Natural Remedies For Diabetes

The spread of diabetes in America

Diabetes is a condition that affects much more than just your sugar habit. In the United States, the disease is running rampant among adults and increasing amounts of children. The disease is so common, that the American Diabetes Association claims that more than 6 million people have diabetes and don’t even know it. The statistics are disturbing, but with early detection and treatment, the disease can be managed.

What is Diabetes?
Diabetes deals with the body’s response to blood glucose levels in regards to the production or utilization of insulin. The two main types of diabetes you or someone in your family may come in contact with, includes:

Type 1 Diabetes: Through the millions of diabetic patients in the United States, there is an estimated 5-10% that suffer from this form of the disease. While Type 1 can affect people of all ages, mostly children, adolescents and young adults develop this kind of diabetes. It is said that about one in every 500 children and adolescents in the United States already has or will have Type 1 diabetes in the future [1].

Type 2 Diabetes: This type of diabetes is chronic and hinders the way that the body metabolizes glucose (sugar). Through Type 2 diabetes, the body starts to reject the effects of insulin, which is a hormone needed for the regulation of sugar cell absorption. Some Type 2 diabetics might produce some insulin, but not enough to create a normal level of glucose [2]. When this condition is left untreated, life-threatening results may occur.

Symptoms

There are many symptoms associated with diabetes, and depending on the type you suffer from, you may experience one or more of the following:

a) Excessive Thirst and Increased Urination: One of the most telling signs of diabetes is an urgency to keep drinking fluids. As your kidneys work overtime to filter and absorb the amount of sugar that builds up in the body, increased urination occurs. Through all of this, dehydration sets in, leading you into a vicious cycle of quenching your thirst, and the need to release yourself in the process.

b) Flu-Like Symptoms: The fatigue, weakness, and loss of appetite associated with the flu may also present itself with diabetes because your body is unable to utilize sugar in order to gain energy.

c) Weight Loss or Gain: Changes in weight often occur through the presence of diabetes. Weight loss occurs because as you lose sugar through frequent urination, you will also lose calories. The other side of the weight issue is gaining extra pounds because cells become deprived of nutrients, leading to a feeling of constant hunger. As you eat more to compensate, an increase of fatty tissue develops [3].

d) Blurred Vision: The eyes show signs of diabetes as high levels of blood sugar rob eye lenses of much-needed fluid. When ignored, blood vessels become damaged and can lead to dark spots, flashing lights or rings. Serious cases may also lead to blindness.

e) Slow-Healing: High levels of blood sugar can affect the natural healing process and the body’s defense against infections. Diabetes may also cause bladder or vaginal infections in women.

f) Tingling Hands and Feet: Nerve damage may develop as a result of diabetes, which leads to a tingling or loss of sensation in the hands or feet. Sometimes, a burning pain may attack the hands, arms, legs, and feet.

g) Gum Problems: Diabetes may cause gums to become red, swollen, and tender.

Causes of Diabetes

The causes of this condition depend on what type of diabetes you are suffering from. With Type 1 diabetes, the body has little to no insulin because the immune system attacks the cells responsible for producing the hormone. It is believed that heredity; diet and nutrition all contribute to the development of Type 1. With Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas makes some insulin, but either one or two issues arise: the muscles and body tissue may resist the presence of insulin or the pancreas simply doesn’t make enough. Researchers are unaware what makes the cells resistant to insulin, but weight, laziness, and fatty tissues contribute.

Diagnosis

A random blood sugar test and a fasting blood glucose test both determine whether or not a person has Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. Blood is drawn from the arm to test your glucose levels at any given time (random) or after an overnight fast. In addition to the two blood tests, Type 2 diabetes is also made known through a glucose challenge test (often used for pregnant women) or a glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test.

Risk Factors

While the definite cause regarding Type 1 diabetes is not known, there are some details that increase the risk of developing the disease. This includes having a family member, such as a diabetic parent or sibling. People who are overweight, inactive, or depressed are more likely to suffer from Type 2 diabetes. Individuals over the age of 45 are also likely to develop the disease, but throughout the years, a higher number of children, adolescents and younger adults have been seen. Race also affects your chances of suffering from diabetes, where some ethnic groups are more prone to certain types than others.

Natural Remedies for Diabetes

Natural remedies allow individuals to find gentler, safer, and sometimes more effective treatment options for their condition. Below are a few natural approaches towards treating diabetes:

a) Fenugreek: This herb has been known to cut down sugar levels in urine by half. Making a decoction or taking 1 gram of powdered herb after meals treats mental confusion, weight loss, and excessive thirst.

b) Bilberry: The leaves of this herb are thought to increase the production of insulin when drinking an infusion before meals.

c) Goat’s Rue: The aerial parts of this herb react with the pancreas to encourage production of insulin. Preparing an infusion or tincture before meals can treat the symptoms of diabetes.

d) Mango: Boiling 15 fresh mango leaves in one glass of water will create a natural treatment for diabetes. After mixing the ingredients, leave the combination overnight. At the start of a new day, filter the water and drink first thing in the morning.

