What Could Spike Blood Sugar?

Good management of a diabetic’s blood sugar (glucose) level is important because diabetes can eventually lead to chronic medical conditions including heart disease and high blood pressure. But for Type-2 diabetics who has abandoned most simple carbohydrates in their diet and has regularly exercised, their blood sugar can sometimes still spikes.

Actually, there are many things that seem harmless to diabetics can actually affect their blood sugar level.

Dehydration, for instance, can make the blood becomes more concentrated and cause the blood sugar readings to go up. To make the thing worse, when the blood sugar is higher, one tends to urinate more, making him or her more dehydrated. So drinking enough water is important for diabetics, especially after exercises or in the hot weather.

Hormones change can also affect a woman’s blood sugar. One study had revealed that decreased insulin sensitivity during menstruation were the most common issue.  This means that the insulin that patients were taking or the pancreas was producing were not sufficient to lower blood sugar, resulting in high blood sugar level.

Stress is another thing that can affect one’s blood sugar level. When a person is under stress, his or her body releases hormones that can make the blood sugar rise. This is more common for Type-2 diabetics. Hence, learning to relax with deep breathing and exercise, and trying to change the things that are stressful, if possible, is very important.

Certain medications can upset one’s blood sugar readings, too. Corticosteroids such as prednisone, which are used to treat rashes, arthritis, asthma, and many other conditions, can boost blood sugar levels. Diuretics (water pills) that are used to manage high blood pressure, and decongestants that contain pseudoephedrine or phenylephrine can be responsible for blood sugar hike.

While birth control pills, patches, implants, injections, and rings are generally considered to be safe forms of contraception for diabetic women, the estrogen in birth control pills can raise blood glucose levels.

People like to skip meals thinking that this may help them lose weight. In reality, skipping meals can only cause the body to store fat and conserve, not metabolize and burn fat. The reason is that the liver normally produces glucose to be used by the body, such as when someone is asleep, and stops the production when it detects insulin in the blood, such as when someone has eaten. If it becomes resistant to insulin, it does not get the signal to stop producing glucose and keeps pumping it into the blood. This excess glucose in the bloodstream is stored in the body as fat.

To keep a healthy blood sugar level, people should have regular meals. If a heavy meal is consumed and one does not want to have a regular size meal later or the next morning, he or she should at least eat something light.

Heart Disease Prevention - Would Sex Benefit Older Folks?

Several other studies had already shown that having sex even a few times a week has an associative or causal relationship would tend to have some benefits. Other studies also indicated that frequent sex can achieve weight loss and overall fitness, and pain relief, reduce depression, and even have less cold and flu. But a recent study had reported quite different results… Find out more at:

Heart Disease Prevention - Would Sex Benefit Older Folks?

Heart Disease Prevention - Does Protein Help One To Lose Weight?

Though there are numerous ways to lose weight, most of them will make one feel hungry and unsatisfied. Unless the person has a very strong determination, he or she will certainly give up quickly. In reality, losing weight might not be that difficult! First, one must eat the right food! Click the following link for more information:

Heart Disease Prevention - Does Protein Help One To Lose Weight?

Can Blueberry Help Prevent Heart Disease?

Being one of the few fruits native to North America, blueberries rank only second to strawberries in popularity of berries in the United States. It also contains one of the highest amount of antioxidant among all fruits, vegetables, spices and seasonings.

Various studies have looked into blueberries for treatment of certain medical conditions like diabetes, infections, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease, though all with mixed results. There is only a few research on the effect of eating blueberries on cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and most of these have been done in animals, such as pigs and rats. Some findings have indicated that total cholesterol levels were lowered by at least 8 percent and LDL cholesterol was reduced by up to 15 percent after 8 weeks, after animals were fed a daily diet consisting of about 4 percent blueberries.

Cholesterol levels play an important role in one’s health. High level of total cholesterol levels, especially the LDL (low-density lipoprotein), can put a person at risk of developing chronic diseases including high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. 

So far, not too many studies have been conducted to examine the effect of blueberry consumption on lipids in people. These studies mainly involved healthy individuals and people with metabolic disease, and the findings did not actually show significant changes by consuming blueberries. However, it was reported by one study that drinking a one-liter mixture of freeze-dried and fresh blueberries did cut oxidized LDL by 28 percent. Oxidized LDL is a type of LDL that can promote the formation of atherosclerosis.  

In Jan 2013, researchers from Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School pointed out in their paper, which was published in ‘Harvard Health Publications’, that eating more blueberries and strawberries, 3 times a week, may be a tasty way to protect the heart.

By gathering data from 93,600 women aged between 25 and 42 in the Nurses' Health Study, the researchers found that over the course of 18 years, women who ate the fewest blueberries and strawberries were at higher risk of heart attack. Those who ate the most were 34 percent less likely to have suffered a heart attack than those who ate the least of these fruits. According to them, the findings should likely apply to everyone, including men, though the study focused on young and middle-age women.

To get the heart benefits, people should eat at least 3 servings of a half cup of blueberries or strawberries each week. Blueberries and strawberries are particularly rich in chemical compounds called anthocyanins. Research suggests that anthocyanins have several effects on the body. They lower blood pressure, and they make blood vessels more elastic.