MRS.SHEELAPAUL, MS.MARY SHALINI VIVEKA .J

Diabetes that starts in later life is almost always caused by inability to respond to insulin, not by lack of that hormone. Recent research shows that eating too much fat and too many refined carbohydrates causes the diabetes, and avoiding excess fat and refined carbohydrates helps to control diabetes.

Insulin cannot do its job of driving sugar from the bloodstream into cells until it attaches on hooks on a cell's surface called insulin receptors. Eating too much fat and being fat decrease the number of insulin receptors and cause diabetes. Eating refined carbohydrates in sugar-added foods and drinks, bakery products and pastas calls out the most insulin and therefore increases risk for diabetes.




The epidemic increase in diabetes over the last 20 years is most certainly caused by changes in our diet: taking in too much fat and refined carbohydrate, and being too fat. A sedentary lifestyle and a diet high in carbohydrates, full-fat dairy products and saturated fat from red meat contribute to abdominal fat. Eating a healthy diet with a proportion of fruits, vegetables and other high-fiber, low-fat products can help reduce excess abdominal fat. According to a study conducted by “The American Society for Nutritional Sciences” -Substituting a modest amount of protein from chicken or fish for some of the carbohydrate in your diet can also be beneficial, To achieve the best results, people with diabetes should talk to health care providers about adjusting both diet and activity levels.

Sugars and fats are (besides alcohol) the only sources of energy in your blood. (Redundant protein is converted into sugars and fats) You need fat to stabilize the need for glucose; Sugars supply you with 'fast' energy, but this source is exhausted pretty fast too. Fats keep you going all day, and while you're asleep. When a meal mainly consists of protein or crabs, the blood glucose level increases much more than when also much fat is absorbed. Also, there is less fatty acid available and thus more glucose is utilized for energy. And because of this, the blood-glucose level decreases sooner too. So, there is a much stronger fluctuation of the blood-glucose level. Consuming too little fat causes your blood-glucose level to fluctuate too much, exhausting the insulin-energy system, which causes diabetes.



REASON TO CUT DOWN YOUR FAT

One of the first reasons is the calorie value of fat. Fat is extremely calorie dense, and so it's really easy to get in a lot of calories when we take in fat. Let's take half a cup of peas about seventy to eighty calories. Now, if we add one tablespoon of butter to those peas, it will be a hundred and seventy calories. If we take a half a cup of rice, it's seventy to eighty calories, add one tablespoon of ghee, its a hundred and seventy calories. So any time you add fat to food, you double and triple the calories without changing the volume. So by cutting the fat you're automatically going to cut calories without necessarily changing how much you're eating. A chocolate, that tiny small volume of food may not seem like much but from a calorie perspective it's quite a bit. And if you compare it to something that's really low in calories like vegetable salad there's quite a difference. Ten small chocolate is exactly the same number of calories as five cups of salad so, both fat and sugars have that effect of increasing calories while shrinking the volume.




The fat that is solid at room temperature is what we call saturated fat. Now saturated fat increases the cholesterol that tends to cling to the artery wall, which we call the bad cholesterol, or the LDL cholesterol. Most of the foods are very rich in saturated fat. Fat that's in cheese, in any of your meats, what we call hydrogenated fats in margarine, partially hydrogenated fats in many of the baked goods, those kind of fats raise our cholesterol, so when we cut our total fat, we often end up cutting the saturated fat as well. And the third reason why we want to cut the fat is because the fat in the meal creates more insulin resistance. The body is actually less responsive to insulin when there is a high fat meal. And in addition, there is an effect on what we call endothelial function. The blood vessel is less likely to be able to open and close naturally and tends to stay stiffer when there is fat in the meal

METABOLIC SYNDROM AND FAT

Another reason for the high number of heart attacks in type 2 diabetics is probably related to the work of fat cells around the waist or abdominal area. At one time it was thought that adipocytes, or fat cells, simply served as storage depots for fat. Further research has revealed that fat cells make adipokines... signals that have an important effect upon fat metabolism. Fat in your belly causes your body to make types of fat which are known to build plaques in your blood vessels. The narrowed blood vessels make it difficult for your heart to pump all the blood through this smaller space, increasing your heart's work and blood pressure. Adipokines also appear to decrease insulin sensitivity, causing cells to be unable to take in sugar efficiently.














This combination... increased belly fat, certain types of fats in your blood, and high blood pressure is known as the metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome, especially when combined with obesity, increases the risk for heart disease, strokes, and death. Most people with type 2 diabetes would already have the metabolic syndrome.

