“Does diabetes lead to kidney disease,” is a commonly asked question, and the answer to this is yes, it does. In fact, one out of four adults with diabetes also develops kidney issues, also known as diabetic kidney disease. The primary function of our kidney is to filter out waste and water to produce urine. However, really high sugar levels in the body damage the organ. When damaged, the kidneys can no longer filter out blood and toxins build up in the body, which is extremely harmful to one’s health. Taking active measures to keep your blood sugar in check can prevent the problem. As long as you follow a healthy diet and lifestyle, your kidneys should be safe.
Keto and Paleo are both low-carb diets that gained recognition for their effectiveness in weight loss. They do, however, have other health benefits. The Ketogenic diet focuses on manipulating the body to process stored fat by consuming thrice as much fat, then carbohydrates and proteins. It is ideal for treating epilepsy and can control blood pressure, glucose levels as well. The Paleolithic diet places emphasis on the consumption of meat and reducing grain and vegetable intake. It requires you to stay away from processed food, especially sugar making it the perfect diet to adopt for a diabetic-friendly lifestyle.
Physically and emotionally challenging situations often trigger anxiety disorders in people. Being diagnosed with diabetes is one such situation. No wonder studies represent that people with diabetes are 20% more likely to develop anxiety disorders than those without, and that can make managing blood sugar significantly more challenging. When under stress, the brain experiences a fight or flight situation. It diverts all attention to producing adrenaline and not enough on processing the glucose in the body, which is why we see a spike in blood sugar when anxious. Managing anxiety and diabetes will require a conscious effort on your end. Stay organized and incorporate stress management exercises into your routine. Meditate regularly and get a good night’s rest as it helps keep blood sugar in check.
Once you develop diabetes, your body loses its ability to process carbohydrates efficiently. To not put pressure on the body, many people try to adopt no-carb diets, which is virtually impossible and quite detrimental to their health as well. The body needs carbohydrates to fulfill its daily energy requirements. As long as you don’t consume those with high Glycemic Index and stick to the daily recommended portions, you can safely consume fruits and vegetables. So, is a low-carb diet ideal for diabetics? Yes, it is. Ideally, you should stick to good carbs and avoid processed sugar. As long as you can keep your blood sugar in control, you shouldn’t be worried about carbs.
Menopause can make controlling blood sugar level a challenge to say the least. Keep reading to find out how to manage menopause with diabetes
When diabetes and menopause go hand in hand, it’s a challenge to deal with, to say the least. Even the years before your periods come to a complete halt are quite difficult for women with hormonal imbalance, mood swings, and weight gain. Combine that with pre-diabetes or diabetes, and you experience double the symptoms. In this article, we will talk about how to manage diabetes with menopause.
About Menopause To put it simply, menopause is the time when your periods stop, and you can no longer get pregnant. While it may take a few years for your menstrual cycle to stop completely, some symptoms show up during the transition phase and remain for quite a while after as well.
Symptoms of Menopause The main problem with menopause is the shortage of estrogen. After your body stops going through the normal menstrual cycle, it drastically reduces the production of estrogen and progesterone that are essential hormones in the body. Its shortage results in the aggravation of numerous symptoms.
Hot/cold flashes – these are the most commonly reported symptoms. Women experience sudden bursts of heat that extend to their upper body and neck. Some even notice red blotches in the affected areas and heavy sweating.
Some women experience cold chills rather than hot flashes. Their body breaks out in a cold sweat with a chill setting in the body.
Inability to sleep – Menopause results in low levels of progesterone, which results in the inability to sleep for many women. Numerous women also experience disrupted sleep patterns due to the need to urinate in the middle of the night during menopause. A lack of sleep also aggravates various symptoms.
Depression and anxiety – Many women experience heightened anxiety and depression fuelled by the hormonal imbalances. They may also feel particularly saddened by the loss of fertility.
Vaginal infections – Vaginal dryness starts out during the transition phase and can get worse during the time of menopause. You may even need to visit a doctor for medication to help alleviate the discomfort.
Mood swings – Hormonal imbalance is the leading cause of mood swings. Getting hysterical, sadness, and feeling uncontrollably angry are just a few signs that you may be going through menopause.
