Its Entirely Natural - Blog

As I sit and eat my morning breakfast I come across a great article that reminds me of how much better whole milk can be than the heat pasteurized stuff that I have in my refrigerator. Raw, untreated milk is a great natural food cure. The process of heating milk to kill bacteria has been common for nearly a century, and selling unpasteurized milk for human consumption is currently illegal in Canada and in half the U.S. states. Yet thousands of people in North America still seek raw milk.

Some say milk in its natural state keeps them healthy. Over the past fifty years, people in developed countries began showing up in doctors’ offices with autoimmune disorders in far greater numbers. In many places, the rates of such conditions as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and Crohn’s disease have doubled and even tripled. Is it because that we aren’t being exposed to the bacteria we need to prime our immune systems? Makes you wonder.

However, I have good news to report. In the very near future, It’s Entirely Natural will have a product available that you can supplement into your daily lives that will replace all that is lost from pasteurization. Join up for our newsletter and you will be the first to know when it is available.

harpers.org

It’s interesting to watch the political debates on what the candidates are going to do for America. It seems to me that there are a bunch of lawyers trying to run this country and don’t have a clue of what’s really going on. How many lawyers does it take to screw in a light bulb …..? Getting off track, anyhow, diabetes costs mores lives and more money than the global war on terrorism. And this is totally preventable. Do our “representatives” really have our best interests in mind?

More and more Americans are becoming overweight and obese. The American Diabetes Association has reported, there are 1 million new cases of type 2 diabetes every year and diabetes has claimed the lives of more than 284,000 Americans last year. Uncontrolled diabetes wreaks havoc on the body, often leading to kidney failure, blindness and death.

The nation’s unchecked diabetes has also created a massive financial toll as well. Diabetes care and treatment cost was an incredible $174 billion dollars last year. This is more than what was spent on the global war on terrorism. It is also more than the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Yet very little funding is used to prevent this reversible epidemic.

The mounting costs will affect everyone. Half of the diabetics in America have medical insurance through government programs such as Medicare. For those with insurance you will probably see rising premiums and co pays. Not to mention covering costs for the uninsured. These costs are putting a strain on local economies and will eventually have to divert money from programs like education to care for patients with a preventable disease.

usatoday.com

Wandering around the Web I found something very interesting today. It’s the type of thing that makes you really wonder what the government is doing to our country. Our government is focusing so much attention on fighting terrorism, while obesity and other preventable “lifestyle” diseases are killing millions of more people around the world.

It is estimated that 388 million people will die from chronic disease worldwide over the next 10 years, according to World Health Organization figures. Our governments are focusing so much attention on terrorism that they have focused very little on the silent epidemic of obesity. Governments devote very little attention to it and negligible amount of funding.

Politicians talk about the crisis of health care today. How much of this health care crisis is a direct result of ignoring the problems of preventable chronic diseases? They are always talking about preventive care, yet there is no action with their words. Preventable chronic diseases will eventually put a real strain on health care systems and economies around the world.

Because of the obesity problem we have today, the average life expectancy of a person will be less than prior generations. This is the first reversal of life expectancy since data collecting began in 1900.

Global terrorism is a real threat, but it is a far less of a threat than obesity, diabetes and smoking-related illnesses. Overcoming deadly factors such as poor diet, smoking and lack of exercise should be taken a top priority in the fight against growing epidemic of preventable chronic diseases.

afp.com

Many studies have shown that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. But what is in coffee that lowers this risk? Researchers aren’t sure what is in coffee that lowers blood sugar levels. However they do know that it’s not the caffeine.

In a recent study, researchers examined the effects of caffeine on 10 patients with type 2 diabetes. These patients were already regular coffee drinkers and they were trying to manage their diabetes without using insulin. The patients were asked not to drink coffee during the study.

On various days the patients took either a 250 mg caffeine capsule or a placebo capsule with no caffeine and it. They took these pills at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When the patients ingested the caffeine capsules they had an average increase in blood sugar of 9% after breakfast, 15% after lunch and 26% after dinner.

Based on the data it is suggested that people with diabetes, or on the verge of diabetes, probably shouldn’t drink caffeinated soft drinks or other caffeine-containing beverages. If you do like to drink your coffee, you should maybe consider switching to decaf and see if that helps in managing your blood sugar levels.

well.blogs.nytimes.com

I find myself accidentally skipping meals because of my busy day to day schedule. When this happens I find myself eating more at dinner than I normally would have if I had eaten lunch. This bad habit of mine can affect my overall health. Studies show that skipping meals like this can elevate fasting glucose levels and have a delayed insulin response. If this habit is done for a long period of time it could lead to Type 2 diabetes.

Interestingly though, there is another study that shows if you skip meals every other day that it could actually improve health. Intermittent fasting has resulted measurable metabolic benefit for obese people. People in the study using an alternating dieting pattern lost an average of 8% of their body weight and they also had lower cholesterol and triglycerides.

I find it interesting that the same eating habits can result in two dramatically different results. If done correctly as a dietary plan, meal skipping can be beneficial to ones health. If done incorrectly, as most people like me do, may result in harmful changes to the body. As a New Year resolution I am going to try the alternate day dieting pattern.

well.blogs.nytimes.com

Do people who smoke have a greater risk of developing pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes? This is suggested in a review of 25 studies published in the Journal of The American Medical Association. The review found that 44% of people that smoke are prone to developing Type 2 diabetes compared to those that don’t smoke.

