cataracts for years when I was a kid in the Sixties – it was just one of those facts of life. Some individuals got them when they were old and others did not.
My brother’s mother-in-law had cataracts in the late Nineties and she was enrolled on a two year waiting list to have them taken away, but at least she had hope and they were going to be taken away free of charge.
I do not know of anyone else that has eye trouble except myself. I could not get my glasses clean one day and then a friend said he saw a white spot in one of my eyes. He took me to the hospital and the optician said that I had ‘premature senile cataracts’.
Well, I live in Thailand now and he did not use those exact words. He told me that the cataracts were because I was prematurely senile.
I asked him if that was what he really meant; he looked it up in a book and we both had a hearty laugh about it, although he never really corrected himself.
My condition turned out to be a little more problematic than just cataracts, but when I went from the local hospital to a major hospital in Pattaya, the surgeon saw me within 30 minutes and asked me if I wanted the cataracts taken away.
I said that I did and she was willing to do the operation there and then. I got it postponed for 24 hours, but she would have sorted my eye out that day in a 30 minute operation, which does not need anaesthetic. I think that that was wonderful.
We have come a long way from routinely seeing blind people on the street and putting up with cataracts through a two-year waiting list to immediate removal of cataracts by laser surgery in 40-50 years.
At least we have in the West and in the East too, if you have the money. There are still millions of people in Asia and particularly in Africa suffering blindness and partial blindness for the sake of an simple 30 minute operation.
Two weeks after my surgical treatment, my other eye started to cloud over. It was as if it had been holding on with its last scrap of strength until I got his mate sorted out.
I had that one done last year and when I was permitted to take off my patch and look about me with two decent eyes again for the first time in a decade, I could not believe that I had forgotten how bright the world really is and that I had not noticed how dingy my world had gotten.
If you are concerned about an eye operation, do not be. What you will experience when you can see properly again will make all the worry seem ridiculous and if you have the chance to give someone their eyesight back, please do it.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a number of topics, and is now involved with 500 Delicious Diabetic Recipes. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Easy Diabetic Meals
What is the Atkins diet and what will you have to sacrifice in order to obtain the results you’ve seen other people get? You hate your size twelve, and you desperately want to come down to the size six that you were once, although you’ll settle for a size eight, if you have to. It doesn’t really matter as long you’re nowhere near your present size twelve!
You’ll need to start with a working knowledge of what the Atkins diet is all about and what it might encompass. However, if you don’t want to get bogged down in detail, you could always just test an Atkins diet free plan, which could assist you to get a grip on the situation.
There’s no one place I can say for you to get an Atkins diet free plan of course, but I’ve discovered that the Internet is the best place for you to find out just about anything and everything you want to know. Commence by turning on your computer, it’s really amazing how many snotty looks I receive when I state this most obvious fact! In fact, you probably did the same just now!
So, just search the Internet for an Atkins diet free plan, you’ll be amazed at the amount of other free plans that you’ll find as well. And if you’re not dead set on going the Atkins diet way, then you might just try out any one of the other free plans. As it suggests, it won’t cost you a penny more than the time spent surfing the web.
So, just what can you hope to gain from trying an Atkins diet free plan? Well, for a kick off, you can pinpoint which kind of foods you can eat and which kind of foodstuffs you can’t eat. If you’re considering going with the Atkins diet then in the induction phase alone, there are some things that you’ll have to give up in order to maintain your diet.
On that list of food, that you can eat and still stay on your Atkins diet free plan, you’ll see that you can eat cream, cheese and butter so long as you stay within your moderate daily carbohydrate allowance, but out go the fruits, the breads, the pastas and the pizzas. Basically everything that tastes lovely, you may think.
However, it is not completely true, as you’ll see as you look at the Atkins diet plan recipes which may or may not come with your Atkins diet free plan. There are quite a few great tasting foods which you can eat and although you might not realize it yet they’ll incorporate many of your favourite foods, just not everything high in carbs.
As far as drinks are concerned, the same principles remain true as in the other parts of the Atkins diet free plan. That is, you must avoid sugared drinks like Coke or Pepsi, hot chocolate and sugared tea or coffee. Moreover, you must to be careful with coffee, because it can be more addictive while on the Atkins diet for some people.