Diabetes Prevention

For many, diabetes is highly preventable. It really comes down to incorporating healthy habits and lifestyle changes to avoid the onset of this manageable, yet frustrating disease. Below you will find a few preventive measures to consider:

a) Lose Extra Pounds: Sometimes diabetes prevention is just as easy as keeping your weight to a healthy number. With every pound you lose, your health improves. Try making it a habit to eat better and exercise on a regular basis. When it comes to losing weight, avoiding fad diets is the healthiest approach towards preventing diabetes. Cooking foods with less fat, oil, and butter also help shed extra weight.

b) Fiber: Many reduce their risk of diabetes when they eat fiber-filled foods, which also decrease the chances of developing heart disease. Some of the foods to consider adding to your diet include vegetables, fruits, and other lean food items.

c) Whole Grains: When eating grains, it is the whole variety that contributes to the decrease in developing diabetes. A few eating habits to change include trading white bread for wheat, or consuming whole-grain pastas and cereals.

d) Increase Exercise: When you get the body moving around, not only is weight lost, but also the overall your overall health improves. Physical activity contributes to the lowering of blood sugar levels. Riding a bike, swimming laps, or walking for 30 minutes per day will increase your levels of exercise.

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Natural Cure For Menopause

Menopause: Stop the hot flashes naturally.

If your irritability, mood swings, hot flashes and fatigue are becoming a problem for domestic harmony, it’s time to pause and take stock of the situation. You’ve entered the phase of life that almost four thousand women daily do. You have reached menopause. Had it not been for these annoying and exasperating symptoms, you’d have gladly welcomed this freedom from PMS, menstruation and birth control issues. However, not all is lost. If you take the correct medication, you can still have a time of your life.

What is menopause?

When a woman reaches her mid-thirties, hormone production in her ovaries declines. This continues in the forties too, when hormone levels may fluctuate. However, by the fifties, periods usually end completely. This causes a host of bodily changes that affects a woman physically, as well as, mentally in varying degrees.

What are the symptoms of menopause?

Fluctuating hormone levels bring with it symptoms and problems that almost drives women up the wall. These symptoms generally include:

a. Hot flashes: Hot flashes usually occur for at least one year and up to five years before cessation of menstruation. These can annoy and disrupt your sleep and daily life. A hot flash induces increasing warmness, beginning in the chest and rising to your head. Hot flashes most commonly occur at night and can last from a few seconds to up to an hour.

b. Vaginal dryness: Decreasing hormones may result in vaginal dryness, which may compel you to use vaginal lubricant to keep your sex life active with minimal discomfort. However, in serious cases an estrogen cream may be recommended by your physician.

c. Other symptoms: Other symptoms may include difficulty in concentrating, headaches, fatigue, night sweats, depression and anxiety, sleep disorders, incontinence, and the like. This condition may also lead to osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases. Some women are known to gain weight too, especially around the waist.

Natural remedies menopause

Although, the most popular treatment for menopause is the Hormone Replacement Therapy, there are certain risks, like cancer, associated with it. If you don’t want to put your life on line by this line of treatment, there is a world of natural herbal remedies waiting to be explored! Let’s see what these menopause natural remedies are:

a. Diet: Your diet is important in controlling menopause natural remedy symptoms. Since, at this stage the body requires estrogens, the female hormone, increase the consumption of foods containing phytoestrogens, like soy, grains, oats, wheat, brown rice, tofu, almonds, cashews, fresh fruits and vegetables. However, cut down on caffeine, carbonated beverages, sugar, commercially raised meats, including beef, pork and chicken.

b. Exercise: It reduces the severity of menopausal symptoms. It also relieves stress, and often improves depression and anxiety symptoms. Routine exercise improves bone mass, as well.

c. Herbs: Herbs like black cohosh, dong quai, evening primrose oil, ginseng and vitex agnus castus can help many women manage menopause symptoms most effectively.

d. Red clover isoflavone: Promensil, containing red clover isoflavone, is an effective natural remedy for menopause hot flashes. This dietary supplement is available over-the-counter, without a prescription, at any retail grocery, drug and health food stores. It decreases the number of hot flashes and night sweats.

e. ‘Good’ bacteria:Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidus are the ‘good’ bacteria in our intestines. They help in metabolism and utilization of estrogen during menopause. Good bacteria can be found in various nutritional formulas in the market.

f. Ayurveda: This ancient Indian science of holistic healing considers menopause as an ‘out of balance’ condition. It demands a lifestyle change, in which, you’d need to increase warm food and drinks, regular meals, early bedtime, oil massage, meditation, yoga, walking and spices, such as fennel and cumin.

Remember, the symptoms of menopause may vary from woman to woman. So, adopt whichever natural cure works best for you, but not without consulting your physician.

