Employee Health Screening

Chia’s soluble fiber slows and regulates the uptake of glucose into the blood stream thus blood blood sugar levels rise evenly and steadily rather than quickly.  Steady and even insulin levels can calm cravings for sugar, junk foods, or simple carbohydrates (e.g., processed or refined white flour products or foods containing concentrated sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrups or refined sugars, as well as certain artificial sweeteners.)

Insulin levels follow blood glucose levels, therefore there is no spike in insulin, and no corresponding “crash” in glucose levels…thus keeping energy levels steady, and lowering hunger (due to the body’s not requiring additional sugar to compensate for suddenly low glucose levels).

Chia’s soluble fiber allows for the slow, even release of food sugars into the blood stream during and after digestion. This unique characteristic of chia seeds allows for a smooth insulin response that is exactly the opposite of the “highs” and “lows” that accompany processed sugars.

Besides its soluble fiber chia seed oil consist of 64% omega 3 fatty acid which balance out the high omega 6 fatty acid intake of our modern western diet. Chia seeds are well known to elevate stamina. Not only do chia seeds give you a boost of energy that lasts it also provides stamina and endurance. Sun runners and Aztec warriors where known to carry them (The Mayan word for chia is strength).

Each chia seed can absorb liquids many times its own weight (makes for great recipe ideas), wont go rancid like flax seeds and can be stored for many years without losing nutrients or flavour.

Health Promotion Programs are excellent for waistlines and your bottom line

In today’s hectic world, most of us are spending more time at work, and have increasingly less time to look after our health. for a long time, employers have understood the benefits associated with keeping staff well – increased productivity from decreased absenteeism and decreased disability claims.

For these reasons, coupled with the fact that many corporations realized double-digit health care costs last year, corporations should consider Health Promotion Programs as a way to keep personnel healthy.

But just how important are these health promotion programs to employees? Precisely how often are they willing to participate in health promotion programs designed to positively impact their wellness? Who do workers trust to provide them with important information about their health?

Answers to these questions and more were lately garnered from a research study  commissioned by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Inc. (AAOHN).

The AAOHN survey questioned 500 staff members nationwide about their perceptions of Wellness Programs. Greater than three-quarters of all participants indicated these health promotion programs are a good way to improve their overall health, and almost 60% consider these offerings an incentive to remain with their current company.

Worker retention and turnover impact the bottom line, so building wellness programs into the work site culture is a valuable way to help retain talented workers also to enhancing personal health and workplace productivity.

Health Promotion wish list

Workers appear to have their own agenda when it comes to their health. With new pressures resulting from an unstable economy, national security threats and work/balance issues, it is not surprising that 85% of survey respondents cited stress management as a priority topic for work site wellness.

In addition to stress, other preferred topic areas include health screening programs (84 percent), exercise/fitness programs (84 percent), health insurance education (81 percent) and disease management (DM) seminars (80 percent).

In addition to lifestyle and personal health issues, those asked expressed concern about work-related health issues, including strains and injuries resulting from lifting or task-oriented muscle repetition, exposure to harmful substances, personal injury, vision changes because of computer work and worksite violence.

Starting a Health Promotion Program

With such a wide range of health concerns, a key goal for employers is finding a way to proactively address the health needs of the largest number of personnel, and effectively change unhealthy behaviors, promote wellness and ward off disease and disease.

Printed materials like handouts, posters, fliers or handouts present an easy solution. But it is crucial that you remember that different people  require different formats for learning.

A good rule of thumb –  provide information in a variety of learning formats such as videos, pamphlets, health-related quizzes, display boards, lunch and learn presentations and reimbursement or incentive programs.

This assumes you have overcome the first hurdle – getting people  to sign on to a health promotion program. While survey respondents indicated health promotion programs are important, just six out of 10 (60 percent) announced that they participated in the health promotion programs at their companies.  The other 40% cited lack of interest and lack of time as deterrents.

This points to the need for a extensive, structured health promotion program using a creative approach, with an incentive for participation and effective health promotion program marketing.

By investing in an organized wellness program headed by a certified health care professional like an on-site nurse, corporations can give staff the access to the medical information they want, and increase participation and generate interest at the same time.

