Seven Thanksgiving tips for folks with diabetes

From utphysicians.com

What would Thanksgiving be without starchy dishes and sugary desserts?

While most people can enjoy an indulgent meal on this holiday, those with diabetes must be more careful, according to Ann Redwine, RD, nutritionist and certified diabetes educator with UT Physicians Family Practice – Bellaire Station.

Ann Redwine, RD

“For most people, it’s fine to eat this meal once a year. Their blood sugar will probably spike, but it should go back down within a few hours,” Redwine said. “For people with diabetes, it’s different. A Thanksgiving meal with all the usual trimmings can raise their blood sugar to a very high, unhealthy level.”

Depending on their individual needs, people with diabetes should try to consume 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per meal. The carbohydrate count for a traditional Thanksgiving meal, however, can easily go into the hundreds!

To help with this predicament, Redwine offers some sensible tips to help people with diabetes have a happier Thanksgiving!

Take your medication

“Don’t forget to take your diabetes medication that day,” Redwine said. “It may sound like common sense, but holidays can throw us off our routine, especially if you get busy cooking or traveling.”

Also, do not take extra medication that day. Medication should be taken only as prescribed by the doctor.

Check your blood sugar

“Check your morning blood sugar to see if it’s normal or high,” she said. “Then check it again after you eat, especially if you’ve eaten more starchy or sugary foods than usual. It’s important your blood sugar numbers decrease within a few hours.”

If blood sugar is above 180 two hours after the meal, drink water and walk around to help lower it. If it remains above 240 for more than 24 hours, call the doctor.

Go for a walk

Walking is an easy way to help the body prepare for a potentially heavy meal.

“Take a walk before it’s time to eat. Walking and other exercise helps lower blood sugar,” Redwine said. “Take another long walk after you eat to help your digestion and stabilize your blood sugar.”

Drink water

“A regular 20-ounce soda contains 75 grams of carbohydrates. That’s the same as a large meal. If you drink a soda with your meal, you may take in 150 grams in one sitting. This will definitely cause high blood sugar,” she said. “Drink water instead. It’s more satisfying to eat carbs than to drink them.”

Other beverages that do not increase blood sugar include unsweetened tea or coffee (or tea or coffee with artificial sweetener), diet or zero-sugar soda, sparkling water, and water flavourings.

Skip beverages with sugar, honey, or agave. This includes milk and juice, as they also contain natural sugar.

Choose your sides wisely

“Before you eat, decide which things you want the most and which things can you let go,” Redwine said. “If you love stuffing, let the mashed potatoes go. If you really love both, then get a small serving of each” she said.

For second servings, try reaching for the protein-packed turkey, nutrient-rich vegetables, or other non-starchy foods.

Take a plate home

“It’s nice to have so many different foods, but you don’t have to eat them all at once. If you really like candied yams or pumpkin pie but skipped it during your meal, take a small plate home and save it for the next day,” she said.

Packing up food can help control carbohydrate consumption and prevent overeating.

Count dessert in your meal

“A small piece of pecan pie has 80 grams of carbohydrates. It has more grams than a large meal. If you decide to eat it, just remember to leave some of the other high-carb foods off your plate,” she said.  

A slice of pumpkin pie contains about 46 grams of carbohydrates while sweet potato pie holds about 40. A piece of apple pie can range between 42 to 60 grams. Regardless of the dessert, remember to factor those carbohydrates into the whole meal.

People with diabetes are not the only ones who should follow the dietitian’s advice.

“Walking, drinking water, choosing wisely… These practices can help you maintain your weight and prevent you from developing Type 2 diabetes,” Redwine said. “Some of these are just sound eating habits we should all practice.”

https://www.utphysicians.com/seven-thanksgiving-tips-for-folks-with-diabetes/

How Meditation and Mindfulness Can Help Manage Diabetes

From health.usnews.com

By Toby Smithson, MS, RDN, CDCES, FAND

Practicing meditation and mindfulness could be a game-changer in diabetes management

As a diabetes educator and a person managing my own diabetes for many decades, I know intimately that diabetes is not just challenging once in a while – it’s challenging every day. But I have some good news.

(GETTY IMAGES)

Diabetes educators use a framework of “7 self-care behaviours” to guide people in managing diabetes. These seven behaviours are:

• Healthy eating.
• Being active.
• Taking medications (as prescribed).
• Monitoring blood sugar.
• Problem solving.
• Reducing risk.
• Healthy coping.

This list of “to do’s” is based on research that has shown that engaging in these specific healthy lifestyle behaviours will improve glycaemic (blood sugar) management. Improved glycaemic management reduces the risk for serious or life-threatening complications related to diabetes. That’s what each of us has (or should have) as a goal to live life in spite of diabetes and avoid complications.

