Six Benefits Of A Nourishing Diabetic Diet
By Delynda Lardone | August 5, 2008
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To achieve a healthier standard of living many people often implement a special diet, but for a diabetic, embracing a diabetic diet is something they do. This is because a diabetic diet helps people sustain a normal level of blood sugar. Presented below are six rewards for the diabetic who improves his health with a diabetic diet.
One major advantage is that it helps keep your blood sugar level stabilized. Having a normal level of blood sugar for a diabetic is vital because it helps ward off any future problems that can arise.
Another reward is that it helps diabetics body need less medications. All diabetics need to take medications to help their body regulate their blood sugar level. The insulin is used to help the sugar that is in your blood stream get into your cells to create energy. By keeping a proper diet of eating foods like fiber, good carbohydrates, and lean meats, many people can often lower the amount of insulin that your body requires.
An additional reward is that it can make sure that your blood sugar does not get too low which results in your becoming hyperglycemic. Your body needs sugar which your body turns into energy, it basically acts as a fuel to help your body function. When your sugar level gets too low, it can cause great damage to your body by possibly causing you to go into a coma or even lead to death.
One other reward is that it helps your body maintain a normal level of blood sugar so it does not get too high which leads to hypoglycemia. This is mainly caused by people eating too much of the wrong foods like candy and sweets. If you let your blood sugar get too high it can cause some very serious damage to your blood vessels, heart, kidneys, eyes, and nerves.
An added benefit is that you can actually lose a little bit of weight. More often than not, type 2 diabetics have developed diabetes just because they were overweight. So, if they go on a diabetic diet and lose the additional weight, they may also overcome diabetes.
A further advantage is that it can help boost your metabolism which helps process the foods you are eating much faster. This can be accomplished by simply adding a regular exercise routine into your daily plans. A simple 15 minute workout each day will help speed up your metabolism, thus providing you a healthier functioning body.
There are many advantages for everyone from diabetics to non diabetics to start on a diabetic diet. It can help provide a normal level of blood sugar, reduce the amount of insulin that your body needs, help you avoid getting hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, help you lose excess body weight, and helps you process foods much better. The sooner you start on this diet, the sooner you can start living a healthier lifestyle.
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Why Cardio Does Not Work In Me?
By Ricardo Daryans | August 4, 2008
It’s funny how cardio can work well for some, and not at all for others. It’s supposed to work great for all women and men, but it’s not always so. Here’s why and what to do.
Most of people who work in a cardio program do seven, ten or more hours per week, and still have fat in their waist to burn for a long time. But there are other people who look great with the same or with even a smaller lapse of time. Some researchers in Great Britain went insight into this paradox, and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren’t previously exercising.
Subjects exercised 5 times per week for 12 weeks. That’s a lot of exercise, but it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.2 pounds, which is great - I was positively surprised by the results. So cardio will work for some people, however, in my experience, it works best in young men, who need the help the least!
Let’s go back to the study. There was a huge variance in fat loss between individuals. Check this out…The best subject lost 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, but the worst subject actually gained 3.74 pounds.
The scientists think they know where things went sour. They classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the “Compensators” and the “Non-compensators”. The Compensators were hungrier, and as a result consumed an extra 268 calories per day, all but wiping out their cardio efforts. Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and scientists believe that was due to the huge “compensatory” increase in appetite experienced by this group.
Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? If it does, research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts. So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your appetite and calorie intake to see if you are “compensating” for your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence Training) for your weight loss efforts.
As Australian Professor Steve Boucher has shown in research, interval training increases hormones called catecholamines. And increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat-burning benefits.
The most of people will rarely be in the very small group of people who lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of cardio. To be realist, there isn’t a lot of people who can achieve to loss 8 pounds in that lapse of time with aerobic exercise.
What you have to do is check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity exercise a go for your next workout program. Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Turbulence Training.
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The Many Benefits of Ginger Root
By Susannah Singer | August 3, 2008
Zingiber officinale (better known as ginger,) is the root of a plant cultivated in the West Indies, Jamaica, and Africa but native to Asia. Ginger was introduced to Spain by Francisco de Mendosa in the early 1500’s (and eventually to the new world) but it was in demand in the far east long before that. Its safe nature and multitude of benefits have made it one of the most widely used herbs in the world.
Ginger powder comes from a perennial tuber type root (like a potato) that creeps and grows underground. The stalk has narrow leaves and grows to be about two feet tall. In the fall the tuber is harvested, dried, and ground into the herb powder. Black or coated ginger means the root was immediately scalded (not peeled) after harvesting. White or uncoated ginger was washed and scraped to prevent sprouting. To whiten it even more, white ginger is at times bleached or limed but this process robs it of some of its value.
Chemicals in ginger that give it value include volatile oil (up to 3%), acrid soft resin, lignin, gum, starch, vegeto matter, asmazone, acetic acid, potassium acetate, and sulphur.
Ginger is a traditional Asian medicine used to treat nausea. For some ginger is more effective in relieving motion sickness than Dramamine. Some expectant mothers report relief from nausea after consuming small amounts of ginger ale, ginger root or, ginger tea. Cancer victims have found relief from chemotherapy related nausea when ingesting ginger in large quantities. It will fight body odor, promote perspiration, and stimulate appetite.
Ginger also helps treat joint pain by stimulating blood circulation causing redness of the skin. This makes it effective in treating illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis and Raynaud’s syndrome.
Often ginger is used in the treatment of indigestion, flatulence, menstrual cramps and diarrhea and relieves gastrointestinal distress. It is effective because it copies some digestive enzymes used to process protein in the body.
Ginger is good for the heart as well. Just five grams of dried ginger per day slows the production of LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides in the liver. Ginger also hinders platelets from sticking together, thus decreasing the risk of stroke or heart attack.
