Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Know About Diabetes Diet

Most people have the misconception that if you have diabetes you need to follow a strict diet plan. However, contrary to what most people believe, having diabetes needn't restrict your diet choices. An ideal diabetes diet needs to include an assortment of foods in moderate quantities. Here are a few pointers to help you create your own diabetes planner.

Follow the natural path

When you have diabetes, the ultimate aim of your diet plan should be to reduce the fat content and enhance the nutrients in the food. That can be accomplished if you use a specialized diabetes carb counter to count the calories in your meals and also including plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as whole grains.

Meal times

Many people tend to eat at odd times which can disrupt the natural digestive process of the body. Hence people with diabetes need to set regular timelines for meals and snacks. While a certain amount of diabetes carb counting does help to reduce the calorie intake, it is not the only thing that will aid you in a healthy eating endeavour. Eating at regular times every day of the week, month and year is what will help manage diabetes better. Keep a reminder, an alarm - basically do whatever you need to remember your meal times.

Carbohydrate counting

Since carbohydrates contribute to the overall sugar levels in the body, it helps to keep track of the amount of carbohydrates you are ingesting in your meals. You can make use of a regular diabetes carb counter to keep effective track. Typically it is the foods that have a high glycemic index that are dangerous as they raise blood sugar rapidly. However that doesn't necessarily mean that the low glycemic foods are a healthy option all the time.

The substitution method

One effective way to cut down on the amount of carbohydrates you consume and to avoid an overload of a particular nutrient is by using an exchange mechanism. So you could try substituting a potato with beans or corn as they cut down on the starch levels. You could take help from a dietician to chart out a diabetes planner to help you manage your meal plans.

Creativity goes a long way

Whoever said that healthy food is boring didn't know what he or she was talking about! With a little imagination and creativity you can transform some of the most mundane vegetables into tasty treats. Since your diabetes diet will need to include a rich range of vegetables and grains, you might need to look up some interesting recipes to try.

For more http://www.coheso.com advice and suggestions on creating and following a proper diabetes diet visit us at Diabetes Diet and Calorie Counter

Diabetes Diet And Health

Diabetes is an unceasing disease associated with abnormally high levels of sugar in the blood. People with diabetes should avoid using nicotinic acid. It is an unpredictable disease which causes a high glucose level and can cause kidney failure - this develops in about 20% of all patients with diabetes. High blood sugar also called diabetes mellitus. Diabetes can occur when your body doesn't make enough insulin to keep your blood sugar controlled. This is called Type I diabetes. In overweight individuals, diabetes is often caused by insulin resistance, where insulin levels may be elevated, but the body's tissues are resistant to its effects. This is also known as Type II diabetes. Diet acts an important role in controlling the diabetes. The diabetic diet may be used alone or else in combination with insulin doses or with oral hypoglycemic drugs. Main objective of diabetic diet is to maintain ideal body weight, by providing adequate nutrition along with normal blood sugar levels in blood. The diet plan for a diabetic is based on height, weight, age, sex, physical activity and nature of diabetes. While planning diet, the dietician has to consider complications such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels. Here the patients require something which can provide all the information about the calories, sugar level that can calculate the calories and sugar level.

Effective diabetic-management requires a healthy regular lifestyle which should include-

Working towards obtaining ideal body weight
Regular balanced diet & following a diabetic diet
Regular exercise
Sensible weight control
Diabetic medication if needed

Diabetes can be controlled by the daily activities, patient should know that what, when, and how much eating will affect the blood glucose level. Following are some advices that are very beneficial for the diabetes -

Eat the same amount of food each day.
Eat at about the same times each day.
Make sure the gaps between your meals are short.
Take the medicines at the same times each day.
Exercise at the same times each day.
Drink a lot of water that will help flush the toxins off your system.
Take good sleep daily.
Every day, choose foods from these food groups: starches, vegetables, fruit, meat and meat substitutes, and milk and yogurt. How much of each depends on how many calories is need a day.
Limit the amounts of fats and sweets each day.

There are many types of equipment or calorie counter that provides the all counts which are required. But getting the best is the more important because it’s all about the health. Patients need to check nutrition information, sugar level and other things that generate the diet according to all these information.

Coheso, Inc. ( http://www.coheso.com ) makes handheld devices and diaries for diabetes management and weight loss. Track3 is a small customizable handheld carb and calorie counter that helps individuals self-manage their diabetes. Information about diabetes is at Diabetes Diet. CalorieSmart is a handheld calorie counter that helps people tailor their weight loss plan. More information about CalorieSmart can be found at http://www.coheso.com/caloriesmart-d.html

Calorie Counter

If you are thinking of creating a weight loss plan that probably means you would like to lose weight. Great – that’s the first step: deciding that weight loss is important to you. But before you begin, ask yourself a few more questions about a weight loss plan. How much do you want to lose – just a few pounds or many pounds? Why do you want to lose weight – for health reasons, to improve your appearance, or both? Understanding your motivations for weight loss will help you create a plan that’s right for you based on your needs. This is because real weight loss is an element of an overall healthy and long-term way of living: a permanent lifestyle change.

