Tag Archives: advice

Going Healthy, Health, Life, Tips

4 Ways to Control Diabetes

Leave a comment

Diabetes is a condition that can in some instances be controlled by diet, but in others, require medication. This is normally via an insulin injection. To know when blood sugar is not right, a meter can be used. This article will look at ways that we can control diabetes, including looking for the best glucose meter that we can find.

Glucose Meters

Blood glucose meters can generally be divided into three categories: invasive, non-invasive, and continuous. With the invasive type, a blood sample will be taken using a lancing tool, lancets, and testing strips. These components will be sold as part of a kit that can be purchased. With these kits, the strips and lancets will need to be replaced. Non-invasive kits will take measurements by way of physico-chemical sensors and usually from the arm to determine glucose levels. They are useful in eliminating the number of times someone has to inject insulin but are not as accurate as invasive tests. There can also be a problem with sensors staying in place.

The solution to both of these first two methods is a machine that allows for continuous glucose monitoring. There are blood glucose meters on the market that provide high levels of accuracy and can be worn on the arm, so can be taken anywhere. They generally have implantable sensors and remote transmission systems. They measure blood glucose levels that exist in the body’s intestinal fluid. They can more accurately calculate changes in blood glucose levels over a greater period. The continuous system is much less stressful for diabetics who no longer need to prick a fingertip each day. If you are the diabetic reading this, all that you need to know is how to use and maintain the machine. They come with good instructions and health professionals can help show you. They will be pleased that you have a Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) device and keeping a second close eye on your diabetes.

Diet (Food)

Whether you are controlling your diabetes with diet or insulin, which is where the above machine comes in, you will still need to think about what foods to eat or avoid with regards to your diabetes.

Anyone with diabetes should concentrate on eating lean protein and fewer carbohydrates that have been processed. As a recommendation anyway in a diet, fruits and vegetables are a good thing to eat. As are, healthy vegetable-based fats, including avocado, canola oil, olive oil, and nuts.

Eggs are a good source of protein for diabetes because they are low in carbohydrates and have a very low glycemic index score. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) has stated that eggs are suitable for those with diabetes.

Diabetes-Friendly Beverages

There is nothing better than water to keep you hydrated. The same goes if you have diabetes. Green tea is known to have a positive effect on health in general and coffee is okay for diabetics to drink, too. Other recommendations for drinks that are suitable to drink are low-fat milk and vegetable juice. Processed fruits are not so good because key nutrients such as vitamins will be at reduced levels. Also, canned fruits containing sugar should be avoided in cases of diabetes. You should also control the amount of sugar added to drinks.

Sleep

Not enough sleep can raise blood sugar levels, for those who are type 2 diabetics. So, this is something that you can do to help without any intervention other than going to bed sooner than a television show might let you. Sleep is good for health in general and re-energizes us ready for the next morning.

So, some of the best things that we can do if we have diabetes, or to advise those who have, is to buy a glucose meter to continually monitor diabetes, take care with diet, drink diabetic-friendly beverages, and allow ourselves enough sleep. It will help the condition and please the health professionals, too. There is nothing better than self-management of a condition.

Health, Life, Lifestyle, Parenting

An Individual Approach: Helping Your Teen With Image Issues

Leave a comment
image issues, parenting, teens, teenager, growing up, personality,
Pixabay – CC0 License

If you remember back to when you were a teenager, low self-esteem probably was a big part of your life. So many people don’t feel confident in themselves. And it’s incredibly heartbreaking when your own flesh and blood view themselves as inadequate. Teenagers can have image issues, as we all do. But what can we do to help our teenagers develop more confidence, but also fix the deep-rooted psychological issues?

Encourage Role Models of All Sizes and Aesthetics 

After you address what the issue is, you can help to encourage a wider variety of solutions. When your child has image issues relating to something aesthetic, sometimes these things can be fixed. For example, something like problems with their teeth can be easily remedied with SmilePath clear aligners instead of braces. But we have to remember that insecurity stems from feeling alone or singled out. When we start to highlight that they are not alone, and there are others who are similar, we can start to show that there isn’t a single ideal of what we want to look like. In other words, nobody is perfect.

Consider the Impact of Social Media

If you were lucky enough to escape social media until your late twenties, you might not realize the impact it is having on your child. Social media has shown that it can impact how young women and men see their bodies. There’s plenty of debate around the negativity associated with social media. And with regards to body image, you’ve got to remember that social media is a rabbit hole of negativity, especially when it comes to imagery.

