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Type I diabetes, also known as adolescent diabetes, differs from Type 2 in that the body stops producing insulin altogether.  Type I diabetes is generally diagnosed in children or young adults.  Type 2 diabetes is usually diagnosed in older adults, however, it is becoming substantially more prevalent in the younger population.
With the onset of diabetes, whether it be Type I or Type 2, we lose our ability to adequately utilize sugar.  When this occurs, blood sugar levels increase due to the body’s inability to transport sugar into the cells and out of the blood stream.  Sugar is very important in that it is the basic fuel source for the cells in our bodies.  Insulin is necessary for the transport of sugar from the blood and into the cells.
Diabetes is a serious condition and can lead to many other health problems.  Some problems that diabetics commonly encounter are an increased risk for heart and circulatory problems, high blood pressure, visual problems and blindness, nerve damage, and kidney damage.  With the diagnosis of diabetes, it becomes extremely important that blood sugar fluctuations are tightly controlled.  With good control of blood sugar levels and the prevention of prolonged periods of elevated blood sugar, people with diabetes can live long and healthy lives.
Fortunately for the newly diagnosed diabetic, there are more and more tools available to help monitor and control the condition.  Glucose meters are becoming smaller and easier to use.  Blood samples necessary for glucose meter use are much smaller than in the past.  Painful finger pricks can now be avoided with blood samples being able to be taken from alternate, less sensitive areas, such as the forearm.  In the relatively near future, there will be non-invasive glucose monitoring devices not requiring a sample of blood at all.
A simple blood test, known as the A1c test, can measure the average blood glucose levels over the previous three months.  This test is a very good way to monitor and critique how effective current treatments, diet, medications, etc. have been recently.  This test is now available for home use and as such does not even require a visit to the doctor.
Type 2 diabetics have more options available to them for blood sugar control than do Type I diabetics.  Not only are there oral medications, often eliminating the need for insulin injection treatment, but other methods that may eliminate the need for medications altogether.
Type 2 diabetics should look to multiple sources of information in order to determine the best methods available to deal with their condition.  A good start is a physician specializing in the treatment of diabetes.  Most physician specialists will have nutritional counseling available to help understand the relationship of various food items with blood sugar levels.
Additionally, diabetics should become very familiar with vitamin, mineral, and herbal options to improve blood sugar metabolism and control.  A few examples of supplements that are well known to help in this regard are chromium, magnesium, and vanadyl sulfate.  Various natural glucose transport factors can be very helpful in aiding the body’s transport of glucose from the blood and into the cells.  Vanadyl sulfate has been shown to improve glucose sensitivity and decrease insulin resistance.
Various herbal preparations have been shown to significantly improve blood sugar levels, sugar metabolism, and reportedly even improve the function of the insulin producing cells in the pancreas.  Notably, Gymnema sylvestre, known as “sugar destroyer” in Sandskrit, has been shown to have positive effects and benefits for diabetics.
Along with proper nutrition, appropriate supplements and vitamins, other important considerations are weight control and exercise.  Excess weight tremendously increases the burden on the pancreas as fat requires much more insulin than lean tissue.  Exercise not only helps control body fat and reduce weight, but additionally aids the transport of sugar from the blood and into the cells.
Diabetes is a very serious condition, but proper diet, glucose monitoring, and exercise can substantially improve our ability to control the condition.  We should attempt to educate ourselves not only in the importance of tight blood sugar control, but also the various methods and options available to help in this regard.  By utilizing good judgment in diet, weight control, exercise, and appropriate supplementation, diabetics can markedly reduce complications and lead long and healthy lives.

If you happen to have been diagnosed with diabetes, make sure you’re getting all the right diabetes treatment supplies. Also check to make sure that your glucose levels are within the accepted guidelines. Take any other additional steps your physician has advised – but most of all, go out and live your life because your diabetes IS manageable!
People over the age of 45 and those who are considered obese are especially risk prone for this potentially fatal disease. Some of the potential health problems that may result are: partial to complete blindness, kidney disease, hypoglycemia and certain sexual and urological problems. These include erectile dysfunction in men.
Even though these are serious concerns and should be carefully watched for, diabetes is in fact quite manageable, especially with some of the tools we currently have to work with. For example, blood sugar monitoring devices can accurately check your blood glucose levels in a matter of seconds.
Check your levels at least daily. Depending on your particular diagnosis, you might need insulin shots to manage your blood chemistry effectively. These shots may be required several times a day. Also, be sure to have a glucogen emergency kit on hand at all times for your diabetes treatment. This is an important element that should be part of your diabetes supplies kit.
Even though diabetes is manageable, don’t make the mistake of thinking that it isn’t a serious condition that doesn’t require daily attention. It is and it does. Be sure to always keep on hand all of the supplies necessary for proper monitoring and treatment. Like the glucagons kit I just mentioned. Speaking of which, all of the medical supplies you need are available online and can be delivered to your home as needed.
A diabetes diagnosis means that you will probably live with the condition for the rest of your life. But it doesn’t mean the end of your life. Far from it. Millions of people live very full and complete lives despite the condition’s very real potential to bring about serious consequences to one’s well being.
And if you’re worrying that your diabetes diagnosis means that you’ll automatically be going in and out of the doctor’s office every other day – don’t. With self-discipline, a good understanding of the disease and effective diabetes treatment and monitoring techniques, diabetes becomes a very manageable condition.

