How to Prevent and Treat Diabetes with Natural Medicine - Method4 Using Herbs and Supplements

1 Ask your doctor before adding herbs. Many herbs have not been tested for safety during pregnancy, so if you are pregnant or dealing with gestational diabetes, make certain you speak to your physician before adding any herbs or supplements. Also, even though these herbs and supplements are natural, they CAN interact with various medications.

·         You can also ask your pharmacist about drug-herb/supplement interactions.

2 Buy quality herbs and supplements. Make sure you buy national brands of herbs and supplements and that the companies follow Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). For herbs, make certain that the suppliers use pesticide and herbicide free organically and sustainably grown herbs.

3 Try bitter melon. Bitter melon (Momordica charantia) is often recommended for diabetes control. However, bitter melon has been associated with miscarriages and induced abortions in animals, so it should be avoided if you are pregnant or want to get pregnant. Bitter melon has been shown to improve blood glucose levels, increase the secretion of insulin and decrease insulin resistance.

4 Consider Gurmar. Gurmar, also known as Gymnema sylvestre has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine and has been shown to improve the control of blood sugar. Gymnema is generally taken in doses of 200 mg twice a day. Gymnema appears to be safe in pregnancy, but speak to your physician before using.

5 Look into prickly-pear cactus. Prickly-pear cactus or nopal has been shown to improve blood sugar control. Prickly-pear cactus has not been tested in pregnancy, but has been used for centuries as food, suggesting but not proving that it is safe.

6 Add cinnamon. Cinnamon has been used to help control blood sugar levels and is considered safe for pregnant women in the amounts used in foods. This corresponds to approximately 1 gm (1000 mg) every day. 500 mg of cinnamon taken twice a day has been shown to improve A1c levels (and the levels of blood fats). A1c is used to determine average glucose levels for the previous 3 months. Lowered A1c levels reflect improved diabetic control.

7 Take vanadium and chromium. Vanadium and chromium are trace minerals and have been shown to be essential for control of blood sugar levels in diabetes. They may also function as antioxidants. Keep in mind that these minerals are only needed in small amounts.

·         Vanadium should be taken as vanadyl sulfate at 50-100 mcg per day.

·         Chromium should be taken as chromium picolinate at a dose of 400mcg per day. 

How to Prevent and Treat Diabetes with Natural Medicine - Method 3 Using Exercise

1 Get regular cardiovascular exercise. Exercise can help you control your blood sugar, so it is essential for diabetes prevention and treatment. Increased exercise makes your cells more sensitive and responsive to the insulin your body produces. Exercise can also lower your blood pressure and strengthen your heart, which is relevant because high blood pressure and heart disease are often associated with diabetes.

·         Try to get at least thirty minutes of moderate exercise every day. When you are just starting out, low-intensity exercises such as walking are helpful as well.

2 Add strength training. Strength training will help you to improve your muscle strength and efficiency. The more muscle that you have, the more calories you will burn and the easier it will be to maintain a healthy weight, which is a crucial part of diabetes prevention.

·         Try adding in a couple of strength training sessions per week to your exercise routine to improve your overall fitness level.

3 Consider getting a personal trainer or taking a class. As you progress and get more fit, consider finding a trainer or a class where you can get individualized advice regarding target heart rates and types of exercise. To begin, walking is the easiest way to start, but you can also go swimming or join a yoga class.

4 Change up your routine often. People often get bored with exercise routines and end up quitting before they achieve any real results. Therefore, it is a good idea to make your routine as varied as possible.

·         Find things that you enjoy so that you stick with your routine. For example, if you have never been particularly interested in sports, you are not likely to stick with competitive sports.

5 Look for little ways to get more physical activity. You can get more physical activity by looking for opportunities in your daily routine. For example, you can try parking your car at the far end of the parking lot when you go grocery shopping or use the stairs instead of the elevator at work.

How to Prevent and Treat Diabetes with Natural Medicine - Method 2 Achieving Target Blood Glucose Levels

1 Check your blood glucose levels often. Your physician will make you aware of your “target” blood glucose levels, but you may need to test these blood levels daily. These can be tested at home using a home glucose monitor with test strips. Depending on the monitor, you may need to get a pinprick of blood from your fingertips or from your forearm. These pinpricks are not too painful for most people, but they can be painful for some people. Target blood glucose levels are typically:

·         morning (or fasting) levels of less than 100mg/dL (< 5.3 mmol/L),

·         1 hour after meals: <140 mg/dL (<7.8 mmol/L)

·         2 hours after meals: < 115mg/dL (< 6.4 mmol/L)

2 Use your blood glucose levels to help you change what and how much you eat.Your blood glucose level test results can guide you into changing the types and amounts of foods you eat to lower the levels of sugar in the blood.

