Menopause can be tough when you have type 2 diabetes, so it’s good to know how to make the best of it.

Prior to menopause, or perimenopause, you will have already noticed your body became more resistant to insulin which caused you to have higher than usual blood sugar levels. At menopause, as your levels of estrogen and progesterone decline forever, your blood sugar levels fall. In other words, it’s not unusual to find your blood sugars are all over the place.

Mood swings, struggling with hot flushes and night sweats, you have put on a little weight around your abdomen… sound familiar? Well, maybe you have hit menopause. Unfortunately, this also means you do not have the degree of cardiovascular protection you once enjoyed when you had normal levels of the female hormones. It also means your level of protection with osteoporosis has also declined. If that’s not enough to deal with you can expect to put on roughly 11 pounds (5kg) due to these hormone changes. And guess where a lot of it settles? Around your waist!

Weight gain of course, makes it harder for you to control your blood sugar levels.

Eating Plan: Overhaul your eating plan, include more low-GI carbohydrate foods and fiber. Make sure you exercise 150 minutes each week to help prevent weight gain and to help keep your blood sugar levels stable.

Blood Sugar Levels: Changes in your hormone levels and weight will put your blood sugar levels out of your target range. Check with your health care practitioner; he may make adjustments to your drug type or dose.

Sexual Dysfunction: Pain during intercourse and lack of interest in sex are not unusual. Neuropathy in women may cause decreased lubrication on intercourse. Adequate lubrication with a water-based personal lubricant can help with this difficulty; there is standard KY jelly right through to exotic varieties.

Your health care practitioner may suggest natural supplements or hormone creams as an alternative to HRT.

Vaginal Infections: High levels of sugar in your urine may also lead to a higher risk of infection, particularly with Candida, (thrush which is a yeast infection). This can lead to problems with vaginal soreness and irritation. This can be treated with an anti-fungal cream or pessary.

Menopause can increase circulatory problems which leads to stroke and heart disease, so blood sugar control, a healthy eating plan and exercise is particularly important at this time. Weight-bearing exercise is beneficial to strengthening your bones… and it is also important to add adequate calcium and vitamin D to your supplement routine.

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Would you like more information about alternative ways to handle your type 2 diabetes?

To download your free copy of my E-Book, click here now: Answers to Your Questions… its based on questions many diabetics have asked me over recent months.

Beverleigh Piepers is a registered nurse who would like to help you understand how to live easily and happily with your type 2 diabetes.
http://drugfreetype2diabetes.com/blog

Categories: Diabetes remedies
Tags: menapause and type 2 diabetes

In order to achieve normal metabolism in diabetic patients, some form of dietary measures are always recommended. A well balanced diabetic diet is just one part of a balanced natural diabetes treatment plan.

The main aims of diet control are listed below:

1. Avoid hyperglycemia

2. Minimize fluctuations in blood glucose levels and reduce overall blood glucose

3. Achieve weight reduction in obese patients to reduce insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia

4. Avoid hypoglycemia and weight gains that are commonly associated with drugs such as insulin

5. Avoid diets that may aggravate diabetic symptoms. For example, diabetic nephropathy may become acute in case of a high protein diet. These diets are known as atherogenic diets in medical parlance.

Two broad classifications of diet used in the treatment of diabetes are low energy weight reducing diets and weight maintenance diets. In the case of obese patients, a diet with low refined carbohydrate, high unrefined carbohydrate and less total energy content would result in increased insulin sensitivity and consequent decline in blood glucose.

Low energy weight reducing diets:

These are diets used for obese diabetic patients. These diets would provide a 500kcal reduction in daily intake and can cause a weight loss of around 0.5 kg per week. In obese diabetic patients it is often advised to skip snacks in between meals.

Weight maintenance diets:

These are for diabetic patients with a normal BMI. These are ideally high in carbohydrate and low in fat. The total calorie intake is not reduced in these diets.

Diets for Insulin Treated Diabetes

Diabetic patients should take care to follow a regular diet pattern and eat meals and snacks at approximately the same time every day. One useful way in which meals can be planned is to encourage the use of carbohydrates along with vegetables and reduce the consumption of proteins. It is recommended to include at least five portions of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. Children, pregnant women and lactating mothers suffering from diabetes need special dietary advice in consultation with their physician.

An ideal diabetic diet should derive at least 50% of daily caloric intake from carbohydrates and a large portion of this should be dietary fiber. Dietary fiber is mainly of two types – soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber is present in food items such as beans, peas, pulses, oats and most fruits and vegetables. It is advisable to consume at least 15g of dietary fiber on a daily basis. This can reduce not only blood glucose levels but also LDL cholesterol. Insoluble dietary fiber is found in food items such as whole meal bread and breakfast cereals. These can be a good way to satisfy hunger and manage weight. The insoluble fiber does not lower blood glucose levels directly, though. Sweet food items such as confectionery, puddings, cakes and biscuits should be restricted as much as possible. Milk also is ideally avoided.

Meal Planning Methods

Scientific meal planning for diabetes aims to meet the overall nutrient requirements of the body and keep it healthy; not just lower blood glucose levels. Thus the current lifestyle and eating habits of the diabetic patient must be taken into account before suggesting modifications. Things to keep in mind include work and meal times, food preferences, as well as the goals that the diet plan is aiming to achieve. If there are too many changes needed from one’s current eating patterns then the plan is not likely to be followed. There are some accepted methods of diabetic meal planning and some of them are summarized below

Diabetic Exchange Diets:

In this method, there are six broad types of food based on their micro nutrients – starch, non-starchy vegetables, fats, meat and meat-substitutes, milk and fruits. The daily meal plan is designed to achieve a particular number of servings from each of these areas. Here food is measured in portions and this method is found to be easy to follow. A food exchange chart shows major types of food under each category and the diabetic patient will have the flexibility to replace one food with another from the same list. This variety ensures that there is no boredom generated by eating the same food over and over again. However, care has to be taken to eat the meals at the right time and to limit portion sizes to that recommended by the nutritionist.

The Plate Method:

This is the easiest method to learn. A dinner plate is used as the basis to show proportions of each food group that should be included in the meal. In this method importance is given to vegetables. Raw vegetables should make up at least half of your plate for lunch as well as dinner. The rest can be composed of starch and protein – made up of cereals, bread, potatoes and meat. A single portion of fruit or milk can be had if required.

Pyramid Method:

This is based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and aims to provide a well balanced and nutritious diet. It focuses on reducing the amount of fat and sugar without making the diet too monotonous. You can get pyramid meal planners from the Internet.

Carbohydrate Counting:

This method is very tedious to follow as the patient needs to count the amount of carbohydrate in take in each meal. The goal is to maintain a low level of carbohydrate in the diet so as to control blood sugar levels. Unless the patient is really committed chances of failure and non compliance are high in this method.

Remember that the three pillars of managing diabetes are diet, exercise and medication. All three of these must be carefully planned and properly adhered to in order to ensure that the patient is able to lead a normal lifestyle without suffering from the complications that arise out of the disease. Ignoring any one of these aspects can cause drastic consequences in the blood sugar levels leading to problems associated with it.

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Bob D Williams has been involved in the seo field for over ten years.
Working in various seo services but specializeing in link building services.
And in search engine optimization, professional custom videos and more.

http://www.controllingdiabetesforlife.com

Categories: Diabetes remedies
Tags: lowering blood sugar levels, lowering blood sugar levels naturally, natural diabetes treatment