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Read the article here:
http://econewsmedia.com/2017/07/24/high-fructose-corn-syrup-quietly-deceitfully-renamed/
Life is tough. It’s even tougher if you’re a diabetic. My last A1C was a 9. Down 1/2 a point from the time before. That’s down from a high of 11, so I’m heading in the right direction. I’m hoping to have it even further down when I’m checked again in December. It’s hard, but I know I can do it. Mostly right now my daily sugars are in line to where they’re supposed to be. It doesn’t mean I don’t have bad numbers now and then, but they are a lot less frequently than what they were before I started paying attention.
Let’s face it, nobody wants to poke their finger 12 times a day. Right now I’ve been doing it twice a day. Fasting in the morning and just before dinner and once or twice a week 2 hours after dinner. This gives me a good awareness of where my sugars are at so I can adjust my medication.
The second step I’ve been doing is paying attention to what I eat. I’ve downloaded the app, “My Fitness Pal,” so I can keep track of the crap I’ve been shoveling down my neck. By daily recording what I eat, has opened my eyes to the crap I eat and how much of it. By being aware, I’m changed my diet considerable but over time. Not everything in one day. By doing the above I’m seeing a lot better numbers in my daily sugar readings. That makes my endocrinologist a happy doctor. Making me a happy man.
Next step, I have to start walking/exercising a bit more than what I do.
Blood Sugar Fasting: 141
Weight: 267
Kane
With the third anniversary of my heart attack on the near horizon, I was thinking as I walked my dogs this morning about how my dog Kane helped in my recovery. Let me explain. After returning home from the hospital where I had stents inserted and had sustained some damage to my heart, I was barely able to walk to the bathroom. It took about a week to get to the point of being able to walk to the end of the block and back….slowly. Too slowly for my liking.
I decided to do something about it and hooked up the harness to my Husky Kane and off we went for a train. I call it a train because my Husky is the engine and I am the caboose. First we went around the block, but it wasn’t long before I had him pulling me around for a mile and then two and finally three miles.
To this day I praise him in the help of my recovery. Thus, partially saving my life. If not for him I’m sure I’d still be shuffling like George Burns in his nineties rather then the almost full strides I do today.
Weight: 267
Blood Sugar: 173
It is considered one of life’s guilty pleasures – but that could be about to change.
Scientists now say that regularly tucking into a few pieces of chocolate may actually be good for us. A study has found that people who regularly eat chocolate are less likely to fall victim to strokes and heart disease.
The findings – based on a 12-year study of 21,000 Britons – suggest that eating dark or milk chocolate could be beneficial for health.
Scientists now say that regularly tucking into a few pieces of chocolate may actually be good for us. A study has found that people who regularly eat chocolate are less likely to fall victim to strokes and heart disease
The cumulative evidence suggests that high chocolate consumption may be associated with cardiovascular benefit.
People at risk of heart disease are often told to exclude sweet and fattening foods from their diet.
But the researchers, whose work was published in the medical journal Heart, said: ‘There does not appear to be any evidence to say that chocolate should be avoided by those who are concerned about cardiovascular risk.’
They found that people who regularly ate chocolate – some of whom consumed up to 100g a day – were 11 per cent less likely to have a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problem than people who ate none at all.
Eating chocolate was also associated with a 25 per cent reduced chance of dying with a heart problem. The study authors – from the universities of Aberdeen, Manchester, Cambridge and East Anglia – stressed that their investigation merely looked at statistical trends, and could not draw definitive conclusions about cause and effect.
They said there is a chance the results were skewed slightly by the fact that people who have a high risk of heart disease may steer clear of chocolate – so those who regularly eat the treat might already be healthier.
But they added: ‘Nevertheless, the cumulative evidence suggests that high chocolate consumption may be associated with cardiovascular benefit.’
The researchers suspect that chocolate’s health benefits are linked to flavonoids – antioxidants present in dark chocolate that are thought to help blood flow.
But they said that milk chocolate, which is usually considered to be less ‘healthy’, may also have health benefits.
‘Milk chocolate was more frequently consumed than dark chocolate in this cohort,’ they wrote. ‘However, we still observed a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.
‘This may indicate that not only flavonoids, but also other compounds – possibly related to milk constituents such as calcium and fatty acids – may provide an explanation.’
The study involved 9,200 men and 11,700 women in Norwich, who were monitored for an average 12 years.
The scientists, whose work was funded by the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK, also carried out a review of nine previous studies into chocolate involving 158,000 participants, which backed up their results.
Experts last night welcomed the results – although they repeated concerns that nobody has yet proved exactly why chocolate might improve heart health.
Milk chocolate (left) is usually considered less ‘healthy’ that dark – but scientists still observed a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease among people who ate it regularly over the 12 year long study
Dr Tim Chico, cardiologist at the University of Sheffield, said: ‘This study adds to the evidence that people who consume chocolate tend to have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, although such studies cannot say whether the chocolate is the cause of this protective effect.
‘However, it is also clear that chocolate has the potential to increase weight, which is unequivocally bad for cardiovascular health.’
Professor Aedin Cassidy, nutritionist at the University of East Anglia, issued a word of warning.
‘Chocolate also contains fat and sugar so only moderate intakes should be recommended as part of a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables,’ she said.
n It may be good for your health but chocolate could soon hurt your pocket after experts predicted soaring prices amid a long-term shortage of cocoa.
A University of Sydney study said that with cocoa bean production falling and demand for chocolate rising in growing economies such as China, shoppers can expect prices to increase by 60 per cent in the next five years. There has already been a 20 per cent rise in the past year.
After missing my routine on both Friday and Saturday due to going out of town I jumped back into the gym today. Started day 22 of the Muscle & Fitness Beginner’s Workout http://goo.gl/oqhi68. After 15 mins on the treadmill I worked on strengthening my Chest, Triceps and Calves. Tomorrow is Legs and Abs.