Urinary problems – Urinary and bladder problems while common during menopause are not normal after it. Loss of bladder control, also known as urinary stress incontinence, is quite common during menopause. However, if the problem persists even after your periods end, you should visit a doctor and get it treated.
Diabetes and Menopause Menopause is as natural a process as growing old is. However, diabetes and menopause side by side is quite challenging as the hormonal imbalance may make it harder to control some symptoms. Changes in your estrogen and progesterone levels directly affect how the cells react to insulin.
Sleep Deprivation
Consistent hot flashes and low levels of progesterone in the body can result in a disturbed sleep cycle, which is counter-effective for those with diabetes. It is essential for those at risk of diabetes or those with the disease to get a good night’s rest to control blood sugar levels.
Depression and Anxiety Depression, anxiety, and mood swing are all stress aggravators. When the body is stressed, the brain perceives it as a threatening situation and focuses all energy on producing adrenaline. This results in the activation of the body’s flight or fight reflex. During this time, it may not be able to process glucose in the body, which leads to a rise in blood sugar levels.
Doctors advise people with diabetes to take active stress control measures. However, during menopause, it comes about as a result of hormonal imbalance, which is harder to control without medication. If you are at risk of diabetes or have the disease already, then make sure you visit your doctor at the first sign of menopause.
Sexual Dysfunction Consistently high blood sugar can damage the vaginal nerves. Over time, it leads to the thinning of the vaginal walls and, subsequently, inflammation. Many women even experience drying out of the organ, which makes arousal and achieving orgasms substantially more difficult.
If sex is becoming increasingly painful, then you should consult a doctor. They can prescribe anti-inflammatory medication to make the experience less painful. If you are experiencing vaginal dryness, then you should consult a doctor about that as well as it is bound to get worse as you progress with menopause.
Weight Gain
We all know that weight gain is an absolute no-no for people with diabetes. However, it is very common for women to put on a few extra pounds during menopause as a result of hormonal imbalance and stress combined.
Excess fat in the body can increase insulin resistance, which makes menopause and pre-diabetes a pretty dangerous combination. You will need to take extra measures and adopt a lifestyle that does not promote excess weight gain.
You need to get rid of belly fat, in particular, as that can significantly increase insulin resistance in the body. It also disturbs the body’s natural metabolism cycle, which is harmful to both people with diabetes and those undergoing menopause.
Infections Higher blood sugar in the body can substantially increase the risk of urinary and vaginal infections, as does menopause. Low levels of estrogen can provide ideal living conditions for yeast in the urinary tract, leading to a rise in the risk of infections.
How to Manage Diabetes with Menopause While you may need to visit the doctor for a few problems like sexual dysfunction and infections, you can successfully manage most of the symptoms with a few lifestyle changes. Besides eating a healthy, balanced diet to control blood sugar, you adopt specific habits to help counter a few of the problems.
How to Get Better Sleep There are a few practices you can adopt to ensure you get a good night’s rest.
Hot/cold flashes are the most common cause of disturbed sleep. The simplest way to deal with them is to dress in layers. As soon as you start to sweat, take off a layer. In this situation, drinking a glass of cold water before bed can also help.
If you get cold chills, you should try the opposite. Drink a glass of warm water before bed, and make sure to layer up so that you don’t get uncomfortable cold in the middle of the night.
Losing weight can also significantly reduce hot/cold flashes in the body. Excess body fat often aggravates a lot of the symptoms of menopause and diabetes.
You can also exercise for thirty minutes before going to sleep. Doing so tires out the body, which eliminates the risk of restless sleep.
Taking Active Stress Control Measures
As mentioned earlier in our article, menopause is a stress trigger in the body, which is pretty harmful to people with diabetes. It can result in consistently high blood sugar, which can eventually lead to other diseases and harm the body’s nervous system.
It can also lead to aggravated memory deterioration, anxiety, sleep, and eating disorders. In short, controlling stress is critical for those with diabetes. Here’s how you can do that.
The first step is to understand and accept that you are stressed, depressed, and going through mood swings. You cannot effectively deal with it unless you know that your hormones are the reason why you want to fling that book across the wall one minute and want to break down and cry the next.
