A big part of the problem is that the foods we are fed from a very early age are filled with chemicals. It’s not real food but rather just a bunch of food additives, flavourings and colourings. If it’s not margarine then it is modified milk, artificial sweeteners, and artificial sugars all of which have been put into the diet over the last few decades which has resulted in hyper sensitive immune systems that react to everything a person eats.

The reason for food intolerance could be down to the stress of modern life, food additives and pollutants all increasing chronic inflammatory conditions. Exactly how this influences pre-diabetes remains to be seen.

Effects from food intolerance can range from common digestive system problems, diarrhea, constipation, and flatulence, to headaches, to skin rash and eczema – all due to the body’s inability to thoroughly digest food caused by the lack of proper amounts of certain enzymes.

Histame is the first product worldwide that decreases histamine levels that cause food intolerance by replenishing the body’s digestive enzyme Diamine Oxidase (DAO).

I have to RAVE about Histame. I took this product thinking “yet again something that will do nothing for me.!” I was totally wrong.  Within minutes of taking Histame my congestion disappears, the swelling in my ears, fingers and feet disappeared. Within just a few days on Histame, I had dropped 5 pounds.  I contribute the weight loss to be related to the fact that I was no longer chronically inflamed from the food intolerances.

This month I will be taking Histame in conjunction with a digestive cleanse.  Stay tuned and I will let you know how that goes!

Recently diagnosed with Insulin Resistance or Pre-Diabetes?

A diagnosis of diabetes or pre-diabetes can seem over whelming. The doctor gives you the diagnosis but who is there to help you figure out what to do next?

90% of adult onset diabetes is reversible through diet and exercise. What diet? Which exercise?

Don’t be uninformed! Get  the information you need about insulin resistance, pre-diabetes and diabetes to make the health decisions you need to reverse diabetes.

Bob Green, Oprah’s fitness guru, has helped millions of Americans become fit and healthy with his life-changing Best Life plan. Now Bob has teamed up with a leading endocrinologist and an expert dietitian to offer a Best Life program tailored to the needs of people with diabetes,  pre-diabetes and insulin resistance.

Be the first to get this book and get your jump start toward managing your diabetes, pre-diabetes or insulin resistance before it controls you.

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Afraid of complex diet plans that leave you starving and
exercise programs that leave you hurting?

Never fear, The Best Life Guide to Managing Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes is a gradual, three-phase approach to improving diet and increasing physical activity and provides strategies for staying motivated.  The program is flexible enough that you can tailor it to your needs and abilities.

If you don’t make the right diet and exercise changes, your insulin resistance and pre-diabetes will gradually progress into adult onset diabetes. Then it will be even harder to cope. Do you want to live your best years sick in declining health?

Improve your odds by reading  The Best Life Guide to Managing Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes.

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PS: Don’t go another day not taking control of your life and your health. Create the healthy future you deserve.

The 10-Day Glycemic Diet

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The Glycemic Index Diet is helping millions of insulin resistant people world wide to control spikes in their blood sugar levels and has resulted in untold tons of relatively rapid permanent weight loss.

The diet is based on the glycemic index which measures how fast the body digests various foods and turns them into glucose or blood sugar.

It’s now known that a rapid release of glucose triggers a series of bodily functions that causes much of that sugar to be stored as body fat. Foods that cause a relatively faster release of glucose are ranked higher on the glycemic index. Foods which take longer to digest rank lower. To avoid weight gain, and to eventually promote rapid weight loss, one should pursue a diet of foods that are relatively low on the glycemic index.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s high and what’s low:

• Fructose which is found in fruits is a slow-moving sugar. As a result just about all fruits – with the exception of bananas, pineapple and dried fruits – are relatively low on the glycemic index.
• Vegetables is abundant in fiber (the exceptions here are carrots and corn!) And while these are somewhat higher than most vegetables, they are still well withing the safe range for most diets.
• Higher on the index are just about all the whole grains, starches and pasta.
• Coming in at the highest are the refined grains, white bread and, surprisingly, most forms of potatoes.

