Blood Glucose level is important in order for you to feel better. counting carbohydrate servings may help you so you can have a good balance between the carbohydrates consumed and insulin intake. If you are aware of what constitutes a carbohydrate serving you will be able to better plan your meals.
Carbohydrates are foods that provide sugar : some examples of these foods , pasta, rice, grains, breads, crackers, cereals, starchy vegetables such as potatoes, corns and peas, beans and legumes, yogurt, milk, soy milk, fruits and fruit juices, sweets such as jam,jell, ice cream, cookies, cakes.
The question is, how many carbohydrates per one serving? One serving contains 15grams of carbohydrate.
How many carbohydrate servings to eat at your means and snacks? The answer is 3 t o 5 servings of carbohydrate foods at each meal, and 1 to 2 carbohydrate servings for each snack.
You must choose the healthiest carbohydrates for your meals. It is well known that good sources come from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, milk or milk products. It is recommended to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, 3 servings of whole grains and 2-4 servings of dairy.
It is important to check your blood sugar regularly, so you can find out when you need to eat carbohydrates. To balance your diet you must have 4-6 ounces of protein each day. Choose the best low-fat sources of protein, vegetarian foods would be ideal, soy is good unless you are allergic to soy beans.
Make sure you read the labels, so you make wise decisions to benefit your body.
Archive for the ‘Healthy living’ Category
Type 2 Diabetes
Saturday, June 26th, 2010Pregnancy and depression.
Thursday, June 24th, 2010Pregnancy can bring episodes of mood swings, it makes life difficult for 10-15% of pregnant women. There is an undeniable link between hyperemesis gravidarum, that is excessive vomiting during pregnancy and the pregnancy itself.
Some women have expressed during their pregnancy complicated by hyperemesis, dehydration, lack of energy, that they had a very stressful home life, they have reported having relationship problems stressing their existence. For some women the pregnancy has been the product of rape, or an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. At some point in their pregnancy some women have stated that because of the constant malaise and extreme hyperemesis and its effects they wish to die, simply because they can not see the end.
Truly this turns out to be a very complicated matter, problem that it takes a multidisciplinary approach to fight on behalf of the depressed pregnant person. Hospitalization is unavoidable, adding furthermore to the depression. Some women go as far as wanting to end their pregnancy, these creates a new set of problems, conflicts, ethical dilemmas, spreading the stress not only between the pregnant woman and her partner, but to all those involved in her care. You have to put yourself in the pregnant woman’s shoes, to get a glimpse of understanding, before you make any kind of judgment. What would you do? Very difficult to say.
The Isolation-Depression link!
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010It is a fact of life that if we do not bond with other people we often get depressed. Depressed individuals are usually not interested, and do not “feel like” being with other people, thus isolating themselves. A cascade of events follow, isolated individual, less bonding takes place, less activity less people interaction, depression increases and it perpetuates a vicious circle. You must get out of the vicious circle. Isolation is not the solution to anything, unless you have TB (tuberculosis) and need to be in isolation to prevent from spreading infection to your community.
If your isolation is causing you to be depressed, reach out, seek help from a recognized therapist, perhaps you might need medication. If you are averse to taking medication, check with your physician see if strenuous exercise will be another option for you to get out of your depressed state.
If you notice that you frequently are tired, sleep deprived, attacked by negative thinking, and that you have lost your motivation, and out of nowhere you came up with suicidal thoughts, have lost interest in sex; these elements are going to take you to depression avenue. Help is out there and you must seek it. A research shows that depression is the number eight leading cause of death in the United States of America. It is OK to call for help, you are not alone.
Men, Women and s..!
