Diabetes is the disease that makes you eat and eat and eat.
Before, I termed diabetes the “low-energy disease” because it saps you of all strength (see my article on Roanne Weisman’s health blog). Today let's talk about diabetes’ voracious aspect.
With diabetes (or pre-diabetes) you are hungry all the time. Food is on your mind constantly. Why is that so? Several reasons, two which I find most compelling in understanding the disease diabetes:
The more you eat, the fatter you are – the more famished you feel. In olden times, when food was scarce, this was a survival trait: If, by chance, suddenly a whole mammoth had to be devoured, people had to fress beyond feeling full so that the bounty would not spoil and they put on fat for leaner times. Those leaner times always came. The problem, of course, is that nowadays they never come.
A second mechanism by which overeating occurs is that, on one level, it is really not you who is craving food – the bacteria in your gut are. And they signal “hunger!” to your brain – liken it to a computer virus. Studies found that overweight people have different bacteria in their guts than lean people. So, if you are eating the wrong foods – and too much of them – you are feeding the bad bacteria, and they get more greedy. If you would change to a healthier diet, better bacteria would grow, and you would be less hungry.
Most over-eaters eventually develop diabetes type II. Which, for me, is one of the worst diseases because it is absolutely, totally avoidable (ahem … at least in ninety percent). Diabetes leads to blindness, kidney failure, impotence, amputations – not to mention that it is linked to heart disease, stroke, arthritis, cancer, dementia and depression.
There's no magic bullet to cure our cravings besides being aware of it, avoiding the foods that foster cravings (sugar - alcohol is a sugar, too! -, sugar substitutes, bad fats, white starches), and loading up on vegetables – the bitterer, the better. The more, the better. The greener, the better. Moving around more certainly helps. Personally, in the clutches of one of those hunger pangs, I convince myself that I am not falling down dead from starvation if I now don’t grab anything edible right now.
P.S. Those unfortunate ten percent of people who get diabetes and are not overweight, often have gluten intolerance or similar metabolic problems - they can be helped, too! Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
Natural Skin Care
April 28, 2010
Save a lot of bucks, do the Earth a favor and come out beautiful!
Never in my life have I used make-up (okay, okay, once as a teenager!) and it shows at sixty five (disclosure: The picture I am using here is two years old and flattering).
Good genes help, of course. Other than that – here is what I did and what you can do. Or, in skin care, what you DON'T do seems to count the most:
• No smoking. Smoking is the worst wrinkle-maker in the world (confirmed by studies).
• Cold water: Whenever you wash you hands, splash you face with, especially if you tend oily skin. Cold water acts like a mini instant face mask.
• No soap. Unless you are a miner or auto mechanic, soap has no place in your face. And if you have to use something, use a pH-adjusted detergent. But for normal people: Absolutely no soap! Americans, on average, must be taking a shower every day or every other day. How dirty can you be? Let warm (not hot in your face!) water gently run over your face (and end each warm shower with a cold one!).
• In the shower, use your shampoo gently for your armpits and private parts. Rinse well! Again: soap is too harsh for delicate areas.
• No make-up, no moisturizer, no cold cream, no lotions – no nothing. Beauty can't be bought.
• Use olive oil or virgin coconut oil for your skin – find out which suits your skin type better. But only if you need them – don’t clog the pores with perfectly good skin with anything. I started using oil around my eyes in my fifties, not earlier. If you have very dry skin, start earlier. But don’t slobber it all over. If your cheeks and chin are fine, keep to eyes and neck.
And here is the biggest beauty secret of them all: Skin beauty comes from inside. It depends on what you eat: good oils (again olive oil and coconut oil; I take my cosmetics directly from the kitchen…) and heaps of vegetables. Leave out sugars, sweeteners, fried foods, an excess of meats (poultry is also meat!), trans fats, bad cooking oils and dairy. Eat more fish than meat - preferably small fish as they are less polluted.
If you want to do something special, take some good fish oil capsules (if you burp back fish, they aren’t so good!).
Get a good night's sleep before midnight! Make sure you are not getting sleeping folds by placing pillows to support you.
And: Smile! Friendliness and compassion show in your face - latest after thirty! Read More
The Super Foods … Bunkum
April 27, 2010
You have read and heard it so often: The Ten best foods, the Five Best Fruits, The Super Foods Without Which You Will Die...
Some of the lists contain meritable foodstuffs, often judged by their anti-oxidant contents. Apart from outright scams (brand-names) on those super-food lists, the usual suspects are blueberries (all the berries, really), broccoli, walnuts, spinach, beans, cinnamon (without the bun), almonds, avocados.
There is nothing wrong with these foods. But the concept of “super foods” is all wrong.
If you eat the same super food again and again, you have a higher chance to sensitize against it and end up with an allergy. Also, you might get an overfill of some phyto-nutrients, and become deficient in others. Not to mention that we have to worry about pollution - you don’t want to eat the same mercury-laden morsels day after day. We were made for roaming the savannah and nibble here and there, all day long. That gave us enough exercise, and rotated our groceries, depending on area and season.
Asked about healthy nutrition, I like to say (stolen from realtors who stress “location, location, location”): Vegetables, vegetables, vegetables. Today I want to add: Rotate, rotate, rotate! The point is to eat a wide variety of meats, fish and vegetables, preferably local and in season (less meat, more vegetables!).
Having emphasized variety, here are some under–used and relatively inexpensive vegetables: Onions, garlic and all cabbages (broccoli, kale, brocco rabe, broccolini, Brussels sprouts, white, red, Savoy) – eat them often. Summer and winter squash, too. Don’t forget root vegetables: Red beets, carrots, celeriac, daikon, jicama, rutabaga.
Assignment: Each time you venture to your local market/supermarket, find one new vegetable! Bring it home and serve it - any vegetable tastes good cooked (but not overcooked!) with olive oil and garlic. Read More