Continually eating foods high on the glycemic index not only causes you to eat more and eventually gain weight, it just plain confuses your system. It’s much like the little boy who cried wolf.

The low GI guide to managing PCOS

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Every time your body digests a highly ranked food from the glycemic index, your body is producing a higher dose of insulin than it would for a lower ranked food. Glucose is your blood sugar and the energy your brain and the rest of your body uses for all its myriad of processes. But glucose can’t travel anywhere in your body without being escorted by insulin. The two go together like peanut butter and jelly! Insulin Resistant people beware!

In addition to serving as a kind of chaperon for your glucose, insulin is in charge of making sure your body keeps the supply at an even level. Thus when a high glycemic meal floods the system with too much glucose, it transports it to the storage area for future use. That storage area is your fat cells.

Thus the fundamental cause of weight gain has less to do with total calories or carbs consumed than it does with the type of carbs and how rapidly the body transforms them into glucose.

At some point if the body is continually called upon to produce excess quantities of insulin it can lead to a breakdown in the insulin producing process and or the effectiveness of the insulin in carrying out its missions.

This condition is called diabetes. And that is for whom the glycemic index diet was first created. It has proven over the years though to be the idea diet for people wishing to maintain a health weight, and a superior diet for those wishing to loose significant weight and keep it off.

Losing weight can be easy when you understand the ins and outs of the Glycemic Index diet.

Get a free 10 part course on the Glycemic Index Diet or purchase Earl Netwal’s new book on the topic, The Glycemic Revolution: The Ultimate Guide to Weight Loss Made Easy”. Article Source: Earl Netwal

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The glycemic index is a ranking of foods based on their immediate effect on your blood glucose (blood sugar) levels. Carbohydrate foods that breakdown quickly during digestion have the highest glycemic indexes because their blood sugar response is fast and high. Carbohydrates that breakdown slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have low glycemic indexes.

To best manage your insulin resistance you want to ensure you consume a wide variety of foods that are low on the glycemic index. This will help you to regulate your body’s blood sugar levels and improve your sensitivity to insulin.

Many people think that because fruits are sweet that they must also cause high blood sugar which is not healthy for the insulin resistant and diabetics. This is not the case.  Most fruits are actually low on the glycemic index. The high fiber content in fruit causes the fruit to be digested more slowly which causes a much slower release of blood sugar into the blood stream.

Insulin resistant individuals can eat fruits with a high fiber content and a low glycemic index:

• Apples
• Apricots
• Berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc)
• Cantaloupe and honeydew melons
• Cherries
• Grapefruit
• Grapes
• Nectarines
• Oranges
• Pears
• Peaches
• Plums
• Tomato (yes, this is a fruit)

Avoid fruits with a higher glycemic index:

• Banana
• Kiwi
• Mango
• Papaya
• Pineapple
• Watermelon
• Dried fruits
• Canned fruit cocktails
• Fruit juices

The question is not whether or not a person with insulin resistance should eat fruit but rather how much and what kinds of fruit you should be eating. Fruits provide with health-enhancing vitamins and phytochemicals as well as fiber. Pick the fruits with a low glycemic index and you’ll be taking great strides toward managing your insulin resistance.

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Insulin resistance is the loss of responsiveness that occurs on the insulin-receptor of a cell (particularly liver, muscle and fat cells, with the liver losing sensitivity first, then the muscle and then the fat cells). Your body adds more and more insulin to store the fat. Overtime, your pancreas give up and this leads to type II diabetes. In type II diabetes, your body’s cells lose their ability to respond to insulin.

A fasting blood glucose level higher than 100-125 mg/dL is not indicative of diabetes, but it can be indicative of insulin resistance and is above normal levels. Optimum serum glucose range is 80-95. Fasting serum insulin levels should be below 10. The lower the number the better you are. Controlling your insulin levels is a powerful anti-aging strategy.