Diabetes is now classified as a worldwide epidemic.  Blindness, kidney disease, impotence and many other illnesses are often the direct result of out-of-control or undiagnosed diabetes.
Fortunately, there are several ways hypnosis can help.  See which one of the following statements applies to you or someone you know.  (1) As a person with diabetes, do you ever feel stressed? (2) Are you the parent of a child with diabetes? (3) Do you wish that you, your child or spouse were more motivated to exercise? (4) Wouldn’t it be great if it were easier to make better food choices? (5) Is your diabetes causing embarrassing, personal problems?
Now, since a hypnotist is by definition, a stress management consultant and a motivational coach, all of the above challenges can be powerfully addressed by using hypnosis but please note the following: a hypnotist is only part of your diabetes support team.  Always be sure to have your doctor’s approval before beginning any hypnosis program that can have any influence on your medical condition.
The primary method by which hypnosis helps a person with diabetes is by reducing harmful stress.  There are two fundamental ways in which stress negatively affects a person with diabetes:  (1) Stress robs a person of necessary personal power that is crucial in giving a person the emotional ability to make choices that benefit their health and well being.  (2) As a diabetic’s stress levels increase, so does their blood sugar.  This is due to the ‘fight-or-flight’ response that people experience as a result of negative stress.  When a person enters this state of mind, their body releases chemicals known as ‘insulin-antagonists’.  These chemicals temporarily block the action of insulin while simultaneously causing the release of stored sugar in the liver and muscles.
With the above understanding about the two ways that stress affects a person with diabetes, let’s see how that information, specifically point one (as point two is self-explanatory), then applies to the five problems listed in the second paragraph.
Regarding statement one it is obvious to anyone with diabetes that having that disease is very stressful.  This harmful state of emotional affairs then makes it more difficult for a diabetic to follow their doctor’s recommendations.   Also, when a person is in emotional pain, they usually reach for whatever makes them immediately feel better.  This can be any addiction, though it is usually food and typically too much and not the kind that is good for a person with diabetes.
Looking at statement two, it can be noted that stress packs a powerful double punch for parents of children with diabetes.  This is because first, the parent is stressed out caring for an ill child and second, the child has overwhelming stress because they are not as equipped as an adult to deal with the enormous responsibility of successfully managing their disease.   The parent must also then have to deal with their child’s stress.   This double-whammy makes it very difficult to achieve the kind of precise care that is needed for good child diabetes management.
In statement three, the fundamental issue is exercise.  Since 95% of all persons with diabetes have Type 2 and since 90% of all those persons are obese, the implications for enhanced exercise motivation are all too clear.  For example, it is well documented that many Type 2 diabetics have had complete symptom remission after achieving a significant reduction in weight typically due to exercise and diet improvement.  Additionally, exercise greatly contributes to one’s sense of well being and this therefore becomes a positive motivational cycle.
Statement four addresses a concern that many people have, not just those with diabetes.  “I wish I could just eat better!” is a familiar refrain.  Again, as a hypnotist helps a person to reduce their feelings of stress, they can then help that person to strengthen their inner commitment to making better food choices.  Please note that even a small reduction in a diabetic’s long term blood sugar tremendously reduces their chances of having serious complications later on.
Statement five refers to conditions that are difficult for most people to talk about.  For brevity’s sake this discussion is limited to one very common embarrassing problem: impotence.  Nearly 60% of all males with diabetes experience impotence.   There are two concerns here:  (1) There is a good chance that these people and their partners are feeling  a great deal of unnecessary and harmful stress.  (2) A male diabetic may choose to take a medication for impotence when that medication is inappropriate and quite possibly harmful.  This concern is also relevant to those millions of men with undiagnosed diabetes.
In conclusion, a hypnotist can be an important part of a diabetic’s health care team because a person can be responsibly coached by a properly trained hypnotist to more effectively deal with the above mentioned issues.
Devin Hastings
“Speak gently to yourself because your deep mind is always listening.”