Look at Your Own Insecurities 

Our children learn, consciously and subconsciously, from ourselves. We have to be open and honest about how we feel about ourselves. And this is difficult, but it provides a perfect template for your child. Because you might think you are the only person experiencing issues, and when you start to see that your teenager is beginning to feel insecure about how they look, you can share your insecurities and start open and honest conversations. This will help them to feel less intimidated when it comes to talking about their own feelings. But also remember that you have to practice what you preach. We will always pass on our emotions to those closest to us. And if our children have body image issues, we will need to look at ourselves as well.

Focus on Body Positivity

Body neutrality and body positivity is the baseline. And it is difficult to go from negative perceptions of oneself to the positive. But there are support groups that can help, and it’s so important to find those that offer a supportive space for people who struggle to love themselves. Learning to raise a happy child is not just about giving them love, but it’s about making them realize that everybody is individual. When people are tainted with a negative view of themselves, it colors their entire life. But there are ways for you to help.

Going Healthy, Health, Life, Tips

4 Ways to Relieve Rheumatoid Pain

Leave a comment

Rheumatology is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and therapy of all rheumatoid conditions. In this field, rheumatologists are doctors and will have specialist knowledge of a variety of rheumatoid conditions concerning their patients.

Some common rheumatic disorders include rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, lupus, Sjogren’s syndrome, ankylosing spondylitis, scleroderma, and gout, to name some of them.

This article will examine four ways in which we can relieve the pain from such conditions.

Medication

The DMARDs most often prescribed by rheumatologists to treat rheumatoid arthritis will include methotrexate, leflunomide, sulfasalazine, and hydroxychloroquine. Their purpose is to slow down the progression of rheumatoid arthritis, which saves the tissues and joints from permanent damage. This is no prevention as such, just the ability to slow the condition down with medication and to relieve it in other ways. Using the medication to slow things is relief to many sufferers and avoids them experiencing the worst symptoms for as long as possible.

Rheumatologists will prescribe prescription medicines and over-the-counter ones can be obtained for mild pain relief.

Compress

Warm, moist compresses can be used to loosen up stiff joints. Conversely, an ice pack can be used on inflamed joints. In addition, patients may find that a massage helps them. All these treatments are quick and easy to apply and will provide relief for the milder symptoms. In more severe cases, pain relief will be the best relief.

In addition to the compress, which is relaxing, it is also important to relax mentally and avoid becoming stressed, as this is one sure way of making a rheumatoid condition worse.

Diet

Eating a healthy and balanced diet can help with all rheumatoid conditions.

Continuing with Rheumatoid arthritis as the example, foods that should be avoided include fatty ones that are full of omega-6 fatty acids, meats that are fried, grilled, or boiled, gluten, sugars and refined carbohydrates, preservatives and anything that enhances flavour, and of course alcohol.

The best fruits to eat that will help with rheumatoid arthritis are tart cherries, red raspberries, watermelon, grapes, and avocado. In the case of the cherries, their dark red colour is indicative of them having powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties from their flavonoid anthocyanin.

Although diet is not a cure, it can certainly create a relief. Not only by eating foods that help with the inflammation that results from rheumatoid conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, but by avoiding foods that exacerbate the condition. As with anything eaten, moderation of the worst kinds of foods will help almost as much as their avoidance altogether.

Exercise

As with everything that is good for you, a good diet should also be combined with regular exercise. Contrary to what might seem logical, exercise will make joints better rather than worse. Even in pain, certain exercises can still be carried out that will help. A rheumatologist or physiotherapist will be able to advise on some good ones that are suited to a certain condition.

Exercising together is a good way of forming a support group of people who are in the same situation, who can talk over their complaints and what works best for them in terms of relief. There is nothing like receiving first-hand knowledge and support from a fellow sufferer who knows just how it is to live with the condition. This is on top of the professional health care that will hopefully already be being received from a rheumatologist. There is plenty of help for those who take the time and trouble to seek it out. Also, it is knowing about where to turn for help. A local GP can be the best place to start, as they can then make a referral to a specialist.

So, four ways to obtain relief from rheumatoid conditions. Medication where prescribed, compressions to provide much relief, a sensible diet to provide further relief and not worsen symptoms, and exercise to keep the joints moving.