When you look at a weight loss plan based on understanding your own needs and motivations, you can create a plan that’s tailored to your goals. Once you have this understanding, your plan is more likely to be successful. Set realistic goals for weight loss that include healthy and moderate weight loss over a long period of time – don’t aim for too much weight loss too quickly. Effective weight loss involves realistic weight reduction goals lost slowly but consistently. After you have established your needs and goals, start to develop a concrete plan for weight loss. Successful weight loss plans that last over the long-term tend to share two other common characteristics: healthy eating patterns and regular exercise. Assess your eating habits. Do you eat healthy, nutritious foods in the right portion sizes? You can use a calorie counter to lookup nutrition information on foods including foods from restaurants and fast foods places. Calorie counting is an important element of a healthy diet. Learning how many calories you need is an important part of successful weight loss. If figuring out the number of calories seems like a hassle, use a calorie counter. Efficient and portable, calorie counters provide data on thousands of different foods – whether you are at home or on the go. Calorie counters provide accurate nutrition information for the serving size that you choose.

Exercise is an equally important component of a weight loss plan. Exercise burns calories and improves your health. In addition to showing you the number of calories in your foods, calorie counters can show you how many calories you burn during exercise. Possessing this information, you’ll be a step ahead in your weight loss plan.

Do not fall for short-term gimmicks. A happy healthy body is yours if you follow a steady consistent weight loss plan.

Coheso, Inc. (http://www.coheso.com) makes handheld devices and other products for diabetes management and weight loss. CalorieSmart is a handheld calorie counter helps people tailor their weight loss plan. More information about CalorieSmart can be found at http://www.coheso.com/caloriesmart-d.html

Track3 is a small customizable handheld carb and calorie counter that helps individuals self-manage their diabetes. Information about Track3 is at http://www.coheso.com/track-d.html

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Diabetes - What Are The Dangers Of Diabetes And How Does Diabetes Affect Weight Loss?

What is diabetes and how does it affect my weight loss? In this case, we’ll only discuss the most common form of diabetes, type II , which can be largely attributed to a poor diet and inactivity. What happens is that a diabetic’s body is either unable to produce enough insulin in the pancreas or the cells refuse to respond to the insulin that is produced.

Insulin’s role is to help distribute glucose to either the brain, muscles, liver, or if there is too much glucose in the blood, fat stores. And since insulin is being underproduced or is being ignored, your body finds itself with too much glucose in the blood.

While it is disputed as to why type II diabetes develops, one of the most obvious explanations would have to be the likelihood that, just like any piece of equipment, when overworked, it will eventually fail. In this case, the equipment happens to be the pancreas. Sadly, this is not all that is affected by diabetes. Other problems that can arise are heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. In fact, two out of three people with diabetes die due to stroke and heart disease. These resulting complications could largely be controlled if the bloodstream is gradually fed with glucose from components of a healthier diet and the body is exercised regularly.

Now, how does type II diabetes relate to obesity? Obesity is one of the largest environmental triggers for type II diabetes. To put it simply, being obese roughly means weighing 20% more than your desirable body weight.

However, since some people are genetically predisposed to obesity, diabetes may be unavoidable to a certain degree. On the flip side though, it has been proven that excessive amounts of body fat promotes insulin resistance and thus the development of type II diabetes. To be even more specific, those with body fat that tends to gather around the waist as opposed to the hips and thighs happen to be more likely to develop type II diabetes. Be aware of this “central body fat”. A good way to tell if you are at risk is to measure around your hips and around your waist with a tape measure. Now, divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. This is your waist to hip ratio. If you are a male, 1.0 scores as a high reading and if you are female, 0.95 is a high reading. Keep it below these if you want to reduce your risk for diabetes and eventual heart failure.

Another factor that has a noticeable effect on one’s likelihood of developing type II diabetes is age. The older you are, the more likely you are to develop diabetes, but this also looks to be the work of our nutritionally lacking diets since our elderly are heavier than ever these days.

Therefore, it is vital that not only should one begin eating better by limiting carbohydrate consumption, especially of the refined, processed kind, but should also direct their focus on regular exercise.

These are the two factors that can be manipulated to your benefit since our genetic makeup is out of our reach, but you’ll be amazed at the difference a solid diet and a good exercise regimen can make.

Article Source : http://www.ezinearticles.com/?Diabetes---What-Are-The-Dangers-Of-Diabetes-And-How-Does-Diabetes-Affect-Weight-Loss?&id=197719

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

How you calculate your daily calorie and diabetes diet

Diabetes carb counter - To control diabetes intake of carbohydrates should be lowered. You can’t always rely on your memory to count the carbohydrates intake within a day. “Diabetes carb counter “is the solution to this question. Diabetes carb counter is a same as calorie counter and counts that the amount of carbohydrates in food. Some advantages with this tool, which is a must for patient suffering from diabetes.

Count carbohydrates:- You can look up the nutritional information of around 35,000 food items and calculate the nutrient content of your recipes.

