Protein Principles for Diabetes
May 31, 2009
Dietary considerations can present a Hobson’s choice in diabetes. Even when the intake is nutritious, assimilating it can be another matter. Then there is the problem of progression of diabetic complications if one ends up with excess glucose or fat in the system. Excess carbohydrates in a meal, and the resulting uncontrolled blood sugar levels can be detrimental to any number of tissues, from the lens of the eye, to the neurons, small blood vessels and the kidneys. Fat is also a problem with increase incidences of atherosclerosis, large vessel disease and cardiac complications. What, then is the appropriate macronutrient for the diabetic population? Enough medical literature exists to suggest that in diabetes, proteins are probably the best bet.
Proteins are the natural choice of the body when faced with diabetes. In uncontrolled diabetes, muscle protein is broken down into amino acids to be converted into glucose by the liver. If left to fend for itself, this can create a commotion within the body. Since proteins have to supply enough energy to substitute for carbohydrates, proteins are broken down faster than they are made. The body ends up with a protein deficit, a situation with subtle, yet far-reaching effects on normal body functions. Importantly, for diabetics, a protein deficit has been shown to impair resistance to infections (Ganong WF). Replenishing the depleting protein stores is a vital requirement of all diabetic diets.
Warning! Lack Of Exercise Could Be Harmful To Your Health
May 30, 2009
You know it’s bad when the Surgeon General issues a warning that lack of exercise is hazardous to your health. And that was back in ‘96. Since then, the stats haven’t improved much, either: 25% of the American population is still sedentary and 60% do not exercise regularly (Reference: http://www.cdc.gov).
For fitness minded folks, we could do worse than to follow the "hour-a-day" prescription outlined by the Surgeon General’s Healthy People Report. It’s just a guideline, of course and, as you already know, any amount of activity packed into your busy schedule is going to earn you healthy rewards. But there are plenty of other reasons to exercise.
"If people exercised only moderately," says Janet Kneiss, Physical Therapist, "there would be far less incidence of injury. The 15 or so people I see daily, who come in with back and neck problems, usually don’t want to exercise, they want a quick fix."
The solution as she sees it?
"I think, if people could just reframe the idea of it [exercise] being so much work and focus more on the enjoyment of doing it,they would find the experience more positive."
The Five Essential Secrets of Managing Your Energy Successfully
May 29, 2009
Inspirational author Vernon Howard wrote, “Would you be worried over a $300 house payment if you had $3,000,000 in the bank? Spiritually, that is the way it can be for you.”
We can use our energy in one of two ways. We can use it to battle stress and anxiety, or we can use it to awaken MORE energy.
Here’s proof this is so: When you’re having a good day, things don’t bother you like they do when you’re having a stressful day. The same event can happen on each day, and you react differently.
Why is that? It’s because on a good day your energy levels are up. On a bad day your energy levels are depleted. The answer is simple: More energy!
Energy Secret #1: The resistance to the disturbance IS the disturbance.
This is an amazing secret a “Dark Cloud” (hereafter called a DC) doesn’t want you to know. What is a DC? It is simply a negative person or a temporary negativity within yourself. A DC is not a producer of energy, but a consumer. And guess whose energy it is after?
Eight Steps To Achieve Any Goal
May 29, 2009
Eight Steps To Achieve Any Goal
by: Iain Legg
Know exactly what you want
This may sound obvious but unless you know exactly what you want, how can you achieve it? The more details, numbers, dates you can plan the better. You need a very clear focus of what you do want in order to receive it.
Write down your goals
This is one technique that sorts out the people who succeed and the people who fail. We are constantly reminded how important it is to write down your goals yet very very few of us do it. According to research you are 95% more likely to achieve your goal if it is written down. Enough said. Do it!
Believe
If you try and achieve a goal that you don’t truly believe in, your subconscious mind will not allow you to achieve it. You’ll only succeed in tearing yourself up inside. As Napoleon Hill said, “Whatever the mind of a man can conceive and believe, it can achieve”
Remind yourself constantly of the goal
Meditation: Time to Stop & Listen
May 28, 2009
As a co-active coach, one of the underlying principles that I subscribe to is that everyone has their own answers within. Most of what I do as a coach is to give people the time, space and permission to find these answers (and sometimes I provide a question or two to get things going).
So, outside of a coaching session, how can we learn to access these answers that we all have? One thing that I’m learning is that the answers can’t come to me if my head is always busy figuring things out, working, talking, or reading. If I’m doing those things, I’m actually blocking myself from hearing my own wise answers.
One sure way to get an answer to a question is to ask the question and listen for an answer. We’re all quite well-versed at this practice, “Have you seen my briefcase?”, “What would you like to do for dinner tonight?”, “When is that report due?”.
