Because most type 2 diabetes cases are considered lifestyle diseases, changing your lifestyle could be enough to manage even the most severe diabetes cases and symptoms. Diabetes alternative medicineoffers a world of healing supplements, special cleansing diets and a multitude of alternative therapies that address both body and mind. The psychological component of diabetes is one that is often overlooked by the mainstream medical establishment, but for treating diabetes the mind can be just as powerful as the body.
Keeping active, eating a raw food diet and taking care of emotional issues like anger and stress could greatly reduce the need for insulin to keep blood sugar regulated. Diabetes alternative medicine might not be able to replace conventional treatments completely but it can reduce dependence on medications that may produce negative side effects in the long or short term.
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Special diets for managing diabetes
Macrobiotic approach for diabetes 1 and 2
Diabetes - Type 1
"According to macrobiotic therapy, Type 1 diabetes results from the long-term overconsumption of simple carbohydrate (sugary) foods and drinks along with the overconsumption of fatty foods. This leads to chaotic blood sugar levels and weakens the pancreas' ability to produce insulin."
"Without insulin the body cannot utilize glucose properly, and the result is a high level of glucose in the blood with a low level of glucose absorption by the tissues. The overconsumption of fatty foods results in too much fat in the blood stream. In this case, there may be enough insulin but the glucose gets covered by the excess fat and is unable to pass through the membranes of the blood vessels and cells."
The macrobiotic diet
"The macrobiotic approach emphasizes a diet that is low in fat, protein, and simple carbohydrates while high in complex carbohydrates. The following dietary suggestions may be used until the symptoms improve or for about one month. Then, widen your food choices using a macrobiotic dietary approach. The main foods are brown rice, millet, rice, azuki rice, sweet brown rice, brown rice mochi, and gomashio at every meal. Chew each mouthful 200 times."
"The side dishes are (one-third of main foods): tekka miso, scallion miso, shio kombu, hijiki nitsuke, carp soup, vegetable stew with fish, baked white fish, poached fish, azuki beans with kombu and winter squash, vegetable tempura, deep-fried kombu, burdock, carrot, nitsuke, takuan pickles, miso pickles. Miso soup ingredients such as wakame, tororo kombu, scallions, onions, dried daikon, homemade age, brown rice mochi. Beverages like brown rice tea, brown rice bancha tea, bancha tea, kombu tea, mu Tea. Drink a maximum of 2 cups of beverages per day. "
Foods to avoid are all animal foods, shellfish, red-meat fish, all dairy foods (including ice cream), all sweet foods and drinks, all fruit, vinegar, hot spices, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, melons, all mushrooms. Avoid vinegar and vinegar salad dressings as they are very bad for this condition.
Diabetes - Type 2
"From the macrobiotic theory, type 2 diabetes arises from the overconsumption of fatty foods. Use the following dietary suggestions until your condition improves or for about one month. Then, widen your food choices based on a macrobiotic dietary approach. To be successful, you need to control your weight."
"Main foods are brown rice, azuki rice, brown rice with barley, udon noodles. Chew each mouthful 200 times. Side dishes (one-fourth of main foods cooked with less salt than usual) can be sesame miso, ginger miso, okara nitsuke, soybean soup, carp soup, hijiki burdock nitsuke, burdock, carrot, nitsuke, azuki beans with kombu and winter squash, vegetable tempura, eggplant nitsuke with miso, cucumber pressed salad, shiitake nitsuke. Miso soup ingredients could be daikon, string beans, summer and winter squash, tofu, eggplant. Beverages are vegetable broth, brown rice broth, brown rice bancha tea, bancha tea, grain coffee. Drink a maximum of 2 1/2 cups of beverages per day."
"Foods to avoid are all animal foods including fish, shellfish, dairy foods (including ice cream), eggs, meat-based soups, all alcohol, sweet foods and drinks, vinegar, black tea and coffee." (www.holisticonline.com/Remedies/Diabetes/diabetes_macrobiotic.htm)
Raw food diet
Diabetes has been linked to the western lifestyle and is uncommon in cultures consuming a more primitive diet. As cultures switch from their native diets to more commercial foods, their rate of diabetes increases, eventually reaching the same proportions seen in western societies.
One of the best diets to fight or prevent diabetes is a low-glycemic raw food diet. That means eating only raw food, veggies and nuts. Because this diet is loaded with fiber it helps the body absorb natural sugar on a slower and steadier basis. The natural enzymes help the body process the food while delivering the optimal amount of the food.s natural vitamin and mineral content.
