Employee Health Screening

If the last 2 articles were not enough to convince you that blood sugar does matter and is very important, then I hope this one hits you where it hurts. Blood sugar has been linked to the cause of a variety of different cancers. High insulin levels promote and environment that makes it much easier for certain tumor to grow. Research and testing is still being done so it’s very hard to make any kind of bold statements regarding glucose levels and cancer. However, there is cause for great concern with certain cancers. These are the cancers we are going to be talking about.

Colon and Rectal Cancer

In a Harvard University study that involved more than 50,000 middle aged men, those whose diets were most likely to elevate blood sugar fast and high were 32 percent more likely to develop colon and rectal cancer over 20 years. The effect is much stronger for heavier men.

Breast Cancer

In the Women’s Health Study, women who followed a blood sugar-boosting diet were 135 percent more likely to develop breast cancer in seven years than woman whose diets were more blood sugar friendly. Many different studies have shown a immense increase in breast cancer in women that don’t follow a blood sugar friendly diet. It was linked to even be a higher percentage to woman who don’t exercise frequently.

Endometrial Cancer

In the Iowa Women’s Health Study, which involved more than 23,000 postmenopausal women, those who didn’t have diabetes and followed blood sugarâ.”spiking diets were 46 percent more likely to get this cancer over 15 years. An Italian study that compared women who developed endometrial cancer with a similar group of women who didn’t found a 110 percent increase in risk linked to this type of diet.

Prostate Cancer

Here we go men, are you ready for this? An Italian study looked at men ages 46-74 who developed prostate cancer and compared their diets to a group of similar men who didn’t get the cancer. Those whose diets were most likely to spike blood sugar were 57 percent more likely to have prostate cancer. A similar Canadian study found a 57 percent increase in risk.

Pancreatic Cancer

Even the organ that produces insulin may be more prone to cancer if it is constantly bathed in that hormone. A research study  using data from the Nurses’ Health Study over 18 years found that women whose diets raised blood sugar the most were 53 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than women whose diets raised it the least. Women in the first group who were overweight and physically inactive were 157 percent more likely to get the cancer than similar women in the second.

If this information does not make you realize how important blood sugar can be in your life, then I in truth hope you find the information that will help you realize it. Blood sugar can be very serious and it should be treated that way. It is very important for training reasons as I pointed out in previous articles, but it is more important for life and living reasons.

Sugar is the primary culprit in the development of hypoglycemia and diabetes. While sugar does provide a temporary boost of energy, eating it too frequently puts tremendous stress on the organs and glands that regulate blood-sugar levels.If you don’t have hypoglycemia or diabetes or if you rarely indulge in sugar, your pancreas can handle occasional sugary treats. But if you frequently eat sugar, your pancreas can become hypersensitive to sugar and overreact, flooding your body with insulin, which causes blood-sugar levels to plummet. This triggers your adrenal glands into action, and they notify your liver to release the glucose that it has stored as emergency fuel, which once again floods your blood stream with sugar. If this happens too many times, your pancreas can finally give up and stop producing insulin or your cells may become resistant to insulin, and hypoglycemia can slip into diabetes.

Most American women eat about 80 pounds of sugar per year, as well as large amounts of refined carbohydrates such as white flour, which is easily converted into glucose in the body. Even if you don’t add sugar to foods, you can still take in tremendous amounts if your diet contains a lot of prepared foods. Obviously, desserts and sweets are loaded with sugar, but other foods such as salad dressings, pasta sauces, and dry cereals also typically contain large amounts of sugar. Sugar is hidden in foods in many forms and is often used in more than one form in processed foods. To help restore healthy blood-sugar levels, avoid all forms of sugar, including sucrose, glucose, maltose, corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, barley malt, and molasses. Learn to enjoy the unprocessed sweetness of fresh fruits (in moderation) and sweet vegetables such as yams, carrots, and winter squash. Although giving up concentrated sweeteners may be difficult initially, you will find that your cravings for sugar will diminish within a few weeks.

Other foods that interfere with healthy blood-sugar levels include refined carbohydrates such as breads and pastas made from white flour and white rice, all of which are rapidly broken down into simple sugars in the body. Stimulants such as caffeine offer a temporary burst of energy, but stress the adrenal glands and further impair their ability to normalize blood-sugar levels. Alcohol also interferes with blood-sugar stability because it hinders the body’s ability to use glucose and stimulates the release of insulin, which causes blood sugar take a nosedive.

