Posts Tagged ‘health perspectives’

Type 2 diabetes treatment failure is distressing to say the least. Doctors’ diabetic care seems to accelerate the growth of both the pharmaceutical industry and the medical supply business.

Doctor’s Advice

The doctor’s advice is oddly consistent with the American dietary approach. Eat everything in moderation. That advice hasn’t paid off.  Their solution to the problem is an insulin injection or a pill along with a jab of the finger a few times a day.

Their cash flow isn’t hurt, but the potential for a full recovery isn’t anywhere to be seen. What are the medical community’s benchmarks for successful disease management?  Well it seems the simple trick to success is not to challenge the patient to change their lifestyle, but to just comply with the drug schedule, and adjust medication with glucose monitoring.

The treatment isn’t about science; though that is what it is suppose to be about. The medical system is about care not cure. That is the real problem. Doctors support a system that is about volume, and what works best is maintenance.

Here is some advice from a pediatric endocrinologist and senior scientist in the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center. For Halloween he gave parents three options.

Counting Carbohydrates

By counting carbohydrates, kids can enjoy some of the treats that Halloween has to offer in moderation. This option allows the child to keep up with how many carbs they are eating: the example is one unit of insulin for every 15 or 20 grams of carbohydrates.

This is the doctor’s quote: “This is an easy option for kids on an insulin pump because they can just dial in an extra dose of insulin to compensate for what they are about to eat. But for kids that take shots, this could prove to be more difficult or inconvenient if they have to go to the school nurse for an extra dose,”

What is wrong with this solution is that everything can be solved with a shot of insulin. This message sets the stage for life, with using insulin as the fix for poor dietary choices. Sometimes you need the insulin, but to use it as a springboard to survival is absurd. The next problem is the quality of the treats and the ingredient list. These treats will deplete the body of its store of vitamins and minerals, which are needed and used by the pancreas, liver, and all systems that support the body’s ability to deal with sugar and toxins, such as artificial flavor and colors.

This is considered a proactive approach by both the parents and physician. The child needs to feel part of the crowd, and enjoy the American past time of eating poor quality fuel for the body.

Exchanging Candy

The second solution suggested is that the parents can trade the child a gift, money, or low carb snack for their candy. Parents can also provide a substitute snack for their child if the class is holding a Halloween party at school.

I know as a parent that this sounds good and it may work.  However, to offer cash or a gift makes the candy seem to have a high value. What the problem is this is considered a practical solution, since we live in the real world. This approach doesn’t remove sweet treats but perpetuates its value.

The low carb approach is good and even better if it’s structured to be the desired item by the child. The way to do that isn’t mystical; it’s eating healthy while pregnant, and starting the baby on a good diet. The chances of having diabetes would be lower with this approach.

Dessert

kids can savor their Halloween treats without an extra shot or dose of insulin by having them for dessert after dinner. The quote “By incorporating a sugary treat into meal time, when a child would normally get a dose of insulin, it eliminates the need for adding doses to their regimen.”

Another idea I am not fond of and the reason is there is an aticipation of a reward. It takes sweets and holds them in high esteem. Protecting health and remaining safe from disease is the main goal, not building deals around things that aren’t good for diabetes.

Removal of harmful substances is a necessary tool for the parents of diabetic children. Avoiding the American way of eating will enable diabetic children to achieve a long and healthy life.

Acid reflux sufferers are searching for relief. There are safe and effective solutions, but first you have to understand the problem.  This has become a chronic and persistent problem causing millions of Americans great discomfort.

The wide assortments of drugs, which line drug store shelves, are useless. They are usually offering no more than temporary relief. The costs of pharmaceutical solutions are enormous.

Acid Reflux

Reflux comes from an older Latin word refluxus, and that comes from the word refluere, which is to flow back or recede. It is thought that if you suffer from acid reflux the acids from your stomach flow back to your esophagus to cause pain and discomfort. This is commonly known as heartburn. This is the sensation you get when the acid goes into the esophagus from the stomach. Acid reflux is the action, while heartburn is the sensation. The pain is heartburn, while the movement of acid into the esophagus from the stomach is acid reflux.

Symptoms

The symptoms for acid reflux may vary slightly from person to person. However, there are some basics that make this easier to diagnose.  

Heartburn is a burning feeling in the lower chest nearer to the neck, and can include chest pain. These symptoms have been mistaken at times for cardiac problems.

The other known symptoms consists of dysphagia, difficulty swallowing with a sensation of food caught in the throat, dental erosion, asthma like symptoms, hoarseness and regurgitation bring food back into the mouth or a sour or bitter tasting acid backing up into your throat or mouth. The lesser known problems consist of bloating, burping, continuous hiccups, nausea, wheezing, chronic sore throat and a dry cough.

Causes

There are many named causes of acid reflux which include pregnancy especially the third trimester when the baby presses on the stomach. Antacids aren’t any good for this. Smaller meals help a majority of the moms-to-be. Hiatal hernias or hiatus hernia, is a condition where the upper portion of the stomach goes into the chest area through a small opening in the diaphragm.