If you look at animals living in the wild versus those living in zoos, the captive animals develop diabetes, a condition never seen in the wild. This is mostly due to a change in diet from the raw food found in nature to man made food. Though it may take some getting used to, raw diets have been known to improve even the most intractable medical conditions and save lives. Because these diets are naturally cleansing they will help rid the body of toxins and help prevent the onset of other diseases.
Supplements for diabetics
"Brewer's yeast is another food supplement that is recommended for the diabetic patient. The yeast is a rich source of chromium-containing GTF (glucose tolerance factor) which is able to potentate the insulin in our bodies. GTF also contains amino acids such as glutamic acid, glycine, and cysteine. Both brewer's yeast (9 gm/day) and trivalent chromium (150-1000 mcg/day) have been shown to significantly improve blood sugar metabolism when taken for several weeks to months."
"Chromium is found in foods as both inorganic and organic salts. Brewer's yeast contains a form of chromium with high bioavailability, chromium-dinicotinic acid-glutathione complex. The bioavailability of chromium in liver, American cheese and wheat germ is also relatively high. Chromium is also available from a variety of sources including whole grains, potatoes and apples with skins, spinach, oysters, carrots, and chicken breast."
"In an article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition where 247 studies were reviewed, it was found that Type 1 diabetics generally had deficiencies in zinc, calcium, magnesium and the more active form of vitamin D. Those with Type 2 diabetes generally were found to be low in zinc and magnesium and often low in vitamins B6 and C."
"The physical body needs all these water-soluble nutrients to maintain the integrity of its organ system. Perhaps one of the most important nutrients is magnesium. The medical literature is full of studies showing that diabetic patients invariably have lower blood levels of magnesium than normal, also with higher urinary losses."
"In a landmark study conducted in 1978 by Dr. P. McNair and titled Hypomagnesemia, a Risk Factor in Diabetic Retinopathy, it was demonstrated that diabetics with the lowest magnesium levels had the most severe retinopathy, and that low magnesium levels were linked significantly to retinopathy more than any other factor. The article argued that simply elevating the magnesium concentration with supplements would protect the eyes."
"Other nutrients are also attracting serious attention. Researchers in London recently reported that vitamin D is essential for the islet cells in the pancreas to be able to secrete insulin properly. Their studies have shown that individuals with the lowest vitamin D levels experienced the worst blood sugar-handling problems and had a greater risk of developing diabetes. They found that those with greatest risk of developing vitamin D deficiency included the elderly who were either institutionalized or stayed indoors, those living in climates where sunlight is scarce several months a year, and those with indoor sedentary jobs."
"Other researchers have found that the diabetic is unable to convert carotene into vitamin A. It is advisable therefore for the diabetic to ingest at least the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin A from a non-carotene source such as fish-liver oil. Diabetics and others on low-fat diets often need supplemental amounts of this fat-soluble nutrient. Also recommended is a vitamin E supplement, ranging from 400-1200 IU per day and a vitamin C supplement ranging from 1000-4000 mg per day to help prevent small vessel disease of the extremities." (chinese-school.netfirms.com/Chinese-medicine-diabetes-nutritions.htm)"
Meditation and yoga for diabetes
"Meditation is an excellent relaxation and calming technique. It is a technique which enables us to realize for ourselves the unity of life within any of the world's great religious traditions, or even if we profess no religion at all."
"According to June Biermann, author of 'The Diabetic's Total Health Book', "Meditation is a generalized unstressing technique that releases you from your thinking machine, from that restless voice inside your head that never lets up on you except when you're asleep or unconscious. What we particularly like about meditation is that if you carry it off, it gives you a wonderful respite from that problem you carry around in your thoughts all your waking hours--your diabetes. If you practice consistently, meditation can change not just your physiology but your entire life."
"The objective of meditation is to control the attention. You block out the
outer world and submerge yourself in your inner world. It takes all the pressure
from this world, which for most diabetics is centered around his or her problems
and worries about how the disease will affect the future. Meditation helps us
out of this and allows us to harness the full power of our mind, body and spirit.
You get the best outcome when you combine this with daily exercises such as
yoga and imagery. Yoga combines the
meditative benefits of meditation with the physical effects of weight bearing,
lymph moving exercise."
Pet therapy, or the healing power of forming a bond with a pet, can do wonders for regulating biorhythms. "Physiological tests have shown that stroking and petting animals can improve general health, lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and produce a reduction in stress levels." (www.holisticonline.com/Remedies/Diabetes/diabetes_pet-therapy.htm)
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