type2diabetes-related stories
Yes, You Can Have Your Chocolate, Red Wine and Coffee....in Moderation, of Course
Advice, Health, Healthy Eating, Eat This
Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues as well as improve their overall health.
The verdict is in; the latest research shows our favourite treats, in moderation, can be good for us!
Dark Chocolate: A one-inch square per day
A research team from the University of Helsinki, Finland, asked pregnant women to rate their stress levels and document their chocolate consumption. Guess what they found? Six months after birth, the mothers rated their infants' behaviour in various categories including fear, soothability, smiling and laughter. The babies born to women who had eaten chocolate daily during pregnancy smiled and laughed more and were more active. Even the babies of stressed women who had regularly consumed chocolate during pregnancy showed less fear of new situations than babies of stressed moms-to-be who abstained. Awesome news for new moms and chocoholics!
Can You Fight the 'Obesity Gene'?
Hold on a second. There's a gene for obesity? Really?! Wow. Man, that's bad news. Wait (panic kicks in)... What if I have it? Oh, I bet I have it. Great. So what, you mean I'm just "destined" to be fatter than your average bear? Seriously, what a cruel twist of fate that is.Was that your reaction when you found out that there was actually a gene that could make you fatter? For those of you who don't have a clue what I'm on about, here's what happened: In April 2007, news broke about a gene found to increase the susceptibility to obesity. The UK research team discovered the gene (known as FTO) in a group of 2,000 diabetics while conducting a genome-wide search for susceptibility to type-2 diabetes. The FTO gene was strongly linked to body mass index (BMI).
The strength of the genetic influence depends on whether you have inherited one or two copies of the FTO gene variant. For the unluckiest, who have inherited two copies, you are likely to weigh, on average, 7 lbs (3 kg) more (and are about 70 percent more likely to be obese) than those who do not have the FTO variant at all. For those who have escaped with just one copy, you could weigh, on average, 2.6 lbs (1.2 kg) more than the genetically risk-free group. Sadly, the odds of escaping without a single copy, my friend, are not good. Over 50 percent of people of European descent will have one or two copies, with 16 percent of those having both.
Is a Low-Carb Diet Slowing You Down? 7 Tips for Healthy Bowels
Health, Healthy Eating, Hormone Diet
Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues as well as improve their overall health.
Carbohydrate restriction is a proven way to stimulate weight loss; removing foods like bread, pasta, cereals, rice, muffins and other grain products from your diet for a period of time assists with "retraining" and improving your body's response to insulin, the ultimate key to any effective weight loss plan.Keeping insulin levels low is the rationale behind being carb conscious (I prefer this over "low-carb") and the reason I recommend the Glyci-Med way of eating in my book, The Hormone Diet. But this lifestyle can have drawbacks. Some people feel a slight decrease in energy or in mood when they limit carbs, and because these foods are a source of fibre, removing them often causes a nasty case of constipation.
Why is constipation so bad?
Chronic Stress Causes Damage: 5 Ways to Protect Your Brain
Advice, Happiness, Health, Hormone Diet
Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues as well as improve their overall health.Most of us are all too familiar with the feeling of being stressed -- your heart races, your breathing becomes rapid and shallow, your blood pressure rises and your hands become cold or clammy as blood flow is directed to your limbs to prepare for escape. However, most of the time there is no escape, as we sit in front of our computers or trapped in traffic!
This is our initial response to stress, otherwise known as an adrenalin rush or sympathetic nervous system response. The parasympathetic nervous system response, or relaxation response, is just the opposite; your breathing slows and deepens, your muscles relax, your blood pressure lowers, your pulse rate slows and blood flow is directed to the organs of digestion and elimination. If you always feel tense or anxious, your body will remain in a constant state of heightened arousal. As new studies have found, chronic stress, particularly psychological stress, is most detrimental to our health.
Effects of Chronic Stress after the jump...
Effects of Chronic Stress after the jump...
Prevent Disease With These Four Diet Must-Haves
Health, Healthy Eating, Eat This
Nutritionist Elisa Zied, author of Nutrition at Your Fingertips, says that certain diseases can be prevented by consuming certain foods on a regular basis. To find out which diseases you can prevent and what to eat, keep reading.
Q: What kinds of diseases can be prevented through diet?
A: There's evidence that making dietary and lifestyle changes can play a role in the prevention of a variety of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and osteoporosis.
Q: What are your top disease-fighting foods and why?
A: There's no one food that can prevent disease, but consuming a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods in the context of a healthful dietary pattern can add to the disease-fighting arsenal of the diet.
Here are four foods/classes of foods that may play a role in preventing several diet-related diseases.
Control Body Weight Without Dieting
Dr. Richard Beliveau and Dr. Denis Gingras are the authors of Eating Well, Living Well, translated by Valentina Baslyk along with their bestselling books Foods That Fight Cancer and Cooking With Foods That Fight Cancer.
It is always amusing to look at photos from the 1980s or earlier to see just how clothing, hairstyles, or even the design of cars has changed over the years. But what is less fun is seeing just how much slimmer people were back then! The phenomena of overweight and obesity, at one time quite rare, have increased considerably over the last 25 years, such that today two-thirds of Western populations are overweight.