Challenges of Diabetes Management

The list of self-care behaviours for diabetes management, however, can become overwhelming. Acting on these lifestyle behaviours isn’t just an occasional thing. These behaviours, from making healthy food choices to being consistently active to monitoring blood sugar levels frequently for feedback, occur all the time. And the list goes on.

Problem-solving is constant. Medications must be taken several times per day and at specific times, and reducing risk requires focusing on other linked conditions like high blood pressure. Two-thirds of people with diabetes, for example, also have high blood pressure. 

Additionally, these responsibilities will continue throughout our lives. Healthy coping, or how we act to deal with the steady stress of constantly juggling these responsibilities, is important to making diabetes management easier to deal with.

Healthy coping – dealing with diabetes-related stress – is not just to improve our emotional well-being. Chronic stress can have serious physical consequences as well, like above-target blood sugar, generally related to elevated levels of the “fight or flight” stress hormone called cortisol.

Managing Diabetes-Related Stress

Recently, I attended a presentation about meditation and mindfulness put together by certified health and wellness coach Brooke Cassoff, Peter Friedfeld and Sam Tullman (who has a master's in public health). They, along with Brianna Schiavonni (a licensed clinical social worker), are co-founders of the Diabetes Sangha group. "Sangha” is a Sanskrit word for community, specifically “a community that comes together with a positive, liberative intention” as the Sangha website states.

Friedfeld describes this group as a safe space to explore meditation practices and teachings in a way that's oriented toward living with diabetes. The co-founders are committed to expanding the reach of these practices in a way that is free and easily accessible.

Currently, all of the facilitators of Diabetes Sangha have Type 1 diabetes, and most of their experience is working with people impacted by T1D in some way. People with Type 2 diabetes would also benefit from these kinds of practices and fellowship and can certainly join in on any of the live virtual events.

The presenters from Diabetes Sangha offered examples of how meditation and mindfulness can positively impact our diabetes management. You may be thinking, “meditation is not for me,” but meditation may not be what you have imagined. It comes in many forms, all aiming at a state of calmness and rest.

Mindfulness and Meditation for Diabetes Management

Calmness and rest sound fantastic, but what about diabetes? Beyond the sometimes-overwhelming responsibilities for self-care, people managing diabetes commonly deal with routine physical discomfort (e.g., finger “sticks” or placing a continuous glucose monitor or insulin pump on their body), the burdens of lifestyle restrictions, social stigma and isolation, impossible expectations about blood glucose control, feeling unsafe in our own bodies (as an effect of above or below target blood sugar targets) and self-judgment for failing to be perfect.

Studies have shown that practicing mindfulness and meditation can reduce blood pressure, decrease insulin resistance, and significantly reduce rates of heart disease. People with diabetes who practice meditation can expect to see benefits in reduced diabetes distress, anxiety and depression, improved eating patterns, being more ‘in touch’ with sensations (above and below target blood sugar), feeling more supported/connected, improved HbA1C (glycaemic management), improved sleep and improved quality of life and psychological well-being.

All of these negative physical and emotional effects of chronic stress respond positively to one solution – meditation and mindfulness. Anecdotally and in studies, people diagnosed with diabetes have seen significant reduction in their blood sugar readings after participation in meditation over a six-month period of time and even after just one session.

Why Try Mindfulness and Meditation?

Whether you have been diagnosed with Type 1, Type 2 or pre-diabetes, this experience from Tullman will resonate with you.

He said that “as a result of a committed meditation practice, at some point it really sunk in more deeply that diabetes wasn’t my fault, and that it was normal for things to go awry on a regular basis – there was nothing wrong with me. I’ve never been the same since – nor, unsurprisingly, have my A1Cs, which went from “good,” to “excellent,” essentially as good as they could be, because all of a sudden, I was ready to face the reality of life with diabetes with kindness and care for myself. That very day I began to realize what an opportunity meditation presents for all of us living with T1D, who are so often mired in struggle and self-judgment about that struggle – that was when I knew I had to be sharing these amazing practices with the community, and one of the seeds of DiabetesSangha began to sprout.”

While I can’t claim expertise in the practice of meditation yet, I am a top-level authority on the potential anxieties and frustrations of diabetes management, and I certainly understand the physical consequences of chronic stress on long-term health.

Having spoken privately with Friedfeld and reviewed feedback from fellow people with diabetes (PWD) about the benefits of meditation and mindfulness, I find myself checking lots of boxes and ringing lots of bells. And as a diabetes educator, I am particularly impressed with the way meditation and mindfulness allow PWDs to persist in practicing the seven self-care behaviours with less self-judgment.

