Your Great Abs

Posts Tagged ‘Diabetes’

Some people have to try to make your life miserable, if you let them. It was obvious to everyone that I looked and felt better, but some people just have to try to spoil it. I was told: lots of people have died of kidney or liver failure after being on Atkins I read it in the newspaper; you will have a heart attack, it’s not natural; your cholesterol will climb sky high and you will need your toes amputated or you will have a stroke; it will affect your eyesight. All sorts of rubbish. So, I went to see my GP, who admitted that he did not know anything about the Atkins diet, but he also added that he had heard nothing bad about it either. He sent me for a series of tests at the hospital and the results were all satisfactory. He was happy that I’d lost 18 lbs and so was I. Six weeks later, I went for another cholesterol check-up, because of the high fat levels in the diet and, although my cholesterol level was up very slightly, the doctor said there was no cause for concern at all.

The book warns that you might suffer from bad breath (halitosis). I don’t know whether I did or not – no-one mentioned it, but I started brushing my teeth four or five times a day just in case. I guess that’s another benefit of Atkins: increased awareness of oral hygiene. It also warns of constipation. I didn’t get that either, although I didn’t give up black coffee, which has always had a laxative effect on me. But how can you become constipated if you’re allowed to eat well over 1lb of greens a day? I wasn’t eating that well before the diet! So my two main concerns were unfounded.

After a couple of weeks I was getting bored. Not with the diet, but because I’m single and am used to going to the pub (and drinking beer). So, I decided to treat this scientifically. One day, after work, I had three pints of Guinness and felt great. Before the diet, I would have drunk five or six to feel the same. To my delight, the next morning the ketone sticks told me that I was still ‘on the diet’. Over the following weeks, I thoroughly enjoyed checking out what would ‘work’ and what would not. I found that cider is a complete no-no. Some beers and some lagers are OK. Red and white wine are OK. Consuming alcohol does not knock you off the diet, but it slows your rate of progress. But even slow progress is progress, I say. Better than giving up the diet.

Don’t let people encourage you to ‘just have a little bit’. They don’t understand or don’t want to understand the trouble they’re causing you. One’s body can hold two days worth of carbohydrates: one square of chocolate, one slice of bread, a bowl of cornflakes or one sugar in your coffee will cost you TWO days to clear out of your system. Don’t let people do it to you. This is not a diet that you can stop and start when you like, in fact I think that it probably could be dangerous to keep allowing your ketone and other levels to fluctuate wildly. There are also the high fat levels in the content of the Atkins diet, which is not dangerous if you keep to it, because you body devours fat and cholesterol in the absence of carbohydrates.

That is the story so far, with me having got down to under 16 stone and keeping it there until very recently when I moved to the Far East to live. The food is so different here, but once I get used to the food and have my own house and own kitchen, I will get down to 15 stone, I’m sure I will ” without any real effort.

Well, there you have it … My grateful thanks to you, Mr. Blackwell, wherever you are these days, you changed my life and my understanding of food and drink with that book and thank you, Mr. Atkins too.

Diabetes may be a culinary inconvenience but you can still enjoy fine food it’s just there are a few rules about what you can eat. Being in control of your diet is a good thing whether you have diabetes or not, and it can reduce the risk of you contracting it, but as most diabetics know, it is a good way to help improve the symptoms if you do. Sorting out a diabetic diet plan is one of the most important things you need to do if you suffer from diabetes.

One of the hardest things to do will be to shed those unnecessary pounds as maintaining your weight is extremely important when you’re a diabetic. Another important thing to remember is to eat a healthily from all four food groups and keeping to you diabetic diet.

Heart disease and strokes are two complications often associated with diabetes but the risk of these can be reduced if the sufferer sticks to a healthy diabetic diet. The diabetic diet plan is after all, low-fat and has been formulated to increase energy and at the same time ease the symptoms of tiredness, thirst and blurred vision.

The healthy eating structure of a diabetic diet involves eating foods like, vegetables poultry, lean meat, fish, non-fat dairy products, beans, whole grains and fruit. The low-carb diabetic dietary plans are a little different and only certain vegetables are allowed such as kidney beans, carrots and avocados as well as fish, meat, poultry, cheese and eggs. Diabetic diets advise you to stay away from food with saturated fat and cholesterol, so eat skinless poultry and fresh fruit as well as vegetables.

Weighing your food when you’re on a diabetic diet is as important as the foods you consume so you receive the correct amount of calories. If you have a 2,000 calorie diet you will find essential information on the food labels when you’re sopping as the amounts shown are based on this daily calorie figure.

On a 2,000 calorie a day diabetic diet your breakfast can be very interesting with a serving of fruit, a sugar free yoghurt or cup of skimmed milk plus an egg prepared in any form with two slices of bread, or two rice cakes or even half a cup of pasta. For those diabetics on a 1,800 calorie plan your breakfast might contain the following; a couple of slices of bread with a cup of skimmed milk, a tablespoon of cheese and a serving of some fresh fruit like apple, banana orange.

Your mid afternoon snack could be a couple of crackers and half a cup of tea or coffee only using artificial sweeteners and some fruit. An alternative to this would be a cup of milk or yogurt in place of the tea. A diabetic diet does not have to be boring.

The big question for thousands of people is not just how to get skinny, but how to your belly fat and get the slim appearance they dream of maintaining. There are so many health dangers lurking in the future of those who maintain a large waist that it is downright scary. So, how do you actually stop daydreaming and start really losing belly fat?

Let’s face the facts. If there really were a magical pill or secret shake that could melt away belly fat quickly, then you would have discovered it by now. It would have been on the evening news and everyone would be lining up to get it already. There just isn’t a secret cure to excess stomach fat.

The reason we are all still looking for a way to get rid of belly fat is because there is no easy, quick answer. Despite what the late night commercials want you to believe, there is no big secret. It all comes down to the same method that is effective for losing fat in any area of the body: breaking a sweat and food control.

Once you stop eating more calories than your body needs to function for one day, you can jump into some cardio exercise sessions and start the process of burning off the fat from your entire body. Cardio exercise is what forces the body to burn calories and thus burn off more fat. Once your body effectively turns the food you are currently giving it for energy, it will be forced to start pulling from those fat stores to get through the rest of the day and power through that intense walk on the track. But, you have to be eating less than what your body needs for all that activity.

So, what’s the catch? You can’t make your body pull that stored fat from your belly rather than your hips or some other location. That said, many people do notice a reduction in the waist first once they commit to a regular program of exercise along with the proper food intake.

Do not add anymore fat to your belly. Understand that refined carbs like white breads and pasta or sugary processed foods are likely to go straight to your gut. If you switch to whole grains and eat lots of vegetables and fruits with lean meats, you are likely to see more success with your workout sessions. This is how to lose your belly fat the smart way.

Learning how to lose your belly fat really is not very difficult at all. If you stop searching for a miracle cure that doesn’t exist and focus on getting to the real work of making it happen through proper diet and heart pumping activity, you will have that slim figure much faster.