“The present study supports the evidence of a considerably reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes associated with moderate but not with heavy alcohol consumption in men and women with low or high (body mass index),” the researchers write in this month’s issue of Diabetes Care.

In comments to Reuters Health, Koppes said there doesn’t seem to be large differences in the effects of beer, wine or spirits, “but the pattern of consumption is of importance. If you do drink, do not save up for the weekend. One drink per day…is better than seven drinks on Friday.”

The worldwide prevalence of diabetes is expected to increase by 37 percent between 2000 and 2030, according to one previously published report. And, in many cases, the cause of this increasingly common disease in the United States is due to the lack of exercise and the high prevalence of overweight and obesity, as well as the normal aging of the population, researchers say.

“With the expectation of (more than) 100 million new cases of Type 2 diabetes in the coming two decades, and with the prevention of Type 2 diabetes now being recognized as an urgent priority, attaining prevention is the central challenge,” the authors of the current report contend.

Previous studies have linked alcohol consumption to a reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes but reviews of these studies were inconclusive about the scope of the association and the incidence of the disease associated with heavy drinking. To clarify the association, Dr. Lando L. J. Koppes, of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, and his team searched the literature for studies about Type 2 diabetes and alcohol consumption that were published between 1966 and July 2004.

The studies, conducted in the United States, Japan, Finland, Korea, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK, involved a total of 11,959 cases of type 2 diabetes among 369,862 men and women who were followed for 4 to 20 years, or an average 12 years.

Altogether, the compiled findings revealed a U-shaped association between alcohol drinking and Type 2 diabetes risk, such that the lowest risk of the condition was found among moderate drinkers and the highest risk occurred among nondrinkers and heavy drinkers. Body mass index, a measure of height versus weight, did not seem to affect the results.

A standard drink contains about 10 grams of alcohol in Europe, 12 grams in the U.S. and Canada, and 21 grams in Japan.

Moderate drinkers — those who drank between six and 48 grams of alcohol per day — were about 30 percent less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than nondrinkers, the report indicates. The risk of the condition among those who drank 48 grams of alcohol a day or more was similar to that among those who did not drink alcohol.

Previous researchers have reported a similar association between moderate alcohol drinking and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. The exact mechanism by which moderate alcohol drinking reduces the risk for either condition is unknown.

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The good news is that with proper diabetes care you can stay healthy, feel good and
lower your chances of complications, such as eye and kidney disease.

The Components of Good Diabetes Care

Food — Food is one of the main factors that directly impacts blood glucose levels — and one you can control as part of your diabetes care. People with diabetes need a varied, balanced and flexible meal plan. The key is knowing how foods impact your blood glucose levels. Smart steps include:

• Working with a registered dietitian who is experienced in diabetes care to create an individualized menu plan.
• Scheduling regular meal times and maintaining a consistent diet.
• Reading food labels carefully and preparing meals from scratch when possible to control ingredients and limit additives.

Fitness — Regular exercise is an especially important part of diabetes care. It helps insulin work better while reducing your blood glucose levels. Ideally, adults should get 30 minutes of physical activity five or more days per week. And your exercise doesn’t have to be hours spent at the gym. Many everyday activities count as moderate exercise, including

• Gardening for 30 to 45 minutes
• Stairwalking for 15 minutes
• Washing and waxing the car for 60 minutes

Monitoring — At the heart of good diabetes care is regular monitoring of your blood glucose levels throughout the day. Once you know your blood glucose level, you can then make sound decisions about managing your diabetes — for example, when and how much medicine to take, when to exercise and when to eat meals or snacks.

Make Liberty Part of Your Diabetes Care
If you are on Medicare and have diabetes, the cost of your diabetes testing supplies may be covered, whether you use insulin or not.* Liberty Medical Supply can help determine if you are eligible. Call toll-free 1-800-827-2102.

* Co-payments and deductibles apply.
Source: The American Diabetes Association.

