Learning God's Healthy way to a better Life!
Viagra Ingredient in Chinese Supplements
Dietary supplements marketed to provide male sexual enhancement contain undeclared erectile dysfunction drugs putting users at risk, the Food and Drug Administration warned Friday.
The agency advised consumers to stay away from Shangai Chaojimengnan supplements sold under the names Super Shangai, Strong Testis, Shangai Ultra, Shangai Ultra X, Lady Shangai and Shangai Regular. The Chinese-made supplements are packaged and distributed by Shangai Distributor Inc. of Puerto Rico.
Product testing indicates that some of these so-called supplements contain Viagra's active ingredient, sildenafil, or a compound with a chemical structure that mimics sildenafil.
These chemicals could interact with nitrates in drugs taken for disorders commonly associated with erectile dysfunction, including diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease. The result could dangerously lower a user's blood pressure, according to the FDA.
The agency also warned that the safety and purity of these illegal ingredients is unknown.
The Debate Goes On: Carbs In or Carbs Out?
Riva Greenberg
Recently on "Good Morning America," a friend of mine (and fellow A1c champion) watched author Gary Taubes talk about his new book, Good Calories, Bad Calories. My friend sent this email around: "Taubes says that exercise makes us hungry for carbohydrates and that carbohydrates cause insulin secretion, which creates fat."
One of her email recipients, a PhD medical specialist, wrote back: "There is still a lot that we don't know, but for me, eating less and moving more has led to my weight reduction. I could have dieted on birthday cake as long as I did not eat more cake calories than I spent."
It's a constant debate in this country: What's the magic formula for fast and easy weight loss? The second question, especially for us d-people, is whether carbs are good or bad. To me, the answer to both is simple: eat less and move more. And, since carbs raise blood glucose, eat fewer carbs if you want to lower your blood sugar. Why is that such a difficult notion? Seems crystal clear to me and, trust me, I'm no rocket scientist.
Carbs Arouse Fierce Debate
Around the same time that my friend's email went around, a wicked debate was playing out on the Diabetes Health website. Diabetes educator Hope Warshaw, MMSc, RD, CDE, BC-ADM, wrote a piece called "Why You Don't Want to Go Low Carb or Vegan" that garnered more comments than I've ever seen in response to an article, as well as a rebuttal article by Richard D. Feinman, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry and Director of the Nutrition and Metabolism at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center ("Low Carbohydrate Diets: Why You Don't Want the "Experts" to Tell You What to Eat").
In a big nutshell, Feinman said, "I'm astonished that experts encourage people with diabetes to eat carbohydrates and then 'cover' them with insulin. Why would anyone (let alone doctors, who advocate it every day) recommend a diet that requires more medication?" Are they all in bed with pharma companies? (Sorry, that last question is my own.)
"It strikes me as odd," said Feinman, "that what most experts know about metabolism - diabetes is, after all, a metabolic disease - they learned in medical school from somebody like me. The first thing we teach medical students is that there is no biological requirement for carbohydrate. It is truethat your brain needs glucose, but glucose can be supplied by the process of gluconeogenesis; that is, glucose can be made from other things, notably protein. This is a normal process: when you wake up in the morning, between 30 and 70 percent of your blood glucose comes from gluconeogenesis. There is no requirement for dietary glucose. And all of the metabolic syndrome ills - high triglycerides, low HDL, hypertension and obesity - are improved by low carbohydrate diets. If we had been describing a drug," Feinman went on to say, "everybody would have rushed out to buy stock in our pharmaceutical company."
My Low-Carb Experiences
I can't comment on such metabolic complexities, but I can share with you what I experienced when I changed my diet to low carb. It was five years ago, after I read Dr. Richard Bernstein's book, Diabetes Solution. For the first time, I encountered someone advocating getting rid of carbs to control blood sugar.
Dr. Bernstein advises next to no carbs in a diabetic diet. Himself a diabetic for more than 50 years, Bernstein claims he has reversed many of his early complications and gotten his blood sugar under tight control by virtually eliminating carbs. Fewer carbs means you'll be taking less insulin. By taking less insulin, Bernstein claims, there'll be less variability in its absorption time and efficacy, as well as greater predictability with your blood sugars.