The second step is to take active measures to stay organized, so you never feel overwhelmed.
Lastly, you need to take up muscle-relaxing exercises or start meditating at least twice a day. Stretching and relaxing each part of the body at a time can help relieve built-up tension in the body. Doing this before going to bed can also help you get better sleep. Ideally, we recommend that you meditate in the morning and exercise at night.
Test Your Blood Sugar Regularly
We cannot stress enough on the importance of keeping a check on your sugar levels. You may be doing everything right, eating a healthy diet, exercising, meditating, and yet your sugar levels can be skyrocketing due to hormonal imbalances in the body.
Either visit a doctor and start taking medication to regulate the estrogen and progesterone levels in the body or you can keep tabs on your blood sugar and try and actively adjust your diet to keep them under control.
There isn’t a straightforward answer to how to manage diabetes with menopause. It is all about being aware of the symptoms and dealing with them accordingly. We suggest that you seek medical help for menopause as, besides diabetes, it also increases the risk of other diseases and problems within the body.
The rumors and speculations revolving around diabetes are endless. Here, in this article, we debunk major myths about diabetes and sweeteners.
We think it’s about time to put an end to the longstanding debate about low-calorie sweeteners and their side effects. As consumers become more aware of the possible side effects of consuming an unhealthy amount of processed sugar, they try and find solace in supposedly “healthier” alternatives.
According to a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, around 25% of children and more than 41% of adults switched to low-calorie sweeteners between the years 2009-2012 alone. The study was published in 2017, and since then, the numbers have grown as people turn to it not only to control the risk of diabetes but also to lose weight.
However, over time, there have been numerous research studies that have rallied against the consumption of low calories sweeteners and soft drinks, especially for those with diabetes type 2 or pre-diabetes. Their premise is that whether low calorie or not, sweeteners break down in the body the same way as normal sugars, increasing blood sugar levels.
A recent study by researchers at Yale has, however, debunked such myths about diabetes. The research proves that low calories sweeteners only drastically affect blood sugar levels when accompanied by carbohydrates. According to the findings of the study, low-calorie drinks don’t have a significant impact on metabolism and are, in fact, beneficial for weight loss, which subsequently reduces the risk of diabetes.
Another common myth is that honey is supposedly a healthier sweetener for those with diabetes and can even prove useful for diabetes reversal. While honey is quite beneficial for the human body, it has the potential to be quite dangerous for people with diabetes.
Honey has a Glycemic index that ranges from 32 to 85. The GI varies with the source, and that determines how harmful or beneficial it can possibly be. Not many are aware of this and can potentially use one with a high GI that can harm one’s health.
Even one that has a low GI can be harmful as besides glucose, honey breaks down fructose, which goes straight to the liver. Consuming excess amounts of fructose can lead to insulin resistance in the body.
Some researchers argue that with controlled intake, one can benefit from the use of honey as it has prebiotics, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory properties. However, that is again a myth, and those with diabetes can never be too cautious about their diets.
It’s better to stick to what is known, and safe honey is not safe despite what the prevalent myths about diabetes tell you. Low calories sweeteners aren’t as bad as you think provided you don’t consume them with starchy carbohydrates like French fries or pasta.
As long as you follow the ideal lifestyle for diabetics, you can not only control your blood sugar but can potentially reverse the risk of diabetes as well.
Diabetes does not have a cure. The best you can do is keep your blood sugar level under control, so as to not let the disease hinder your everyday activities. With a few changes, you can adopt the ideal lifestyle for diabetics that can help regulate your sugar. In fact, pre-diabetics can reverse their risk of type 2 diabetes as long as they diligently follow these recommendations.
The end goal of these lifestyle changes is to obtain a healthy body mass index. Obesity and diabetes aren’t just bad on their own; they can also aggravate the risk of cardiovascular diseases. With the following changes, you can not only maintain a healthy BMI but can also improve heart health.
Regular Exercise
Now is not the time to be a couch potato. If you have diabetes, then you need to get moving. Doctors recommend two and a half hours of mild exercise per week or around an hour and fifteen minutes of high-intensity physical exercise.