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• Be sure to carry a supply of snack items, identification/medic alert necklace or bracelet, your doctor’s prescription for additional supplies, and extra testing supplies and insulin in your brief case/carry-on bag. For security purposes be sure that your insulin is clearly marked.
• When traveling abroad, find out what customs, current events, time zone changes, etc. could affect your Diabetes and travel needs.
• Try to arrive early/ the night before, especially when crossing time zones, so you have time to adjust and rest
• Talk to other diabetics who have visited your destination to find out where to get the best Diabetes-friendly meals, where there are 24 hour pharmacies, and accommodations that offer special services.
• Keep a Diabetes travel journal so you know which grocery stores/pharmacies have sugar free items, and where the hospitals/Diabetes centers are, should you have a diabetic emergency.
• Be sure to have your cell phone charged and ready, and that your ICE (in case of emergency) numbers are clearly marked
• Check your blood glucose level regularly, as jet lag can copy the high and low blood sugar symptoms. Also, the additional exercise of racing through airport terminals while pulling/carrying your briefcase, luggage, and carry-on may cause a lower blood glucose level than your normal routine.

Q & A for Diabetic Travel Guidelines:

Before going on a trip, see your doctor, as they may be able to assist you with your Diabetes travel management schedule when crossing times zones. It also wise to be well acquainted with the Diabetes exchanges so you can adapt your food needs and not “mess up” your Diabetes needs.

1. What is the best way to prepare for a solo car trip to prevent high or low blood glucose?  Follow the a-b-c’s of traveling with Diabetes—a) Always leave early so you arrive early, b) Be active–Get out and walk at rest areas, c) Check your blood glucose often and d) Don’t forget to bring along some healthy snack choices
2. How is insulin adjusted for time zones? Skip your dose of intermittent insulin on the morning of your trip and depend on your regular insulin to keep your blood glucose normal—be sure to check levels often. Once you reach your destination, adjust your watch and go back to your regular schedule.
3. What is the best way to store insulin for a road trip? Insulin is good at room temperature for up to a month; when traveling keep it cooler than 85*F.

Traveling with Diabetes can be done with a bit of planning. Just follow the diabetic travel guidelines and tips here and go have fun. Bon Voyage!

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Coming up with ideas for diabetic snacks can be both fun and creative, especially if you try pairing different foods together to come up with unique tastes. As with all snacks for diabetics, though, make sure the pairing is between a carbohydrate and a protein. That combination will give you a longer lasting benefit than if you paired a carb with a carb.

Snacks for diabetics are no different than snacks for non-diabetics: They are snacks — not meals. So keep the portions small. And remember, too, that diabetic snacks make up part of your daily calorie count.

Here are some suggestions for diabetic snacks that might put a smile on your face.

Peanut Butter Snacks

Peanut butter is a fun food that almost everyone likes. To make some interesting and tasty diabetic snacks, you could put peanut butter on:

• A Ritz whole wheat cracker topped with a banana
• A graham cracker topped with a banana
• Rice cakes
• A whole wheat mini-bagel

Popcorn Snacks

Popcorn is more than a diabetic snack. It’s an excellent way to get a good amount of whole grain. Why? Because popcorn is whole grain. Three cups of popcorn equals one slice of whole wheat bread, five whole wheat crackers or a little more than one whole wheat mini-bagel. Don’t pop the popcorn with oil, either, but with hot air. Then mix the popcorn with:

• A couple of tablespoons of Parmesan cheese
• Cajun spices or chili powder
• A couple of tablespoons of pumpkin seeds or chopped nuts

Dipping Snacks

Dipping foods make great diabetic snacks. You can buy the dip or, even better, make it yourself in order to control the quality of ingredients that go into it. Try pairing with these combinations:

• Tomato or tomatillo salsa with baked corn ships
• Hummus with whole wheat pita bread
• Low fat bean dip with baked potato chips
• Low fat tuna dip with low fat potato chips
• Low fat cottage cheese dip with celery or some other vegetable