·         If your blood sugar is high, you may need more insulin and you may need to look at what you are eating and decrease the amounts of sugars in your diet.

·         If the blood sugar levels remain high and you are on diabetes medications, those may have to be increased.

3 Take insulin as directed by your doctor. Insulin is a natural hormone replacement treatment and is a widely used natural treatment for diabetes. It may be necessary to add insulin (by injection) in order to “force” glucose into your cells. Your physician will guide you as to how much insulin to take and how to take it.

How to Prevent and Treat Diabetes with Natural Medicine - Method1 Using Diet and Nutrition

Diabetes is a condition of chronic hormonal disorders. The main characteristic is high sugar (glucose) in the blood because the cells of the body have become resistant to the action of insulin. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that helps control blood sugar levels. Although it is important to seek medical treatment for diabetes, there are several ways that you can treat and prevent diabetes using natural strategies such as diet modification, herbal supplementation, and exercise.

1 Keep your food as close to its original or natural form as possible. This means that you should try to limit any processed or prepared foods and cook from scratch as much as possible. Avoid boxed, canned, and “ready to eat” foods as much as possible.

·         Start shopping in the bulk section of your grocery store to get a better price for beans, rice, and pasta.

·         Buy fresh vegetables as much as possible. Frozen vegetables are fine, but fresh, organic, in-season vegetables are the best choice.

·         If you are pressed for time, try using a crock pot to cook your meals.

2 Make sure that 90-95% of your carbohydrates are complex carbohydrates.Complex carbohydrates are made up of individual sugar molecules that are strung together in long, complicated and often branched chains.

·         Complex carbohydrates are found in whole, unprocessed foods. Examples of complex carbohydrates include whole grain bread, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, oats, starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes, corn, pumpkin and squash, beans, peas, lentils, nuts and seeds.

·         Avoid simple carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates include added sugars like glucose, sucrose (table sugar), and fructose (most often added as high fructose corn syrup or HFCS). Consuming HFCS has been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and obesity.

3 Increase the amount of water you drink. Water helps flush out naturally produced toxins and helps maintain mineral (electrolyte) balance. Aim for about eight 8 ounce glasses of water per day. Talk to your doctor to determine if you have any special fluid restrictions or needs that you should consider.

·         Skip sugary beverages. Sugar by itself does not cause diabetes, but ingesting more sugar-filled beverages is linked to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.

·         Try drinking water, unsweetened sparkling water, or unsweetened iced tea instead of sugary soda.

4 Read labels on the foods you purchase and eat. Reading labels can help you determine the amount of sugars in food. Just keep in mind that manufacturers are not required to list added sugars. That is why it is best to choose whole, unprocessed foods as often as possible.

·         Avoid any food that includes terms like “enriched” or “refined.”

·         Unprocessed foods do contain some sugar, but it is not found in high levels and it is usually in the form of complex carbohydrates.

5 Watch your serving sizes of complex carbohydrates. Serving sizes vary depending on the type of food and your needs will depend on your weight and other factors such as age, sex, and activity level. A general recommendation is to have 45-60 grams of complex carbohydrates at every meal.

·         Eat most of your complex carbohydrates at breakfast and lunch and only have a small portion of complex carbohydrates for dinner.

6 Add flaxseeds to get more fiber in your diet. Getting enough fiber is essential to preventing and treating diabetes. Flaxseeds are great sources of fiber and they are an excellent source of the essential omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA.

·         In addition to providing essential nutrients that may help to treat and prevent diabetes, flaxseed and the fiber they contain can help with bowel movements and can help you decrease blood cholesterol as well. Flaxseeds are also associated with decreased risk of colon, breast and prostate cancer, and they may also help with menopause symptoms.

·         Try to include a tablespoon of ground flaxseeds at every meal or 3 tablespoons of flaxseed a day.

·         Use a coffee grinder to grind your own flaxseeds or keep pre-frozen ground seeds in your freezer.

7 Eat more fish and skinless poultry. Getting enough quality protein is an important component of diabetes prevention. Make sure that any poultry you eat is skinless to reduce the amount of unhealthy animal fats you consume and eat a couple of servings of wild-caught fish each week.

·         Wild-caught fish such as salmon, cod, haddock and tuna are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential to good health.