The result – workers become savvier healthcare consumers who feel more in charge of their personal health.  And healthier workers make for a healthier bottom line.

Having diabetes myself, I know what the symptoms of low blood sugar can be like. Often times it feels like you have no control of your body and you cannot figure out what or why’s happening. Let’s take a closer look at the symptoms of low blood sugar, and how it can affect your health.

Did you know that many people have symptoms of low blood sugar, yet don’t know it? Think of how many times you have felt tired and worn out between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM? It is a tell tale sign of low blood sugar. Here’s how most people handle it. When they begin to feel a tired and worn down, or maybe even depressed and irritable, they will usually down a soda, some coffee, or eat a sweet snack of some kind. Boom, now all of a sudden they feel like they have been re-energized. Well, it’s caused by a spike in their blood sugar.

Also, what’s the problem with that? While this might appear to be normal for many folks, it’s not normal. The reason for the tiredness at lunchtime is because of your diet. Most likely, you ate a high carbohydrate, high sugar, high starch breakfast. Next, the lack of energy at 3:00 PM is from the same type of lunch you ate. Are you able to see how this is just a vicious cycle? It is a roller coaster ride that you should get off of in order to maintain your health.

Are you a smoker? Are you aware that use of tobacco cigarettes will create a rise in your blood sugar level? It is due to the nicotine in the cigarette mixing together with the adrenal system. When this happens, blood sugar levels go higher.

The symptoms of low blood sugar can last all day and evening. Make certain to keep track or what happens when you eat a sweet snack, or drink a cup of coffee, etc. You will notice your energy level immediately rising. But, it does not last long, maybe an hour or so tops. For this reason you see people who drink 10 cups of coffee a day, or are constantly drinking soda all day, or have to smoke a cigarette every hour.

We all know that coffee, soda, tea, etc., contain sugar, but they also contain caffeine. The two of these ingredients can be brutal to our bodies health structure. Our blood sugar goes up at the expense of our liver glycogen. It depletes liver glycogen levels, while the lack of proper nutrition does not replenish it. This is just one of the many reasons why a proper diet is so important in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Spotting the symptoms of low blood sugar is not difficult when you know what to look for. Here’s another good example. The early mornings are usually the absolute worst times for your blood sugar level. It’s due to them being at there lowest levels. Have you known people who were so irritable in the morning that you didn’t even want to speak to them until they had their cup of coffee, or ate breakfast? You can also take note that the vast majority of marital spats happen during the morning hours. Why’s that?

Because of low blood sugar. Now, give these same people 2 cups of coffee, or a nice breakfast, and notice what happens. It’s like they are completely different. Their personality changes and they are happy. They have energy to go tackle the day. Most of all, you’ll notice that often times they will forget the fact that they just hurt your feelings earlier. It’s like Jekyll and Hyde.

When you notice your loved one having the symptom of low blood sugar, keep an eye on it. It could be due to having pre-diabetes, or even from being a diabetic and not being aware of it. Have them see their doctor and get checked out. Having your blood glucose tested only takes a second, and it’s a simple test. Do not let the symptoms of low blood sugar take control of your health.

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 research study  published in the May issue of The New England Journal of Medicine found that blood sugar levels were lowered 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 blood sugar 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

 Blackberries, 4.9 grams

 Avocado, 3.8 grams

 Medium-sized Apple, 3.6 grams

 Raspberries, 2.6 grams

 Blueberries, 2.1 grams

 Cherries, 1.5 grams

 Strawberries, 1.4 grams

Low-Carb Vegetables

 Brussels Sprouts, 3.1 grams

 Broccoli, 2.7 grams

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

 Mushrooms, canned, 2.0 grams

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

 Asparagus, 1.8 grams

 Okra, 1.6 grams

 Zucchini, 1.3 grams

 Yellow Summer Squash, 1.3 grams

 Cauliflower, 1.4 grams

 Onions, 1.3 grams

 Celery, 1.1 grams

 Peppers, 1.1 grams

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

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

Health promotion programs are designed to help improve the overall health and awareness of health related issues of workforce in the worksite.

Although these health promotion programs are set up to help individuals set, work toward and maintain healthful lifestyle choices, they sometimes fail.