And what I’ve noticed for myself is that I forget this logic when it comes to listening for my own answers. Rarely do I sit quietly and listen. Rarer still do I actually intentionally *ask* myself a question.
My Golden Gym
May 27, 2009
"Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful." — Ann Landers
A year ago, almost to the day, I had an epiphany while exercising at my local gym. I was on a treadmill sweating along with about 30 other people, glued to the latest CNN horrors on the big-screen, when I glanced outside at the absolutely gorgeous spring day.
That was the precise moment when I decided to get a dog.
Okay, it wasn’t the "precise" moment?because I had been toying with the idea for almost a year. But up until that moment last year on the treadmill, I felt there was really no good reason to get a dog other than to complicate my already busy life and to add another mouth to feed along with our 2 children, 4 guinea pigs, 3 cats, 3 fish, and a then-leased horse for our daughter.
Could False Memories Be An Efficient Diet Helper?
May 26, 2009
Speculating on the scientifically proven memory unreliability, the memory specialist Elizabeth Loftus, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Irvine thought of using the technique of false memory induction as a new approach to dieting. And this is how: by inducing false memories about specific foods.
It was proven by scientific studies that under the right circumstances, false memories can be easily ingrafted in some people. Amazing results were obtained from performing such tests and studies on this topic: successfully instilling false memories from plausible false childhood memories (which are easy to instill) and imagination inflation to impossible memories (such as pretense memories from the first year of life - it is known that such memories are impossible from the strictly physiological point of view, because of the insufficient maturation of the hippocampus, which plays a key role in the creation of retrievable memories).
On a study made on a group of students on food preferences, they ranked a range of foods on a scale of one to five. In a second phase the students were shown a presumptive childhood food profile which had been made-up containing false memories of bad experiences during childhood when eating dill pickles or hard-boiled eggs. Ulterior questionning of students on their food memories revealed that 25 percent in the pickle group and 31 percent in the hard-boiled eggs group thought that they had indeed gotten sick from the food as children.
What?s The Latest on Suicide Risk and Antidepressants For Children?
May 25, 2009
FDA confirms some antidepressants increase suicide risk in some children. In February of 2004, two advisory committees of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that the FDA warn practitioners about the possible risk of suicide potential associated with antidepressant treatment in children. The information was obtained from clinical trials of medications with children, expert witnesses on suicide research, testimony from families of suicide victims, as well as from those whose children had benefited from antidepressant medication.
At a second meeting last year, improvement on antidepressant study designs and monitoring for suicide risk was discussed. Now, federal officials are preparing stronger warnings giving some antidepressants to children after new analyses back a suspected link to suicidal thoughts and behavior. FDA and Columbia University psychiatric specialists have re-evaluated 25 studies involving more than 4,000 young people and eight antidepressants. When all the results were lumped together, young antidepressant users were about 1.8% times more likely to have suicidal thoughts or behaviors than patients given dummy pills. Risk varied widely from drug to drug and among studies of the same drug, but studies of Effexor showed particular risk.
Scaling Down (Almost) Painlessly
May 24, 2009
Moving to a smaller house or apartment in a retirement community almost always involves a certain degree of trauma, both for the elder who’s moving and for family members. However, by planning ahead you can reduce the discomfort involved and turn what might well become a nightmare into a pleasant event.
Begin by Planning for the Move
Where is the elder moving? Go to the actual house or apartment with tape measure, pad and pencil and write down measurements. Floor space is important, but don’t forget about ceilings. Many elders own large pieces of furniture that may not fit into rooms with low ceilings. Your work here will determine which pieces can move with your elder.
And while you’re at the actual location, talk to several other elders who already live there. What is their life style? Do they go outside the property on frequent trips? How do they dress? Casual lifestyles will require an entirely different style of dress than more formal ones.
Gather Supplies and Contact Helpers
Disabling Your Distractibility
May 24, 2009
Disabling Your Distractibility
by: Brad Isaac
Goal oriented people have a lot on their minds. We are constantly thinking about our To-Do lists, who we need to contact, our schedules, meetings, family obligations, barbecues you name it. As such, when we are in a meeting or listening to a presentation there may be a tendency for the mind to drift off thinking about what we need to do when we get out of this meeting. These distractions prevent us from focusing on what is going on in our current surroundings. It impairs our ability to learn and oftentimes we miss critical elements of what’s going on or what is being told to us.
For me personally, it is usually “a trigger word” that the speaker trainer uses that gets my mind on to another subject. Let me give an example: perhaps I am in a meeting where the speaker mentions having “time pressure” for a certain project. The words time pressure trigger in my mind my task list. Immediately, I start wondering if there something I’m forgetting? Inevitably I may start running down my list of tasks one by one which in a fact does not give my mind the clarity to listen to what the speaker is saying. For you, your trigger may be something else. It could be sights such as pictures on the wall, computer screensavers or a co-worker’s doodle on their notepad.