After I read his book, I was so encouraged and inspired that I pretty much vacuumed the carbs out of my diet. I essentially eliminated refined carbs, such as white bread, white potatoes, rice, pasta, sweets, muffins, and starchy veggies. The result? My sugars indeed dropped. They were consistently lower, and my insulin doses dropped. Maybe best of all, I was no longer chasing high blood sugars - you know, the ones that come from refined carbs, where you just can't seem to knock them down all day. My Lantus dose went from 20 to 12.5 units, and my pre-meal Humalog was all but cut in half. The results were so dramatic and made my life so much easier that I never went back to my old ways. (I do have to add the caveat that we're all different, and your body may not respond like mine.)
It's common sense, though, that the fewer carbs you eat, the less your blood sugar will rise and the less medication you'll need. I don't understand how anyone can argue the logic of that. If we're still being given diets with substantial carbs in them, it's probably because the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and other authorities believe that the average diabetic would never stand for cutting carbs so drastically. Along the same lines, the ADA's A1c recommendation is as high as 7%. That correlates with 170 on your meter, even though we're advised to stay in a target blood sugar range of 80 to 120 mg/dl. Does something sound fishy?
A Typical Low-Carb Day
For those interested, here's the routine that keeps my sugars low. My one carb meal is breakfast. I figure it's healthy, high fiber, and satisfying, and since I walk in the morning, the blood sugar rise gets leveled out. Every morning I make a bowl of slow-cooked steelcut oatmeal. I know many people who make a batch every week and freeze daily portions, but I like the morning ritual. I actually eat less than a whole serving, making up the difference with a dollop of low fat plain yogurt or cottage cheese and a tablespoon of peanut or almond butter. I also add flax seed and cinnamon. For this treat (like Jerry on Seinfeld, I could eat breakfast for any meal), I need 3.5 units of Humalog, or only 3 units if I'm taking my usual hour-long walk around my local park.
Lunch is generally a spinach salad with feta cheese, tomatoes, beans and leftover veggies, or a spinach/feta omelet. For that, I need 0.5 to 1 unit. Dinner is typically fish or chicken, vegetables, and beans. If I'm having a glass or two of wine with dinner, I don't need any insulin (Alcohol lowers blood sugar for most people, unless they're drinking strawberry margaritas or Singapore slings.)
A few months ago I interviewed a fellow type 1 who had received an islet cell transplant (two, actually). For 18 months afterward, she was insulin-free. Unfortunately, as is the case for most, if not all, islet cell transplant recipients, her new cells began to fail and she had to add some insulin back to keep her blood sugars in range. She told me, though, that she's still on a very small dose - 14 units total daily. My daily dose is only about 18 units, and none of my beta cells work. Seems enough evidence for me that you can keep your insulin, or meds, to a minimum by sweeping most of the carbs out of your diet.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you in that my diet is not puritanically carb-free. Alas, I am not perfect. When out to dinner, I often nibble on the bread, and I love it dripping with olive oil. (Thank God, someone decided that olive oil ishealthy.) I indulge in an order of fried calamari or crab cakes from time to time, and if dessert comes to the table, I'll stick my fork in like everyone else for a taste. But without question, the fewer carbs I eat, the less insulin I need. For me, the control I get and the way I feel are worth it.
If you're curious about a lower carb diet, give it a try. First, hook up a Hoover to your pantry and suck out all the chips, pretzels, rice, and muffin mixes. Second, while experimenting, test, test and test. Third, see if your blood sugars and meds drop. Fourth, reward yourself with some high cocoa dark chocolate. (Lindt's 85 percent Excellence chocolate bar has only eight carbs per serving!) Good luck.
Dark Chocolate Makes Your Heart's Blood Flow
It's really true: dark chocolate makes your coronary arteries open up and increases heart blood flow. In a two-week trial, 39 adults ate either 550 milligrams per day of dark chocolate (with a cocoa content of 70 percent or greater), which is full of flavonoids, or the same amount of white chocolate, which has no flavonoids.