Here are other symptoms of insulin resistance:

• Brain fogginess and inability to focus
• Elevated triglycerides. Optimum range: 70-110 mg/dL. 40 to 60% of total cholesterol. Can only be determined with a fasting sample. Triglycerides are a component of fat stored in the tissue. LDL > with triglycerides > is a more significant indicator of risk to heart disease than total cholesterol > 200 mg/dL.
• Triglycerides are increased with dysinsulinism (Syndrome-X/Metabolic Syndrome), alcoholism (GGT/GGTP also generally increased), diabetes and primary or secondary thyroid hypofunction.
• Excess fat around your midsection or scapula area
• Hypertension
• Intestinal bloating
• Low HDL levels. Optimum range: Males – above 55 mg/dL. Females – above 60 mg/dL. Should be > than 25% of total cholesterol. Most effective way to > HDL is > exercise.
• Sleepiness and fatigue

Type II diabetes

In type II diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells are resistant to insulin. Insulin is necessary for your body’s use of sugar. Sugar is the basic fuel for your cells in the body, and insulin takes the sugar from the blood into the cells.

When glucose (sugar) builds up in the blood instead of going into cells, it can cause problems:

• Higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease (in diabetes, hyperinsulinemia doubles your risk for AD compared to people without diabetes).
• Immediately, your cells may be starved for energy
• Obesity

Over time, high blood glucose levels damage your eyes, kidneys, nerves or heart.

Remember, all hormones work in synergy with one another. The hormone you have the most control over is insulin. This is regulated by your diet.

What causes insulin resistance and/or diabetes?

• A sedentary lifestyle
• Calorie restriction, skipping meals, diet pills and a crap diet of fast foods, boxed, canned or microwaved foods. Unbalanced meals, consisting of mostly carbohydrates, high sugar and a low intake of smart, healthy fats and protein.
• Drinking soft drinks and fruit juices.
• Elevated lypogenic (fat storing) enzymes and decreased lypolytic (fat burning) enzymes
• Lack of quality sleep
• Stress and altered hormonal levels. Years of high adrenaline and/or cortisol levels due to poor nutrition and lifestyle habits.

Nutrition protocol for insulin resistance/type II diabetes

• Allowed fruits in moderation include: tomatoes, avocados, berries, grapefruit, lemons, limes
• Avoid Nutra Sweet and Aspartame products as they may trigger diabetes and obesity.
• Cut carbohydrates and increase protein. Eat a diet of organic proteins, non-starchy vegetables and fats (fats slow down the insulin spike)
• Eliminate all boxed, canned and microwavable foods.
• Eliminate all refined carbohydrates, grains, dairy products, fast-acting sugars (fruit juices, soft drinks, high glycemic fruits and starchy vegetables), hydrogenated fats, alcohol, caffeine and tobacco).
• Lemon and lime juice reduce the insulin index of the meal due to the flavonoids.
• If it does not run around in the field, swim, fly or is not green – do not eat it!
• Small mini meals 5-7x daily. Include smart fats and protein at each meal.
• Sweeten with stevia, an herb, instead of sugar. Stevia will not elevate blood sugars.

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Supplemental Nutrients for insulin resistance/type II diabetes

• Vitamin D
• Chromium
• R-Alpha Lipoic Acid (lowers glucose levels up to 30%)
• Omega-3 Fish oil with 400 I.U. mixed tocopherols
• Bio-Glycozyme Forte by Biotics Research (use with hypoglycemia and ” blood sugar)
• Fiber
• GlucoBalance by Biotics Research (use with elevated triglycerides and ‘ blood sugar)
• ADHS by Biotics Research (consider with increased glucose or triglycerides, adrenal cortical hyperfuntion.
• Research and clinical feed back indicates that 7 Keto-DHEA is often effective in helping to ameliorate increased glucose levels. In addition, the 7-keto DHEA will not convert androgens to estrogens.
• Silymarin, an antioxidant that can improve liver function (especially the insulin resistant-liver cells) and blood sugar levels, have shown great promise in the effort to fully restore insulin sensitivity.
• Zinc, magnesium and potassium deficiencies lead to insulin resistance.
• Improves insulin sensitivity: Vanadyl sulfate, CoQ 10, L-Carnitine, Taurine, L-Arginine, Glutathione