8 Eat more fruits and vegetables. Eat plenty of non-root or starchy vegetables such as broccoli, leafy greens, cauliflower, and beans. These types of vegetables are low in calories, high in fiber, and nutrient dense. However, when you eat starchy vegetables and root vegetables, you will need to take the carbohydrate level into account.

·         You can also eat fruit. Being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes does not mean you can’t eat ANY sugars. It is just important to control the amount of sugars that you do eat.

9 Keep a diet diary for at least a month. The diet diary should record everything you eat and any changes in how you feel. Make sure to record the quality of your sleep and make notes about any changes that may be due to the foods you are eating.

·         Keeping a diet diary can also help you to keep track of what and how much you eat during the day. This may make you more aware of what and how much you are eating and help you to cut down on certain foods if necessary.

·         For example, if you find that every time you eat a particular food, you get very gassy and have some bloating, you can avoid that food in the future.

·         Take note of potential food sensitivities. Food sensitivities may make you more prone to obesity and that is a risk factor for diabetes. If you suspect that you are sensitive to some food, eliminate that food for at least two weeks.

·         The most common food sensitivities are to gluten (a protein found in wheat products), dairy products, milk/ lactose, tree nuts, shellfish, eggs and soy.

10 Get your Vitamin D levels checked if you are pregnant. Low Vitamin D levels may be associated with an increased risk of gestational diabetes. Have your Vitamin D levels checked and take supplementation if you are deficient. 1000-2000 IU/day of Vitamin D have been safely used in pregnant women.

·         During sunny days, spend 10-15 minutes in the afternoon sun with some skin on your arms and legs exposed.

Glycemic index and glycemic load for 100+ foods

·         The glycemic index is a value assigned to foods based on how slowly or how quickly those foods cause increases in blood glucose levels. Also known as "blood sugar," blood glucose levels above normal are toxic and can cause blindness, kidney failure, or increase cardiovascular risk. Foods low on the glycemic index (GI) scale tend to release glucose slowly and steadily. Foods high on the glycemic index release glucose rapidly. Low GI foods tend to foster weight loss, while foods high on the GI scale help with energy recovery after exercise, or to offset hypo- (or insufficient) glycemia. Long-distance runners would tend to favor foods high on the glycemic index, while people with pre- or full-blown diabetes would need to concentrate on low GI foods. Why? People with diabetes can't produce sufficient quantities of insulin—which helps process blood sugar—which means they are likely to have an excess of blood glucose. The slow and steady release of glucose in low-glycemic foods is helpful in keeping blood glucose under control.

·         But the glycemic index tells only part of the story. What it doesn't tell you is how high your blood sugar could go when you actually eat the food, which is partly determined by how much carbohydrate is in an individual serving. To understand a food's complete effect on blood sugar, you need to know both how quickly the food makes glucose enter the bloodstream, and how much glucose it will deliver. A separate value called glycemic load does that. It gives a more accurate picture of a food's real-life impact on blood sugar. The glycemic load is determined by multiplying the grams of a carbohydrate in a serving by the glycemic index, then dividing by 100. A glycemic load of 10 or below is considered low; 20 or above is considered high. Watermelon, for example, has a high glycemic index (80). But a serving of watermelon has so little carbohydrate (6 grams) that its glycemic load is only 5.

·   To help you understand how the foods you are eating might impact your blood glucose level, here is a listing of the glycemic index and glycemic load, per serving, for more than 100 common foods.