Your goal should be to get your heart racing and to sweat a little. Doing so will not only improve heart health but will also bring down your blood sugar level as your body utilizes the sugar during the workout.
Focus on Good Carbs
Despite popular myths, you do not need to avoid carbs altogether. Instead, you need to focus your shift toward good carbs. Avoid eating foods that are high in starch and concentrate more on whole-grain foods.
Replace white rice with brown rice or cauliflower
Replace potatoes with sweet potatoes
Switch out your regular pasta with whole grain pasta instead
Essentially, all carbs break down into glucose. It’s more about the impact that carbs have on the body. As long as what you consume has a low Glycemic Index, you should be good to go.
Replace Saturated Fat with High Fiber
Saturated fat has no place in the ideal lifestyle for diabetics as this lifestyle revolves around weight loss. Fat deposits on the abdomen significantly increase one’s insulin resistance, which is why you need to remove saturated fat from your diet and replace it with food that is high in dietary fiber.
Fiber can help slow down sugar absorption in the blood, which regulates blood sugar levels. It can help build insulin resistance besides being excellent for your metabolism.
Manage Stress
When a person is stressed or has anxiety, the brain identifies it as a threat and activates the body’s defense mechanism. As a result, you will notice a spike in your blood pressure as well as the body’s sugar levels. Constant stress makes it difficult to keep blood sugar levels under control, which is not particularly beneficial for people with diabetes. Another downside of stress is that it can also lead to heart diseases.
If you are someone with diabetes, be mindful of your stress management. Consult a doctor for some tips on how you can deal with daily anxiety. You can even undertake exercise like yoga to help calm your nerves.
Control of Alcohol Intake
According to the American Diabetes Association, women with diabetes should have no more than one drink a day, while men should limit their daily intake to two drinks. Alcohol does significantly impact your blood sugar levels, so you should make it a habit to run a blood test before and after you spend an evening at the bar.
Observing the ideal lifestyle for diabetics isn’t extremely difficult. All it takes is a little bit of self-control, some motivation, and a lot of self-love. If you care about your health, you will be able to make these changes effortlessly.
“One of the most significant things that happened for me heading into the season was that I learned how to best handle my diabetes and still be an elite soccer player.”
Jordan Morris
Morris is proof that your life is not totally restricted because of diabetes. You can live the life you desire to live.
Artificial sweeteners offer a sweet taste without a high caloric intake. Considering this, many believe them to be helpful during weight loss. The average can of a carbonated drink contains 150 calories where a majority of the calories come from its sugar content. Likewise, diet drinks offer zero calories. Thereby, the better option is obvious.
According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and American Heart Association (AHA), individuals can take artificial sweeteners instead of sugar to effectively counter metabolic syndrome, obesity and diabetes. All of the three are linked to cardiac ailments.
According to Dr. Christopher Gardner, an associate professor at Stanford University in California stated, “While they are not magic bullets, smart use of non-nutritive sweeteners could help you reduce added sugars in your diet, therefore lowering the number of calories you eat. Reducing calories could help you attain and maintain a healthy body weight and thereby lower your risk of heart disease and diabetes.”
All Artificial Sweeteners Are Not Safe
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved five artificial sweeteners that are safe for consumption. These artificial sweeteners are:
Saccharin
Acesulfame
Aspartame
Sucralose
Stevia
However, it is quite difficult to understand how the human brain and body responds to sweeteners.
A major concern regarding artificial sweeteners is that it may replace the lost calories through other sources. This can harm weight loss or affect health benefits. For instance, humans like to fool themselves. “Since I am consuming diet coke, a slice of cake won’t harm.”
Moreover, such sweeteners can also change our taste buds. A sweetener is far stronger than corn syrup or table sugar. A small amount of sweetener can produce an overpowering taste in contrast to normal sugar without the calories. Therefore, over-stimulation of sugar receptors in case of frequent use can affect the way our taste buds respond. This means, individuals who consume artificial sweeteners may find fruits and vegetables bland and unpalatable.
Hence, artificial sweeteners can change the way you respond to certain foods. This promotes unhealthy eating practices with little to no nutritional value.