By the end of the study, the coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) of the dark chocolate eaters had significantly improved. If you want the same health effect, remember to go easy on the chocolate: 550 milligrams is only about 0.0194 of an ounce.
Source: MedlinePlus, November 2007
Not All the Grains of Salt You Take Things With Are the Same
Not too long ago most of us figured that salt was the white stuff you poured out of the box that had the cute little girl with the umbrella on it. Occasionally we might have heard somebody mutter something about "sea salt" or "kosher salt," but for most of us it was all the same thing.
We know now that there's more than one kind of salt, especially as the sea and kosher varieties have made their way onto millions of spice racks. That makes it easier to prepare ourselves for the next salt that people will soon be talking about: Himalayan Pink.
The pinkish product is mined from marine salts that fossilized more than 200 million years ago as the Himalayas began rising from now long gone seabeds. People who love the mountain salt cite its rich mineral content, which includes iron, copper, calcium, magnesium and potassium, as one of its great assets.
Another benefit, proponents say, is that while much sea salt now comes from polluted waters, the Himalayan deposits are pristine and unpolluted.
Is Honey More Effective Than Cough Medicine?
| Is Honey More Effective Than Cough Medicine? |
|
DM cough medicines, which earn about $50 million in sales each year, have previously been shown to be of little benefit to children. Honey has long been used as a natural remedy for sore throats and coughs. A common natural cure is tea with honey and lemon. Parents are advised not to give honey to any child under the age of 1 year; infants younger than that are at risk for botulism from honey. |
A research study has determined that children who get a dose of honey cough less and sleep better than those who get cough medicine with dextromethorphan (DM), the ingredient in most over-the-counter products for coughs.Cut Corn in Your Diet
Cut corn in your diet and stay healthy as the cereal grain is rich in sugars and calories, suggest the US health experts.
Habit of having corn flakes in the morning, burger in afternoon, corn soup at night and processed foods and beverages anytime, anywhere, can aggravate the obseity problem.
High-fructose corn syrup, an economical sweetener which is replacing the old plain table sugar, is equally harmful and being used in soda, energy and juice drinks.
According to a report from the Food Trust, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organisation, from soft drinks alone teens get 15 to 20 teaspoons per day of added sugars, which is some 11 per cent of their daily total caloric intake.
Moreover, soft drinks have become the third most common breakfast, replacing milk.
Expressing concern over this increasing consumption of corn, an agricultural economist and professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina, Barry Popkin said, ”If the average American could cut just one soft drink or sugared water drink a day, they would immediately cut out 10 pounds a year.” Corn is not only affecting people’s health but also the health of livestock, which is being fed on this cereal grain, the US News and World Report said.
”Corn-fed beef tends to have more artery-clogging saturated fats than grass-fed beef,” Popkin said. Also, corn feed is lower in healthful substances like Omega-3 fatty acids.
The researchers also found that cattle, which are fed mainly on corn, suffer from high stomach acidity and develop problematic E coli 0157:H7 bacteria.
Though corn is not inherently unhealthy, however, its large scale production and lower prices are leading to rise in its demand. And, ultimately its over consumption is harming the health of all.
Why You Should Avoid Taking Vaccines
Dr. James Howenstine, MD.
An article in the Washington Post on Jan. 26, 1988 mentioned that all cases of polio since 1979 had been caused by the polio vaccine with no known cases of polio from a wild strain since 1979. This might have created a perfect situation to discontinue the vaccine, but the vaccine is still given. Vaccines are a wonderful source of profits with no risks to the drug companies since vaccine injuries are now recompensed by the government [income tax payers]. The steady escalation in the number of vaccines administered has been followed by an identical rise in the incidence of auto-immune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, subacute lupus erythematosus, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, asthma) seen in children. While there is a genetic transmission of some of these diseases many are probably due to the injury from foreign protein particles, mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde and other toxic agents injected in vaccines.
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