Egg Snacks

Eggs are a great source of protein. But be careful not to overindulge because the yolks are high in cholesterol. When eaten in moderation, though, they make good diabetic snacks. You could eat them as:

• Hard boiled eggs
• Stuffed eggs
• Smoked eggs

Homemade Baked Snacks

Baking your own diabetic snacks at home is an excellent way to make sure they contain high-quality ingredients. Of all the home-baked snacks for diabetics, one of the best is bran muffins. You can make small ones and fill them with one or more of the following:

• Ground flax
• Chopped nuts
• Cinnamon
• Dried fruits

Diabetic snacks don’t have to be boring. If you use a little imagination and creativity, you can make snacks for diabetics that are worth smiling about!

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• Zero trans fats are still fats
• Carbohydrates still produce sugar
• You should treat your body well by eating good foods — not fast foods

Zero Trans Fats Are Still Fats

In January 2005, the medical Journal Lancet published a study showing that people who ate fast foods more than a couple of times a week not only became fatter, but also developed insulin resistance by the time they reached early middle age. Since then, many fast food companies such as McDonalds and Burger King have switched from using trans fats to oils that contain no trans fats. This change might seem like a good development for diet controlled diabetes because it was the trans fats that led to the insulin resistance.

But for diabetes diet control, fat is fat no matter if it is hydrogenated, saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. Why? Because as a diabetic, you have to watch your fat intake. And fast foods, even if they contain no trans fats, are still high in fat. For example, suppose your daily goal for your diet controlled diabetes is to limit your fat intake to 60 grams. Eating certain McDonalds burgers — forget about the fries — might not leave you much room for eating something healthier during the rest of the day:

Carbohydrates Still Produce Sugar

For diabetes diet control, you always have to be aware of how many carbohydrates you consume each day. Your body converts carbohydrates from white breads and other ingredients such as potatoes into sugar fairly quickly, and fast foods are loaded with such carbohydrates. The last thing you need is to get socked with sugar overload from sneaking in a fast food burger. If, for your diet controlled diabetes, you’re counting carbohydrates, a McDonalds’ Double Cheeseburger has 34 grams. If you’re using the exchange system, the Double Cheeseburger consists of 2 carbohydrates, 4 medium fat meat and 1 fat. A Big Mac is even higher. And even a light Frappuccino from Starbucks, made with nonfat milk, contains between 16-32 grams of carbohydrates.

You Should Treat Your Body Well by Eating Good Foods — Not Fast Foods

One of the most important things to consider for diet controlled diabetes is the quality of the food you eat. Fast foods tend to be made from the lowest quality ingredients. That’s one reason why those foods are so cheap. There’s an adage that says, “If you like yourself, you’ll treat yourself well.” As a prediabetic or a type 2 diabetic, you should really take that adage to heart in your diabetes diet control. Make sure your meals consist of the appropriate combination of high-quality ingredients from all the food groups.

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Nuts

Nuts provide lots of potassium, folic acid, vitamin E and magnesium. It’s the magnesium in the nuts that is important. Magnesium helps your pancreas produce insulin and affects how the insulin works in your body to allow your cells to absorb the sugar in your blood and to control your blood sugar level. Men should consume 400 milligrams of magnesium a day and women should get 300 milligrams. Don’t eat coconuts or macadamia nuts, though. Coconut is loaded with saturated fat and macadamia nuts are high in both fat and calories. But don’t let this diabetic information give you license to gorge on nuts, because they’re also a high-fat food. Remember: A few nuts go a long way.