Supplemental Botanicals for Insulin Resistance/Diabetes

• Fenugreek/Flax seed Potion for diabetes and insulin resistance:
• Take on an empty stomach first thing in the AM
• 1 T. freshly ground fenugreek seeds
• 1 T. freshly ground flax seeds
• 1 T. Liquid chlorophyll
• 16 ounces water
• Gymnema Sylvestre before meals helps repair the pancreas and damage to liver and kidneys. Studies show that it may be able to help repair damage that has been done to the pancreas, as well as reduce the amount of insulin many diabetics need to maintain normal blood sugar levels. There is also research showing that it can reduce triglyceride levels and aid in weight loss.
• Bitter Gourd
• Banaba Tree Extract
• Grape Seed Extract
• Cinnamon – add to coffee with organic heavy cream to make you more insulin sensitive. Coffee has polyphenols which protect you from diabetes.
• Tea: Green tea, Pau d’ arco, Astragalus, Burdock, Fenugreek

Lifestyle protocol for insulin resistance/type II diabetes

• Ensure healthy gut flora. Consider a CDSA (comprehensive digestive stool analysis).
• Get to bed by 10pm and get up no earlier than 6am. Lack of sleep disturbs lipid profile, glucose metabolism, androgen production and blood pressure, immune system and memory.
• Glucose levels are influenced by carbohydrate intake, stress, glandular and liver function. Serum Glucose: Optimum range – 80-95 mg/dL. 105′ = adrenal issues
• Monitor blood glucose levels at least 2 times a day and before eating meals. If you are exercising you will need to test your glucose levels more frequently.
• Obtain fasting serum glucose and insulin levels.
• Rule out food allergies with increased or decreased blood sugar.
• Rule out heavy metal burdens, pesticides, other xenobiotics and inoculations. These can be locus to pancreatic dysfunction resulting in diabetes or hypoglycemia.
• Take Care of Your Eyes – Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness. It can lead to Retinopathy and other eye problems such as cataracts.

Exercise protocol for insulin resistance/type II diabetes

• Begin some form of exercise routine. Walking is excellent for diabetes. A daily 3mph brisk walk decreases diabetes risk by 50%!
• Strength training is far superior to steady state aerobic exercise to prevent obesity and improve insulin resistance. Steady state aerobic exercise ‘cortisol levels which ‘insulin levels.
• The power of being active should never be underestimated: from a short five minute walk to forty-five minute strength training sessions, it all counts towards reducing and eliminating the pre-diabetes (insulin resistance) syndrome.

PAULA OWENS ~  Author of THE POWER OF 4, Master of Holistic Nutrition, Fitness Expert
Website: http://www.PaulaOwens.com
Blog: http://thepowerof4-paula.blogspot.com
Article Source

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One of the most frustrating symptoms of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)  is insomnia. Already severe strained and fatigues due to low blood sugar, insomnia can literally push you into total breakdown. The constant pain, fatigue and sleep deprivation will wear anyone down physically and mentally.

Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep or to remain asleep throughout the night. This inability to fall asleep can be caused by stress, anxiety about sleeping or stimulants such as coffee and tea. If you are a sufferer of hypoglycemia, then it is very likely that the cause of your insomnia is due to low blood sugar. When your blood sugar drops below a certain level, your brain will become stimulated and you will be woken up – prompting you to get something to eat. This is part of the body’s defense mechanism.

If your insomnia is caused by hypoglycemia, the use of sleeping pills or other remedies can never help you to overcome insomnia because the root cause of the problem is not addressed – low blood sugar. Thus, in order to overcome your hypoglycemia induced insomnia, you will need to find way to maintain your blood sugar throughout the night.

One of the best ways to go about doing this is to have a light snack 1-2 hours before bed time. The choice of the snack should high in complex carbohydrates because they increase serotonin, a brain neurotransmitter that promotes sleep. In addition, complex carbohydrates are harder to break down into glucose and thus, they are absorbed slowly but constantly into the bloodstream. This property is what you are looking for to keep your sugar level constant throughout the night.

