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DrPompa.com A pittsburgh diabetic client in pittsburgh give testimony of diabetes symptoms reversing after changing diet including high blood pressure and numbness. Doctor Pompa Seminar on diabetes diet was in wexford pa. Attention for change via eye problem at pittsburgh steelers game came into wexford pa clinic near cranberry township

Yesterday James came into my office because he just found out that he had just been diagnosed with diabetes. His doctor said that he needed to get a diabetic foot check. First thing I asked James was if he’d ever known anybody who have a diabetic foot amputation. He said that yes he did have a cousin who had lost his lead to diabetes. He also said that his cousin had died shortly after the operation. When asked what happened he didn’t seem to recall any of the specifics surrounding the event. Asked if he knew how diabetes can cause an amputation. He said he had no idea.

Shouldn’t every diabetic know the details so that amputations could be prevented?

There are basically two groups of patients when it comes to understanding of diabetic foot problems. One group are ready fully understands all of the risks to their feet related to diabetes, but this is very rare. The much larger group of people have no clue how all of this happens. With every one of these folks I feel that the one goal is to get them to understand that diabetic foot problems are optional.

Diabetes can be a very difficult disease to learn to live with. Next thing you know, your doctor is telling you that you have to start exercising, he’s telling you what you can and cannot eat, and he is also telling you to have a heart attack. Then you are at home learning about blood sugar monitoring, taking medicine, pricking your finger every day. People will say, “Now I gotta think about my feet too? Seems like such a hassle.”

And it is.

But the good news in all of this is that everything bad that can happen to you because of diabetes is preventable. Everything. All it takes is a little learning, a little lifestyle change, and little daily effort. The goal is to get you to understand the basics of how diabetes can affect your feet…So you can take action and do something about it.

When you have diabetes you have three main problems, all working together and conspiring against you, that can lead to a diabetic foot amputation. It involves your nerves, blood flow and immune system.

When your blood sugar is high, there is a chemical reaction that directly damages the ends of the longest nerves in your body. The longest ones start in your back (where they exit the spine) and head all the way down to the toes in one long piece. Because the ends get damaged first, any nerve damage starts in the toes and gradually creeps up the foot toward the ankles.

It is always damaged at the same level in both feet. For example, if you have nerve damage (neuropathy) at the ball of the foot, the nerve damage is only in the toes. In this case the part of the foot around healed ankle and arch might be just fine.

Diabetic nerve damage makes it very difficult for someone to tell if they’re starting to develop a blister, cut, or even an infection. This can put them in a very high risk for developing serious problems. It is deceptive because you might be able to feel other things like the position of your feet, shoes and socks squeezing, but not a blister, cut or sore.

The second problem is the circulation or blood flow in the feet and legs. The arteries get clogged faster when you have diabetes. If you take two people who are identical, except one is diabetic, the one who is diabetic is four times more likely to have a heart attack. That is because of the increased rate of clogging up those arteries through the process called atherosclerosis. But this process happens everywhere, not just the heart. The blood vessels to the legs get plugged up too. Then, when you get a sore it takes longer to heal. It is also harder for your infection fighting white blood cells to get down there.

The last problem is your immune system. When your blood sugar is high, the white blood cells (called macrophages) have a hard to time fighting off those nasty bacteria. The white macrophages find bacteria through a process called chemotaxis. It is like following a trail of chemicals to its source. This is not very effective when the blood sugar is elevated. In effect, the macrophages are lost in the dark, simply bumping around, hoping stumble into some bacteria to kill. Very inefficient and not very effective.

Even if the white blood cells to find bacteria, they still have a problem. The high blood sugar prevents them from eating the bacteria. The process where the white blood cells engulf the bacteria (called phagocytosis) is essentially disabled. So they bump up against they bacteria, but can’t do anything. Imagine a great white shark with his mouth wired shut trying to eat a smaller fish for dinner. Because of all of this, the immune system is ineffective, the bacteria continue to grow and the infection quickly gets out of hand.