To help maintain steady blood-sugar levels, eat a diet high in fiber, especially soluble fiber, which slows down the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates and prevents rapid increases in glucose levels. Soluble fiber keeps the pancreas from secreting too much insulin by enhancing cell sensitivity to insulin and improves the use of glucose by the liver, which prevents blood-sugar levels from remaining too high. Strive for at least 35 grams and preferably 50 grams of fiber each day. Legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and fruits are good sources of fiber, and especially good sources of soluble fiber include legumes, oat bran, most vegetables, apples, and pears. Eat carbohydrates in as close to their natural state as possible, because the fiber content helps to slow the absorption of natural sugars that carbohydrates contain-for example, eat an apple instead of drinking apple juice. Psyllium-seed husks, guar gum, and pectin are excellent sources of supplemental soluble fiber. To help balance blood-sugar levels, take one to three teaspoons of a fiber supplement stirred into a glass of water twice daily before meals.

Protein is essential for the proper functioning of the adrenal glands, pancreas, and liver and prevents cravings for high-carbohydrate foods. Because protein does not stimulate the release of insulin as do carbohydrates, it helps to stabilize blood-sugar levels. For maximum blood-sugar stability, eat three to four ounces of protein at lunch and at dinner. Moderate amounts of healthy fats are also essential for helping to maintain healthy blood-sugar levels and for providing a feeling of satiety, which helps to reduce cravings for carbohydrates. Raw nuts and seeds, avocados, olive oil, and flaxseed oil are all good sources of health-enhancing fats.

Consuming frequent small meals is a helpful strategy for stabilizing blood-sugar levels. Prevent skipping meals, or going for more than two to three hours without consuming. Make sure to get into the habit of eating meals at regular times, because your body functions best on a regular schedule. Plan for three meals a day, plus midmorning, midafternoon, and evening snacks. Include a small amount of protein or fat in your snack to help keep blood sugar stable-for example, have an apple with a few almonds, crackers with tofu spread, or carrot sticks with a few walnuts.

Supplements that are especially helpful for balancing blood sugar include chromium, a trace mineral that is essential for the proper functioning of insulin. Make certain to take 200 to 600 micrograms of chromium picolinate daily. To help strengthen the adrenal glands, take 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C daily in divided doses and a high potency multivitamin and mineral that provides 50 to 100 milligrams of the B-complex vitamins.

Blood sugar provides the body with energy that your body needs to function properly and that is the reason why blood sugar is so important for all of us. Inside of every ones blood, there are sugar levels that need to be at certain amounts each day and all day. Hypoglycemia can affect seriously your daily routine.

Keeping your glucose levels nice and steady throughout the day is the key to long- term healthy life. Occasionally the easiest way to monitor your blood sugar is to stop and reflect on how you are feeling at that particular moment and then check your blood.

Low blood sugar is the typical cause for Hyperglycemia. It is a good idea to have a blood sugar monitor if you are diabetic. The level of blood sugar control predicts the onset and severity of diabetes related complications for both types of diabetes. You can pick up blood sugar monitors that give you instant notification of your blood sugar level.

The most common blood sugar testing supplies used are; meters, lancets and strips. You have probably heard of the glycemic index (GI) which rates carbohydrate food for its effect on glucose levels.

When glucose levels drop, you might feel your heart beat rapidly and a tingling in your skin, you might feel anxious, shaky, sweaty and hungry as well.

The following supplements might help if you are suffering from low blood sugar (Hypoglycaemia).

Zinc (Pyridoxine)

Zinc helps blood sugar get into the cells and helps insulin to work better; magnesium also makes the insulin work better and can lower your risk of diabetes complications such as blindness and heart attack; selenium, copper and manganese all have a protective cellular function when blood glucose levels are high and selenium can assist with lowering blood sugar.

Copper (Picolinate)

Copper helps prevent diabetes-related damage to blood vessels and nerves, and lowers glucose levels by helping protect the cells in the pancreas that make insulin healthy.

Vitamins – C, B and E

Vitamin C and vitamin E help get sugar out of the blood stream and into the cells, keeps the blood vessels healthy and help protect against kidney damage and heart attack.

Vitamin E may improve the body’s response to insulin. Biotin (a B group vitamin) can lower blood glucose; B6 and B12 along with Folic acid also might help prevent diabetic complications.

The vitamins from the B complex are useful in the treatment of diabetes because they reduce the cholesterol and blood fat.

If you can keep, your blood sugar levels as close as possible to normal, you are able to live a normal and healthy life with few or even no complications at all.

The tell tale signs of high blood sugar are beautiful much exclusive to the domain of unfortunate individuals known as diabetics.