A few example of good bed time snacks are: bread (whole-grain), oatmeal, salads, etc.

Stimulants such as coffee, tea and alcohol should be avoided as they keep you mentally alert. Food high in sugar contents should also be avoided as they can raise your blood sugar level very quickly, prompting your pancreas to produce large amounts of insulin which will subsequently send you into hypoglycemic mode.

Diet plays a very important role in not just insomnia, but for hypoglycemia as well. A proper diet can help you to keep hypoglycemia under control and suppress most of your symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, intense hunger and insomnia.

Learn more about hypoglycemia sleep problems and discover how you can beat your insomnia now! Article Source:  Matt Niccals, http://EzineArticles.com

Strength Training on the Ball: A Pilates Approach to Optimal Strength and Balance

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The ability to successfully lose weight is dependent on a variety of factors, being able to convert fat into lean muscle is one of the most important factors. Of course it is necessary to know how to build the muscle in the first place. If you eat a well balanced diet with a decent amount of good quality protein (preferably at all three of your meals) and introduce some load bearing exercises into your daily exercise routine, you will undoubtedly start to build lean muscle.

Because muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in your body, your ability to burn up unwanted fat will be improved. However, muscle weighs heavier than fat, so as a result you may find that you have lost size but your weight has either stayed the same or may even have slightly increased. Try not to be too concerned about your overall weight loss as your ultimate aim must be for a more streamlined figure and a healthy body that is able to work to full efficiency.

Janet Matthews is an experienced educationalist and health professional who believes in promoting good health through personal responsibility. This responsibility primarily entails being informed. Her articles aim to inform the general public and to lead them to a healthy fulfilling life. Please click on the links below for more information on health and weight loss: http://healthy-choices.net/ http://weightloss-leads.com/
Janet Matthews skype:- lindajanetmatthews Article Source.

The low GI guide to managing PCOS

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If these are your symptoms, you might have PCOS or polycystic ovary syndrome. There is a connection between having PCOS and having insulin resistance. Insulin resistance will result when the body responds improperly to insulin in your blood, causing insulin levels to increase.

The increased insulin builds up testosterone levels which causes weigh gain around the belly and waist. It damages the liver, predisposes you to getting diabetes, and causes the arteries to clog. It is also responsible for the symptoms that were mentioned at the start of this article.

The effect over the long term of too much insulin in the blood isn’t good. If you don’t make an effort at controlling your insulin level, there’s a good chance of getting heart disease and diabetes.

However, your blood insulin level can be lowered in a natural way through “healthy living”. This means getting plenty of aerobic exercise that causes your heart rate to increase as well as exercises that build up muscle mass.

It also requires a healthy and natural diet consisting of eating lean meat, fruits and vegetables, chicken, and fish. Stay away from processed foods and simple carbohydrates such as cakes, cookies, white bread, refined pasta and rice.

Avoid consuming too much food. Eating a salad before you start your meal will make you feel fuller and reduces your appetite.

Reduce the stress that you cope with on a daily basis. Too much stress, regardless of it’s source, disrupts your hormonal balance. This causes you to put on weight about the waist.

What is most important is to never attempt this by yourself. An experienced health professional is required to inform you what to do. Joining a PCOS support group will help you stay with the program.

Need to find ovarian cyst and PCOS information? Learn about recurring ovarian cysts and an http://www.ovariancystfree.com. M. D. Sandford.  Article Source.

The Metabolic Syndrome Program: How to Lose Weight, Beat Heart Disease, Stop Insulin Resistance and More

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Insulin is a hormone produced by the beta cells in the pancreas and secreted into the blood stream to help normalize blood sugar levels following a meal. It helps transfer glucose into muscle and fat cells where it is used as a fuel or energy source. Insulin resistance occurs when it is unable to do its job of transferring sugars from the blood stream into the muscle and fat cells. Glucose build-up in your blood stream usually follows and gradually leads to type 2 diabetes and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Therefore, insulin resistance (IR) is a medical condition waiting to explode; it will always have a measured impact of severity. Everyone who has type 2 diabetes has resistance to insulin, although everyone who has it does not have diabetes … yet.

