High-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diet for Diabetics

Diabetes is a disease that is caused by a combination of genetics and poor lifestyle, in which the organism does not produce adequate amount of insulin necessary for its absorption of glucose, which then accumulates in your bloodstream until it reaches a dangerously high level. Basically, diabetes is a disorder of metabolism – the way your organism makes use of digested food for growth and energy. Digestive juices break down most of the food you eat into a simple sugar known as glucose, which passes into your bloodstream to be available to body cells to use for growth and energy. However, in order for glucose to get into your body cells, insulin must be present. Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreas, a large gland behind your stomach.

Statistically, diabetes is presently the 3rd main cause of death in the U.S.A.

Whenever you eat, your pancreas automatically produces the right amount of insulin to move the glucose from your blood into your cells. Unfortunately, if you are diabetic, either your pancreas produces little or no insulin, or your body cells simply do not respond to the insulin produced. As a result, glucose builds up in your blood, overflows into your urine, and passes out of your body. So, your organism loses its primary source of fuel even though your blood may contain large amounts of sugar, which then becomes harmful to your body. Because your pancreas is the next "connection" in your digestive system, whatever you eat goes directly to this body organ. Instead of digesting food and producing insulin, it now becomes your pain and torture that only grows wors with age.

Diabetes strikes various people in differently. It depends on their degree of diabetic complication, and their age. It is associated with long-term complications, which affect almost every major part of the body. As a matter of fact, diabetes may lead to blindness, problematic heart condition, strokes, kidney failure, amputations, and nerve damage. Uncontrolled diabetes can even leave significant complications in case of pregnancy. As you age, the long-term effects of diabetes on your overall well-being are more exhausting and desolating.

Unfortunately, there is only control, but no medical treatment. Thus, only a healthy diet appears to be the best therapy to control insulin in diabetes. It is recommended to stick to high-carbohydrate and low-fat diet. Carbohydrates are present in fruits, vegetables, beans, dairy foods, and starchy foods such as breads and pastas. Buy whole-grain breads and cereals with no trans-fat.

Avoid fried and high-fat starches, such as regular tortilla chips and potato chips, French fries, pastries, or biscuits – they are near junk foods! Use mustard instead of mayonnaise on a sandwich.

Avoid foods which contain significant proportions of ingredients ending in "-ol" or "-ose" - which are only confusing names for sugars!

Avoid all sugar and artificial sweeteners, including honey. Avoid sweets and chocolates, including all sugar-free types. If you must indulge yourself with some chocolates, go for the dark ones (not because they are recommendable but because they may contain more cocoa and less sugar). Read the labels, and make sure the first-named ingredient is cocoa and not sugar. Remember, chocolate manufacturers want you to believe that chocolates are "healthful" for you, and more importantly, they fund most of the research studies for the obvious reason.

Eat fresh or dried fruit, but never canned fruit – which is loaded with syrup. Buy smaller pieces of fruit. Eat fruit rather than extracting its juice. If you must drink fruit juice, dilute it with water, and drink in small amount so as not to "suddenly shock" your pancreas. Eat high-sugar and high-fat fruit desserts such as apple or cherry pie (not the ones sold at the supermarket) on very special occasions, and only in moderation, if you must.

Eat both raw and cooked vegetables with little or no fat, sauces, or dressings. Use a little vinegar or some lemon or lime juice, sprinkled with herbs and spices for seasoning. These flavorings add almost no fat or few calories. Steam vegetables using a small amount of water or low-fat broth. Mix in some chopped onion, ginger and garlic.

Cook meat in low fat, such as steaming, stir-frying, broiling, and grilling. Avoid deep-frying totally.

Buy cuts of organic beef, pork, and lamb with only a little fat on them. Trim off extra fat. Organic pork is hard to come by – it is best to avoid pork totally. Eat organic chicken or turkey without the skin.

It only may seem to be hard to stick to all these numerous tips, but if you wish to live a long and painless life, give your body what it really needs and don't stuff it with what it can't take.

Types and Causes of Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic, incurable disease that takes place when the human organism doesn’t produce enough amount of insulin. Subsequently, it leads to the excessive amount of sugar in blood. Insulin, which is produced by the pancreas, is a hormone that helps the cells of the human body use the glucose (sugar) in food. Cells need this energy to work in the right way.

There are several predominant types of diabetes. Among the are:

Type 1 diabetes is also known as insulin-dependent, juvenile-onset or immune-mediated diabetes. Usually it is caused by an auto-immune reaction where the organism’s defence system attacks the insulin-producing cells. The underlying cause for this is not fully investigated. People with type 1 diabetes produce no insulin or a very small amount of it. The disease can strike people of any age, but usually it happens in kids, teenagers or young adults.

Type 2 diabetes is the most usual kind of diabetes. The pancreas of patients suffering from this type still produces insulin, but it does not produce enough or it has trouble using it. Among its symptoms are: fatigue or nausea, frequent urination, sleeping disorders, unusual thirst, weight loss, blurred vision, frequent infections, and slow healing of wounds or sores. But some people have no symptoms. Type 2 diabetes usually develops in adults over 35 years old, and especially in those who are overweight. But recently type 2 diabetes has begun to appear more in children and teenagers, as more and more of them are becoming overweight.

There's also the so called Pre-Diabetes, or Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT). It occurs when when the blood glucose level is higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes.

There different factors that can cause different types of diabetes. It can be insulin resistance. Scholars they have discovered two possibilities here. The first could be a defect in insulin receptors on cells. Like an appliance that needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet, insulin has to bind to a receptor to function. Several things can go wrong with receptors. There may not be enough receptors for insulin to bind to, or a defect in the receptors may prevent insulin from binding.

It also can be serum lipids and lipoproteins, when high triglyceride and cholesterol level in the blood are related to high blood sugars, or sarcoidosis, a multi-system disorder characterized in affected organs by a type of inflammation called granulomas. But still it is unknowns what causes this inflammation. Sarcoidosis can occur in any part of the central or peripheral nervous system. When sarcoidosis affects the central nervous system, various cranial nerves can be damaged and may paralyze specific areas of the body.

Last but not least, it is diabetes mellitus. It results from a defect in the production of insulin by the pancreas. As a matter of fact, diabetes mellitus is the 3rd largest killer in America. Without insulin, the body cannot utilize glucose, which is an important blood sugar. A blood glucose level above 180mg percent leads to excessive amount of sugar to spill over in the urine and make it sweet. Some people can develop diabetes mellitus as a result of stress, obesity, or pregnancy. A diet high in sugar and white flour can result in diabetes. Also certain medications can also cause it: oral contraceptives, adrenal corticoids, diphenylhydantoin, or thiazide water pills.