This is part 2 of a 4 part series entitled “Diabetes is Beatable”.  Our topic today is Chromium.
Chromium is an essential trace mineral for the human body. The chromium found in natural foods is referred to as Chromium GTF (Glucose Tolerance Factor.) According to the National Institute of medicine, chromium helps maintain proper blood glucose levels.
In addition scientists believe Chromium GTF can:

Reduce fat levels in blood Control blood cholesterol levels
Increase HDL cholesterol Reduce arteriosclerosis
Stimulate production of essential nerve substances
Increase resistance to infection
Stimulate protein synthesis
Suppress hunger symptoms through brain �satiety center�
According to the United States Federal Trade Commission, sales of chromium-based supplements are approximately $100 million a year.
Chromium is sold generally as a chelate, the mineral salt chelated with, or bound to another compound.

Chromium Picolinate is a chelate of one chromium molecule linked to three picolinate molecules.
Chromium Picolinate studies have been mixed, while some show health benefit, many others showed little, if any results. Research on chromium metabolism has concluded that while picolinates may be absorbed, the minerals were not effectively metabolized or incorporated into the tissues. Recent articles have questioned its overall safety.
Remember that Professor Thomas
O’Halloran of Northwestern University reported that proteins act as a “chauffeur” to assist the transport of minerals to the proper tissues in the body. This breakthrough science was based on research on the protein signaling system that won the 1999 Nobel Prize.
The American Society for Nutritional Sciences published an article from The Department of Chemistry at the University of Alabama in 2000. The article entitled “The Biochemistry of Chromium” discusses chromium and its role in glucose metabolism. The author describes the specific metal transport protein (protein chauffeur) found in dietary forms of chromium and states that “Chromium from the popular dietary supplement Chromium Picolinate enters cells via a different mechanism,” and further warns that Chromium Picolinate metabolism can produce dangerous free radicals.
A study published in Nutritional Reports International compared the glucose lowering effects of FoodMatrix Chromium and Chromium Picolinate. In this published study, the FoodMatrix nutrient was found to be almost three times as effective in lowering patients blood sugar levels than the chelated nutrient.
Another study, this one published in Diabetes, the journal of the American Diabetes Association, found that FoodMatrix Chromium was able to lower blood sugar levels and help with cholesterol levels in elderly diabetic patients.
The University of California at Berkeley Wellness Letter recommends that consumers do not take Chromium Picolinate because of some recent disturbing findings (including the University of Alabama study.)
Tomorrow we will discuss excercise and it’s benefits to the diabetic.

Many people, like yourself, are either victims of or know people who are victims of diabetes. I myself have been diagnosed as Pre-Diabetic, so I have a chance to reverse things if I modify my behavior.
The Cost of Diabetes
“In a recent speech the United States Centers For Disease Control reported that studies show a third of the people born in the USA in the year 2000 will develop diabetes. The projected lifetime risk is about three times higher than the American Diabetes Association’s current estimate.
The total annual economic cost of diabetes in 2002 was estimated to be $132 billion, or one out of every 10 health care dollars spent in America. Consider that a three-fold increase in diabetes patients would severely tax the already overburdened health care system and could create real economic disaster.
Two in three people with diabetes will develop heart disease, while others will go blind, get kidney failure, and require amputations. Diabetes is the fifth-leading cause of death by disease in the U.S.
A man diagnosed with diabetes at age 40 will die 12 years sooner than he would have had he not developed the disease, while a woman diagnosed at that age will have 14 years shaved off her lifespan.”
–Dr. Alan Tomlinson
So now you see how important it is to get this disease in check.
Anyone with diabetes, or pre-diabeties should eat sensibly, lower their sugar intake, get plenty of exercise and proper nutrition.
So what does the diabetic need to include in their diet to help them take control?
A Multi-Vitamin Complex
Studies have shown that taking a multi-vitamin can increase the overall health prospects of diabetics.
Chromium
Chromium stimulates the insulin receptors on the cells allowing the glucose to be used by the cells. The most beneficial form of chromium GTF (Glucose Tolerance Factor.)
Vanadium and Molybdenum
These important minerals also assist in the metabolism of sugars. Although they are needed in smaller amounts they are just as critical to the process.
Calcium, Potassium and Magnesium
The electrolyte minerals are essential to many of the biochemical processes that go on every day allowing our bodies to heal and grow stronger. Many of these processes affect the hormonal and immune systems. Proper functioning of these systems is key to a diabetic’s health.
The diabetes epidemic in this country has not been stopped. The prospects are devastating, but there is hope. Lifestyle changes and proper nutrition can halt this plague.
Part 2 will discuss Chromium and it’s benefits to the diabetic.