FOOD	Glycemic index (glucose = 100)	Serving size (grams)	Glycemic load per serving
BAKERY PRODUCTS AND BREADS
Banana cake, made with sugar	47	60	14
Banana cake, made without sugar	55	60	12
Sponge cake, plain	46	63	17
Vanilla cake made from packet mix with vanilla frosting (Betty Crocker)	42	111	24
Apple muffin, made with rolled oats and sugar	44	60	13
Apple muffin, made with rolled oats and without sugar	48	60	9
Waffles, Aunt Jemima®	76	35	10
Bagel, white, frozen	72	70	25
Baguette, white, plain	95	30	14
Coarse barley bread, 80% kernels	34	30	7
Hamburger bun	61	30	9
Kaiser roll	73	30	12
Pumpernickel bread	56	30	7
50% cracked wheat kernel bread	58	30	12
White wheat flour bread, average	75	30	11
Wonder® bread, average	73	30	10
Whole wheat bread, average	69	30	9
100% Whole Grain® bread (Natural Ovens)	51	30	7
Pita bread, white	68	30	10
Corn tortilla	52	50	12
Wheat tortilla	30	50	8
BEVERAGES
Coca Cola® (US formula)	63	250 mL	16
Fanta®, orange soft drink	68	250 mL	23
Lucozade®, original (sparkling glucose drink)	95	250 mL	40
Apple juice, unsweetened	41	250 mL	12
Cranberry juice cocktail (Ocean Spray®)	68	250 mL	24
Gatorade, orange flavor (US formula)	89	250 mL	13
Orange juice, unsweetened, average	50	250 mL	12
Tomato juice, canned, no sugar added	38	250 mL	4
BREAKFAST CEREALS AND RELATED PRODUCTS
All-Bran®, average	44	30	9
Coco Pops®, average	77	30	20
Cornflakes®, average	81	30	20
Cream of Wheat®	66	250	17
Cream of Wheat®, Instant	74	250	22
Grape-Nuts®	75	30	16
Muesli, average	56	30	10
Oatmeal, average	55	250	13
Instant oatmeal, average	79	250	21
Puffed wheat cereal	80	30	17
Raisin Bran®	61	30	12
Special K® (US formula)	69	30	14
GRAINS
Pearled barley, average	25	150	11
Sweet corn on the cob	48	60	14
Couscous	65	150	9
Quinoa	53	150	13
White rice, boiled, type non-specified	72	150	29
Quick cooking white basmati	63	150	26
Brown rice, steamed	50	150	16
Parboiled Converted white rice (Uncle Ben's®)	38	150	14
Whole wheat kernels, average	45	50	15
Bulgur, average	47	150	12
COOKIES AND CRACKERS
Graham crackers	74	25	13
Vanilla wafers	77	25	14
Shortbread	64	25	10
Rice cakes, average	82	25	17
Rye crisps, average	64	25	11
Soda crackers	74	25	12
DAIRY PRODUCTS AND ALTERNATIVES
Ice cream, regular, average	62	50	8
Ice cream, premium (Sara Lee®)	38	50	3
Milk, full-fat, average	31	250 mL	4
Milk, skim, average	31	250 mL	4
Reduced-fat yogurt with fruit, average	33	200	11
FRUITS
Apple, average	36	120	5
Banana, raw, average	48	120	11
Dates, dried, average	42	60	18
Grapefruit	25	120	3
Grapes, black	59	120	11
Oranges, raw, average	45	120	5
Peach, average	42	120	5
Peach, canned in light syrup	52	120	9
Pear, raw, average	38	120	4
Pear, canned in pear juice	44	120	5
Prunes, pitted	29	60	10
Raisins	64	60	28
Watermelon	72	120	4
BEANS AND NUTS
Baked beans	40	150	6
Black-eyed peas	50	150	15
Black beans	30	150	7
Chickpeas	10	150	3
Chickpeas, canned in brine	42	150	9
Navy beans, average	39	150	12
Kidney beans, average	34	150	9
Lentils	28	150	5
Soy beans, average	15	150	1
Cashews, salted	22	50	3
Peanuts	13	50	1
PASTA and NOODLES
Fettucini	32	180	15
Macaroni, average	50	180	24
Macaroni and Cheese (Kraft®)	64	180	33
Spaghetti, white, boiled, average	46	180	22
Spaghetti, white, boiled 20 min	58	180	26
Spaghetti, whole-grain, boiled	42	180	17
SNACK FOODS
Corn chips, plain, salted	42	50	11
Fruit Roll-Ups®	99	30	24
M & M's®, peanut	33	30	6
Microwave popcorn, plain, average	65	20	7
Potato chips, average	56	50	12
Pretzels, oven-baked	83	30	16
Snickers Bar®, average	51	60	18
VEGETABLES
Green peas	54	80	4
Carrots, average	39	80	2
Parsnips	52	80	4
Baked russet potato	111	150	33
Boiled white potato, average	82	150	21
Instant mashed potato, average	87	150	17
Sweet potato, average	70	150	22
Yam, average	54	150	20
MISCELLANEOUS
Hummus (chickpea salad dip)	6	30	0
Chicken nuggets, frozen, reheated in microwave oven 5 min	46	100	7
Pizza, plain baked dough, served with parmesan cheese and tomato sauce	80	100	22
Pizza, Super Supreme (Pizza Hut®)	36	100	9
Honey, average	61	25	12

·         The complete list of the glycemic index and glycemic load for more than 1,000 foods can be found in the article "International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values: 2008" by Fiona S. Atkinson, Kaye Foster-Powell, and Jennie C. Brand-Miller in the December 2008 issue of Diabetes Care, Vol. 31, number 12, pages 2281-2283.