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Natural Cure For Acne

Use natural apple cider vinegarBragg's Apple Cider Vinegar (not the kind in grocery stores) to clear up acne. Start by using a dilution of one part apple cider vinegar to three parts water for a week. Next, make a mixture of one part vinegar to two parts water and use this for a week. You may want to continue with this strength. Some people will go on to use the apple cider vinegar straight, undiluted, but straight vinegar may be irritating to others. Apply the vinegar mixture to pimples with a cotton ball. This clears up the acne and helps to get rid of the red marks from past break-outs.

Teenagers can use diluted natural apple cider vinegarBragg's Apple Cider Vinegar (one part vinegar to three parts water) daily at the first sign of bumps to eliminate them before they become break-outs. This dilution is mild enough for most anyone's face, young or old. But, it should not be used on a man's face after shaving - using it before shaving will prevent stinging.

Natural apple cider vinegarBragg's Apple Cider Vinegar also comes in tablet form so you can easily gets its goodness inside your body as well as using the liquid directly on acne and scars.

From earthclinic.com...
Angelina has found that applying natural apple cider vinegarBragg's Apple Cider Vinegar to her face four or more times per day has cured her of a "very bad complexion." She applies it straight and says that, while it burns her skin a bit, it "works like a miracle!"

Cheryl says that her daughter developed a case of moderate acne. After trying a number of different things for over a year which helped very little or not at all, she started drinking two tablespoons of natural apple cider vinegarBragg's Apple Cider Vinegar three times a day and applying it topically once at night. She has been acne free for two months. It took about three weeks to clear up.

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Natural cures For Ear Infection

For the pain, put a cup of salt in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes. Use coarse salt and dump it into a thick sock. The sock is to prevent burns. Apply the sock to the painful ear and it draws fluid out of the ear.

Get a washcloth full of hot water and wring it out. Hold this onto the ear until it cools. The moist heat will increase the circulation in the ear, thereby reducing the swelling and pain.

For the infection, put a few drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide into each ear, one ear at a time. Keep the solution in for 10 minutes or until the bubbling stops.

Note: Do not put liquids into your ears if you have a ruptured ear drum.

OR

Start with 1 tablespoon of Pure Almond Carrier Oilalmond oil and add 2 drops of Lavender Essential Oillavender essential oil, 2 drops of Chamomile Essential Oilchamomile essential oil, and 3 drops of Tea Tree Essential Oiltea tree essential oil. Mix this well, then warm the mixture. OR, another good mixture would be to start with 1 tablespoon of Pure Almond Carrier Oilalmond oil and add 2 drops of Lavender Essential Oillavender essential oil, 3 drops of Tea Tree Essential Oiltea tree essential oil, and 2 drops of Thyme Essential Oilthyme essential oil.

Two drops of this warm mixture can be put inside an infected ear three times a day (if the eardrum has never been punctured or perforated). A secondary method to further ease the pain and pressure, rub some of this mixture onto the inside and outside of the ear itself and on the affected side of the neck (the area of the lymph nodes). An even faster secondary method to relieve the pain and pressure is to get the mixture hot, add a few drops of this mixture to a little hot water, dip in a clean cloth, and use the cloth as a compress. Be careful that it is not hot enough to burn.

Note: 1) Red thyme pure essential oil is not suitable for children, epileptics or those who are prone to high blood pressure. 2) Thyme essential oil can induce a miscarriage or harm a fetus when taken internally and possibly when applied externally.


For a person who has had (ever) a perforated or punctured eardrum, follow the above procedures without adding drops inside the ear canal to achieve much of the healing and pain relief.

People that get a lot of ear infections might actually be allergic to dairy products, egg whites, wheat, peanuts or soy. Or, their intake of fatty foods may be too high.

To use these methods with babies, put one drop of the mixture into 1/4 cup of water for diluted strength, and use the diluted mixture as ear drops or for massaging.

Chewing gum that contains Xylitol (like Biotene Dry Mouth Gum, Arm & Hammer Dental Care Sugar Free Baking Soda Gum, or Altoids Chewing Gum) helps fight bacteria, cavities, plaque and gum disease, and helps whiten teeth. Gum chewing may help relieve pressure in the ear, and the pain from the pressure. Chewing Xylitol gum regularly has been shown to prevent inner ear infections by keeping the bacteria in the mouth from moving up into the nose and ears.

Recurring ear infections may be due to the overuse of antibiotics causing an overgrowth of candida (yeast). That is because the antibiotics kill also kill some good things in our body meant to keep out the bad things. The candida can cause a whole list of problems. In children it usually shows up as diaper rash (in women it is yeast infections), recurrent ear infections, asthma, and a host of other problems. Cutting out sugars and refined carbohydrates from the diet would help a lot, although this is not so easy with kids. So, replace the intestinal flora (a good thing) that was killed by the antibiotics. You do this with acidophilus, which comes in many forms: Acidophilus Tabletsacidophilus tablets, Children's Chewable Acidophilus Tabletschewable acidophilus, Acidophilus Strawberry Liquid, and Children's Acidophilus Powder.

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