A Natural Approach to Diabetes

With all the recent news about the dangers of diabetes medications, you may be wondering what you can do to manage your condition. Here is an excerpt from my upcoming book, The Phytozyme Cure, on how to manage diabetes.

About Diabetes

Diabetes is a serious chronic health condition that is the result of elevated blood sugar levels. When blood sugar levels are too high, they become toxic to the organs, including the brain. Remember that our bodies need some sugar to provide energy for many functions. In diabetics, there can be two main problems with the way the body handles sugar. One is that the body has an insulin deficiency, which is the hormone your body needs to process sugar. The other problem is that the body’s cells may be resistant to insulin, which prevents blood sugar from entering cells.

There are three types of diabetes: type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes. While there are some variations in the three types, they are all serious medical conditions that need to be treated by a physician.

Type 1 is also called juvenile diabetes, since it usually develops in childhood or adolescence. Type 1 sufferers have severe insulin deficiencies and require insulin injections.

Type 2 diabetes is also called adult-onset diabetes or non-insulin dependent diabetes. While this type usually strikes adults, it can also affect children. Type 2 is usually linked to eating too-high amounts of refined carbohydrates and sugars, being sedentary, and carrying excess weight. However, it is also the type that responds best to dietary and lifestyle changes.

Gestational diabetes occurs in some women during pregnancy due to hormonal imbalances. Although it usually disappears after the baby is born, it still needs to be addressed because unregulated blood sugars may be damaging to the fetus.

Symptoms of diabetes include fatigue, insatiable thirst, frequent urination, excessive appetite, weight loss or gain, blurred vision, and irritability. If you suspect that you may have diabetes or have been diagnosed with diabetes you need to be assessed and monitored by a physician. Diabetes is a serious health condition.

Diet and supplements continued…

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

GJ S.

3:04AM PST on Nov 22, 2010

Kate, Type 2 diabetes is preventable. It is the sedatary lifestyle that we are now in that is a big cause of it.

send a green star

Chinmayee J.

3:39AM PDT on Oct 16, 2010

Thanks so much for sharing this! Majority of the patients I seem to see in the hospital have diabetes, and the biggest shame of it all is that the Type 2 (which is the most common type) can be prevented by being healthy :( I hope many people benefit from your natural therapies...

KrassiAWAY B.

3:14PM PDT on Oct 10, 2010

Thank you Michelle.

Beverly L.

4:48PM PDT on Oct 8, 2010

Type 2 runs in my family and I have always been worried about having it ~ thanks for the wonderful article!

Suzette Z.

11:25AM PDT on Oct 5, 2010

Type 1 diabetics can eat carbs. They must give the equiv. of insulin to process it. It would be very dangerous to put a kid on a low carb diet. There really needs to be the words type 1 and type 2 behind every suggestion because they are essentially 2 different conditions!
By the way, I got type 1 diabetes at age 40. It is an autoimmune disease that can happen at any time. I have weighed 100 pounds since high school except for my 3 pregnancies where I gained the recommeded 29-33 pounds. With stronger flu bugs and super bugs we need to educate the public. I had the flu and now I DO NOT produce insulin. Yes, I was very healthy, never got sick, strong ANTI-FLU person.

Amanda L.

2:22AM PDT on Oct 5, 2010

good info

Erin R.

12:06PM PDT on Oct 4, 2010

Good article!

jane r.

8:36PM PDT on Oct 1, 2010

Thanks great article

Diedre D.

11:00PM PDT on Sep 30, 2010

thanks Michelle, very informative

Kate F.

9:00AM PDT on Sep 29, 2010

Denise Plant - You need to do some studying up! Diabetes is NOT preventable! Some cases can be controlled with diet, yes but your comment is very misleading!