Likewise, caution is required with regard to alcohol. Some types, like lager or sherry contain too much sugar, while others, like Guinness or whisky seem to be OK in moderation. However, you ought always to refer to your Atkins diet free plan before making up your mind what you may or may not drink.
Do you need to lose those excess pounds real fast? Well, take a free look at Atkins Diet Free Plan, by visiting our resource called The Atkins Diet Plan. Unique version for reprint here: Get A Free Dr. Atkin’s Diet Plan.
Do you know what is Diabetes mellitus? Diabetes mellitus is the condition characterized by the increased level of glucose in blood. Diabetes mellitus is a common condition, and there are several individuals around the globe, who are suffering from this illness.
Diabetes mellitus develops due to several reasons. One of the major reasons is the lack of insulin inside the body. Insulin is a hormone, which controls blood sugar level. The role of insulin is to decrease glucose inside the body and transfer it to the cells and tissues, where it can be used for energy generation. Insulin is secreted by a specific area inside the pancreas, known as islet of Langerhans.
The disease can be broadly classified into two major categories; First those individuals who develop diabetes mellitus since their childhood. These are those individuals, who develop this illness as a result of lack of insulin. This is called as type I diabetes mellitus. On the contrary, there are some other individuals, who use to develop type II diabetes mellitus. This type is developed as a result of insufficient insulin in blood. It means that those who are suffering from type II diabetes mellitus still secreting insulin unlike type I; however, their secretion is insufficient to control blood sugar appropriately.
Diabetes mellitus is considered one of the major culprits of several lethal illnesses. A person may become more prone to develop heart diseases, stroke, kidney failure and other problems in the long run. According to an estimate, more than 50% individuals suffering from terminal illnesses possess diabetes mellitus since many years.
Few years back, another variant of diabetes mellitus is discovered. This variant is called as insulin resistance. According to an estimate, around 25% individuals around the globe are suffering from insulin resistance, with or without obvious symptoms of diabetes mellitus. This is condition in which a person develops resistance to insulin. It means he does have insulin secretion in his body, but it remains in inactive form.
One of the major causes of diabetes mellitus is obesity and increased body weight. Those who use to eat more carbohydrates and sugary items are also prone to develop diabetes mellitus more frequently.
It is necessary to get instant checkup for the timely diagnosis of this condition. This is the only way to prevent some lethal illness and to protect the body from several other diseases which become more common as a result of diabetes mellitus.
Want to find out more about diabetes, then visit Hazel Mccoy’s site on causes of diabetes and diet for diabetics.
Although more and more individuals are becoming aware that they ought to follow a low (er) cholesterol diet as they become older, they might not be aware of how to do this. Individuals eat out a great deal more now than ever before or they have food delivered.
Regrettably most of the food eaten at or from these places has a poor record when it comes to controlling cholesterol. You will find it difficult to impossible to follow a low cholesterol diet and eat junk food at the same time.
There are plenty of examples of low cholesterol diets on the Internet and it would be a useful thing for you to look at some of these until you find a chef’s recipes that match your tastes.
For instance, one cook might have a penchant for vegetarian cooking and so would create a collection of low cholesterol recipes containing vegetarian food, while another cook might favour fish and so would create lots of low cholesterol recipes involving fish.
Naturally, if you have more varied tastes then the world is your oyster and you can mix and match recipes from all around the world. There are a number of cultures that do not eat meat at all, for example, the Hindus. There are thousands of Hindu recipes which are naturally low in cholesterol or which could be easily modified by substituting olive oil for ghee as the oil in which to cook.
Or you might like the Japanese style of cooking, which uses a higher proportion of fish than people eat in the West. Fish is a very good source for example of HDL, or good, cholesterol. Japanese meals can be of several different styles. an unusual one of which is sushi, which has become favourite with the trend-setters.
Chinese and Thai food also contains far less meat that traditional Western recipes. They also tend to cook using soya oil, which is a product known to reduce the level of LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol. If, when you look at traditional recipes from these countries, you see something you could improve on then go ahead and adapt it.
For example, when you go to a Chinese restaurant, you always get white rice. Why not substitute brown rice? The same goes for Thai food. Brown rice is fed to convicts in Thai jails, so it is coupled with low class, hence Thais eat white rice. But you do not have to.