So a diabetic amputation goes something like this. If you start a walking program to help control your diabetes, but you have a little nerve damage, he may not be able to field blister starting to develop. If you keep walking the blister conversed. Just like that, you have an open sore. Your blood flow is a little sluggish and it takes a long time to heal. Then it gets infected while it is trying to heal. If your blood sugar is high, all of those sharks are wandering around in the dark, mouths wired shut, and the infection spreads.

If it spreads enough, one of the foot bones gets infected. And a bone infection is the kiss of death for the diabetic foot. The most consistently effective method of treatment for a diabetic bone infection (called oseomyelits) is to take out the infected bone. And that is where the amputation begins.

The moral of the story is watch your blood sugar, and your nerve damage will never get any worse. If you walk 30 minutes a day, fives days a week, your blood flow will never get any worse. If you develop any diabetic peripheral neuropathy, it is important that you are closely monitored and evaluated by someone who is an expert in the treatment of diabetic foot problems. If you ever get any open sore, blister or ingrown toenail it is an emergency…no joke. Get that foot checked out or it might get chopped off!

Up above, the crashing of the wave tosses wild currents around the coral. A small damselfish swimming through the reef is tossed against the reef and nicks itself on the sharp coral. Three shiny scales scrape away and drift motionless, until the current starts to spin them about. A tiny drop of blood slowly seeps out into the ocean. Startled, the little damsel scurries away, out into the open ocean.

A mile away, a languishing bluetip reef shark senses an odor. The tiny droplet of blood, spread thin in the ocean, awakens the sharks hunger. He can smell the blood and weaves his way though the sea, continually tracking back and forth, to a stronger and stronger scent trail. The little damselfish, still barely bleeding, but leaving a trail to follow, is the end of the path for the shark. Jagged teeth, open wide, the damsel hasn’t a chance.

The story of the shark in the damsel provides a perfect analogy for the way your body fights bacteria when you develop a diabetic foot infection. The bacteria is much like the little damselfish. As it moves through the tissue in your foot, it leaves chemical markers that signal its presence.

The sharks are much like the white blood cells (known as macrophages) that track down the bacteria through a process known as chemotaxis. Once the macrophages locate the bacteria, thee actually surround the bacteria with the cell wall, effectively eating them. The way that they eat the bacteria in this way is known as phagocytosis. Unfortunately diabetes and the high levels of blood sugar that are associated with diabetes, can have a profound effect on both chemotaxis and phagocytosis.

When the serum blood glucose is high, the macrophages are not able to follow the scent that leads to the bacteria. In a way, the white blood cells are then much like a hungry blind shark, who cannot see or smell, drifting through the vast open ocean just hoping to bump into a damselfish.

To complicate matters further, the process of phagocytosis is also disabled when the blood sugar is elevated. So even if the blind, senseless shark does bump into a damselfish, is almost as if his mouth is wired shut. Even when the shark can find a damselfish, it still cannot eat it.

This is the reason that a diabetic foot infection is an emergency that quickly becomes limb or life-threatening. In less than 24 hours, a minor infection can kill a diabetic. In almost every amputation that is performed on diabetics, it is likely that earlier intervention could have prevented the extent of limb loss.

For this reason it is critical for a diabetic to check the feet every day. Otherwise, a minor blister, open sore or ingrown toenail can start with a small infection and quickly get much worse. As the bacteria divide, the sharks can do nothing to stop them.

In a normal healthy adult, an ingrown toenail can remain infected for days before the infection worsens. In a diabetic, this is simply not true. A diabetic with elevated blood sugar has an impaired immune system. The disabled immune system is incapable of controlling the growth of the bacteria and serious complications develop.

Every 30 seconds a limb, somewhere is amputated because of diabetes. Diabetes also accounts for more than half of all of the amputations that are performed. This problem is actually getting worse and not better. The rate of diagnosis of diabetes is continuing to skyrocket. It is also predicted that the prevalence of diabetes will continue to climb as the baby boomers age.

Given the current circumstances of Medicare and other insurance carriers not providing insurance coverage for preventative care such as aggressive monitoring and education of diabetic foot problems, the number of amputations will also continue to rise. Unfortunately this is all preventable, but it is not being usually prevented.