Cinnamon

The benefit derived from eating cinnamon shows that information about diabetes is certainly not cut and dry. Several years ago, studies indicated that, like insulin, cinnamon helped your body absorb sugar, thereby lowering your blood sugar level. But more recent studies are mixed. One indicates that eating cinnamon provides no benefits and another shows that eating cinnamon does, indeed, lower blood sugar levels. So what do to with this diabetes information? Do whatever you think is best—and consult your physician if you’re unsure. If you decide to use cinnamon, you probably shouldn’t take it in high-fat, sugary foods like pastries. Instead, sprinkle a little bit over fruits such as apples, blueberries, bananas and strawberries — or any other food you think might go well with it. All you need to use is half a teaspoon a day.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar might taste sour, but its effects are sweet — as this piece of diabetes information proves: Taking just two tablespoons of cider vinegar each night before going to bed can lower your blood sugar up to 6 percent in two days. Even better, taking apple cider vinegar before a meal reduces the sugar spike you often get after eating. Actually, other kinds of vinegars can give you the same results, too. And here’s still another piece of information about diabetes and vinegar: Taking vinegar before meals or bed can help you lose weight. So why not give vinegar a try?

Flax Seed

One final bit of diabetes information about natural foods: Eating flaxseed provides magnesium in addition to protein and fiber. Don’t use the whole seeds, though. Grind them or buy them already ground. You can sprinkle the ground flax seed on your cereal or include in muffins or cookies (low in sugar, of course). The more information about diabetes and food you can find, the more you can control the disease naturally.

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1. Blood Glucose Control Is a Way of Life

Diabetes is all about your blood glucose level. With your physician, you’ve probably already identified a target range for your blood sugar. If you are prediabetic, you might not have to monitor your blood glucose every day. If you have type 2 diabetes, you might have track your blood sugar once a day or less. And if you have type I diabetes, you have to monitor your glucose level several dimes a day.

Regardless of how seldom or often you have to monitor your blood glucose, the only way to prevent your disease from becoming worse is by integrating blood glucose control into your new diabetic lifestyle. As a diabetic, you alone are in charge of your own life and health.

2. Blood Glucose Control Turns You into a Food Juggler

Your body produces increased levels of blood glucose during certain activities or situations such as when you eat, exercise or become involved in a stressful situation. To reduce the elevated blood sugar level, you have to be aware of what foods contain carbohydrates and the speed at which your body turns those carbohydrates into blood glucose. For example, your body turns the carbohydrates in white bread into blood sugar faster than they do the carbohydrates in whole wheat bread. As a result, you juggle foods containing fats, proteins and carbohydrates to create balanced meals that lower your blood glucose to keep it within your target range.

3. Blood Glucose Control Turns You into a Food Expert

To maintain your blood glucose target range, you have to eat a balanced meal at regular times throughout the day. Those meals must contain a balanced mix of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. If you’re not already, you should be familiar with the Diabetes Food Pyramid, which differs from the one published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

To maintain proper blood glucose control, you should know certain facts about foods such as:

• Sugars and starches have the same effect on your blood glucose level.
• It is more important to monitor the carbohydrates you eat than the sugars.
• Fat-free products contain more carbohydrates than similar ones that contain fat.
• Potatoes are considered starches — not vegetables — in the Diabetes Food Pyramid.

By becoming a food expert, you can maintain proper blood glucose control and live a full, healthy and productive life.

4. Blood Glucose Control Helps You Prevent Future Problems

If you don’t maintain blood glucose control, you can miss the subtle signs your body uses that tell you that your blood sugar is above your target range. If your blood glucose remains elevated for too long, serious problems can develop and thus, lead to complications and even death. Blood sugar testing can identify a potential problem; you can then be proactive at reducing your glucose level and avert the problem.

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Ingredients Diabetics Should Avoid Cooking With

Many food ingredients can be very detrimental to the health of a patient with diabetes. Ingredients that are extremely high in fats – especially saturated fats, increase a diabetic’s probability that they will develop heart disease or other related complications. In addition to avoiding high risk foods, establishing reasonable portions of food for meals supplements cooking with healthy ingredients in creating an effective diabetic cooking regiment. Take advantage of the following diabetic cooking tips:

• Make sure carbohydrate rich foods such as grains, oats, and starchy vegetables are the cornerstone of your cooking diet.
• Introduce a large quantity and variety of fruits and vegetables to meals.
• Low-fat dairy products should replace dairy products that have a high fat content.
• Prepare seafood that is low in cholesterol, like fish.
• Cut out altogether high fat and high calorie cooking ingredients.
• Avoid cooking oils that are high in saturated fats.