It is a complex entity and is also responsible for:

• the metabolic syndrome
• polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
  
• playing a large role with high blood pressure, gout, and cholesterol abnormalities

Insulin resistance was suspected way back in the 1950s by a clinician, Jean Vague, in Marseilles, France. It involves a spectrum of conditions and usually starts with:

• anyone who is obese with a BMI (body mass index) greater than 25
• males with a waist more than 40 inches (100 cm) or females with a waist greater than 35 inches (90 cm)
• people with close family members having type 2 diabetes

Despite the fact there is an association between resistance to insulin and genetics, it may also be acquired. There is a very obvious connection between it and obesity. The good news is it is very responsive to changes in diet and lifestyle.

Risk factors include:

• impaired glucose tolerance
• high insulin levels
• high triglyceride levels
• low HDL (good) cholesterol
• high LDL (bad) cholesterol
• elevated blood pressure
• blood clots easily

A recent study confirmed that insulin resistance is very hard to measure, though it is known to be a dangerous precursor to type 2 diabetes. It is also known as the “silent” killer as you are usually unaware of the changes that are taking place in your body; these changes commencing even up to 15 years before diagnosis. Many people are not aware of it’s existence until they have a heart attack.

Insulin resistance:

• is as accurate a predictor of heart disease as are elevated LDL cholesterol levels
• may account for half of all heart attacks
• is present in half of all people with high blood pressure
• has been estimated to affect about one in four people

Identifying and treating people showing signs is really important because of the toll it takes on their body, especially the cardiovascular system. The best safeguard against this condition is to adopt a healthy lifestyle which includes weight loss, a low fat, high-fiber diet and regular exercise.

To keep it short, be wary of insulin resistance; it is not the bane of type 2 diabetes alone … it is a medical problem waiting to happen.

There are several factors regarding your risk of type 2 diabetes you cannot change. But you can change your diet, nutritional deficiencies and lack of physical activity.

If you would like to read about a few weight loss secrets, click here now to download my free E-Book:   Trim Down Tips. Beverleigh Piepers is a registered nurse who would like to help you understand how to live easily and happily with your Type 2 Diabetes.  Article Source.

Sugar Blues

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Does eating too much sugar cause diabetes? Everyone has heard it, and we all know that doctors and nutritionists tell people to watch their intake of sugar once they are diagnosed with diabetes, but is it fact or fiction that eating too much sugar causes diabetes?

Well, the truth is, we don’t really know for sure what causes diabetes. So, I would really have to say that eating too much sugar causes diabetes is fiction. Does that mean you should go ahead and eat your heart out and down chocolate cake by the pound and ice cream by the carton? Of course not; that is just not nutritionally sound, but eating too much sugar is just too simple a “solution” to a more-complicated issue.

So, if eating too much sugar is not a cause of diabetes, what is? Well, diabetes is a disease in which your body improperly deals with insulin or does not make enough of it for some reason. Although the medical community does not know precisely why that happens, there are diabetes risk factors that are clearly identifiable.

• Being overweight.
• Being underactive or inactive.
• Having a parent or sibling who has the disease.
• Having gestational diabetes.
• Being diagnosed with “pre-diabetes.”
• Having given birth to a baby that weighed over 9 pounds.
• Having a poor diet.
• Getting older. Right now, the “magic age” seems to be 45. Risk increases as we age.
• Having high blood pressure

So, even though the answer to the question “Does eating too much sugar cause diabetes-fact or fiction?” must be “fiction,” lifestyle choices definitely make a difference in whether or not you will be likely to be diagnosed with high blood sugar. Make wise choices; stick to a healthy eating plan; do what you can to avoid all diseases, including diabetes.

Learn More About Blood Glucose Levels. Article Source