It has been well documented that performing daily foot checks, seeking early treatment for a diabetic foot problem, and maintaing low blood sugar can all help to avert the problems in diabetes that culminate in amputation. However the current trend is that insurance companies will only pay for care associated with the complications such as the diabetic foot infections, hospitalizations and diabetic amputations.

Because of the way these episodes unfold, this leaves many patients with no leg to left to stand on.

You must have a diabetic foot check every year. If you also have neuropathy or diabetic nerve damage, it is important to be seen more often. You must check your feet every day. You should also wear white diabetic socks so that you can detect any drainage in the event that you do get a sore on your feet, you cannot see. All of these minor interventions have shown to significantly reduce the rates of complications to the feet from diabetes.

A diabetic diet plan could be composed of mostly light meats, breads, fruits and vegetables. Since diabetics have problems with glucose levels, diabetics should definitely lay off sources of excess carbohydrates and sugar. Ordinary chocolate (such as slabs of the stuff) and rich cocoa drinks are a big no-no for diabetics. These foods are so high in sugar that they are actually used in emergency situations to revive people who have blood sugar levels below the ideal.

Basic food a diabetic can eat should be organically-based. What is the reason for this? Diabetics can only take so much synthetic food before their capillaries and kidneys start malfunctioning. Being a diabetic means the blood is more sluggish, and everything is threatened with the disease. Without proper treatment and the right kind of diet, a diabetic can go downhill fairly quickly.

Diabetic cookie recipes for one, offer the diabetic with a fairly tasty way to enjoy dessert minus the guilt and the fear that the sugar level in the blood, or the blood glucose level, would shoot up. The type of diabetic foods should include these kinds of food recipes, plus a healthy helping of the organic, raw stuff.

What are these organic, raw stuff? Since we have to take care of the diabetic’s skin, eyes, nails, and internal organs, we have to feed him or her the whole “rainbow” of fruits and vegetables. Yellow foods are often good for the eyes and skin, while the deep red ones facilitates the filtration of waste products and improve the human circulatory system.

A diet plan for diabetics should be proportional always- because too little of anything can also cause problems for diabetics. The lowdown is this- a diabetic can no longer completely self-regulate levels of blood glucose. This means that diabetic can either have very high blood sugar or very low blood sugar. The picture changes depending on the condition of the diabetic and the situation at hand.

Foods to lower blood sugar include garlic, bitter gourd and anything that is deep green in color. Bitter herbs and vegetables generally counteract sugar and make the blood less sluggish. Couple this kind of diet with vitamin E, tocopherol, and you would be saving the diabetic a world of problems.

What other considerations should be taken when feeding a diabetic? Water should be a constant in any meal. Water helps facilitate the removal of wastes, and a diabetic with too little water means that the body will suffer, especially if the diabetic has high glucose levels.

The type of food a diabetic can eat should always be balanced- and the foods should be cooked minus sugars and oils. Some oils are high in saturated fat; that’s what makes the oils a tasty additive to any meal. However, for now, saturated fat should be considered the number two enemy of diabetics, right next to sugary foods. The diabetic food diet should work if these facts are taken seriously.

A diabetic diet plan is one of the best proven ways to combat diabetes; this can help to improve your blood sugar control, reduce and eliminate your need for insulin shots.

The diabetic food plan takes recommended foods for diabetics and creates a plan to suite both your tastes and your needs, by creating the diabetic diet plan you can improve your health and help fight diabetes.

It is essential for anyone fighting diabetes to maintain optimum weight and reduce blood cholesterol. Reducing saturated fats with unsaturated or monounsaturated fats is a priority for anyone fighting diabetes. Diabetes prevents your body from processing glucose the way it should, so a diabetic diet helps to perform that maintenance. In addition, the hope is that a diabetic diet will also help you to maintain healthy lipid levels and keep your blood pressure under control. The most important part of a diabetic’s diet is the meal plan, foods with similar nutrients and calories are grouped together. A diabetic’s meal plan is about ensuring the food intake is the right amount of food at the right time.

A diabetes diet plan can differ from each type of diabetes; diabetics who fight type 2 diabetes have fewer restrictions which help to make a more flexible diabetic diet plan which may seem to look more like a normal healthy diet plan. However type 1 have more restrictions and is more accustomed to your own diabetes.

