The Vlog

Diabetic retinopathy associated with permanent or temporary damage to the blood vessels is not only common with diabetics, but pre-diabetics as well. Basically, if you have elevated glucose levels, then you stand a higher chance of getting retinopathy. The good news is that the early stages are usually reversible by controlling your blood glucose levels. If you don’t, the worst effects are blindness.

Von

1. R P Stolk, J R Vingerling, et al. Retinopathy, glucose, and insulin in an elderly population. The Rotterdam Study. Diabetes. 1995 Jan;44(1):11-5.

Smoking is a risk factor for diabetes, so there goes the 839th reason why smoking just isn’t cool (1). However, moderate consumption (2 or more cups) of coffee have shown to be associated with lower incidents of type in women from age 26-46 (2), and may apply to both men as well. To the best of my knowledge, coffee consumption has never been shown to results in any increased risk of diabetes. Coffee is thought to help in glucose metabolism and it apperas the caffeine plays no role in this. Thus, if you consume two or more cups of caffeinated coffee per day and you have high blood pressure, you may wish to change to decaf. Decaf has been shown to have the same positve effect on preventing diabetes as it’s normal coffee.

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1. Radzeviciene L, Ostrauskas R. Smoking and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Medicina (Kaunas). 2006;42(7):559-65.
2. Radzeviciene L, Ostrauskas R. Coffee consumption and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Medicina (Kaunas). 2009;45(1):61-7.

If there were a type of insulin that would cause you to burn more fat, get more toned, burn calories, and was safe from side effects, would you do it? For type-2 diabetics, there essentially is. It’s called exercise, and one may think of exercise as a kind of “super-insulin.” Besides using the body’s natural insulin, exercise can help one’s mood, prevent osteoporosis, prevent cancer, and prevent heart disease. Remember, exogenous insulin is a secondary resort to your own insulin which can be effectively administered to yourself with exercise.

Von