Diabetes

Diabetes of any kind is a disorder that prevents the body from using food properly. Normally, the body gets its major source of energy from glucose, a simple sugar that comes from foods high in simple carbohydrates (e.g., table sugar or other sweeteners such as honey, molasses, jams, and jellies, soft drinks, and cookies), or from the breakdown of complex carbohydrates such as starches (e.g., bread, potatoes, and pasta).

After sugars and starches are digested in the stomach, they enter the blood stream in the form of glucose. The glucose in the blood stream becomes a potential source of energy for the entire body, similar to the way in which gasoline in a service station pump is a potential source of energy for your car. But, just as someone must pump the gas into the car, the body requires some assistance to get glucose from the blood stream to the muscles and other tissues of the body. In the body, that assistance comes from a hormone called insulin.

Insulin is produced by the pancreas, a gland that lies behind the stomach. Without insulin, glucose cannot get into the cells of the body where it is used as fuel. Instead, glucose accumulates in the blood to high levels and is excreted or spilled into the urine through the kidneys.

There are two major types of diabetes, called type 1 and type 2. In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas undergoes an autoimmune attack by the body itself, and is rendered incapable of making insulin. The patient with type 1 diabetes must rely on insulin medication for survival. Of all the patients with diabetes, only about 10% of the patients have type 1 diabetes and the remaining 90% have type 2 diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, patients can still produce insulin, but do so relatively inadequately for their body's needs.

Signs and Symptoms of Diabetes
Many of the signs of type 1 and type 2 diabetes are same. In both, there is too much glucose in the blood and not enough in the cells of your body. High glucose levels in type I are because of a lack of insulin as the insulin producing cells have been destroyed. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the cells of the body become resistant to insulin that is being produced. Either way, your cells aren't getting the glucose that they need, and your body lets you know by giving you these signs and symptoms.

How to treat diabetes?
Treatment of diabetes has improved considerably during the last forty years, especially in terms of self-glucose monitoring. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), good glucose control reduces the complications of diabetes by about 60 percent. So, the following steps are needed to be followed to keep diabetes under control.

Step One: Apart from adjusting in diet, taking medication and doing exercise, you also need to monitor your blood sugar regularly.

Step Two: Stick to the monitoring protocol prescribed by your doctor. Generally, blood is monitored before meals and at bedtime.

Step Three: Go for blood testing instead of urine testing, as it’s more accurate. Keep checking as new and improved ways to test blood are being developed all the time.

Step Four: Take your medication as prescribed, whether it is insulin or an oral drug.

Step Five: Develop a personal meal plan that you will stick with. Speak with a nutritionist or a diabetic educator and be frank about your likes and dislikes in eating.

Step Six: Stay on your meal plan. Explore new foods, but keep track of how they affect you.

Step Seven: Intake carbohydrates that supply plenty of fiber, vitamins and minerals, such as fresh vegetables and fruit. Save sugary foods for special occasions.

Step Eight: Lose weight if you are overweight, as it can make a big difference in your treatment plan.

Step Nine: Speak with your doctor if your program doesn't appear to be keeping your blood sugar under control. Modifications may be necessary.

Alternative Medicines
Injecting artificial insulin only suppresses your own production of the hormone, as after a few hours, the effect is gone and more insulin is needed. This becomes a never-ending battle that only aggravates the prognosis.

Most pharmaceuticals on the market today will only treat the symptoms of diabetes. Therefore, for the effective treatment of the disease, you should consider alternative methods, like Milagro de la Selva tea, which will stimulate your pancreas to do its job and reduce the insulin-resistance syndrome.