You may be thinking that creating a diabetic meal plan sounds like a lot of hard work, that you don’t know any different food groups and that you find it all a little too confusing. However a couple of weeks becoming more knowledgeable in the area of diabetes may help to make you more comfortable and healthier.

It is essential for anyone suffering from diabetes to be aware of different food groups, what they contain and how they affect there meal plan and dieting. A large knowledge and understanding of diabetes will help you daily and to achieve your health goals.

Everyone knows the benefits of eating a healthy and balanced diet. This is especially the case for diabetics and there are a number of diet requirements that a diabetic person may need to eat more of or less of, to help manage their diabetes. As every person is different, there is no one form of diet that fits every diabetic.

Most diabetics have diabetic diet guidance. Even though there is no set diabetic diet that all diabetics need to follow, there are a few guidelines that apply to everyone. Maintaining a healthy weight is extremely important for diabetics and this can be achieved, in part, by eating a healthy diabetic diet. If a diabetic does not keep their weight down, it can lead to their symptoms worsening. Of course, it isn’t just diabetics who need to watch their weight.

Diabetes results from glucose levels in the blood being too high and consuming excess sugar can cause problems. A diabetic can eat most things, but depending on the severity and type of diabetes that they have, it is necessary to eat certain foods in moderation. This applies to sugar, carbohydrates and certain types of fats. Alcohol should always be drunk in moderation, but it is even more important for anyone on a diabetic diet to cut down on their consumption.

There is no need for a diabetic to give up their sweet treats completely, just cut back on the amount of cookies and cakes they eat. However, excess consumption of one form of sugar in particular, fructose, does need to be avoided. Fructose is fruit sugar and is found in very high amounts in fruit juices. A diabetic diet should include a maximum of one small glass of fruit juice on a daily basis. Fructose is also classed as a simple carbohydrate along with lactose, from milk and sucrose, regular sugar. These all need to be eaten in modified amounts on any type of diabetic diet.

Complex carbohydrates, unlike simple carbohydrates, are an essential part of any diet including a diabetic diet. These are broken down in the body to produce energy. Brown rice, whole-wheat pasta and whole-wheat bread are some of the best sources of complex carbohydrates.

A diabetic diet also needs to help prevent other diseases and conditions apart from the diabetes itself. Kidney problems and heart disease are just two examples. It is essential to ensure that the diabetic diet does not include too many saturated fats, which could bring on other medical conditions. The body does need some fat intake to function correctly but this can be found in sunflower oil, olive oil, vegetable oil, and other unsaturated fats.

If you are diabetic, there is no reason why you cannot have the majority of the foods that you love. The key is to eat some of them in moderation and increase the healthier foods. You are sure to feel a difference in yourself and see a difference in your general health. Of course, your diabetes will also be far better managed.

Summary:

Diabetes results from glucose levels in the blood being too high and consuming excess sugar can cause problems. A diabetic can eat most things, but depending on the severity and type of diabetes that they have, it is necessary to eat certain foods in moderation. This applies to sugar, carbohydrates and certain types of fats. Alcohol should always be drunk in moderation, but it is even more important for anyone on a diabetic diet to cut down on their consumption.

Diabetes: How a dog saves man from diabetic coma. Meet this incredible dog who saved a man from slipping into a coma due to complications from diabetes! Truly amazing!

Anyone newly diagnosed with diabetes will soon find that while there is no cure, there are ways to keep this condition and its potential effects in check. Like a tightrope walker above a crowd, a diabetic must strive to strike a careful balance. In the diabetic’s case, the balancing act involves blood sugar levels and food intake. Carbohydrate control is essential for maintaining the act.

Carbohydrates are found in many foods and are also considered important for a sound diet, even a diabetic’s diet. With this in mind, diabetics often find themselves needing to learn carbohydrate control measures to ensure the intake doesn’t exceed recommended amounts or cause them to fall off balance. The American Diabetes Association recommends that carbohydrates, even for diabetics, account for about 50 to 60 percent of total daily caloric intake. What works for an individual diabetic, however, will go back to that balancing act. If that amount raises blood sugar levels too high, cutting back is likely in order.

