|  Diabetes is a disease caused by a failure of the biological mechanisms for regulating blood sugar, due to insufficient production of insulin (hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy) by the pancreas. The disease is characterized by a significant increase in blood sugar. The three major types of diabetes are Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes and Gestational diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is characterized by a loss of insulin production by particular cells of the pancreas (Beta cells or Langerhans cells. The causes of this loss of insulin production are still unknown. Type 1 diabetes can affect children or adults but, most of times, it starts between few months of life and about 35 years. The organism of a diabetic patient rejects, by the formation of antibodies, cells which are capable of producing insulin. The symptoms are discomfort and frequent urination which can lead to dehydration and weight loss. Type 1 diabetes accounts for 10% of patients with diabetes. Type 2 diabetes or Diabetes mellitus type 2 is a form of diabetes characterized by high levels of sugar in the blood. This type of diabetes results from a lack of insulin secretion and its ineffectiveness to keep the blood sugar within a normal level. Type 2 Diabetes can be caused by genetic factors or unhealthy lifestyle, lack of exercise, obesity, alcohol abuse and high-fat diet. However, the causes of diabetes in the vast majority of cases have not yet any logical explanation.Gestational diabetes mellitus is a type of diabetes that occurs in pregnant women only. No specific cause has been identified, but it is believed that during pregnancy, the body of the mother produces hormones to support the fetus as it grows. In some women, these hormones work against their bodies, making them less able to make the insulin needed to get energy from body cells. Without this insulin, the level of sugar in the mother’s blood starts to build up, which can do harm to both mother and fetus, if left untreated . Continue Reading »
 Taking good care of your body is a crucial aspect of life that some folks fail to take seriously. After all, you never know when a health affliction or ailment could arise. One common health concern that affects many men and women all around the world is kidney stones. If you are not sure what these are, they are essentially calcium deposits that form into pebbles inside your kidneys. While some stones are small, others can be quite large. Naturally these kidney stones can cause serious pain and discomfort. Luckily there are remedies for kidney stones that most people can choose if they become afflicted. But first, you need to understand your condition.
There are certain remedies for kidney stones that can be done in the privacy of your own home. First of all, you should understand some of the leading causes for these irksome and painful stones. Common beverages that can lead to kidney stones are soft drinks. This is due to the acidity, which causes buildup in the kidneys. As you may already know, the things you consume pass through your stomach, to your intestines. At this point certain nutrients are absorbed into the blood stream to be used by your body. Your kidneys then filter liquids out of the blood and send them down through the ureters, and on to the bladder. Clearly it is important drink water. Water is a natural remedy for kidney stones. After all, water is what your body is made up of to some degree, and your systems need it to remain healthy. By consuming six to ten glasses of water each day, you are doing your kidneys a favor. Continue Reading »
 If you’ve just gotten word from the doctor that your triglyceride levels are too high, this is not information to be ignored! Reducing triglyceride levels is imperative. Often, high cholesterol and high triglyceride levels go hand in hand. This means that you are at considerable risk for various forms of heart disease, including thickening of the blood, promoting the formation of clots and a higher incidence of stroke and heart attacks.
An acceptable reading of triglycerides is 199mg/dL, while 100mg/dL is indicative of optimal health. So how did your triglyceride levels get so high? Here we present an overview of the production of triglycerides, followed by some natural ways aimed at reducing triglyceride levels and bad cholesterol as well. Triglycerides are essentially fats, formed in a three step process in your liver. When you consume carbs, they are converted to glucose, transmitting energy to your cells. When your cells have all they need, the excess is sent to the liver, which then converts the glucose to glycogen, which is then made available to your muscles. However, when you consume more carbs than your body requires, the excess glycogen again returns to your liver and is converted to triglycerides, stored as fat. When your liver says ‘Enough for me!’, these fats remain circulating in your blood. This is what precipitates a dangerous condition, as mentioned above, the potential for clots, coronary blockage, stroke or a heart attack. You can see why reducing triglyceride levels is a must! Continue Reading »
 Your feet take a beating each and every day. They hold you up, move you around, and help do things like drive your car and shovel your garden. While we are good at taking care of our skin, hands, and other body parts, and we watch out for things like cancer, high cholesterol, and other health ailments, we rarely pay any attention to our hard working feet. Almost everyone will have days and even weeks when they have painful feet for whatever reason. Take some time to take care of your feet so they can continue to take care of you.