One of the known risk is eating a large meal and lying down afterwards. Being overweight or obese, eating certain foods such as citrus, tomato, chocolate, mint, garlic, onions, and beverages  such as: alcoholic drinks, carbonated sodas, coffee or tea.  Smoking, aspirin, ibuprofen, muscle relaxes, and blood pressure medications can cause this problem. There are many foods or drinks that can cause heartburn. Each person may have their own list.

Pharmaceuticals

The solution isn’t going to be found with acid blocking medications like Pepsin, Prilosec, and Nexium. They may be a short term band-aid, but they aren’t for long term use. These are powerful drugs, which were originally developed for short term use. They were meant for peptic ulcers with a recommended six week regiment. Today, people just about live on these.

The danger of these drugs is the fact that you need stomach acid to digest food and absorb nutrients. Long term use leads to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. These drugs are robbing the body of magnesium, calcium and vitamin B12 while increasing the risk of osteoporosis, insomnia, depression, anemia, fatigue, nerve damage and dementia. Long team use also leads to the overgrowth of bacteria in the stomach and small intestines.

Real Cause

Any long term solution must address the cause. Acid reflux is typically caused by too little stomach acid. The esophagus is separated from the stomach by a ring of muscles known as the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES). The sphincter is what keeps the contents of the stomach and stomach acid from going back up to the esophagus. What determines if the LES stays closed to prevent acid reflux into the esophagus is adequate levels of stomach acid. With sufficient acid production in the stomach there is feedback to LES, This causes increased tone and prevents any food from rising into the esophagus. If stomach acid is low the tone of the LES is compromised and now has a loose hold on the content of the stomach.

Solution

Low stomach acid comes in a large part from our lifestyles. High stress, gulped down meals without a chance to properly digest and faux foods which are incredibly destructive.  The nervous system has two main states which you constantly oscillate between, a sympathetic nervous state responsible for the fight-or-flight mode of operation and the parasympathetic nervous system which is the rest and digest one. One of the underlying causes of acid reflux is eating when sympathetic dominant. This will cause a low production of stomach acid leading to a weakness in the LES response of regurgitation of the stomach contents into the esophagus.

The solution isn’t going to come out of a bottle, jar, or carton. In fact those solution are perhaps a major part of the problem. What is appropriate is a whole food diet, and proper stress control. Eating slowly and chewing well is a good start. Alkaline vegetables and fruit are recommended as they will help with an acidic conditions. Acid reflux is a modern affliction brought on by lifestyle.

Calorie counting is destructive. The initial goal should be to get strong and fit. Counting calories can make many dieters weak. Being hungry all the time is counter productive.

Calorie control equals weight management to most people, and even the medical experts think this is true. What calories really do is different from the hype. When the weight loss industry capitalizes on the proven benefits of cutting calories, what they are doing is promoting a way to utilize diet in an unhealthy way.

Caveman Diet

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (USCF) say their research has shown people on a high protein diet combined with plenty of vegetables show dramatic health improvements. These include weight loss, and lower blood pressure. What they are talking about is a diet that is considered similar to the “Hunters Gathers” or caveman diet.

Dr. Tim White a paleobiologist from the University of California Berkley said: “Our Biology is still basically the same biology that we had as hunters and gathers 100,000 years ago in Africa.” Dr. White said the constant physical activity that the cavemen had to undertake to hunt and find food kept them fit, lean, muscular and active. Their diet consisted of large amounts of lean meat, and vegetables.

Robert Lustig, MD. an endocrinologist at UCSF, said that people on the diet have experienced a regression of their diabetes as a result, to the point they are effectively cured.

Dr. Kim Mulvihill, a reporter from CBS tried the diet herself and doctors recommended she should stay on the diet permanently. Her cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels dropped dramatically over a few weeks. After seven weeks she was no longer pre-diabetic, and by combining the so called paleo diet with a weight loss program she lost thirty pounds.

Fish

Another article talked about people who eat fish as their primary source of animal protein. They reported lower glucose concentrations with a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Researchers at the University of Valencia reported in the journal Nutricion Hospitalaria that there are benefits from a Mediterranean diet high in fish consumption. This study showed the benefits of the omega 3’s in fish. Omega 3 from fish and grass fed meat controls inflammation. Micronutrients from both vegetables and fruits also, turn off inflammation.

Inflammation

There are a good number of studies that show weight gain may be linked to chronic inflammation. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition researches looked at nine years of data tracking 1,222 adults and found that weight gain was associated with an increase in chronic inflammation. This may be why weight gain is associated with heart disease and cancer. Both these conditions are associated with chronic inflammation.

Counting calories is counter productive, especially when you buy 100 calorie packs of pure carbohydrates in the form of crackers of cookies. The only weapon against obesity is whole foods diet with all the omega 3 fatty acids and nutrients your body need.

A diet based on vegetables, and fruit with some high quality protein is better than a calorie restricted diet for weight management. A nation that has embraced calorie counting as a way to control weight is deluding itself into thinking that saving calories can repair the damage done by faux foods. By changing your goal from weight, to having more energy by becoming healthier your will achieve a consistent weight.