If you enjoy barbecues, you might have to lay off the steaks, chops, sausages and burgers, but you can still barbecue all kinds of fish, crabs, prawns and lobster. Eels are good for a barbecue too and so is unleaven bread and some vegetables such as sweet corn.
There are so many examples of low cholesterol diets that eating in this way does not have to become monotonous. In fact, it might just open your eyes to some of the other ways of cooking going on in the world. You may just end up realizing that most of the meals in your life up to now have been fairly similar.
When you are searching for examples of low cholesterol diets, bear in mind that adaptation and substitution are the best tactics – be adaptable and enjoy your new, healthier diet.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several subjects, but is now concerned with lowering cholesterol without medication. If you want to know more, please visit our site at What Foods Lower Cholesterol?
You have to be very cautious with your eyes because they can so easily be damaged beyond repair. My eyesight started to deteriorate when I reached forty, like most people. My friends and family put that down to the fact that I was sitting in front of a computer screen for about twelve hours a day and had done since I was twenty-eight. Still, there was nothing I could do about that, that was my job. I was self-conscious of wearing glasses at first, but you soon become over that.
My eyes continued to get worse and at a greater rate than friends of a similar age, but I considered that that was merely the luck of the draw. However, one morning about ten years later, I woke up and it was as if my glasses were dirty. I spent the next day or two cleaning them, but I could not seem to shift the dirt on the right lens.
By that time, my eyesight was too bad to see without specs and I only had the one pair. I had moved to rural Thailand and acquiring a second pair was no easy achievement.
After a couple of days of cleaning and polishing my glasses a friend offered to take me the 75 km to the nearest good hospital. The opthamologist looked in my eyes and said: “I am very sorry, but you are senile”. I had been called mad before, but not senile. I was fifty-two. It is not really a statement that beggars a question, so I merely looked at him and put on a glum expression, hoping that I was not confirming his diagnosis.
He looked at me and then looked in his desk, pulled out a book and opened it. “You have premature senile cataracts” he corrected himself. I was not sure whether that was any better as it implied that other parts of me may begin failing early as well. Anyway, I thanked him and left. I had no idea what to do next, but at least I knew better that to continue wasting my time attempting to clean my already spotless glasses.
My wife is very practical and she arranged for us to go to an even better hospital 650 km away. I was seen by one of the hospital’s senior eye surgeons within the hour and was told that I had a cataract in my right eye and that there was a good chance that I would develop one in the left eye too. Then she shocked me by asking: “Do you want me to remove it now?”
It was too big a decision for me to take there and then without any information, so we discussed the operation, she gave me a leaflet and I made an appointment to return the next day. The next day, I was in the operating seat. I was not going to have Laser Correction, but the full replacement of the lens. The operation is carried out under local anaestetic and does not hurt but it can be uncomfortable at times.
The surgeon cut a small opening of two millimetres a little to the outside of the colour of my eye and squirted in some liquid. She then vibrated that liquid with ultra-sound to break up the lens in my eye and flushed the pieces of lens out with more fluid before inserting the new lens through the same hole.
By this stage of my life, I could just see light and dark with my right eye, but at one point my eyesight just ceased entirely. It was like watching a window shatter before your eyes only to realise that there was nothing but blackness beyond. Now I definitely was blind in that eye. There was a bit of discomfort, but the surgeon kept talking to me and then she said: “Wait, wait, wait, can you see me?”
And I could.
Really perfectly. Better than I would have been able to fifteen years before, but everything was so bright that it dazzled. I had not realized how dingy my world had grown to be. A cataract is like having a thin curtain cover a window, it cuts out a great deal of light. Therefore, the first thing you notice when you have had a cataract removed is a flood of light. Your world literally is a brighter place – to such an extent that the light hurts.
Be careful with light after the surgery, it cannot bring about lasting damage, but it really does hurt. A passing vehicle can reflect sunlight into your eye and catch you unawares. If you are driving or riding a bicycle, it could be very dangerous. Another risk is reflection. You have an open wound on your face which can get infected by wind-borne germs.
The week following the operation is a lot more risky than the procedure itself. You have an open cut in your eye which they do not stitch. It is left to repair itself, which is not a problem, if you take care.