The disease furthur divides into sub catagories of type 1, type 2 and gestational but never the less, the signs remain the same across the board. Whoever who is a diabetic will more than likely have experienced the signs of high blood sugar more than once so they will read nothing new here, except maybe a little extra clarification.

To whoever who has been feeling a little strange and whose family has a history of diabetes, you will do well to have yourself checked out by a professional, just to be on the safe side.

The tests are relatively inexpensive, quick and painless, so there really is nothing to worry about but on the upside you may be saving yourself a lot of trouble in the future by getting yourself looked at now.

Now, what are the signs of high blood sugar? There are quite a few but the main ones are the real alarm bells as so to speak.

1 Continual tingling sensation in your hands and feet, mark my words, you will know if you have it. It feels like a heart beat in your hands. That sounds a little ridiculous but if the time comes, you will know.

2 Teeth remain sticky no matter how much you clean them. This is due the excess sugar continually circulating in your system and pouring out into your saliva.

3 Blurry or misty vision with a tingling sensation around the eyelids. Again, this has to do with the excess sugar flooding your body and literally finding its way everywhere.

4 Another symptom of high blood sugar that should be kept vigilance over, is poor healing. As your blood thickens, the smaller capillaries closer to your skins surface have a hard time receiving fresh blood and so healing is hampered. Diabetics are known for experiencing trouble with there feet. Small cuts and sores can take a lot longer to heal with advanced complications leading to gangrene and amputation.

5 The number one tell tale sign of high blood sugar, Frequent thirst. This is probably the most noticable of all the symptoms. It’s not just a need for an extra glass or two of water, like how you feel on a hot day. This is far more ravenous. Continual need for liquids throughout the entire day and night, an insatiable beast that knows no bounds. This will be extremely appararent if or when the time comes.

ontrolling blood sugar (glucose) levels is one of the most important aspects of diabetes management. It will make you feel better in the short-term and it will help you to stay fit and healthy in the long term.

The National Committee on Avoidance Detection Evaluation, the chromium and many intriguing articles. People who do not have diabetes keep their blood glucose levels within a narrow range for most of the time. The beta cells in the pancreas are able to produce just the right amount of insulin at the right time and they are constantly fine-tuning the blood glucose level. People with diabetes do not have this fine control over their blood glucose levels.

This could  be because the beta cells have been destroyed and there is no insulin production at all, as in Type 1 diabetes. Alternatively, it may be that the body does not respond to the insulin and/or not enough insulin is produced when it’s needed, as in Type 2 diabetes. The approach to managing Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes is slightly different, but whichever type of diabetes you have, you will still need to step in and take over that fine-tuning of your blood glucose level.

Controlling blood glucose levels is a bit like trying to lasso an unruly animal. Blood glucose is dynamic; it changes constantly and it is influenced by a host of factors including your option of food, how much you eat, the timing of your medication or insulin, your emotions, illnesses, your weight, and your body’s resistance to insulin.

Some of these factors are relatively constant from day to day and are quite easily accounted for; some factors are more variable. No two days are ever exactly the same, or entirely predictable, and this makes it difficult. So, blood glucose isn’t easily lassoed.

In practical terms, you will need to learn about those things that raise your blood glucose level and those things that lower your blood glucose level. Then you will need to balance these factors on a day-to-day and possibly even hour-by-hour basis. This means coordinating medication, food and activity levels, whilst making appropriate allowances for stress, disease or changes in your daily activities.

You will be aiming to avoid the extreme highs and lows, trying to manipulate your blood glucose toward the normal range. You will be doing regular finger-prick blood glucose tests and using these results to help balance those things that make your blood glucose rise with those that make it fall. When you have evened out your blood glucose level you will still need to keep an eye on it and continue to make adjustments.

Controlling blood glucose is a continuous process and it’ll require your attention from now on, for the rest of your life. Don’t worry! It could sound daunting to you right now, but it’ll soon become second nature.

People who don’t have diabetes have blood glucose levels between 4 and 8 mmol/l for most of the time. In general, people with diabetes should try to aim for test results between 4 and 10 mmol/l most of the time. Some people – pregnant women, for instance – will need to aim for tighter control. Other people – young children, the elderly, or those at risk of severe hypoglycemia, for instance – will need to aim for higher levels.

Your diabetes team will give you individual guidance on the blood glucose levels that you should be aiming for.

In the short term, controlling blood glucose levels is important in order to avoid diabetic emergencies – very high or very low blood glucose levels. Both of these conditions are unpleasant and can be dangerous, so they should be avoided if at all possible.