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010Viva la diferencia! Men and women are so different. Books and books exist, were and are written,about the differences between men and women. Physically men are stronger than women, that is no secret. What is fascinating to me is that their brain wiring accounts for remarkable differences. Due to the anatomy physiology of the brain their responses to intimacy and other relationship issues can be accounted for. The story is told about a woman who was dissatisfied with her husband’s general performance, she had decided to be faithful to him no matter what, however after a while she had enough and got involved with a coworker who kept flirting with her. They agreed that they would have an affair just “for fun”. She found herself wanting to spend more time with her coworker, and became more attached to him, she was pushing him to meet twice a week, rather than once a week. He was not as interested as before, things changed, he found himself more detached.She thought she could just break it off, she felt used,however her limbic system(in her brain) had news for her. Research has shown that women’s deep limbic brains are larger than men’s therefore women have an easier time getting in touch with their feelings. Women have a more acute sense of smell than men, they also have an increase ability to bond than their counterpart, they also generally speaking can express their feelings at will. The woman of the story made the wrong choice, consequently lost her husband and her acquaintance, falling pray to depression.
Children are affected by your parenting!Part 2
Monday, June 21st, 2010Your brain likes good thoughts, remember that bad thoughts are as ants that can ruin the best picnic. Teach your children the art of healing their body by extinguishing the ants. Help them fight depression and discouragement. ANT’s stand for Automatic Negative Thoughts says Dr. Amen.
Fight the ANT’s. Examples of ANT’s are “Father never is here for me”, ” Nobody likes me”, ” It’s all my fault”. Blaming is hurtful and harmful. All these negative thoughts affect your life, what goes on in your brain through the course of the day can determine how you behave. If your pattern is ANT’s you will reap self-defeating behavior.
The oposite is true, positive thoughts will self promote you, you will be successful, and happy.
Insist and teach your children that ANT’s can hurt their relationships, their work, their lives. Teach them to be aware of the ANT’s, so as soon as one of the negative thoughts pops up, they can talk back to it; this takes its power away and they can gain control over their mood.
Encourage your children to surround themselves with people who can provide definite positive bonding. Surround themselves with great smells. Elements to enhance bonding are, clear communication, assuming the best, keeping the relationships fresh, notice the good aspects of a relationship, nurture trust, making time for good relationships.
Pleasant smells affect moods, fragrances affect the working of your brain in a positive and powerful way.
I hope this post will help your parent child relationship.
Children are affected by your parenting!
Sunday, June 20th, 2010No question about it we can enhance positive thought pattern and create deep strong connections. We can start when our children are little, by leaving fingerprints of a good positive bible text such as the one that talks about whatever is true, pure, honorable, right, lovely, whatever of good repute, we should notice its excellence, anything worthy of praise without a doubt, let your mind dwell on these positive and good things.
Our brain’s limbic system is responsible for the process of our sense of smell, it is as a magnificent computer, able to store highly charged emotional memories that have to do with our appetite cycles, sexuality, moods and bonding experiences.
We must protect our children’s brains. Every though we have in our brain sends an electrical signal throughout the brain. Our thoughts have what is called physical properties. These affect every cell in our body. You can attest to this just observe when you have a bad thought, your body reacts to it, I do not have to tell you that you become angry, tense, your heart rate goes up, your palms start to sweat. The opposite is true for happy thoughts, your body reacts to your good thoughts as well. You must help your children train their thoughts to be good thoughts. Help them see bad thoughts as ants at a picnic. You want to get rid of those ants.
Doctor/ Give yourself a treat!
Friday, June 18th, 2010It is no secret that you work long hours, sacrifice yourself, getting little sleep, and sometimes not eating or eating on the run.When there is such demand on your time, you must take care of yourself, set some boundaries to protect your health. Try taking 5 minute mini breaks through the day, make sure you get breakfast, lunch and dinner so that you can better do what you do best “take care of others”.
