How to Shop the Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen
(Health Secrets) Here is some good news! If you are one of the 21 million Americans struggling with this disease, there is highly effective natural help for diabetes.
As with almost all health problems, exercise and proper diet can help tremendously for diabetes. This is not the need for a heavy exercise regimen or radical weight loss. Moderate exercise and a weight loss of only 5% or slightly more can make a substantial difference (and that holds true for those considered significantly overweight as well as for those carrying a pesky few extra pounds).
Achieving a 5% or more weight loss may require no more than cutting out soft drinks and taking regular walks, for example. At any rate, losing 5% is easily achievable with modest exercise and a sensible diet that includes plenty of vegetables, especially raw and lightly steamed vegetables, some fruits (though little or no fruit juice because of its high sugar content), fermented whole grains, and cutting out dangerous trans fats.
Iodine is a keystone of natural help for diabetes
Iodine is a key element in fighting diabetes because it helps regulate the thyroid and is essential for a healthy liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen and more. While it is well known that diet, obesity, food allergies, viral infections, and stress are all contributing factors for diabetes, it is less widely recognized that these factors are often either a cause of or caused by a weak liver, spleen, and pancreas.
For example, obesity is the result of poor diet and/or a sluggish liver which causes a sluggish metabolism. A sluggish liver is often associated with gallstones because the liver and gallbladder are interconnected. Gallstones are formed because of bile stasis due to a sluggish gallbladder. Fatty liver (a common complication of diabetes) is also an indicator of liver weakness, and chronic diarrhea (yet another common diabetes symptom) is caused by a weak spleen according to Chinese medicine.
In women, the ability of iodine to revive hormonal sensitivity and restore normal hormone function significantly improves insulin sensitivity.
Supplemental iodine is the easily absorbed combination of iodine and iodide (a combination of both elemental and potassium iodine). And selenium must also be taken in order for iodine to work properly. Adequate selenium is best obtained by eating three Brazil nuts a day.
More Natural Help for Diabetes
In addition to sensible dieting and physical activities, the following have all shown the ability to help with diabetes:
GTF Chromium (Glucose Transport Factor Chromium) – The primary role of insulin is glucose transport, and chromium’s main function is increasing insulin’s efficiency in transporting glucose and regulating blood sugar levels.
In one study of 180 men and women with Type II diabetes, researchers divided the subjects into three groups, each receiving twice daily doses of either 200 mcg or 500 mcg of chromium or a placebo. The patients were allowed to continue with their usual diet and medications. At the end of two months, those who took 1,000 mcg of chromium daily showed significant improvement in insulin response, number if insulin receptors, and levels of blood lipids (fats and cholesterol). It took four months for the group taking 400 mcg of chromium daily to improve as much as the higher dosage group. However, all the patients taking chromium showed measurable improvement in their diabetes-related symptoms.
Vanadium – An often overlooked mineral that has the ability to improve insulin utilization, resulting in improved glucose tolerance. Deficiency of vanadium is linked to diabetes as well as cardiovascular and kidney disease. Tobacco use decreases the body’s ability to absorb vanadium.
French Lilac – An herbaceous plant used to treat diabetes since the Middle Ages because of its ability to lower blood sugar by decreasing insulin resistance. It has formed the basis for diabetes drugs having serious side effects. However, when used in its natural form with all the integrity of a whole food, French Lilac is highly effective and virtually free of side effects.
Bitter melon – A fruit related to cantaloupe and honeydew, bitter Melon contains several phytochemicals known to have blood glucose-lowering effects. It increases tissue glucose uptake, promotes liver and muscle glycogen synthesis, inhibits enzymes involved in glucose production, and enhances glucose oxidation.
Bilberry – Related to the blueberry, this fruit has many of its benefits with the addition of being able to normalize blood sugar levels. Bilberry is a powerful antioxidant that keeps capillary walls strong and flexible, and maintains the flexibility of the walls of red blood cells. It helps lower blood pressure, inhibit clot formation, and enhance blood supply to the nervous system.
These five natural remedies are combined in Sugar Balance, a comprehensive, natural solution for diabetes that eliminates the side-effects of diabetes drugs.
Other natural solutions for diabetes include:
Pycnogenol – Pycnogenol is a powerful antioxidant derived from French maritime pine tree bark. It has been the subject of more than 180 studies over 35 years in which it has been shown to reduce high blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, and blood glucose without affecting insulin levels. Of particular note is pycnogenol’s ability to reduce leakage into the retina by repairing capillaries in the eyes. While still largely unknown to American doctors, pycnogenol is the leading prescription for diabetic retinopathy in France.
Cayenne Pepper – Cayenne Pepper is hypo-glycemic, which means it lowers blood sugar levels. It also relieves diabetic complications like nerve damage and heart disease.
Prickly Pear Cactus (Nopal) – Prickly pear can reduce blood sugar rises after a meal by up to 50 per cent according to a recent study. Prickly pear cactus is widely used to control blood sugar and diabetes, and the cactus pads are consumed regularly in Mexico.
Blackseed Oil (Nigella sativa) – Also called black cumin seed (be sure that it is Nigella sativa regardless of how it is referred to). Blackseed oil is legendary for its medicinal properties and has been used for thousands of years. Preliminary research in animal trials has shown that an extract from Nigella sativa seeds can reduce elevated blood sugar levels, and the antioxidant activity of the extract may prevent the complications associated with uncontrolled type II diabetes.
Cat’s Claw – An herb used by indigenous tribes in Peru and South America to treat diabetes. Available at health food stores.
Cinnamon – Cinnamon has been shown to help regulate blood glucose levels and several studies indicate that it may be helpful against diabetes, particularly type II diabetes.
Other good foods and supplements for diabetics are: almonds, apples, oranges, coconut oil, garlic, onions, goldenseal, pau d’arco and substances high in Omega 3 oils.
Photo by colros 