How to Get Started

You can start with no-cost meditation and mindfulness practices that can be implemented anywhere, anytime. You can join in a free meditation group at Diabetes Sangha.com, participate in yoga (at home with an app to guide you), dance, or use breathwork. Breathwork involves focusing on your inhales and exhales as it leads your breathing as a calming measure. This can be done while sitting, lying, or walking – anytime, anywhere. I’m definitely going to give it a try, and I’m making that same recommendation to you.

https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/how-meditation-and-mindfulness-can-help-manage-diabetes

From restless.co.uk

High blood pressure (also known as hypertension) is a common health condition, and in the UK a third of adults suffer from it, sometimes without even realising. High blood pressure often has no symptoms, yet it can significantly increase your chances of having a heart attack or stroke.

If you suffer from high blood pressure, you might already be taking medication prescribed by your doctor – but there are also many lifestyle changes you can make that may help too.

So, here’s everything you need to know about blood pressure and how you can lower it naturally.

What is normal blood pressure?

First things first, what actually is high blood pressure – and what is normal blood pressure?

Blood pressure is the measure of the force of your blood inside your arteries, and when the force is too high, it can weaken your heart and damage your arteries. This can increase your risk of heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and kidney disease.

Blood pressure is recorded using two numbers; both of which are measured in millimetres of mercury (mmHg). The systolic pressure is the higher number, and this represents the force with which your heart pumps blood around your body. The diastolic pressure is the lower number, and this represents the resistance to the blood flow in the blood vessels.

Normal blood pressure can vary from 90/60 to 120/80, and if your blood pressure is high (140/90 or more) for more than a few weeks, your doctor will probably diagnose you with high blood pressure and may recommend that you take medication. The easiest way to measure your blood pressure is to book an appointment at a pharmacy – you can find your local one on the NHS website.

You could also consider buying your own blood pressure monitor, so you can keep an eye on it at home. Just make sure that it’s approved for use in the UK. The British and Irish Hypertension Society has a list of validated blood pressure monitors for home use, which you can find here.

As well as taking medication, there are lots of things you can do to help lower blood pressure naturally. And even better, these steps will likely boost your overall health and fitness too.

10 natural ways to lower blood pressure

1. Maintain a healthy weight

Blood pressure tends to increase as weight increases, and if you’re overweight, losing even a small amount towards a healthy weight can make a difference. For each kilogram of weight you lose, you can reduce your blood pressure by about one millimetre of mercury (mmHg).

Aside from dropping any excess weight, it’s also a good idea to watch your waistline. The fat around our waist is called visceral fat, and having too much of it can increase the risk of high blood pressure. Generally speaking, men should try to make sure their waist measures less than 40 inches, and women should aim for less than 35 inches.

To get some ideas for healthy meals and snacks, you may want to read our articles; 14 quick and healthy snack ideas and 12 healthy recipe ideas.

2. Exercise regularly

We all know that doing regular exercise is good for our health, and when it comes to lowering blood pressure, it’s just as effective. When you exercise, your heart becomes stronger and better at pumping blood around your body, which helps lower the pressure in your arteries.

Just 150 minutes of moderate exercise helps lower your blood pressure and boost heart health. According to research, exercising more than this will even further lower your blood pressure.

You don’t have to run marathons or pump iron at the gym to see the benefits; moderate aerobic exercise like brisk walking, cycling, swimming, or dancing can all help. A study of sedentary older adults found that those who did moderate aerobic exercise on average lowered their blood pressure by 3.9% systolic and 4.5% diastolic – results that are just as good as blood pressure medications.

For inspiration on how to get active and increase your fitness, check out the general health section of our website.

3. Reduce your sodium intake

Many doctors advise that reducing your sodium intake is one of the most important ways to lower your blood pressure – and research suggests that a low-sodium diet has the same effect as blood pressure medication. Many studies show that there’s a link between high sodium intake and high blood pressure, as well as heart conditions like stroke.

If you already have high blood pressure, try cutting back on salt and seeing if that makes any difference. Rather than buying ready-made meals which are often high in sodium, try making fresh food yourself, and season dishes with herbs and spices instead of salt.

4. Eat a healthy whole food diet

Eating a fresh and healthy diet that’s low in saturated fat and cholesterol is also a good way to lower your blood pressure.

According to the NHS, a low-fat diet that’s high in fibre, like wholegrain rice, bread and pasta, and plenty of fruit and vegetables, also helps to lower blood pressure.