Some recommend ginger for relief of cold symptoms since it will loosen phlegm in the throat and fight chills by spreading a warm feeling throughout the body. Many like to cook with ginger as a seasoning or drink it as a tea. One teaspoon of the powder in a gingersnap cookie recipe is prescribed.
Ginger is available in capsules, pickles, extracts, and prepared teas that can be made into compresses. The ginger root may also be consumed raw, but avoid small, wrinkled, or soft tubers. Steep ginger in hot water to make a tea, or just add it to a variety of dishes. The usual dosage is 1/3 of an ounce of fresh ginger root per day. Preserved Ginger is made by steeping the root in hot syrup. Store ginger root dry in your refrigerator for short periods. You can also freeze ginger root for up to three months.
If you are pregnant, it would be wise to restrict your use of ginger because it may stimulate uterine contractions. People taking beta-blockers, insulin, blood thinners, barbiturates, or diabetes medications should consult their doctor before using ginger because it may conflict with some of these medications. Ginger may also reduce the absorption of dietary iron and fat-soluble vitamins, and actually upset the stomach in higher doses. Also, ginger helps thin the blood. Therefore avoid taking it two weeks prior to surgery.
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Facts About Foods Diabetic People Can Eat
By Max Peykar | August 3, 2008
Diabetes can be difficult to live with, but with the right diet and proper exercise, it can be controlled. While designing the right diet, it is essential to keep in mind the foods diabetic people can eat. There are plenty of recipes that are aimed at preparing delicious and healthy foods for diabetics.
While Type I Diabetes is usually diagnosed in children, now we know that it does not affect only them. Type I diabetes, unlike Type II diabetes, is an autoimmune disease. When the beta cells, which produce insulin, in the pancreas, are damaged, the individual suffers from Type I diabetes. When the body becomes resistant to insulin, the patient suffers from Type II diabetes. Both can be combated through proper eating, which includes a varied diet consisting of foods like fat-free, sugar-free and fibrous food items.
Diabetes is mostly seen in people who are overweight and physically inactive. But, despite the stereotypical patient categorization, there are people who get the disease because of heredity. The lifestyle is almost always responsible for the onset of diabetes, because even if you are susceptible to it due to genes, you can still avoid it by following a proper diet and exercise regime. While diabetes can be kept at bay by using external medication to give enough insulin to the body, the first treatment method recommended by physicians is a practical daily diet consisting of various healthy food options.
You also have to make sure that you stay active - some kind of activity that you enjoy, whether it is walking, or dancing, or jogging - should be taken up and stuck to, for at least half an hour each day. You should also make sure that your diet is designed with healthy alternatives to your regular eating habits, and avoids things like sweets, high-fat foods and alcohol.
There are plenty of foods for the diabetic person and these must be included in their daily diet. The nutritional requirements of the body must be met - proteins, minerals, vitamins, fibrous carbohydrates and lots of water are essential. The fibrous carbs can come from excellent sources like wholemeal bread, whole grains and oats. Lean meat, legumes, seeds, nuts and fish are great sources of protein, and minerals and vitamins are both taken care of by fresh fruits and green, leafy vegetables. Plenty of water, at least eight glasses a day, is also necessary.
Unfortunately, sauces like sweet and sour, barbecue and teriyaki are not among the foods diabetics are allowed to eat - restaurant prepared and store-bought creams and sauces must also be avoided.
Other items that most emphatically are not foods diabetic people can eat are red meat, cheese, butter, carbonated drinks, eggs and mayonnaise. Unsaturated fats and unsweetened foods must be opted for, instead. Once you are diagnosed with diabetes, you have a responsibility to yourself and to those who care for you to stay healthy. It is essential to talk to a nutritionist or to your doctor, understand the foods you can eat, and design a diet you can follow as a long-term plan.
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Best Post Workout Shake For Fat Loss
By John Alvino | August 3, 2008
Post-workout nutrition has been an extremely well researched topic in the fitness industry. The studies have shown that ingesting simple carbohydrates with whey protein (in the form of a shake) assist in muscle building, recovery and in body transformation in general.
The results of these studies have shown such positive results from using these shakes, I doubt that you can find a fitness expert who doesn’t advocate their use regularly. Is this the best protocol for everyone to follow? Let’s look at this objectively and answer this question once and for all.
In my experience, I have found that post-workout nutrition is very important for the reasons mentioned above. If your goal is to gain weight, these shakes are a great way to consume a lot of “clean” calories at a time when your body is least likely to store these calories as fat.
Following a tough workout, your muscles energy stores will be depleted. Depleted muscles are hungry for replenishment and therefore soak up the majority of calories ingested at this time. This makes less calories available to be directed towards body fat stores.
But we want to burn body fat at the fastest rate possible! Will drinking a sugar laden shake enhance our fat loss efforts? Of course not. To the contrary, I have found that these shakes could be detrimental to your fat burning efforts.
After reading through all of the research, I’ve learned that these studies were not performed on subjects whose goals were fat loss specifically. So I experimented with these shakes on myself and my clients. The rate of fat loss slowed across the board. These are real world results and unlike some lab study, these findings are accurate. So to burn fat at the fastest rate possible, you must lose those high sugar post-workout shakes!
So you’re probably asking, “What should my post workout meal consist of?” The answer is simple. Just eat a solid meal! This meal will be structured just like any of your 5-6 daily meals. Be sure to consume this meal within one hour following your workout.
Remember, your rate of fat loss will always be faster when you eat healthy, solid meals. So if you want to lose your excess body fat as fast as possible, ditch the post-workout shakes. Just eat a meal instead and get a lean body in no time.
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