Carbohydrates, which turn to glucose in the body, are found in a variety of foods; some are even a little surprising. To help diabetics get a handle on carbohydrate control, points systems, carb counting and even exchange programs have all been set up. What works for one diabetic might not be the best route for another to take. The key in carbohydrate control is to be able to identify the foods that have carbohydrates in the mix and learn to limit or avoid intake depending on how the tightrope walk is going at that moment in time.

The American Diabetes Association has created its own version of the nutrition pyramid that really helps illustrate the continued importance of carbohydrates in a diabetic’s diet. Drawn in the last and largest space of the pyramid, the bread, cereal, rice and pasta family is considered vital for daily nutrition. In a diabetic’s case, however, healthier choices are necessary.

When looking to master carbohydrate control, the association’s simple formula is helpful. It recommends between six and 11 servings from the grain group daily. The catch, however, comes in on the actual serving size. What people tend to eat as a serving and what a real serving actually is tend to be two very different things. For example, a single slice of bread, a quarter of an average size bagel, a half-cup of cooked cereal and third-cup of rice or pasta all qualify as single servings.

To exercise the tightest carbohydrate control possible, it is wise for diabetics to learn which foods contain carbs and what the correct serving sizes are for each item. When making choices about what to eat, it is also smart to go for healthier options. Whole grain breads, pasta and even rice are almost always better for a diabetic than processed choices. This isn’t to say white bread, regular pasta or even a slice of cake can’t be enjoyed once in a while. When the balancing act is kept in check, a little splurging now and again is generally just fine.

Some Basic Diabetes Type Two Info

Diabetes Type Two info is provided here because sometimes accurate information is difficult to find. There are a number of sources for Type 2 diabetes diet info, but some of these are fad diets that may not be helpful and could even be dangerous.

The Diabetes Type Two info provided here is up to date. It is backed by scientific research and applies not only to people who have been diagnosed with type II diabetes, but also to people who have “pre-diabetes”, insulin resistance or a family history of the condition.

Type 2 diabetes is sometimes referred to as adult-onset, maturity-onset or non-insulin dependent diabetes. This condition is different from Type 1, insulin dependent, childhood or juvenile diabetes in several ways. First, there are no known preventative measures for Type 1, but Type 2 may be preventable.

In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin, a hormone that allows glucose to enter and energize the cells. Without insulin, the glucose is “stuck” in the blood stream and cannot be used by the cells.

In type 2 diabetes, the body produces less than normal amounts of insulin and the insulin that is produced is not used properly. Failure of the body to recognize and properly use insulin is referred to as insulin resistance.

According to the diabetes type two info, facts and figures provided by national health organizations, of the 20.8 million people in the United States who have been diagnosed with diabetes, 90-95% have type 2. Another 54 million have pre-diabetes.

In pre-diabetes, blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2. Without preventative measures, pre-diabetes can eventually lead to type II.

The recently completed Diabetes Prevention Program showed conclusively that changes in diet and increasing physical activity can prevent pre-diabetes from becoming type 2 diabetes. This study is one reason that many people look for type 2 diabetes diet info. It is important to be able to distinguish the fad diets from the healthy diets. The American Diabetes Association is currently working to create more materials to help people understand the difference.

There is one simple way to tell the difference between a fad diet and a healthy diet. A healthy diet is one that you could follow for the rest of your life, without concern about nutritional deficiencies. A healthy diet provides adequate intakes of fat, carbohydrates and protein. Some of the latest type 2 diabetes diet info promotes a “low-carb” diet. The American Diabetes Association has this to say:

“The long-term effects of diets high in protein and low in carbohydrate are unknown. Although such diets may produce short-term weight loss and improved glycemia, it has not been established that weight loss is maintained long-term. The long-term effect of such diets on plasma LDL cholesterol is also a concern.”

The general expert consensus is that in a healthy daily diet 40% of calories should come from carbohydrates, 30% from protein and 30% from fat. You can safely reduce carbs to 35% and increase protein to 35%, but to avoid weight gain and increase in LDL cholesterol, 30% fat is enough.