Excess weight and obesity associated with excessive consumption of calories best illustrate the dangers of today's mass-produced diet. We still dwell too often on the external aspects of fat gain and fail to take into account the number of works or articles discussing the physical or psychological aspects related to excess weight.
However, scientific data gathered over the last few years about the consequences of excess fat on how the body functions show it is high time we became concerned about the internal effects and their repercussions on health. Being overweight is a major factor in the onset of all chronic diseases affecting the population: Type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, many types of cancer, and Alzheimer's.
Like quitting smoking, the maintenance of a normal body weight (a BMI of about 23) should be a key objective in chronic disease prevention.
It is always amusing to look at photos from the 1980s or earlier to see just how clothing, hairstyles, or even the design of cars has changed over the years. But what is less fun is seeing just how much slimmer people were back then! The phenomena of overweight and obesity, at one time quite rare, have increased considerably over the last 25 years, such that today two-thirds of Western populations are overweight.
Excess weight and obesity associated with excessive consumption of calories best illustrate the dangers of today's mass-produced diet. We still dwell too often on the external aspects of fat gain and fail to take into account the number of works or articles discussing the physical or psychological aspects related to excess weight.
However, scientific data gathered over the last few years about the consequences of excess fat on how the body functions show it is high time we became concerned about the internal effects and their repercussions on health. Being overweight is a major factor in the onset of all chronic diseases affecting the population: Type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, many types of cancer, and Alzheimer's.
Like quitting smoking, the maintenance of a normal body weight (a BMI of about 23) should be a key objective in chronic disease prevention.
5 Ways to Prevent Type-2 Diabetes
Dr. Richard Beliveau and Dr. Denis Gingras are the authors of Eating Well, Living Well, translated by Valentina Baslyk along with their bestselling books Foods That Fight Cancer and Cooking With Foods That Fight Cancer.
Here they explain the easy steps we should all take to prevent this type of diabetes.
Given the serious consequences emanating from insulin resistance and Type-2 diabetes, preventing this disease is certainly our best weapon in reducing the damage caused by a surplus of blood sugar. Luckily for us, the preventive potential is extraordinary: Adopting a healthy lifestyle can prevent up to 90 percent of Type-2 diabetes cases! To see how we can reduce the risk of diabetes, let us review some lifestyle factors.
1. Controlling body weight: Given that excess weight and obesity are instrumental in the development of Type-2 diabetes, maintaining a normal body weight is an essential aspect of any preventive approach. The most spectacular illustration of how weight loss can influence the risk of diabetes is undoubtedly the effect of bariatric surgery (reducing stomach size) on morbidly obese people. Radically reducing the size of the stomach rapidly decreases obesity and almost completely eliminates Type-2 diabetes!
However, it is neither necessary nor desirable to undergo this type of surgery to reap the benefits of weight loss: Losing just 5 kg, even over several years, can reduce the risk of diabetes by 50 percent! At a time when overweight has become the norm rather than the exception, Type-2 diabetes undoubtedly illustrates the dangers of excess weight and the need to be as slim as possible in order to prevent this disease.
2. Controlling glycemia:
Here they explain the easy steps we should all take to prevent this type of diabetes.
Given the serious consequences emanating from insulin resistance and Type-2 diabetes, preventing this disease is certainly our best weapon in reducing the damage caused by a surplus of blood sugar. Luckily for us, the preventive potential is extraordinary: Adopting a healthy lifestyle can prevent up to 90 percent of Type-2 diabetes cases! To see how we can reduce the risk of diabetes, let us review some lifestyle factors.1. Controlling body weight: Given that excess weight and obesity are instrumental in the development of Type-2 diabetes, maintaining a normal body weight is an essential aspect of any preventive approach. The most spectacular illustration of how weight loss can influence the risk of diabetes is undoubtedly the effect of bariatric surgery (reducing stomach size) on morbidly obese people. Radically reducing the size of the stomach rapidly decreases obesity and almost completely eliminates Type-2 diabetes!
However, it is neither necessary nor desirable to undergo this type of surgery to reap the benefits of weight loss: Losing just 5 kg, even over several years, can reduce the risk of diabetes by 50 percent! At a time when overweight has become the norm rather than the exception, Type-2 diabetes undoubtedly illustrates the dangers of excess weight and the need to be as slim as possible in order to prevent this disease.
2. Controlling glycemia:
Type II Diabetes Leads to Cognitive Decline
Yet another new possible complication of type 2 diabetes - a new study from Tel Aviv University has found that type 2 diabetes is a risk factor in accelerating cognitive decline. This can be added to blindness, renal failure, stroke and heart disease, which have already been identified as potential complications of type 2 diabetes. There are 60,000 new cases of type 2 diabetes in Canada every year.
The study's researcher Dr. Tali Cukierman-Yaffe, a physician and researcher from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, has found that people with diabetes were 1.5 times likelier to experience cognitive decline, and 1.6 times likelier to suffer from dementia when compared to people without diabetes. Higher-than-average blood glucose levels, a symptom of the condition, may have a role in this relationship.
The study's researcher Dr. Tali Cukierman-Yaffe, a physician and researcher from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, has found that people with diabetes were 1.5 times likelier to experience cognitive decline, and 1.6 times likelier to suffer from dementia when compared to people without diabetes. Higher-than-average blood glucose levels, a symptom of the condition, may have a role in this relationship.