While researchers are hesitant to directly link smoking to the onset of diabetes, they do theorize that smoking may lead to insulin resistance. Another possible explanation, people that smoke tend not to have the healthiest lifestyle. These unhealthy behaviors include lack of exercise, poor diet, and in some cases large consumption of alcohol.

We know that smoking is a cause of heart disease and cancers. Could it also accelerate the onset of Type 2 diabetes? Isn’t time that we all try our best to live a healthy life, why not start today and quit smoking.

cbc.ca

A new minimally evasive surgery has shown to effectively treat Type 2 diabetes. There have been roughly 100 of these surgeries and the blood-sugar levels of almost all of the participants were significantly lowered. So much that the patients were able to reduce the number of medications they were taking.

The surgery takes about an hour. A device about the size of a small cell phone is implanted in the abdomen. There are electrodes connected to the device that send electrical impulses to the stomach when a person eats. This device was originally created to induce weight loss. While it did cause modest weight loss the results of the effect on type 2 diabetes was even greater.

There are hormones in the stomach that are theorized to play a role in the conversion of sugar into energy. The thinking is that the impulses will stimulate the hormones to perform that function.

This is exciting news. With over 18 million Americans with Type 2 diabetes this could have a huge health impact. It could reduce complications of diabetes like vision loss, amputation and heart disease.

tennessean.com

People with diabetes seem to be more at risk for having heart related diseases. For many diabetics, 40% of you with the disease, have particular gene haptoglobin (Hp) 2-2 that makes you more susceptible to heart attacks. A new study has found that Vitamin E supplements can significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks and related deaths for diabetics that carry this particular gene.

After 18 months of treatment, people with the haptoglobin (Hp) 2-2 gene who took 400 International Units (IU) of vitamin E daily had more than 50 percent fewer heart attacks, strokes, and related deaths than Hp 2-2 patients who took a placebo pill. In the group of 1,434 Hp 2-2 individuals taking part in the study, seven people had a heart attack, compared to 17 who did not take the vitamin.

A very inexpensive little supplement can potentially help save your life.

sciencedaily.com

We all have heard that red wine is good for you and that you should have a glass or 2 with your evening meal to help prevent coronary heart disease. There have been many studies on the benefits of red wine. These studies show there are chemical in wine and grapes that can help prevent other diseases linked with ageing as well. A new study in the UK shows that these chemicals could be the next food cure for Type 2 diabetes.

There is a “French paradox” - The French have relatively low incidences of coronary heart disease, despite having a diet relatively rich in saturated fats. The French love their food as well as their wine. Have they known the secrets of this miracle drink and just didn’t want to share?

The problem with red wine is that earlier animal research suggested that around 1000 glasses would have to be consumed every day to reduce the impact of a high fat diet. I am not suggesting that you go on a red wine diet. You still need to watch what you eat and you can drink, in moderation.

Now new compounds have been developed, that is like drinking 1000 glasses of wine per day. Could these compounds prevent the development of type 2 diabetes? The new drug candidates work by activating a protein called SIRT1, which influences the ageing process and functions to ensure that the body remains receptive to the activity of insulin.

As with any drug, it takes time to come to the market. Don’t count on anything like this for at least another 5 or 6 years. In the mean time, enjoy your wine in moderation.

Here at It’s Entirely Natural - We have some exciting new things coming in the very near future. One of them is a supplement that we will have available to purchase. This dietary supplement will give you all the great health benefits of red wine in a capsule. I have been using this for a couple months and I just love the results. Stay tuned for our big announcement.

telegraph.co.uk

Have you ever heard the term pre-diabetes? Well I know I have thrown this term around on my Blog and many people are asking me - What is pre-diabetes? When your blood tests reveal a higher than normal blood sugar level, but not quite the threshold of full blown Type 2 diabetes — this is pre-diabetes. If left unchecked, it will develop into full blown Type 2 diabetes and you will become dependant on insulin shots the rest of your life. So what can we do now to prevent or delay Type 2 diabetes?

Reduce your fat intake - Surprisingly, fat intake is a major predictor of insulin resistance not carbohydrates. So you should eat no more than 30 percent of your calories form fat (50-60 grams per day). Saturated fat needs to be less than 10 percent of total calories. This can be a hard goal for some people to reach considering 2 slices of cheese is 12 grams.

We’ve all heard about that scary word “exercise”. — It may be scary, but it is true. Working muscles become more sensitive to the actions of the hormone insulin. Therefore, reducing insulin resistance and helps prevent diabetes. No we’re not talking about getting a gym membership and heavy duty exercise. If you haven’t exercised before, start by just taking a walk 30 minutes a day and you will be amazed at how much better you feel.

Eat more whole grains and fiber. - Research has found that whole grain foods improve blood sugar control. Look for food with products labeled “excellent source of whole grains.” Fiber is also important to help keep your digestive system in tip top shape do your body can absorb the nutrition it needs better.

The good news is that people who make minor changes in their lifestyle reduce their risk of developing diabetes by 58%. You’ll start feeling better and even get a better nights sleep. Who knows, with a little effort you will even drop a modest amount of weight. All of these changes will slow or prevent the onset of pre-diabetes.

ohio.com