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

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.

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.

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.

Diabetes Diet & Diabetes Carb Counting

Carbohydrates are broken down by insulin into glucose. Type 1 diabetics don’t produce the insulin needed to convert carbs into glucose. Type 2 diabetics produce insulin, but not enough to break all the carbs down into glucose. Carbohydrates are important because they provide the body with the energy needed to function. Diabetics have a very special and challenging relationship with carbohydrates: you need them, but the wrong amounts can wreck havoc on your blood sugar levels and potentially make your diabetes worse.

So, how do diabetics count carbs? By understanding the careful balance of too much and too little carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are important aspects of a diabetic diet and should comprise about half of a diabetic’s daily intake. However, it’s also important to make sure you’re eating the right carbs. Stay away from simple carbs. These tend to be white flours and simple starches like potatoes. Simple carbs are digested so quickly by your body they spike insulin levels and disrupt your blood sugars. Complex carbs, on the other hand, tend to be unrefined and unprocessed whole grains like whole wheat, quinoa, barley, and spelt. Whole grains don’t affect your blood sugar levels like simple carbs because they take longer to digest. Whole grains also provide other dietary benefits like increasing your fiber intake and helping to lower cholesterol levels.

Counting carbs is an essential element of a healthy diabetic diet. Choosing the right carbs helps by not disrupting your blood sugars and by providing energy, nutrients, and other essential health benefits. Using a carb counter can provide you with a safe and accurate way to count carbs in thousands of foods –even when you dine out. With all the changes to your lifestyle that diabetes brings, taking the worry and guesswork out of counting carbs is easy with a carb counter.