The first part of taking care of your painful feet is to figure out why they are hurting so much. It could be that you have been doing something that caused temporary pain, and stopping that activity is the easiest way to get rid of the pain. Usually, however, we don’t know right away what the problem might be and why we have painful feet. It could be an activity, the way we are walking, a certain type or pair of shoes, or perhaps there is a medical issue that needs to be addressed. All of these things are very common reasons for pain in the feet and up the legs. Womens shoes are often a cause of painful feet, though many feel that they have to put up with the pain to keep up with fashion. High heels hold the feet and the body in a very unnatural position and should not be worn every day. If you could see what can happen to your feet from the long term use of high heels, you may not think they are as sexy as you thought they were. If you want to wear them, wear them only on certain occasions. Do not wear them each day and your feet will thank you for it. Continue Reading »
 If you’ve been told by a doctor that your cholesterol levels are too high you should also be aware of the causes and dangers of high cholesterol levels. Our diets typically include too much of the ‘bad’ fats, too few of the ‘good, with the resulting high cholesterol readings and attendant heart problems. While there are many pharmaceutical cholesterol lowering products on the market, it makes sense to limit the number of prescription drugs you must take, to avoid negative interactions and side effects. With this in mind, we’ve put together a list of natural plant medicines that help control cholesterol You should always consult your health practitioner as to the advisability of taking any herbal treatment.
You’ll notice that different herbs, roots and berries can be of benefit, not only to control cholesterol, but alleviate other health conditions. For example, if you’re a woman going through menopause, with high blood pressure and cholesterol readings, Black Cohosh root will help you on many fronts. All of these herbs may be found in any good herb shop. 1.Panax ginseng, a.k.a American Ginseng, has been a staple in the Traditional Chinese Medicine cabinet for thousands of years, is still used today to reduce and control cholesterol, tone and support the adrenals, as well as regulating blood sugar. This magical herb also boosts immune system function, enhancing both mental focus and physical endurance, while reducing stress and increasing energy. Continue Reading »
 Colic is something that you think of in regards to children under the age of one. This is often a spell of crying that happens for more than a few minutes at least a few times a day. You would not have a baby suffering from colic if they cry for five minutes, but colic may be what is going on when they cry for hours on end and you can not seem to find anything wrong nor can you calm them. While colic use to be a blanket term for the unknown, many babies suffering from colic actually have baby acid reflux. Now that many know this is the problem, it is easier to end the suffering for both baby and parents. Acid reflux can happen with any baby whether they are breastfed or bottle fed with formula. However, babies who are breastfed are less likely to have colic that is related to acid reflux.
My son suffered from acid reflux as a baby and it caused asthma-like symptoms along with excessive mucus buildup in his lungs. This progressed for many months until his pediatrician ran out of ideas and diagnosed him with Cystic Fibrosis; needless to say, that was a complete shock. Several days later, I took him to see a pulminary specialist who looked him over, ran a simple test and determined that his problem was only acid refux, not systic fibrosis. Apparently, he was breathing in tiny amounts of stomach acid into his lungs, because the muscle that is supposed to keep the acid in his stomach wasn’t working properly (that’s the case with most acid reflux sufferers). When stomach acid hits the lining of the lungs, the body produces mucus to protect the tissue. When babies have chronic acid reflux, this happens many times a day, and that’s not good. The specialist started my son on acid reflux medicine and, in a few weeks, his mucus cleared up. Hooray for modern medicine! Some Things To Look Out For If you are feeding your baby formula, or if they make faces or have problems near the end of or after a feeding, acid reflux in babies may be the problem. If you have given birth to a premature baby, you may very well have to worry about baby acid reflux even if you are giving them breast milk. You can not breast feed them right away in many cases, but they can have your breast milk through what is called a gavage or tube feeding. While they may not have any trouble digesting the breast milk, they may have baby acid reflux because of the length of their esophagus. This is too short, as they should have had time to grow before they had to digest food on their own. Acid reflux in premature babies is actually quite common no matter how they are fed. Continue Reading »
 Heart disease is the scourge of American society. More than cancer or AIDS, more than car crashes or wars, heart disease is what is putting more Americans in the grave than any other cause. And the unfortunate thing is that, in all but the most extreme cases, heart disease is eminently preventable.
Heart healthy eating is first and foremost on the prevention list and, as the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Heart healthy eating basically means eating things that are natural – nuts, berries, fruits and vegetables – and eschewing the pre-packaged, over-processed snacks that predominate in American cupboards. Get rid of those Twinkies, Ho-hos and Doritos, or they’ll put you in the ground once all is said and done. It’s a logical thing, heart healthy eating, if you really think of it. Humans have evolved over eons to process the energy of the sun. We process it by consuming plants that themselves process the energy of the sun on a more basic level. It’s simple science: We’ve evolved to break down the nutrients in natural foods, and we can process those nutrients more efficiently and more effectively than anything we’ve yet created in a lab. Other aspects of heart healthy eating to pay attention to are both balance and portion control. Balance means eating the right percentage of certain foods – again, vegetables and fruits, nuts and berries are the important ones – in relation to other foods. Yes, we all love a good steak once in a while. And yes, we’re omnivores. But mankind had millions of years to evolve to digest food that grows in the soil or from trees; we’ve not been eating animals near so long. So for every serving of steak or any other flesh, you should have three or more of fruits, vegetables, nuts or berries. The Mayo Clinic, one of the premier hospitals in the United States, gives this piece of advice on heart healthy eating on their website at mayoclinic.com: Continue Reading »
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