Although your first goal is to control your blood sugar levels... in order to prevent vascular complications of diabetes, you also need to achieve normal levels of blood fats, or cholesterol. Above all, your belly fat or abdominal fat issue needs to be addressed as this is a major underlying problem.
Fat is the third and last place insulin tries to deposit glucose circulating in the bloodstream for storage. The first location is cells in the liver and the second are your muscle cells. So for glucose to be going into your fat cells you had to consume more than you required for your immediate energy needs and more than what can fit into your short term storage.
If you look up the many things insulin do you’ll find that insulin happens to also be a growth hormone? This may be one of the reasons why high blood insulin levels are associated with several types of cancer. High circulating levels of insulin in your blood also happens to increase your appetite.














Adding cardiovascular activities like walking 30 minutes each day—can also trim down a spare tire. People who exercise regularly experience significant improvements in insulin sensitivity, allowing them to use the insulin they produce more efficiently and lower blood sugar and lipid levels.




Reducing fat in your diet doesn't mean you will face a life of tasteless but with required amount you can have a healthy heart and life

PROTEIN FOR HEALTHY BODY

MRS.SHEELA PAUL MS.S.VIMALA


Proteins have always been considered very essential and is said to be a very vital part of one’s diet.

Proteins are a necessary part of every living cell in the body. Next to water, protein makes up the greatest portion of our body weight. In the human body, protein substances make up the muscles, ligaments, tendons, organs, glands, nails, hair, and many vital body fluids, and are essential for the growth, repair and healing of bones, tissues and cells.

Proteins help regulate the body's water balance and maintain the proper internal pH. They assist in the exchange of nutrients between the intracellular fluids and the tissues, blood, and lymph. They help provide energy. A deficiency of protein can upset the body's fluid balance, causing edema (water retention).


The essential amino acids are those that the body cannot synthesize in sufficient quantities to satisfy the nutritional requirements for good health and that they must be included in the diet.

Non-essential amino acids are the amino acids that your body can produce on its own. That doesn't mean that they aren't essential to your body, it just means that you don't have to get them from other places. They are still very essential for different body functions.


Diets that are not balanced or that are high in empty carbohydrates can become protein (and amino acid) deficient. If our diet doesn't supply an adequate amount, the body draws on its own tissue proteins. Because the body can't store amino acids it will break down its own protein structure, including healthy muscle, to meet the need for single amino acids.

As said “Too much of anything is bad for health” proves to be right in consumption of proteins also. Excessive proteins may lead to adverse affects on your health. So it is advisable to intake protein rich foods depending upon your physical activity.


Let us have a look on foods that are rich in proteins. Meat, fish, Poultry, Cheese, Milk and Eggs are good source of Protein.

The requirement of Protein depends upon a person’s age, gender and physical activity. It is calculated on the basis of 'ideal body weight'. Based on height and gender, the ideal body weight is calculated. The daily protein requirement is calculated in terms of grams per day for every kilogram you weigh.

For a person who is accustomed to sitting or taking little exercise, the recommended daily protein intake is 0.75g per kg of body weight. A person whose physical activity level is good enough and who performs exercises for about an hour or so, for them the ideal protein intake is about 1.0-1.2g of protein per kg of body weight.

In case of athletes, however, the recommended protein requirement differs. Apart from a greater lean mass and greater need for tissue repair, they burn a small amount of protein, during physical activity. As such, athletes have a higher protein requirement. For those engaged in endurance training, the protein intake should be about 1.2-1.4g of protein per kg of body weight, while for athletes, who are engaged in strength training, the daily recommended protein requirement is approximately 1.6-1.7g of protein per kg of body weight.

Diabetic patients are advised to strive for a moderate protein intake. While it is true that protein turnover is increased in poorly controlled diabetes, this should not influence recommendations on dietary protein intake. When diabetes is controlled, protein metabolism becomes normal.

One of the complications of diabetes leading to kidney failure is nephropathy. It is caused by poor blood sugar control over time damaging blood vessels and the filtering mechanism of the kidneys. It is not caused by eating protein. This condition often progresses to end-stage renal failure regardless of treatment. People with diabetes are often recommended to limit protein intake to protect their kidneys. Since fat is also limited that leaves a dietary intake of high carbohydrates: the very foods that elevate blood sugar the most.


Reduction of protein intake to 0.8–1.0 g • kg body wt /day in individuals with diabetes and the earlier stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and to 0.8 g • kg body wt /day−1 in the later stages of CKD may improve measures of renal function (urine albumin excretion rate, glomerular filtration rate) and is recommended.(ADA)

Severe protein restriction even in people with severe nephropathy can led to malnutrition and does not slow the progression of the disease.


The key to prevent or slow the development of any of the complications of diabetes remains maintaining the best blood sugar control possible. Each person needs to find the dietary approach that they can follow for a lifetime. The dietary intake of protein for individuals with diabetes is similar to that of the general public. Pay attention to your protein intake. An ounce of prevention is well worth the effort.