You have to put two kinds of drops in your eye four times a day and avoid getting water in your eye at all costs. That means do not go out in the rain and do not wash your hair in the shower. Dirt and consequent infection are your biggest enemies, so put the drops in regularly, avoid dust (and the powdered dog faeces mixed in with it) and all water and be very wary of light.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on several subjects, but is now concerned with Designer Spectacles. If you would like to know more, please go over to our website at Spectacles Direct.
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Duration : 1 min 3 sec
The short name for the ‘Atkins Nutritional Approach’ is the ‘Atkins Diet’, which was the invention of Doctor Robert Atkins. Dr. Atkins had put on a lot of excess weight while he was studying in medical school and after reading about a certain diet in the medical journal, he made up his mind to improve it and publish it under his own name.
Atkins, in his Atkins Diet book, wrote that he believed that the prevalent theories about putting on weight were completely wrong. First, he dismissed the notion that saturated fats were bad; instead he said it was it was carbohydrates that caused the weight problems Americans have these days. Atkins held that our obsession with avoiding fat actually aggravated the problem. He pointed out that the low-fat foods that were high in carbohydrates were not helping the nation, which probably meant that people on a diet often ate foods that were worse for them than what they had normally eaten.
The Atkins diet shifted the focus. Atkins said that by cutting out carbohydrates, people would burn stored body fats. And if you lose the fat, you lose the weight. He said it was not just a matter of eating less. Dr. Atkins held that your diet could actually help you burn calories. The Atkins diet supposedly burned more calories than were consumed everyday. But the claims were contested.
Dr. Atkins also touted the positive influence this Atkins diet could have on suffers of type 2 diabetes. As opposed to type 1 diabetes, type 2 is often closely associated with diet and surplus body weight. So, it should follow that any diet that helps decrease weight will help people with type 2 diabetes. The Atkins diet is low in carbohydrates, which must be avoided with type 2 diabetes regardless of caloric intake, so by means of this aspect of the diet Atkins claimed those who suffer type 2 diabetes would no longer need medication such as insulin. The medical world, in general, disagrees with Atkins on this point. They do agree, however, that a lower carbohydrate intake helps with type 2 diabetes, but there is no proof that carbohydrates cause the disease.
What are the steps one has to take to follow the Atkins diet? It is followed in four phases – Induction; On-Going Weight loss, Pre-maintenance and Lifetime Maintenance. Here is an overview of the most important phase – The Induction Phase.
The Induction phase is the most difficult phase of the Atkins diet. Atkins is flexible about the time period ” but recommends it lasts for two weeks. During this phase carbohydrates are severely limited ” you can only consume up to 20 grams per day. The goal is to enter a fat burning metabolic phase called ketosis when the body, starved of glucose, will begin converting stored fat into fatty acids needed to power the body. Weight loss during this phase can be large ” some Atkins followers reported losses of 5-10 pounds a week or more.
Learning the ideal carbohydrate levels for weight loss and for day to day intake after the weight loss ends, are the aims of the three final phases in the Atkins diet. Millions of people are still losing the weight they want to on this diet ” but beware the dangers of taking in too much fat.
Do you need to lose those excess pounds rapidly? Well, take a free look at The Atkins Diet, by going to our resource called The Atkins Diet Plan
Some people have to try to make your life miserable, if you let them. It was obvious to everyone that I looked and felt better, but some people just have to try to spoil it. I was told: lots of people have died of kidney or liver failure after being on Atkins I read it in the newspaper; you will have a heart attack, it’s not natural; your cholesterol will climb sky high and you will need your toes amputated or you will have a stroke; it will affect your eyesight. All sorts of rubbish. So, I went to see my GP, who admitted that he did not know anything about the Atkins diet, but he also added that he had heard nothing bad about it either. He sent me for a series of tests at the hospital and the results were all satisfactory. He was happy that I’d lost 18 lbs and so was I. Six weeks later, I went for another cholesterol check-up, because of the high fat levels in the diet and, although my cholesterol level was up very slightly, the doctor said there was no cause for concern at all.
The Atkins diet book warns that you might develop bad breath (halitosis). I don’t know whether I did or not – no-one said anything, but I started brushing my teeth four-five times a day just in case. I guess that’s another benefit of following the Atkins diet: increased oral hygiene. It also warns of constipation. I didn’t get that either, although I didn’t give up black coffee, which has always had a laxative effect on me. But surely you can’t suffer from constipation if you’re allowed to eat well over 1lb of greens a day? I hadn’t been eating that well before the diet! So my two main concerns were nebulous.
