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MiracleNoodle Blog

Viewing posts tagged self-monitoring.

Is it Better to Have Large or Small Meals for Diabetes?

Perhaps you've heard the conventional dietary advice that it's better to have several smaller meals or snacks throughout the day to better regulate blood sugar levels.

And maybe you've read this post from the Miracle Noodle Weight Loss Blog about meal frequency. 

Regardless what you've heard, a new study argues that more frequent smaller meals may not be what the doctor ordered, at least when it comes to improving diabetes. 

The new study (which was published online at Diabetologia) concludes that snacks in Western society are almost always not healthy; most people who snack a couple times a day are doing so with chips, crackers, cookies and other less-than-ideally-nutritious foods. 

It doesn't take a medical study to reach that obvious conclusion. Even if a chip is baked or a cracker is gluten-free or a cookie is made with agave, these common snacks are empty calories. The only healthy snacks are those that involve fruits or vegetables and natural fats, celery and almond butter, for example (for more healthy snack ideas, read this Miracle Noodle Blog).

The online study concluded that eating a larger breakfast and lunch--but skipping dinner!--led to a reduction in weight on average, and had less hepatic fat and lower blood glucose, fasting insulin, and fasting glucagon than those who were consuming 6 smaller meals.

A caveat of this study, however: it was a very small one, with only 54 subjects involved, so further testing is required to confirm. 

That being said, some of us on the Miracle Noodle Team like to conduct self-experiments and see what nutrition regimens lead to greater weight loss. 

Jonathan Carp, M.D., Miracle Noodle's President, once thought that in order to maintain steady energy throughout the day, it was optimal to eat every four hours. But as he later learned, your body can in fact go several hours without eating, as long as when you're eating, you're eating super-dense nutritious foods, meaning lots of leafy greens and natural fats to keep blood sugar levels steady. (If you're exercising at a strenuous pace, it may be necessary for you to consume simple carbohydrates to keep blood glucose levels stable.)

The promising data from this study was that with two larger breakfast and lunches per day, of approximately the same calorie count, blood glucagon levels were reduced. Even diabetes drugs have a hard time lowering glucagon levels, concluded the researchers. 

That's promising news, even if it was a small study. 

Stay diligent with monitoring your blood sugar levels if you're going to drastically switch your nutrition regimen, however. As always, consult with a trusted medical professional or functional nutritionist if you have any questions. 

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Is Self-Monitoring Worth it For Improving Diabetes?

There are over 26 million Americans who have diabetes. You’d think in this technological age, with an app for everything under the sun, it would be easy for diabetics to manage their blood sugar and insulin levels.


But this often is not the case. Although people with diabetes have been using self-monitoring tools for several decades now, and were arguably the first collective of those with a chronic health condition to self-monitor, pricking your fingertip is still a pain in the … finger.


The technology to make it easy to record blood sugar and insulin levels has not yet caught up to other fitness- and wellness-tracker type apps.


Diabetics still need to draw blood, although it hopefully won’t be too long until a bloodless glucose monitoring device, which can communicate via Bluetooth technology to help tracking on smart phones, arrives on the market.


It would be one thing if diabetics only had to self-monitor once a day, but having to do it at least a few times a day can become a drag.


It’s no wonder that even though the American Diabetes Association recommends self-monitoring, this study concluded that only 5 percent of diabetics self-monitored daily.


Though doctors recommend self-monitoring, medical professionals are assuming that those with diabetes have the nutritional literacy to modify their dietary intake to bring blood glucose and insulin levels in balance.


[Insert shameless promotional plug here: Of course, Miracle Noodle allows diabetics to fall back in love with pasta again without fear or the noodles raising blood sugars or elliciting a heavy insulin release. Just make sure to add low-sugar sauce to the noodles so you don’t spoil the health benefits of the Miracle Noodles.]


But not everyone has the time, or frankly the interest, to learn about nutrition. Some may think that drinking apple juice is healthy, because, well, apples are generally regarded as healthy. Some may also think that eating a bowl of fruit and granola in the morning is healthy because both contain no cholesterol. People who assume this are ignorant to the fact that consuming large amounts of fructose (fruit sugars) and grains (such as granola) raise blood sugar levels.


Thus, until nutritional literacy is improved, doctors should give their patients a crash course in foods to avoid, such as often-regarded-as-healthy, fruit (in moderation fruit is ok, say a handful of blueberries and half an apple a day).


Self-monitoring, not just occasionally, but several times per day can be downright depressing. In fact, diabetics are twice as likely to suffer from depression. Having to manage a chronic condition for the rest of your life in what many consider an invasive way can get you down.


Does that mean it’s not worth it to self-monitor? Hardly. Learning to manage your diabetes by eating less foods that raise blood sugar levels, coupled with exercising is the most powerful tool to fight diabetes. Miracle Noodle can help, but it’s up to you to have the drive to improve your diabetes, even if it means self-monitoring a few times a day.


But hopefully, medical device companies will soon create a better self-diagnostic tool that require no blood sample. It’s about time medical device manufacturers help the diabetic community, by catching up to the rest of the diagnostic technology that’s out on the market.


This blog was inspired by a fantastic article in The Atlantic by Thomas Goetz, who recommends Ginger.io, an app that helps diabetics manage their condition in a social-sharing type setting.


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Exercise During Pregnancy Prevents Gestational Diabetes from Developing into Type 2

Up to 10 percent of all expecting mothers may develop gestational diabetes, and most of these women are ones who are older, heavier and non-Caucasian. 
 
