What Is Normal Blood Sugar Levels?
Before you go about trying to learn how to achieve low blood sugar you should be familiar with what having high blood sugar means. This just means that the level of the sugar glucose in your blood has increased and that in turn makes the urine sugary as well. The medical term of this is called glucosuria.
The saying that you are what you eat is very true. The foods that you eat affect the level of your blood sugar. Some of the foods tend to lower the levels while others you take will raise them, by entering your bloodstream very fast.
Insulin is the hormone produced by your pancreas primarily for processing glucose which is a form of sugar. Your body needs glucose as it needs energy but before it can use it, insulin has to do some work to convert it to facilitate the cells absorption.
A normal healthy person’s pancreas produce enough insulin to maintain his blood sugar in the normal range. For someone with type 1, no insulin is produced and someone with type 2, the amount of insulin is produced but is insufficient.
How To Control Blood Sugar Levels-Through Diet
Controlling and managing your blood sugar levels in your dietary requirement is the only way that diabetic patients can do to avoid the illness getting out of hand and causing more complications. Most diabetes prevention action steps use nutrition together with doctor prescribed medicines, to combat this severe disease which is becoming a global epidemic. So this means, once you are diagnosed you should be closely monitoring your daily meals and the calories they contain and look out for other signs and symptoms of diabetes.
As patients have inefficient insulin so this means that the levels of glucose in the blood are somewhat inconsistent. In order that this does not become out of control it is best to avoid sugars completely because an excess amount of glucose can be dangerous. Diabetic patients should know that proper diet and meal plan should be top priority and sweeteners and other food like cakes, chocolates, snacks and soft drinks should be self-prohibited. White rice on the other hand contains much carbohydrates and should be eaten less if you’re Asian and it is eaten as a staple food. Doing regular exercise and observing a good diet plan goes a long way in your control of diabetes. Even normal persons don’t get any real benefits out of consuming such unhealthy food excessively.
Proteins are very good diabetic diet for people with this illness as they will provide them the energy their bodies need on a daily basis. These proteins are usually found in plant source and it’s a healthy balanced choice because there is less saturated fat. Some of these foods include fish, egg whites and soya products.
Foods with high fiber are also good to provide a good blood glucose measurement. This is because they are mainly soluble or insoluble fibers that help to lower blood sugar levels. Nutritionists recommend raw vegetables, salads, whole fruits, cereal and oats for someone with diabetes.
Bitter Gourd and ground nuts too have been known to be good to help people maintain their blood glucose levels in their blood and urine. However the recommendation for bitter gourd is by taking the juice early morning before breakfast i.e. in an empty stomach.
Eating apples help to avoid high blood sugar level because they contain pectin which is known to be good at fighting bacteria and removing your body waste products.
How To Control Blood Sugar Levels-Using Herbs
Over the years many diabetic patients have found that some herbs can naturally control their type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes quite effectively if administered correctly like:
1.Cinnamon- It has some properties like insulin and helps to reduce blood glucose level, lower your blood cholesterol and triglycerides which are predominant in type 2 cases. The recommendation is just half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder in your diet every day by sprinkling over your food.
2. Taking onions either raw or boiled can help to prevent the insulin breakdown while at the same time helps the pancreas in the production of insulin.
3. Others include Gingko biloba (leaves extract) , blueberry leaves, Asian Ginseng.
The benefits of using herbs arose from the fact that they are a more natural medication and do not contain any harmful effects of any chemicals unlike your usual forms of modern medicine which may have side effects. While we recognize the benefits of using herbs, it is to be emphasized that any diabetic patient should not rely totally on such herbal treatment but all other aspects of controlling the blood sugar levels should still be done.
Controlling Blood Sugar-A Long Term Process
Till now there has been no cure for diabetes, only prevention or management of this disease. It has put some strain not only to the individual but his or her family as well. The diabetic should consult his doctor before starting a new diet plan, and if obese, should take fitness more seriously and make weight loss a top priority. Avoid any infections especially open wounds because diabetics heal slowly due to a host of causes like poor blood circulation, damaged nerves and immune system disorders.This problem increases further when the person has neglected his medical condition which has become poorly controlled. If a diabetic is not careful other medical complications may arise in the long term including high blood pressure and risk of heart disease.