Lose weight and Control Type 2 Diabetes

A new study published in Diabetes Care, the journal of the American Diabetes Association has revealed that patents with type 2 diabetes that shed off excess weight immediately after their diagnosis are in a better position to control their disease compared to those who don't lose weight or who instead gain more weight.

The study showed that those who lose weight are up to twice more likely to have better control of their disease than those who don't lose weight or who gain weight.

The study also reveals that the benefit is maintained even though the patient regains his/her weight. According to Dr. Gregory A. Nichols, who is a co-author of the study, "People who lost weight were more likely to attain their blood sugar and blood pressure goals than people who gained weight or maintained a stable weight." Dr. Gregory A. Nichols is also an investigator for Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon.

Whereas the research team said that they were not surprised by the findings, they expressed astonishment with the finding that the benefits remained even if the weight was regained.

The research was carried amongst 2,500 adults, all members of the large Kaiser Permanente HMO, who were all diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This was between the year 1997 and 2002.The researchers then tracked medical records of weight, blood sugar, and blood pressure.

According to Nichols, they looked at the weight loss of the patients over three years and studied the blood sugar and blood pressure readings in the fourth year.

According to the research findings, most patients stayed at about the same weight during the study. 76% were at a stable weight for four years compared to while about 12% who gained weight over the same period.

The research also revealed that 12% lost on average 23 pounds at the 18-month mark. However, after 36 months, they had gained nearly all the lost weight back.

The research findings concluded that those who lost and regained weight were still more likely to meet their goals for blood sugar levels and blood pressure.

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Simple Tips for manage and control weight

Persons who are overweight, especially those who are obese, are more prone to weaken their immune system, develop dangerously high cholesterol and triglyceride blood levels, leading to accelerated hardening and blockages in their arteries to the heart and brain, kidneys and legs, resulting in high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke, and even leg gangrene. They are also more likely to develop diabetes.

To manage and control weight, one does not need to spend a fortune buying weight loss pills, juices, diet foods, herbals, laxatives, or undergo chelation treatments, which is baseless and a scam. Besides, those expensive regimens are also unsafe and can cause more harm to the entire body.

Our weight is a function of how much calories we take in and how much calories we expend: calorie in, calorie out. If we take in more calories in a day than what we burn that day, obviously, we will gain weight, and vice versa.

Besides food intake, doing high-energy exercises (brisk walking, swimming, aerobics, like dancing, tai bo for 30 minutes a day), will also help burn the calories. The best guide is by weighing once a week, at about the same time of the day, preferably naked. If the weight is still above the targeted weight, cutting down the food intake, especially carbohydrates (pop drinks and sweets, rice and bread, etc), which is the No. 1 culprit that leads to weight gain and added inches to the waistline, will scale one down to the desired weight. A diet primarily of fish and veggies, and some fruits, will work wonders in weight management and over-all health maintenance. Drinking a tall glass of water before each meal will also help.

Benefit of Broccoli - Reverse Damage from Diabetes

Researchers from the University of Warwick have revealed that eating broccoli may reverse the damage to the heart caused by type 2 diabetes.

This is because of the presence of a compound called sulforaphane, which releases an enzyme that protects the blood vessels from damage. The researchers tested the effects of sulforaphane on blood vessel cells that had been damaged by high blood sugar levels.

They found that sulforaphane protected the blood vessels by activating protective antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes.

"Our study suggests that compounds such as sulforaphane from broccoli may help counter processes linked to the development of vascular disease in diabetes," said lead researcher Professor Paul Thornalley. "In future, it will be important to test if eating a diet rich in brassica vegetables has health benefits for diabetic patients. We expect that it will."

The details of the study appear in the journal Diabetes.

Moderate Excercise for Weight Loss

Obesity experts agree that daily exercise is essential for good health, but whether it can successfully lead to long-term weight loss is a question of much debate. What has become increasingly clear, however, is that the conventionally accepted advice — 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity most days of the week — is probably insufficient to spur any real change in a person’s body weight. A study published July 28 in the Archives of Internal Medicine adds to the burgeoning scientific consensus: when it comes to exercise for weight loss, more is better. It suggests that obese people would have to exercise at least an hour at a time to see any significant difference in their weight.

Most Common Diet Mistakes

1. Dieting Without Resistance Training

2. Focusing On The Scale

3. Focusing On Cardio

4. Skipping Breakfast

5. Relying on Pills

6. Eating Too Little

7. Eating Out Too Much

8. Emotional Eating

9. Lack of Consistency

10. Not Enough Sleep

Prescription Diet Pills - Supersized problems

The government’s medicines advisory agency this month recommended a new medicine that provides fresh hope in the fight against obesity.

Rimonabant, known by the brand name Acomplia, joins orlistat (Xenical) and sibutramine (Reductil) in the range of weight loss drugs available from doctors on prescription.

But Nicholas Finer, consultant in obesity medicine at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, cautions that while all these drugs have some effect, their ability to sustain weight loss is modest.
The bad news is that most other options are even less effective. For the growing number of obese people Finer sees in his clinic, he estimates that diet and lifestyle changes such as increased exercise achieve, at best, a 4 per cent reduction in weight over two years. He says that the most effective interventions are surgical, using gastric bands or bypasses. Such techniques can reduce weight by 30 per cent on average, and significantly cut the risk of cancer and other diseases.

He dismisses almost everything else as “snake oil”, its effectiveness not proved by clinical trials, including over the counter diet pills and supplements such as hoodia.

Orlistat, which in lower doses is available in the US over the counter and could in future be available in the UK, works in the stomach by preventing the body digesting some of the fat in food. The problem is that it can cause diarrhoea.

Sibutramine acts in the brain to enhance the effect of neurotransmitters that allow people to feel full more quickly and for longer. It can be associated with a dry mouth and constipation. Rimonabant blocks cannabinoid receptors in the brain, which help regulate food intake. Some patients have reported suicidal thoughts after taking it, so the drug is not recommended for patients suffering from depression.

Overall, the most disturbing aspect of the obesity epidemic is that it appears to be a one-way street: modern lifestyles and diets easily allow people to gain weight, but few are able to shed it in the long term.