But even if gestational diabetes develops, if, postpartum, you up your daily exercise routine by 20 minutes or more each day, the chances of developing type 2 diabetes are greatly reduced. 
 
The study, published online at the Journal of the American Medical Association's Internal Medicine, concluded: "Among the one-fifth of women who exercised the least, about 19 percent developed diabetes later on, compared to about 9 percent among the one-fifth who exercised the most. 
 
The researchers found that a woman’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes fell by about 9 percent for every additional 100 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise added per week." 
Women with gestational diabetes, who increased their exercise routine by slightly more than 20 minutes a day are half as likely to develop type 2 diabetes later on, concluded the study.
 
Though it's possible that some women may experience some common diabetes symptoms, for example frequent thirst and urination, most of the time, pregnant women are totally unaware that they have gestational diabetes; they typically find out from their doctor. 
 
The danger in gestational diabetes is that the baby may be delivered earlier and may be heavier than normal. 
 
Uncontrolled blood sugar during pregnancy can also result in the mother having high blood pressure or abnormal protein content in the urine (preeclampsia). 

Although gestational diabetes may disappear postpartum, the chances of the mother developing type 2 diabetes is increased, especially within 5 years of giving birth, says the study.
 
The takeaway from the study: It's very important to be physically active before, during and after pregnancy. 
 
Even if you haven't been active, though, and have recently become pregnant, take solace in the study's conclusions that you may better avoid gestational diabetes if you start exercising during pregnancy.
 

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What to do When You Have Low Blood Sugar

It's a hot, sultry day. But you want to get some exercise. So you walk a neighborhood trail that has a very steep section. You're huffing and puffing and sweating, grateful for the fresh air and spiritual well-being of sauntering in the great outdoors.

But when you crest the steep hill, you become weak and you feel like you're going to faint. You've been in this situation plenty of times before, so it doesn't come as a surprise. The first time this happened though, you were scared. 

Now, because you have an insulin pump and/or a glucometer, you're at least prepared for this situation. But in a way, it's no less scary than the first time you remember the physiological reaction of dangerously low blood sugar levels and insufficient insulin to carry the blood sugar to the cells. 

You still perhaps feel like at best it's an annoying thing you have to put up with in this lifetime; at worst, it can be something that really can get you down, having to frequently monitor your levels and potentially experiencing energy fluctuations and mood swings because of diabetes. 

With a fainting spell perilously close at hand, you lie down on your back, on the dirty trail; it beats passing out and falling down hard. Luckily, your friend who knows your medical situation well, has an ice cold soda or juice in a backpack. 

Your friend helps you take a few sips. The sugar almost instantly brings you back to life. You feel more grounded, actually, you feel above grounded. When you have diabetes and suffer from well below blood sugar levels, grounded, as you've just experienced, can literally mean being knocked down on your butt. 

But the soda is helping you feel better. 

Your friend, who considers him/herself somewhat of a home-schooled nutrition expert also has a pack of mixed nuts and raisins. Your friend tells you that you should get some food in you and hands you the mixed nuts. "It's instant energy," your well-meaning friend says. 

The overwhelming amount of nutrition advice out there equates sugar with the devil. Sugar is pro-inflammatory, sugar leads to disease, sugar causes weight gain. Your hiking buddy understands this well and tells you that all that sugar in the can of soda is bad for you. 

"The soda has 35 grams per serving and if you drink the whole can quickly that sugar has nowhere to go but get stored by the liver as body fat," your friend tells you. 

And your friend would be right. It's best not to guzzle the whole can of soda or juice in one sitting. A few sips should be all it takes to get your blood sugar levels back to normal; of course you'll have to test to verify. 

But where your friend would be wrong is telling you to eat the mixed nuts. Nuts have fat. Fat slows down the release of insulin; your blood sugar levels won't rise as quickly and you'll still feel out of it. 

Go for the raisins if they're in the mixed nuts, but skip the nuts when your blood sugar level is low. Wait until your blood sugar levels have stabilized for a little while before you eat the fat. 

It's always wise to limit added sugars in the diet. But when your blood sugar levels are well below normal, it could be just what the doctor ordered. 

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New Research Offers Positive Diabetes News

Perhaps you're familiar with the widely publicized report published in 2010 by the Centers for Disease Control, which predicts, by the year 2050, one-third of U.S. adults will have diabetes and even more will be pre-diabetic.

It would seem implausible for any good news about diabetes statistics to manifest considering such dire predictions. 

Well, good news is here, despite the gloomy forecast: rates of debilitating complications from heart attacks and strokes are on the decline. 

A U.S. study, in fact, says that over the last two decades, heart attacks and strokes have been reduced by more than 60 percent.

Amputations and kidney failure stemming from diabetes complications is also on the decline. 

What's the reason for the decline despite the skyrocketing incidence? Better screening, better pharmaceutical options and better health care. 

The CDC says that diabetes affects one in 10 adults and is the seventh-leading cause of death.

What researchers also now about diabetes is that you don't have to obese to have hardening of the arteries. Atherosclerosis, despite the common misconception that it only affects the significantly overweight, is more common in diabetics. 

Better-developed drugs are often credited with the reduction in complications from artery constriction. 

Once considered an early death sentence, diabetes, beginning back in the 1990s, was clinically proven to be a manageable disease, with the possibility of diabetics being able to control blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels at optimal levels. 

Health insurance companies also have expanded their coverage for diabetics and screening techniques drastically improved. 

For the research statistics, click here to read the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

And keep eating Miracle Noodles every day to keep your blood sugar levels and cholesterol in check!

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