Coconut Oil and its health benefits
Filipinos are well-known for their youthful appearance and soft, wrinkle-free skin, even though they live in a climate that exposes them to the sun's rays year round.Page: 1 2 3 4
Food we should eat
Having identified and eliminated foods that drain us in many ways let us now turn our focus on what to do. These are not quick fix steps. Remember the harm done to the body by many years of subsisting on junk foods can not be undone in just few days. The list below is only a guide to recovery. Since diseases do not occur in isolation an all round healthy life style is recommended.
Not that the vitamins and minerals listed below are more important than those not mentioned here. These are mentioned because many years of living on devitalized and demineralised food have depleted our body stores and increased our bodies need for them.
The role of vitamin B6
The body needs vitamin B6 to prevent the conversion of one of the essential amino acids –tryptophane – into xanthurenic acid, which is specifically damaging to the to the pancreatic cells. Animals made deficient in vitamin B6 excrete high levels of xanthurenic acid, have damaged pancreas and have elevated sugar in the blood and urine. Because magnesium is an important complement to vitamin B6 activity (and also because magnesium levels are known to be particularly low in diabetic) it is suggested that magnesium as well as vitamin B6 should be included in the diabetic diet and in the diet of the well person hoping to prevent the disease.
The health benefits of magnesium do not end there. Magnesium is necessary for the action of insulin and the manufacture of insulin. Because magnesium can help lower blood pressure and inhibit dangerous arrhythmias (irregular heart beat), two common complications in those with congestive heart failure, a weakened heart may benefit from extra doses of this mineral.
A number of studies have established that it is magnesium, not calcium, which forms the kind of hard enamel that resists tooth decay. Good sources of calcium, magnesium and zinc: sesame seed
Vitamin E has been found to reduce insulin requirements of diabetics. Vitamin E also improves the muscles’ ability to take up glucose and stores it as glycogen. This is good news for the diabetic. So if you are diabetic or have any heart problems then by all means get some natural vitamin E in your diet. I say natural because there so many synthetics around
Vitamin A plays no known anti-diabetic role but there is the need for diabetics to take Vitamin A as pre-formed vitamin from fish oil, cod liver oil or other animal food because for unknown reasons the diabetic is not able to convert carotene (the precursor of vitamin A found in carrots, palm oil and green leafy vegetables) into fully formed vitamin A. Thus vitamin A deficiency (on top of the diabetic woes) is of particular danger to the diabetes patient and one to be guarded against through fish oil, cod liver oil supplementation. So if you are diabetic then by all by means get some vitamin A supplements
Also known as The Medical Discovery of the Century, the role of this sun shine vitamin is now appreciated by the scientific community. This "drug" also helps the pancreas to function better, while increasing the body's sensitivity to insulin. It is a godsend for diabetics and a powerful way to prevent the disease in the first place. And would you believe that there are no negative side-effects, when used properly? Sounds like a miracle, right? The miracle substance I'm talking about is vitamin D... and it's free of charge and available right outside your front door.
Vitamin D Is FREE from the Sun -
And What It Does Is Nothing Short of Amazing… (Click here for the full story.
Eating large amounts of sugar depletes our chromium supply. Heavy intake of carbohydrate leads to high blood sugar levels. To reduce it to normal level, chromium as well as insulin is released. As a result the body’s stores of chromium are depleted and chromium deficiency can result.The mineral chromium is needed for insulin to operate. But double threat is happening with chromium:- chromium is depleted as the body attempts to metabolize and remove white sugar- as the stores are used up, there won't be enough chromium left to allow the available insulin to work.
For this reason, many people who are being diagnosed diabetic may be just chromium deficient. Even ifinsulin is present, it cannot operate on sugars without chromium as a co-factor. Very often using chelated chromium supplements together with eliminating refined sugar from the diet can normalize a patient who was incorrectly labeled as diabetic.
Ordinarily healthy soil would provide chromium to crops grown on it and those crops in turn would provide the mineral to the public. But modern practice of farming on the same piece of land year after year and overuse of chemical fertilizers has the effect of leaving the soil starved of this trace mineral. If you are diabetic it is recommended that you take chromium supplements.
Chromium is not the only mineral essential to the proper functioning of insulin. Zinc is another. Without adequate zinc the cells that secrete insulin are impaired in their function and their very form and structure are threatened.
What is the effect of alcohol on zinc? When you take in alcohol it flashes zinc out of the liver into the urine. Deficiency of this mineral has been linked to sterility and dwarfism and unhealthy changes in the size and structure of the prostate.
Infertility among healthy looking young men in the country is very alarming. Prostate cancer also is on the increase. Don’t be carried away by the adverts and promotions you see on TV glorifying alcoholic drinks. Infertility, prostate and liver problems are the high price you may have to pay as some are now realizing.
Zinc is an important constituent of the insulin molecule. In addition to the prostate gland, zinc is concentrated in the human body mostly in the liver and spleen, although the pancreas contains considerable amounts.
Diabetics know that the insulin they inject is generally “protamine zinc insulin” It has been found that the addition to zinc to insulin prolong its effect on blood sugar.
The pancreas of a diabetic person contains only half as much zinc as a normal person. This suggests that zinc may play a very big part in the normal functioning of the pancreas and lack of it may be partly responsible for the trouble here.
It has been discovered that the same thing is true of the prostate gland. The sick prostate contains far less zinc than the normal one. Furthermore it has been found that semen (sperm) itself is extremely rich in zinc.
The wide incidence of prostate disorders, infertility and diabetes in the civilized countries today may be closely related to lack of zinc.
There is growing body of evidence that nothing works better than hitting the road to prevent diabetes and heart diseases. The reason exercise works is that it improves blood flow and improves insulin sensitivity which results in normalizing cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
No matter your age exercise is must. Those with serious heart problems need to see their doctor for suitable programme. The length and intensity of the exercise is very important if it is going to be beneficial. At least 30 minutes and the intensity should be such that it would not be easy to engage in normal conversation. Our sedentary lifestyle is partly to be blamed for the myriad of diseases that affects civilized man.
Rushing to buy cholesterol lowering drugs is not the wise thing to do. In fact these drugs cause muscle weakness and your heart which these drugs are supposed to be protecting is also a muscle. By pretending to protect your heart do you see where they lead you? - Early death. Lowering insulin sensitivity through exercise and sensible eating is the key to lowering your bad cholesterol.
Now let us take the second step which to me is of great importance. In the first major step we learned about foods to avoid in order to put an end to the harm we continue to inflict on our body through ignorance .We also learn about supplements we need to take to start rebuilding our system.
The role of Oils
It's not just sugars we need to watch. The kinds of fats or oil we eat also have an enormous impact on our long-term health. The "low-fat" message has encouraged people to eat more insulin-stimulating carbohydrate instead, fuelling the epidemic of insulin resistance. Don’t follow the crowd and don’t be part of the statistics. It is said we are what we eat. And that is true when it comes the type of oil we eat because these oils are incorporated into the structure of the cells that make up our body.
Population studies have shown that cultures that abandoned traditional oils for deodorized refined oils recorded rapid increase in diabetes and heart diseases.
I want to encourage you to read my little on oils you need to eat. It tells you all that you need to know about type of oils to eat. If you want to protect yourself from diabetes and heart diseases then this booklet is a must read.
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