There are five main reasons health promotion programs are unsuccessful.  The first reason is because of lack of staff member interest. It is very important when presenting a new health promotion program to staff members that every effort is made to communicate the all encompassing advantages of the health promotion program to the company and to the individual.

Next, health promotion programs can fail because of lack of staff resources. When a health promotion program is introduced but there are few resources to offer with the health promotion program, it will be difficult for an staff member to want to take benefit of it.

As part of the previous reason for failure of a wellness program, inadequate funding also can set a wellness program up for failure. With little money to promote a wellness program, it may be challenging to spread the word about the advantages of a wellness program.

An all too frequent reason that health promotion programs don’t reach optimal success is because the health promotion program and its coordinators fail to engage high risk personnel. If high risk personnel have the majority of the health issues in a workplace, they ought to be the most targeted individuals for a health promotion program.

To see 100% participation is the optimal goal, but to engage those with the most severe health concerns is a huge priority.

Lastly, the inability to enlist the support of senior level management is a significant reason why wellness programs might not be successful. Without the endorsement, support and flexibility that senior level management can offer a wellness program, it’s far less likely that it will actually succeed.

Health promotion programs succeed for just as many reasons as they fail. With engaged and motivated staff members, obtaining wellness goals is attainable and promising.

Many of us suffer from our blood sugar level being out of balance. If you have high glucose levels (diabetes), then you will hopefully be under the supervision of a medical practitioner. This article is about low glucose levels, sometimes referred to as hypoglycaemia.

There are many causes of low blood sugar, including stress, food allergies and nutritional deficiencies. However, here we are focusing on three ways in which we can all make changes to our habits to greatly reduce the likelihood of suffering low blood sugar – our intake of sugar, coffee and tobacco.

Sugar

Refined grains and refined white sugar are probably the most significant factors involved in hypoglycaemia. As well as the sugar we ourselves add to drinks and food, surprisingly large quantities of sugar are added to many processed foods and drinks, even savoury ready meals. Refined grains are stripped of their nutrients and only a few are replaced. E.g. up to 98% of chromium is lost and 78% of zinc. These two minerals are crucial for blood glucose control. Refined grains are not only depleted of nutrients, but they use your body stores of nutrients in the process of trying to deal with them.

Solution: Purchase only natural ingredients and resist the temptation to add sugar to your food and drinks!

Coffee

Coffee can drastically lower your blood sugar level. Coffee stimulates the adrenal glands, which encourages the liver to breakdown its glycogen stores, and release it back into the blood stream as glucose. The dependable quick fix of a cup of coffee with sugar is like a double â..whammy’. The body is flooded with an immediate source of sugar into the blood stream, while coffee adds to the total sugar load by acting through the adrenal glands and liver.

Solution: Try to cut back your coffee consumption, and gradually reduce the amount of sugar you take with it.

Tobacco

Studies have shown that nicotine rapidly increases blood sugar levels by as much as 36 percent, followed by a rapid drop shortly after the cigarette is put out. This sudden drop in blood sugar level after a cigarette helps to explain the addictive nature of nicotine and the craving for the next cigarette soon after. Although the mechanism isn’t clearly understood, smoking can cause a severe deficiency of vitamin C. This vitamin has many roles in the body and a deficiency is associated with many degenerative diseases.

Solution: Quit tobacco use if you can. If you can’t, bettering your diet by eating more fruits and vegetables can help to reduce cravings, thus making it easier to quit tobacco use in the long run.

In fact, there are several well-known and highly respected glucose support herbs that might help control glucose levels for diabetes sufferers. In fact, in the past two decades there has been an explosion of interest in natural medicine as millions of people around the world have an ever-increasing appetite for information on diet, nutrition, nutritional supplements, medicinal herbs, and natural remedies.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention to you that the most important aspect of managing diabetes is ensuring that you eat a healthy, balanced diet, maintain a healthy weight, and get regular exercise. Further, supplements work best, including glucose support herbs, when you also make these health enhancing lifestyle changes.

Now, before we delve into herbs that may be helpful for diabetes sufferers, it’s important to understand that herbs and/or dietary supplements are not meant to replace the advice of your physician and you should never stop using your medications or insulin, or alter your dosage, without your physician’s approval. Indeed, you should always talk with your physician before taking any glucose support herbs and/or any dietary supplements.