High blood blood sugar levels in Type 1 diabetes, if caused by a lack of insulin, can lead to a condition known as diabetic ketoacidosis or â..DKA’ which can be fatal if it is not treated in time.

While having a option of colors can make digital devices such as cell phones and mp3 players more fun, many may not realize they can now get colorful personal medical devices-and that might help their health.

People with diabetes have a new option of colors in a stylish blood sugar meter, and some experts are suggesting that the addition of color can influence the way patients feel about managing their diabetes-making it feel less clinical and more personal.

Why does color matter? Jill Morton, professional color consultant and owner of Colorcom, which advises businesses, designers and architects on the subject of color, explains that color can affect how people feel. “People with diabetes will definitely benefit from using a blood sugar meter in a color that they get to choose, because it brings in that element of personal option. Once you have a chance to choose a color, you feel better about using something, you feel happier and it just sets some powerful forces in motion.”

Feeling comfortable about blood sugar testing, and incorporating testing into a diabetes treatment plan-as recommended by healthcare professionals-is important for anybody with diabetes.

The OneTouch UltraMiniâ.¡ System, now available in four colors-Pink Glowâ.¡, Limelightâ.¡, Jet Blackâ.¡ and Silver Moonâ.¡-is small and provides just the basics of testing, giving an accurate test result in five seconds. The color palette was designed to appeal to users, making it easy and fun for them to bring their personal sense of style and individuality to blood sugar testing-and, hopefully, helping them to increase their comfort level with daily diabetes management.

Colorful blood glucose meters can help make diabetes management feel less clinical and more personal.

Many of my patients feel self-conscious about testing in public, said Steven Edelman, M.D., clinical professor at the University of California, San Diego and founder of the nonprofit organization Taking Control of Your Diabetes. “Having a cool, colorful, small device might help them be a bit more open with their diabetes and allow them to test on a more regular basis.”

It’s estimated that there are at least 16 million Americans who are diabetic. This is an alarming figure in itself but when one considers the fact that often people who are suffering from diabetes have virtually no symptoms of the disease, then the idea becomes even more worrying. Although it is now common hearsay that one can easily detect the symptoms of this disease, but one cannot be perfectly sure of being diabetic. It requires a blood test to establish for certain that one has diabetes.

The blood test that is done for checking diabetes is a test to check the glucose levels in the body. The test is carried out in two phases on the same day. The first blood test is carried out on the patient’s blood when he’s fasting. Also, a patient coming for the test arrives without taking his breakfast or even a cup of morning tea or coffee. If the glucose levels are found to be 126 milligrams per deciliter or higher, on two separate occasions, after fasting, then there is a likelihood of diabetes.

Following this, another blood test is taken after the patient has had his breakfast and a cup of tea or coffee. This time the glucose levels ought not go above 200 milligrams per deciliter. In case it is above this mark, then the likelihood of diabetes is high. At times the patient is given 75 gram glucose solution to drink. Then the glucose levels are checked for monitoring the glucose levels in addition to the measurement of ketones, which are the products from the breakdown of fats.

Once these kinds of tests have been successfully carried out, the individual is prescribed a in treatment which involves both the physical and emotional aspects of his being, as diabetes isn’t a malaise of the physical body alone. It is also a disease that affects one’s emotions and reactions.

This is the question my diabetic patients always ask. There are various methods to determine blood glucose level. Some tests give you accurate diagnosis of diabetes or pre-diabetes, while others will tell you how well you are managing your diabetes.

fasting Blood Sugar Test:

Measures the blood sugar level after 8 hours fast or overnight. Normal fasting blood glucose level is less than 100mg/dl. If your fasting blood glucose level is from 100mg/dl to 125mg/dl then you will have impaired blood glucose level also known as Pre-Diabetes. If your blood glucose level is above 125mg/dl then your doctor will diagnose as a patient of diabetes. To confirm the diagnosis, your doctor may repeat the fasting blood glucose test on any other day. If you have blood glucose level of 126mg/dl or higher in two consecutive tests, then you might have diabetes. If you have blood glucose level greater than 200mg/dl and you have symptoms of diabetes like increased thirst or hunger, frequent urination, weight loss, blurred vision etc, then you may be diagnosed with diabetes mellitus without confirming it with second test.

Random Blood Glucose Test:

Random blood Glucose test gives your blood sugar at any time in a day. Normal random blood sugar level should be less than 200mg/dl. If your random blood glucose level is between 140mg/dl to 200mg/dl then you will have pre-diabetes.

