A healthy balanced diet means eating from a variety of food groups to gain the nutrients we need for functioning at our best. We may choose to exclude a particular food group for any number of reasons – faith or religious beliefs, health beliefs, ethical or green reasons, or we may have an allergy or intolerance. Nutrients fall into six categories: carbohydrates, protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and fat. The main food groups include simple and complex sugars, fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, dairy, nuts, and pulses. Excluding food groups can put us at risk of a deficiency, but with knowledge and careful planning, we can avoid this. Let’s take a look at each in turn.
People with diabetes have high blood sugar (glucose) levels that can cause damage to their feet. High blood sugar levels can damage nerves in your feet (peripheral neuropathy), making them less able to feel pain, cold, and heat. As a result, foot problems can go unnoticed. Therefore, complications are more likely due to a lack of prompt treatment. High blood sugar levels can also damage blood vessels, leading to plaque forming inside them (peripheral arterial disease). These narrowed blood vessels reduce blood flow to your feet. A reduced blood supply to your feet means they can’t heal as well as usual. Therefore, effective foot care is essential in diabetes. Effective foot care is crucial in both types 1 and 2 diabetes. Foot problems include blisters, cuts, athlete’s foot, corns, calluses, dry skin, verrucas, in-grown toenails, and fungal nail infections. In extreme cases, the resulting complications can include bacterial infections, ulcers, gangrene, and even amputation.
DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. Hypertension means high blood pressure, so the DASH diet uses diet changes to help control blood pressure. The diet emphasizes having lots of vegetables and fruit, low-fat dairy, whole grains, fish and poultry, and some nuts and seeds and limits refined sugars, red and processed meat, and high fat and saturated fat.
You’re familiar with intermittent fasting, but have you heard of OMAD+B? Consisting of one meal per day plus breakfast, you get all the advantages of intermittent fasting, but undertaken in a sustainable, manageable way. So, you’re on a mission to build a leaner, meaner you? But feel overwhelmed with all the fad diets and science? The simple OMAD+B could be just the answer. Say no to hunger pangs and the temptation to indulge. Say yes to saving time and money, say yes to needing a new closet of clothes, say yes to losing weight and keeping it off.
In both the UK and the USA, as well as globally in general, obesity is a serious public health issue. Nearly two-thirds of adults in the UK are categorized as overweight, with more than a quarter being classed obese, according to the NHS Digital. In the USA, more than 70% of adults are overweight or obese. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that since 1975, the prevalence of obesity has almost tripled globally, with more than 1.9 billion persons worldwide being overweight in 2016—more than 650 million of them were obese. An increased risk of various prevalent diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers, is linked to being overweight or obese. According to research, being overweight also increased a person's risk of developing COVID-19 complications and was associated with a higher risk of developing serious disease and death from COVID-19.
Having hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid gland, requires changes to medication and close monitoring throughout pregnancy and afterward. With the right treatment, you should be able to expect a healthy baby and a healthy you right up to term and delivery.
Diastix test strips detect sugar (glucose) levels in your urine. They are for people with diabetes or pre-diabetes. Diabetes is associated with uncontrolled high blood glucose levels. This occurs when either you're not producing enough of a hormone called insulin (type 1 diabetes) or your insulin is not working properly (type 2 diabetes). In healthy individuals, glucose is usually not found in the urine. As people with diabetes have high blood glucose levels, their kidneys can't filter all the glucose out of their urine. As a result, Diastix can help indicate your glucose levels. It is an alternative if you do not like testing your blood. Self-monitoring of glucose is mainly for people with type 1 diabetes. However, sometimes it can be beneficial for type 2 diabetes. Diastix is available over the counter and by prescription.
Food allergies are on the rise and can cause a great deal of alarm, particularly to parents. How do you know if you or your child has an allergy? Let's take you through the most common food allergies and how you can spot the signs. An allergy to a particular component in food prompts the immune system to go into overdrive, causing symptoms in the gut, skin, and airways. Food allergies are common in young children, but most grow out of these as their immune system develops. Reactions vary from mild to severe. They may be as common as affecting one in 10 adults, and up to half of these were reported to have had a severe reaction, according to one study.
Diabetes mellitus is essentially a problem with keeping your blood sugar in check, and this can have far-reaching consequences from head to toe. Your feet are at particular risk for a number of reasons, and they are checked every year in your annual diabetes check-up. This ensures that any problems are found early and addressed.
It’s likely that you’ve heard the term ‘diabetes’ but what is it? What are the symptoms? Are there different types? Will I need insulin? In this quick read article, we'll give you an overview of diabetes and help answer the most common questions doctors get asked.
If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes Type 1 or Type 2, it can take a toll on your eyesight. Over time, if your diabetes is not well-controlled, it can affect the back of the eye, called the retina. As part of the long-term care for your diabetes, you should have yearly retinal screening, where they check for early signs of damage.
Living with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes necessitates maintaining optimal blood sugar levels throughout the day, although treatment approaches may differ. However, determining whether products and medications are truly sugar-free can be challenging. To navigate this issue, individuals must familiarize themselves with the various labels found on food items and medications. It is important to note that while excessive sugar consumption can lead to blood glucose spikes, other food groups can also contribute to this effect.