That said, let’s take a look at some of the most highly respected glucose support herbs that may possibly help you or a loved one.

Gymema Sylvestre, also known as the “sugar destroyer,” is highly touted as one that has the ability to block the taste of sweetness, and, as such, it helps to stave off the “cravings of sweets.” Gymema Sylvestre has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for a lot of centuries to regulate blood sugar levels. In fact, gymnema is a well-known and highly respected Ayurvedic remedy used to maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

Bitter Melon- Ayurvedic physicians for centuries have used bitter melon, often along with other herbs, to treat type 2 diabetes. Bitter melon is said to regulate blood sugar levels. Truly, one of the chemical components of bitter melon called polypeptide-p is said to lower blood-sugar levels in people with type 1 diabetes. As reported by the well renowned tome Prescription for Herbal Healing written by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC who states –

Since, unlike insulin, polypeptide-p does not stimulate the movement of fat into fat cells, it has been considered as a replacement for at least some of the injected insulin that people with type 1 diabetes must take each day, although the herb cannot completely replace insulin. When used to treat this type of diabetes, polypeptide-p is effective only in injection form. (Page 32).

Fenugreek seeds are among the list of glucose support herbs. It’s been shown to reduce cholesterol and glucose levels in clinical and experimental studies. Clinical studies in India have found that large doses of fenugreek seeds lowers blood-glucose levels in kind 1 and kind 2 diabetes. However, there is a negative side to this glucose support herb. You’ve to take a lot (15 to 100 grams daily) of fenugreek seeds to obtain an effect, and it’s also associated with mild gastrointestinal upset.

Banaba Leaf Extract – Banaba is a medicinal plant that grows in India, Southeast Asia and the Philippines that is climbing the charts as a one of the glucose support herbs. Truly, banaba has been used in the Philippines to promote blood sugar control. Banaba contains a compound known as corosolic acid, that is believed to have actions in stimulating glucose transport into cells and, as such, plays a role in maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. In Japan, there has been some research done with banaba. However, we have not come across published human studies on this glucose support herb. Conversely, our research indicates that there has been at least one human study with corosolic acid, that is an extract found in banaba and it showed to be effective in reducing blood sugar levels in kind II diabetics.

But wait, there are more glucose support herbs…

Garlic and Onions are best known for decreasing cholesterol. However, according to two Indian studies, this duo has also shown to lower blood sugar levels.

Ginseng was found effective in lowering glucose levels. In a small Finnish study, people newly diagnosed with non-insulin-dependent (Type II) diabetes received either 100 or 200 milligrams of a ginseng extract or placebos every day. Compared with individuals in the placebo group, the people in both ginseng groups not only reported lower glucose levels, but also greater improvement in mood in addition to enhanced performance on physical and psychological tests. However, those taking 200 milligrams of ginseng experienced more benefit than those who took 100 milligrams.

Bilberry is an herb that is traditionally advised to promote healthy blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. In addition, it is used to promote healthy insulin production as well. However, there’s more to this herb. Bilberry is a powerful antioxidant, which makes it an great source to help fight against the continuous onslaught of free radicals. Bilberry is also hailed for its ability to promote vision health. It appears to strengthen the tiny blood capillaries that carry oxygen to the eyes, which may account for its wide use in Europe to treat diabetic retinopathy.

Other glucose support herbs that may help lower or improve blood-sugar levels include –  Garlic, Psyllium, Burdock, and Nopal (prickly pear cactus).

Nutritional-Supplement-Educational-Centre’s Opinion on Glucose Support Herbs

In fact, people with diabetes can benefit  greatly from a number of herbal and dietary supplements, but before you begin to ingest any of these glucose support herbs, please have a discussion with your doctor to see if they are appropriate for you.

It’s important to note that the mineral chromium seems to help lower glucose levels and is worth discussing with your physician.

Lastly, there are many different comprehensive diabetes formulas that are designed to support diabetes health. For  instance, the product may be formulated using carefully selected ingredients to help maintain healthy insulin levels as well as the health and functioning of the liver, heart and pancreas. Therefore, it’s important to understand the how and why of what makes some of these comprehensive diabetes formulas useful, that is an important factor in making an informed option.