Oral glucose tolerance test:

This test measures your response to sugar. First we measure fasting blood glucose level, and then glucose solution is given, after that we measure blood glucose after 1 hour and 2hours. A normal blood glucose level after an oral glucose tolerance test is less than 140 mg/dL. Level between 140 mg/dL to 199 mg/dL suggests pre-diabetes. A blood glucose level of 200 mg/dL or higher two hours after you drink the glucose solution may suggest that you have diabetes mellitus.

Glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test

This kind of test is not for diagnosing diabetes, but it shows you how well you have controlled your sugar in last 2 or 3 months. Normal value is less than 7 percent, however if it’s more than 7 then you and your doctor ought to think of changing your treatment of diabetes.

Make sure to always Don’t forget, your blood glucose measurement alone isn’t enough to differentiate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Your doctor might do some other tests to find out which type of diabetes you have.

Hope this article will help you understand, normal levels of blood glucose and blood sugar in your body. To know more about Diabetes Symptoms and Treatment please visit my comprehensive website given below in my resource box

If you are type 2 diabetic and having problems controlling your sugar levels, you really should be on a high blood sugar diet.

The science behind anybody suffering from type 2 diabetes and needing to drastically reduce their glucose levels quickly is fairly straight forward. Don’t keep putting logs on the fire if you want it to die down. What exactly does that mean?

Type 2 diabetes has also been referred to as a metabolic disorder, in as much that it is not a real form of diabetes but inevitably the symptoms will be the same. Where as type 1 diabetes is an auto immune disease where the bodies own defences turn against themselves, thus destroying the beta cells needed to produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes is something that gradually develops as the individual up keeps poor lifestyle options over a long period.

A high blood sugar diet therefore, is one that combats the effects of rising blood sugar levels by literally taking away the one thing that causes blood sugar to rise, CARBOHYDRATES!

Shunned by a large portion of the diet world, low or no carb diets have come under severe scrutiny over the years. What none of these experts fail to point out, is that your body can and will create its own source of energy as and when it needs it through a process known as gluconeogenesis. A bit of a mouthful to pronounce but if your are in doubt, look it up on the net, there are countless proofs of its existence. What the experts also fail to mention is through this low or no carb diet, most type 2 diabetics will maintain excellent blood sugar levels.

By severely restricting the carbs, you will give your body chance to do its thing and combat high sugar levels naturally. It’s not that your body can not control glucose levels. It’s that your body can not control them as well as other peoples. Sticking to a high blood sugar diet will help you see marked results in the control of high blood sugar.

A diet rich in fiber has been shown to lower cholesterol and blood sugar in diabetics. Many diabetics can significantly lower their blood sugar, and as a result, reduce their diabetic and cholesterol medications or stop taking them altogether, by eating lots of high fiber foods.

A recent study  published in the May issue of The New England Journal of Medicine found that blood sugar levels were reduced by 8.9% on a high fiber diet. It also lowered cholesterol and triglycerides.

Fiber comes from the cell walls of plants. Additionally, fiber and water work together to keep the bowels regular.

Unfortunately, the majority of high fiber foods also contain a high amount of carbohydrates, and if you are diabetic, those will increase your glucose levels dramatically.

Below are lists of low-carb foods that are also high in fiber, along with the approximate number of grams of fiber they contain.

The fiber content shown is for a quantity of 1/2 cup.

Low-Carb Fruits

o  Blackberries, 4.9 grams

o  Avocado, 3.8 grams

o  Medium-sized Apple, 3.6 grams

o  Raspberries, 2.6 grams

o  Blueberries, 2.1 grams

o  Cherries, 1.5 grams

o  Strawberries, 1.4 grams

Low-Carb Vegetables

o  Brussels Sprouts, 3.1 grams

o  Broccoli, 2.7 grams

o  Greens, cooked, 2-4 grams (beet greens, collards, kale, spinach, and turnip greens)

o  Mushrooms, canned, 2.0 grams

o  Green Beans, 1.4 – 2 grams (broad beans, pole beans, and snap beans)

o  Asparagus, 1.8 grams

o  Okra, 1.6 grams

o  Zucchini, 1.3 grams

o  Yellow Summer Squash, 1.3 grams

o  Cauliflower, 1.4 grams

o  Onions, 1.3 grams

o  Celery, 1.1 grams

o  Peppers, 1.1 grams

Including more of the above foods in your diet will help in lowering blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

You should make changes to your diet to include more high fiber foods, and do it gradually. Just add a few grams at a time so that your digestive system can adjust.

It is best to increase the amount of fiber in your diet over several weeks. This avoids problems with stomach-aches, bloating, gas, and diarrhea.