Ponder the thought of you in a relaxing atmosphere, a quiet place, beautiful music, if you like the woods, imagine you walking through a vast exuberant forest. You are breathing pure air and have noticed the beautiful sent of pine trees, soon you come to a small shallow creek and deciding to sit on a rock near the stream of clear water you take a deep cleansing breath. As you sit you are aware of the birds flying around and some birds playing near the water. As you look behind you, you are able to get a glimpse of a squirrel with reddish-brown fur and bushy tail enjoying an acorn, the squirrel sees you and quickly runs up the oak tree. You wish you had a camera to capture the view in pictures, however you did not bring your camera and you are now resigned to the idea of using your mind and your heart to keep the magnificent view in your memory bank. How refreshing it is to take time alone, so you can pull yourself together, treat yourself you are worth it!
You can ponder and imagine a quiet time, what is more you should turn it into a reality by planning a mini-vacation to your favorite place, revitalize yourself for you, and by default for others.
Beyond Anxiety…
Friday, June 18th, 2010When you let anxiety take control of your life, you have gone beyond your own boundaries, you are in a way insulting yourself, invading your own territory. Do not fear, there is a point of return, take a deep breath, find a quiet place, breath deeply and think. Anxiety is not your commander, you are the one in charge. Do not allow fear to destroy you and in the process cause collateral damage.
If you have not already done it, count your blessings, thank God for giving you one more day to breath, to walk, to use your arms, your eyes to see, your mouth to talk to someone, your ears to hear, you have a heart to pump blood through your body, giving you an opportunity to be alive. Do not allow your anxiety to take you to the wrong side of the spectrum, where life does not have a chance, do not even go there!
Sit down and take three deep breaths, or take deep breaths as you take a solace moment, you owe it to yourself, you are a valuable individual who wants more out of life than anxiety and negativity. It is not bad to be anxious when your anxiety is within the healthy limits. Do not let it get out of hand. You can do it , you can decide to be calm, so you can make the right decisions and continue enjoying your wonderful life. Share your calmness with others, let it flow out of you!
Possitively Angry, post anger!
Thursday, June 17th, 2010Diffusing anger is a conscious choice made by you and you alone. However the normal response to the perceived or real attack to your ego is anger. You will not benefit if you stay in that anger state. Anger is normal and very human, to be angry is also divine, God gets angry. When God gets angry He knows exactly what to do He is God. I figured that if it is OK for God to get angry, it is OK for me to get angry.
He says in the scriptures that you can get angry, yet not sin. He also mentions that we should get rid of anger, bitterness, wrath. He wants us to be loving one to another, tenderhearted loving, forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave us. Turning your anger into a positive experience resides in your conscious choice. God gives you the creative power to do it, he has given you a mind that when used to its highest potential produces astonishing life transforming results. You can start by giving baby steps, when angry, if possible remove yourself from the situation, let your emotion be diffused by using some kind of exercise such as walking, running, jogging, swimming, if you are into cleaning, clean. All these activities help you blow out steam, transforming the anger into a source of peace and happiness, allowing your mind to replace the anger with love and kindness, forgiveness, thus helping your health and well-being.
Anger…
Monday, June 14th, 2010Posing yourself the questions: Why do I feel angry? Do I even know?
You may speculate all you want, the truth of the matter is clear, you do know the answers. You know why you have allowed yourself to feel angry.
Is anger a universal emotion? Yes and No. Yes if it includes other emotions such as frustration, annoyance, contempt, vengefulnes, envy to name a few of the category members.
What makes you angry?
Deep in the core of the matter is the demeaning act. This is to say that we have been considered less than we want to be; we have been sent an attack against the “me and mine”, therefore as a result we have a wounded self-esteem.
If you analyse yourself, you can feel angry without being angry. Emotional feelings are subjective. Feeling is temporary, emotion is more abstract, it involves a subject-object relation to constitute the emotion.
What to do about your anger? You need your problem-solving behaviour to be generated or to kick in.
You do not want your anger to turn into emotional aggressiveness.
It is OK to be angry, to feel angry. You must channel your anger so that it travels an avenue that will convert all that bottle up energy into a positively productive expression of emotion. Avoiding in this manner a destructive outburst. Some activities that you may use as outlets to diffuse your anger could be: playing tennis, jogging, jumping rope, exercise, hiking.