Employee health promotion involves many aspects of the worksite and can look dramatically different based upon the shared wellness vision.

Health Promotion efforts can also be uniquely tailored to women and men, old and young or to special health needs. Health Promotion in the workplace must be a top priority regardless of gender, age or special needs.

Living healthful requires time and attention and often special wellness activities designed by a wellness committee can help reach certain health goals.

Most health promotion programs allow for each employee to dictate the objectives and activities that will make up their wellness objectives.

Often, the business will jump in with wellness programs or incentives.  As if sponsoring a competition, some businesss will pay workers for reaching losing weight objectives.

Other wellness ideas might include special benefits or compensation for reaching health goals. It could be challenging to gage what’ll motivate some employees, but knowing that most employees do not want to pay more for healthcare is a good begin.

A solid wellness program is a surefire way to reduce healthcare costs, lost vacation time, and other miscellaneous medical testing.

With a unified wellness committee taking staff opinions into account, there must be objectives set up across the board that’ll help focus and monitor health care objectives for all involved staff.

Some personnel may pick to focus on specific health concerns while others may want to improve their overall health through diet, exercise and stress relief techniques.

When some personnel seem adamant about admitting health concerns, it may be helpful to reaffirm confidentiality with each staff member.

Other staff might find it helpful to join a group or a partner in working toward health care goals. Studies have proven that working on any type of goal with another individual increases the percentage of completion and success.

Corporate health promotion can come in any shape, form or timeframe. It is more imperative that you have resources in place for personnel to ensure a balanced and healthful lifestyle.

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.

Let us look at the effects of two nutrients, and see how they might affect the blood sugar level of a diabetic. The two nutrients we’ll be looking at at vanadyl sulfate and chromium picolinate.

omium and vanadyl seemed worth checking out.

I first, read about these items in weight lifting and bodybuilding magazines. The athletes were using these supplemental items to burn fat,gain energy, and lose weight and gain muscle. As a matter of fact bodybuilders were risking their lives, by injecting insulin into their bodies to gain muscle. Now the insulin seemed totally crazy to me. Chr

Now it seems that athletes have been using these two supplements for quite some time. They believed they worked in gaining energy, burning fat, and gaining lean tissue mass (muscle ). This is the athletic point of view. I wanted to see the medical testing , if there was any.

There is medical testing and data available. It seemed the same way for people with diabetes as it did for athletes.

Let’s look at vanadyl sulfate first. The mineral vandium is found naturally in pepper, radishes, eggs, buckwheat, oats, and vegetable oils. Now in tablet form, it ought to be manufactured in the sulfate form for better absorption from the gastrointestinal tract. It does not really act like insulin, rather it it enhances insulin activity. Studies show, that there are increases of glucose into muscular tissue, rather than into fatty cells. There was an increase of absorption of proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates, and glucose into th muscles. It’s thought to work by changing the effectiveness of enzymes that breakdown amino acids and glucose.

The results of the eight studies, I went over, were varied. But the results were all positive. They all showed some positive impact on lowering blood sugar levels. Some showed a small drop, others showed a significant drop. The side effects were some gastrointestinal upset in a small percentage of diabetics tested.

In a 1968 study,by Schroeder, it was demonstrated that when animals don’t receive adequate levels of chromium, insulin wasn’t optimally effective. Damage to insulin dependent systems can occur. After this study, the FDA recommended a minimum daily requirement of 130mcg. per day per individual.

Chromium can be found naturally in meats, poultry, fish, and whole grain bread products. Again in eight different studies, results varied. And again, they all showed positive data regarding the lowering of blood sugar. It has been shown that, chromium alone, can help borderline diabetic cases. With a 400mcg. dose daily, individuals were able to keep from crossing the line to be afflicted with diabetes. This was without changing the rest of their lifestyle.

Chromium works by increasing the metabolism of fats, protein, and carbohydrates. It helps increase the efficiency of insulin to optimal levels. Individuals  taking it, have announced Weight loss, increased energy levels, and better blood sugar readings.

Neither of these supplements are a replacement for insulin, nor are they a cure. But they show positive results in a person with diabetes. Chromium picolinate and vanadyl sulfate are the forms of these nutrients that are best absorbed.