Monitor weight loss goals:- You can on your own set up goals. Your daily calorie content, carbs content in your daily food to monitor your weight.

Connect to PC:- Diabetes carb counter can be connected to PCs. Download the data from calorie counter and e-mail to your personal doctor.

Calorie counter or handheld calorie counter: This tools is a much for person suffering diabetes.

Diabetes Is not a serious diseases but if you are lenient towards it. It can grow into a serious one. Regular exercise and intake of less caloric food will definitely cure diabetes.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Calorie Counter: How to Count Your Daily Calorie

In recent times diabetes has become a common problem for people of all ages. Busy with your day to day work and not able to spare time for your health. If you are suffering from diabetes spending few minutes for your body can control and cure diabetes, before it becomes an acute problem.

The best way to control diabetes is to keep a check on your daily calorie intake. Including high caloric food in your daily diet is really harmful for diabetic patient. So how to count your daily calorie intake. The answer is “Calorie counter”.

Calorie counter is easy to operate and electronic calorie counter that can be easily carried in your pocket or in purse. Some of the advantages of using a calorie counter:-

Calorie and other information for large variety of food items.

You can store yours blood glucose reading, medication, insulin, exercise, and meal information in no time. On average information up to 12 months can be stored.

You can easily keep track of your life style goals. Store your average blood sugar, glucose level in blood, insulin report, and other medical reports. By doing so you can keep track of the whether your diabetes control program is meeting your goals.

In no time you can calculate the nutrition content of a recipe.

Using a calorie counter or portable calorie counter is not the only solution to control diabetes. A lot more attention needed on your diet. You have to plan your everyday food intake. Few measures that you can follow:-

o Consume fruits and vegetables: - Make sure your diet contains vegetable, fruits, and whole grains. This diet is also a healthier diet. Include fruits in your snacks.

o Artificial sweeteners: - Consuming artificial sweeteners in place of sugar is the right way to substitute sugar. Artificial sweeteners are many times sweeter than sugar. So intake of artificial sugar in food reduces the calorie.

o Eat more starch: - Studies suggest food rich in fiber and starch is most suitable for diabetes patient. Bread, brown rice, and bran are rich source of fiber. Some of the sources of insoluble fiber are whole grains, wheat bran, whole grains, seeds, nuts, fruits and vegetables.

o Eat for healthy heart:- Eat low fat and low sodium cheese. Use skim milk as it has low fat content.

o Loss weight and daily exercise: - Every day exercise is a must for diabetes patient. As everyone knows exercise is also good for people not suffering from any diseases.

o Avoid:- Avoid rich carbohydrates food like sugar, sweets, honey, jaggery which will increase your blood glucose level.

o Protein intake:- Intake less cereals, milk and cheese in your daily diet. Emphasize more on vegetable.

o Fats Intake:- Fats should be restricted to around 20-25% of your total calorie intake. If you are consuming meat, cut the fat portion of the meat.

o Carbohydrates Intake:- It should constitute around 60-70% of total calorie intake. Carbohydrates food source are barley, wheat and bran.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Diabetes Diet- Lose weight and keep it off by tracking what you eat

One of the most effective ways to lose weight is to track what you eat. Tracking what you eat is a way to assess your eating patterns. By writing down everything you eat, you learn exactly what you eat and how it affects you. You can detect patterns and eating behaviors and how they impact your weight loss goals. Many people underestimate how much food they actually consume. Many wonder why they start a diet and can’t seem to shed the pounds. One reason is that people underestimate the quantity they eat. What people think of as a single serving can actually be equivalent to three or even four servings. A triple-sized portion can greatly impact your weight loss success. Another reason is hidden calories – what some people think of as a healthy snack is actually loaded with calories that head straight to your thighs. Learning how to track your food and calorie intake is a great way to take charge of your weight loss plan and have it work for you.

Start out by writing down everything you eat. Don’t change your eating habits until you know what your eating habits are. Record every morsel – from the cream cheese on your breakfast bagel to the duck sauce on your stir-fry. Write down portions and amounts of what you eat as well. Check for servings sizes and measure portions you consume. Just as importantly, track your calorie intake. That duck sauce might seem harmless – but in reality be loaded with calories. Understanding how many calories you consume is an important element of weight loss. The amount of calories you consume and the amount of calories you burn determines whether or not you lose weight. So knowing how many calories you consume is crucial to your success. Although it may seem daunting, there are resources that can make your calorie tracking easy and stress-free. Electronic calorie counters can provide you with the calories count of thousands of your favorite foods. Calorie counters can even tell you the calorie count of your favorite fast food items. So whether you are at home or on the go, an electronic calorie counter will help you stick to your weight loss plan.

Once you’ve determined how much you actually eat and the number of calories you consume, you can then look at changes you may need to make. By tracking how much you eat, you can see over a period of time how your food consumption affects your weight loss. You can also congratulate yourself for healthy habits you may not have known you have. Tracking what you eat provides you with the tools to be successful at losing weight and managing your goal weight once you’ve shed the pounds.