A couple of weeks later, I was getting bored not going out so much. I was still happy with the diet, but because I am single and am used to going out and drinking beer. So, I decided to go about this scientifically. One day, after work, I drank three pints of Guinness and felt great – the taste was wonderful. Before the diet, I would have drunk five or six pints. To my surprise and delight, the next morning the ketone stick told me that I was still ‘on the diet’. Over the following weeks, I really enjoyed experimenting to find out what would ‘work’ and what would not. I discovered that even a small amount of cider would ruin the Atkins diet; some beers and some lagers were all right; red and white wine were OK. Consuming alcohol does not knock you off the Atkins diet, but it slows down your rate of progress. Even slow progress is progress, I say. Better than giving up the diet or not going out.
Be very wary of people encouraging you to ‘just try a little bit’. They don’t understand or don’t want to understand the trouble they’re causing you. Your body can hold two days worth of carbohydrates. One chocolate, one slice of bread, a bowl of cornflakes or one sugar in your coffee will cost you TWO days to put right. Don’t let them do it to you. This is not a diet for the weekends, in fact I think that it probably could be dangerous to keep ‘falling off the wagon’, because of the high fat content of the diet, which is not dangerous if you stick to it, because you body devours fat and cholesterol in the absence of carbohydrates.
The story ends at this point, with me having got down to under 16 stone and keeping it there, until very recently when I moved to the Far East to live. Once I get used to the food and have my own house and own kitchen, I will get down to 15 stone, I’m sure I will ” with very little effort.
Well, there you have it … My grateful thanks to you, Mr. Blackwell, wherever you are these days, you changed my life and my understanding of food and drink with that book and thank you, Mr. Atkins too.
Do you want to know more about the Atkins Diet? Visit our site on Atkins dieting at: Atkins Dieting Check here for free reprint licence: The Atkins Diet Part Two)..
We live in a society where looking slim is the goal. We are driven to think that this is what we all ought to look like as well. We see the proof of this in the slim people in fashion magazines, in beauty contests on television, in adverts and in quite a few other places. There are books that are devoted to helping us get this new look. One book that attempts to help you obtain this modern look is Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution.
In Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution, we are introduced to a new life style – a low carb lifestyle. In this new method, we are told what sorts of low carb foods we can eat. Of course, we will have to follow strict rules for Dr Atkins diet to start working and helping us to shed those ugly pounds.
There are four phases to the Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution that have to be followed by anyone who wants to lose weight the Atkins diet way. These phases are: phase 1:- the Induction; phase 2:- Ongoing Weight Loss; phase 3:- Pre-maintenance and phase 4:- Maintenance. Furthermore, the dietary rules of these stages Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution book recommends taking regular exercise and taking nutritional supplements as part of his low carb diet.
In the induction stage of the diet you can lose about 15 pounds. This is achieved by controlling your carb intake to 20 grams a day. You can, however, eat lots of low carb vegetables in your diet like lettuce, broccoli and tomatoes. Unfortunately eating yoghurt, fruits, rice, corn and starchy vegetables like potatoes is out while you are on the Atkins diet. Also caffeine and alcohol drinks are not recommended.
Dr Atkins’ New Diet Revolution declares that during the induction stage, you will stabilize your blood sugar level, thus curbing various health problems that arise from unstable blood sugar, like fatigue and diabetes. It is also in this stage of the diet that you break your food addictions and your cravings for different foods like sugar.
When you enter into the 3rd and 4th stages of Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution, the book tells you that you have attained your target weight and that from now on, you get to increase your daily carb intake to up to 60 grams per day. However, from here on. if you want to stay at your ideal weight then you must stick to the Atkins diet for the rest of your life.
There really isn’t a more scientific way to lose weight and keep it off permanently. The Atkins diet does work, and by reading Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution you will be taking a step in the right direction.
Do you want to lose that excess weight rapidly? Well, take a free look at The Atkins Diet, by visiting our resource called The Atkins Diet Plan This article, Dr Atkin’s New Diet Revolution is released under a creative commons attribution licence.