I write this as I’m munching on a salad after my workout this morning. My legs feel like jelly, but over all I feel good today. Not so yesterday. On the go all day, I missed my workout. Not because I didn’t have time, I just skipped it because I was lazy. The afternoon into the evening I was on the go with teaching class, appointment and then the finance committee meeting at church. I ended up grabbing dinner on the go last night, a Jack-in-the-Box burger and small curly fries. Immediately after eating the meal I wish I hadn’t. It really made fell crappy the rest of the night.
I started off the day right today with an apple for snack and now my salad for brunch, (and yes, I use a little oil and vinegar, no creamy ranch dressing.)
I’m making changes everyday to my diet. No one just wakes up and says “From now on i will eat only healthy.” Yea, right. It doesn’t happen. But, if you try and be conscious of your diet, then you’ll only be bad now and then. It won’t ruin your whole day, only until your next meal.
A handful of pistachio nuts twice a day protects the heart and arteries from harm caused by stress in diabetics, scientists found.
Just 150 of the nuts or three ounces a day resulted in people with Type 2 diabetes having more ‘relaxed’ and less narrower blood vessels, lower blood pressure especially when asleep and less strain on the heart after just four weeks.
The study by Pennsylvania State University said the nuts could reduce risk of heart disease but warned the nuts were not a cure for daily stress.
Professor of biobehavioural health and nutritional sciences Sheila West said: ‘In adults with diabetes, two servings of pistachios per day lowered vascular constriction during stress and improved neural control of the heart.
‘Although nuts are high in fat, they contain good fats, fibre, potassium and antioxidants. Given the high risk of heart disease in people with diabetes, nuts are an important component of a heart healthy diet in this population.’
The study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association involved two diets with the same number of calories.
After two weeks on the typical American diet – containing 36 per cent fat and 12 per cent saturated fats – participants were randomised to one of two test diets for the next four weeks.
One included a standard heart-healthy diet – 27 per cent fat and 7 per cent saturated fat – and a diet containing two servings per day of pistachios – about 3 ounces or 20 per cent of calories from pistachio nuts.
The pistachio diet contained 33 per cent fat and 7 per cent saturated fat with equal portions of salted and unsalted nuts.
Blood pressure and total peripheral vascular resistance at rest and during two stress tests – a cold water challenge by immersing one hand into icy water for two minutes and a confusing mental arithmetic test were then measured.
Prof West said: ‘After the pistachio diet, blood vessels remained more relaxed and open during the stress tests.’
Researcher Katherine Sauder added: ‘We found that systolic blood pressure during sleep was particularly affected by pistachios. Average sleep blood pressure was reduced by about 4 points and this would be expected to lower workload on the heart.’
But Prof West said: ‘Our participants still felt frustrated and angry during the math test. The pistachio diet reduced their bodies’ responses to stress, but nuts are not a cure for the emotional distress that we feel in our daily lives.’
The researchers also recorded improvements in heart rate variability, a measure of how well the nervous system controls heart function.
These data indicated that pistachios increased the activity of the vagus nerve, an important part of the parasympathetic nervous system that can be damaged with diabetes.
Prof West said: ‘If sustained with longer term treatment, these improvements in sleep blood pressure, vascular response to stress and vagal control of the heart could reduce risk of heart disease in this high risk group.’
Blood pressure and total peripheral vascular resistance at rest and during two stress tests – a cold water challenge by immersing one hand into icy water for two minutes and a confusing mental arithmetic test were then measured.
Prof West said: ‘After the pistachio diet, blood vessels remained more relaxed and open during the stress tests.’
Researcher Katherine Sauder added: ‘We found that systolic blood pressure during sleep was particularly affected by pistachios. Average sleep blood pressure was reduced by about 4 points and this would be expected to lower workload on the heart.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2718507/Pistachios-protect-hearts-diabetics-Handful-twice-day-reduce-strain-organ-lower-blood-pressure.html#ixzz39gNY1Hk1
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A daily cup of coffee can save your eyesight, scientists claim.
A chemical found in the drink prevents deteriorating eyesight and possible blindness from retinal degeneration due to glaucoma, aging and diabetes.
Researchers at Cornell University in New York were looking at coffee’s antioxidant effects when they made the discovery.
The newest health drink: A daily cup of coffee can save your eyesight, scientists claim
Coffee contains 1 per cent caffeine but between 7 and 9 per cent chlorogenic acid which is a strong antioxidant.
The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found that in mice this acid prevented retinal degeneration.
Chang Y. Lee, a professor of food science and the study’s senior author said: ‘The retina is a thin tissue layer on the inside, back wall of the eye with millions of light-sensitive cells and other nerve cells that receive and organize visual information.
‘It is also one of the most metabolically active tissues, demanding high levels of oxygen and making it prone to oxidative stress.
A chemical found in the drink prevents deteriorating eyesight and possible blindness from retinal degeneration due to glaucoma, ageing and diabetes
‘The lack of oxygen and production of free radicals leads to tissue damage and loss of sight.’
He added: ‘The study is important in understanding functional foods, that is, natural foods that provide beneficial health effects.
‘Coffee is the most popular drink in the world, and we are understanding what benefit we can get from that.’
Previous studies have shown that coffee also cuts the risk of such chronic diseases as Parkinson’s, prostate cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and age-related cognitive declines.
Did the my first DDP Yoga Energy work out in almost two months. When I went back to work after the summer, it seamed that work and life got in my way and my workouts were sporadic. I remade my commitment today and got off my ass and stretched. No matter what shape you’re in, I recommend DDPYoga, you can start anywhere…its how you finish is what counts.
Chronicles of a Diabetic 