It’s also a good idea to cut down on – or cut out altogether – processed foods that are high not only in salt, but in sugar and refined carbs too. Examples of processed foods that are high in salt or refined carbs include deli meats, tinned soup, pizza, crisps, and other processed snacks; and foods that are branded as ‘low-fat’ are also often high in both sugar and salt.

The DASH diet (‘Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension’) is a diet specifically tailored to lowering blood pressure, and some of its main principles it focuses on include limiting processed foods, reducing salt intake, and prioritising whole foods. You can find out more in our article; The DASH diet – what is it and what are the pros and cons?

5. Eat more potassium

While eating any foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals is a good idea, it’s especially helpful to make sure you’re getting enough potassium.

Potassium not only reduces the harmful effects of sodium in your body, but it also eases pressure in your blood vessels.

The best source of potassium is through food rather than supplements, and consuming around 3,000 to 3,500mg of potassium each day is recommended. However, if you suffer from kidney disease it’s important not to ingest too much. So if you’re unsure, speak to your GP about your optimum potassium level.

Fruits like bananas, apricots, avocados, tomatoes, melons, and oranges are all high in potassium, as are vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, peas, leafy greens, and spinach. For further guidance, check out our article; Everything you need to know about potassium.

6. Limit alcohol

Drinking alcohol in moderation isn’t usually problematic, but drinking too much can raise blood pressure – and around 16% of high blood pressure cases are linked to excessive alcohol consumption.

Studies show that alcohol can raise your blood pressure by one mmHg for every 10g of alcohol consumed. When you bear in mind that an average drink contains 14g of alcohol, this can have a damaging effect.

Drinking more than 14 units of alcohol a week can have adverse effects on other areas of your health, too, not just blood pressure. If you’d like to cut back on your drinking, you might want to have a read of this advice from the NHS.

7. Stop smoking

While red wine drinking in moderation is rarely problematic – and can even be good for heart health – smoking will always be harmful to your health.

Every cigarette you smoke causes a temporary spike in your blood pressure, and quitting smoking helps your blood pressure return to normal. It can also reduce your risk of heart disease and improve your overall health.

The chemicals in tobacco are also known to harm your blood vessel walls – causing inflammation, and narrowing your arteries, which leads to higher blood pressure. Studies show that even second-hand smoke can contribute to higher blood pressure.

8. Cut back on caffeine

If you’ve ever drunk coffee before you’ve had your blood pressure measured, you may already be aware that caffeine can cause it to instantly spike. The precise role caffeine plays in blood pressure is still debated, and it can have a very different impact on different people.

People who are caffeine-sensitive, or who rarely consume it, can see a stronger impact on their blood pressure, while other studies suggest that caffeine’s effect on raising blood pressure is more dramatic if your blood pressure is already high. However, more research is needed, and there isn’t enough evidence to show that drinking caffeine can lead to a more permanent increase in blood pressure.

Still, if you have high blood pressure, or think you might be caffeine-sensitive, you might want to try cutting back to see if it makes a difference.

9. Reduce stress

Chronic stress is believed to be a major driver of high blood pressure. When you’re stressed, your heart rate is higher and your blood vessels can become constricted. Plus, you might be more likely to turn to other behaviours that can cause raised blood pressure, like drinking more alcohol, smoking, or eating unhealthy food.

While it’s difficult to eliminate all stress from your life, try to identify the main causes of your stress, and think about ways you can reduce these triggers, or deal with them better. Listening to soothing music has been shown to relax your nervous system, and studies show it’s a good complement to other blood pressure treatments.

For more information on dealing with stress, you might want to check out our articles; 7 tips for coping with stress and anxiety and 9 simple stress relieving activities.

10. Get more sleep

We’re only just beginning to understand quite how important sleep is for our overall health – and it can play a role in blood pressure too. When we’re sleeping, our blood pressure tends to dip, and studies show that if you don’t get enough sleep or are sleep deprived, you have an increased risk of high blood pressure.

According to research, regularly sleeping for less than five hours a night is linked to a significant risk of high blood pressure in the long-term. Getting six to eight hours of restful sleep a night can not only prevent high blood pressure but can also prevent fluctuating blood pressure, which can be just as dangerous.

If you feel like you struggle to get enough restful sleep, head over to the sleep and fatigue section of our website where you’ll find tips to improve your sleep and ways to beat insomnia.

Final thoughts…

Having high blood pressure can lead to various health problems and increase your chances of suffering from a heart attack or stroke. But the good news is that there are plenty of lifestyle changes you can make to lower it.

However, if you have concerns about your blood pressure, you should always speak to your GP as it might be that controlling it with medication is the best step.

For more health information, why not read our articles; 5 tips to help lower cholesterol and 11 healthy heart tips?

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