12 health benefits of avocado

Avocado Pear

Avocados are a stone fruit with a creamy texture that grow in warm climates. Their potential health benefits include improving digestion, decreasing risk of depression, and protection against cancer.

Health Benefits and Nutritional Information of Watermelon

watermelon

Despite popular belief that watermelon is made up of only water and sugar, watermelon is actually considered a nutrient dense food, a food that provides a high amount of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants for a low amount of calories.

How to Avoid 5 Serious Diabetes Complications

A diabetes diagnosis comes with a host of worries beyond controlling blood sugar levels and watching your diet. Potential diabetes complications include heart trouble, blindness, nerve damage, foot problems and kidney failure. Experts explain what people with diabetes can do to sidestep these risks... 

Why Eat More Fiber?

Most health experts these days are encouraging consumers to eat more fiber. This is due to the evidence that insufficient levels of fiber in the diet can lead to several diseases. Common among these diseases are diabetes, constipation, obesity and colon cancer. These diseases are life threatening diseases you wouldn't want to associate with.

10 Muscle Moves to Help Tame Diabetes

Why Do Strength Training?
If you have diabetes, you know the importance of controlling your blood sugar. But did you know that strength training can play a starring role? Simple moves done regularly can prompt your muscles to absorb more sugar. You'll also burn more calories around the clock when you take up strength training. Your mood, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure may improve, too.

Hypertension

How to manage hypertension

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is chronically elevated. With every heart beat, the heart pumps blood through the arteries to the rest of the body. Blood pressure is the force of blood that is pushing up against the walls of the blood vessels. If the pressure is too high, the heart has to work harder to pump, and this could lead to organ damage and several illnesses such as heart attack, stroke, heart failure, aneurysm, or renal failure.

Reversing Diabetes: How to Fit Treats Into a Responsible Diet

1 Can I really have Treats?

Is reversing diabetes a reality? Diabetes in a way may have an ability to go into remission. If you follow your doctor's advice to the letter and educate yourself in all aspects to a healthy life, you may be able to extend your life. There is a chance that you could send diabetes running for the hill. Unfortunately, about 30% of diabetics do not follow a healthy living plan. They want to consume unhealthy products all the time and think nothing bad can happen to them. The truth of the matter, they could make their condition worse. Having diabetes does not mean that you cannot enjoy a treat in your life.

Type 2 diabetes

Once diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, it is wise to stop taking your feet for granted. Previously you knew your feet would always recover with a bit of rest. However with diabetes, changes to your feet may put them at permanent risk, especially for ulceration.

Foot ulcers are a common complication of Type 2 diabetes. The US National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases estimates that 1 in 6 Type 2 diabetics will eventually develop foot ulcers, and about 1 in 100 will eventually have to have an amputation.
Early warning signs of future development of foot ulceration include:

• bunions
• claw toes, hammer toes, and mallet toes
• feet that easily get cold
• gradual widening and flattening of your feet due to aging

Spots of brown pigmentation on the lower legs that look like large, rusty freckles are also an indication of poor circulation to your feet. A foot ulcer occurs when your skin breaks and poor blood supply to your feet does not bring enough white blood cells that fight infection. Even a tiny, invisible nick in your skin can become a portal to infection. That's why it is important for all Type 2 diabetics to keep the skin of their feet well moisturized, (not moist, but moisturized with skin creams), at all time. Emu oil is often recommended for this purpose, but shea butter and plant oils with aloe actually are superior. Just don't use a scented skin cream on diabetic feet, since perfumes, fragrances, and essential oils dry out your skin in ways that can form cracks and crevices that become infected.

Always check the fitting of your shoes very carefully. Ill fitting shoes can damage your feet... look for these qualities in any shoes you buy:

• firm heels that support your foot
• plenty of room for your toes
• removable insoles to give your feet extra room if they swell
• rocker soles, designed to ease pressure on the ball of your foot

One useful piece of advice is to "wear in" new shoes for short periods of time and check your feet afterwards to see if the shoe has rubbed or pinched your feet.Equally important to preventing diabetic foot ulcers is daily inspection of your feet. Noticing any changes, especially on the tips of your toes, can help you get timely medical attention. If you can't inspect your own feet, ask your wife, husband or partner to do this for you.
Treating foot ulcers: If you do develop a foot ulcer, don't waste time in starting treatment... see a podiatrist and have him examine your feet to assess the depth of the ulcer. You may require an X-ray of your feet to rule out any bone involvement. A swab may also be taken to help identify the bacterium present and the anti-biotic required.
As well as caring for your feet, to minimize the risk of foot problems, good control of both your blood sugar levels and blood pressure will help keep these risks under control.

Would you like more information about alternative ways to handle your type 2 diabetes?
To download your free copy of my E-Book, click here now: Answers to Your Questions its based on questions many diabetics have asked me over recent months.