Healthy Results

In spite of the many cooking habits and ingredients that may be harmful to patients with diabetes, many habits may yield healthy results. Healthy diabetic cooking habits may offset the chances of developing high risk complications associated with diabetes such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol while naturally maintaining desired blood sugar levels. Take advantage of the numerous healthy diabetic cooking habits in order to live a happier and healthier life.

Please keep in mind that this article on Diabetic Cooking is intended solely as an informational document; consult a licensed physician before making any decisions regarding the management of individual cases of diabetes.

Source: ‘Making healthy Food Choices’
American Diabetes Association

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The Diabetes “Food Pyramid”

Similarly to the regular food pyramid, the Diabetes Food Pyramid regulates the ingestion quantity of certain foods for diabetics that are detrimental to maintaining a healthy balance of blood sugar and insulin. Ultimately, the purpose of the pyramid is to guide diabetics in selecting the appropriate ratios of food from various food groups in their diets.

The Food Groups

The Pyramid asserts that largest proportion of food necessary in a diabetic diet is grains and starches; this food group includes breads, oats, pastas, cereals, and starchy vegetables. The next largest proportion of food in a diabetic diet consists of fruits and vegetables. Low fat diary products contain significant amounts of protein as well as vitamins however; their consumption should not exceed two to three servings per day. Meat and meat substitution consumption should be limited to four to six ounces a day. The smallest proportion of food for diabetics is fats, sweets, and alcohol. This food group contains very little nutritious value and should be either restricted to very small servings or cut out entirely.

Take Control of Your Lifestyle

Constant and careful monitoring of your blood sugar is unfortunately not usually enough to ensure that your diabetes remains free of other health complications. An effective diabetic lifestyle necessitates the management of a healthy food diet. A proper diet naturally regulates blood sugar content and reduces the risk of heart disease. Take control of your lifestyle – including your diet, in order to increase your quality of life with diabetes!

Please keep in mind that this article on Food for Diabetics is intended solely as an informational document; consult a licensed physician before making any decisions regarding the management of individual cases of diabetes.

Source: “Using the Diabetes Food Pyramid”
The American Diabetes Association

http://www.diabetes.org/nutrition-and-recipes/nutrition/foodpyramid.jsp

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A diabetic exercise program helps regulate the amount of cholesterol buildup in arteries, the level of sugars present in blood (blood glucose), weight, and blood pressure. Regulating the aforementioned health indicators allows diabetics to avoid health problems that they have the highest probability of developing. Moreover, exercise increases blood flow, which may hinder the progression of diabetic neuropathy – a complication that is characterized by widespread damage to the nervous system.

Types of Exercise

There are several types of diabetic exercise that are beneficial to those suffering from diabetes. Aerobic exercise, which significantly increases heart rate and blood flow, will decrease the chances of developing heart disease, high cholesterol, and stroke. Aerobic exercises including running, swimming, dancing, bicycling, and hiking are only a few examples of the multitude of aerobic exercises a diabetes patient can perform. In conjunction with aerobic exercise, weight lifting is also a practical option. A formal diabetic exercise regiment should be supplemented with an active diabetic lifestyle. Walking whenever possible, using stairs instead of elevators and being active around the house also contribute to lessening the risks of developing diabetes complications.

There are some risks associated with diabetic exercise however; this should not deter diabetics from including exercise in their daily health practices. Occasionally, a diabetic’s blood sugar will drop as a result of exercise – a condition known as hypoglycemia. Consult your doctor to create guidelines for your personal exercise program to avoid and deal with the risks associated with diabetic exercise.

Please keep in mind that this article on Diabetes and Exercise is intended solely as an informational document; consult a licensed physician before making any decisions regarding the management of individual cases of diabetes.

Source: “Diabetes and Exercise”
FamilyDoctor.org

“Types of Exercise”
American Diabetes Association

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