Diabetes Supplements Can Be Effective Helpers

As a Type II diabetic I have had to educate myself about this disease and wondered about what supplements if any could help get my blood sugar under control.

I learned there is no magic bullet, and not substitute for proper diet and enough exercise, but there are a few doctor recommend supplements that I take.:

Alpha-lipoic acid: An antioxidant that can enhance glucose uptake, inhibit glycosylation (the abnormal attachment of sugar to protein), and helps promote and maintain eye and nerve health. A good level to begin with is 100 mg a day.

Coenzyme Q10: Diabetics are generally at more risk of having heart trouble, and CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant that helps maintain a healthy cardiac function. The recommendation is to take 60-100 mg of a soft gel capsule with your largest meal.

GTF (glucose tolerance factor) chromium: This trace element plays a role in blood sugar regulation by working with insulin to help transport glucose into cells. I recommend the form known as GTF chromium. Take 1,000 mcg daily.

Magnesium: To help promote healthy insulin production, take 400 mg daily.

Because I’m on a tighter budget these days I also found a place where I can get better quality supplements at cheaper prices. I fill up my nutritional supplement needs there and you might also want to visit their website

Simple Ways For Women To Prevent Heart Disease

Some simple adjustments to your lifestyle can help you avoid cardiovascular problems down the road.

If you have reduced or eliminated saturated fats, cheese and butter from your diet, don’t smoke and exercise 6 days a week, your heart may still be in jeopardy. The American Heart Association says that is all part of the story but there is more to it. Over half of heart attack and stroke sufferers have good cholesterol levels, according to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Other research suggests that there are two other potent risk factors women and their doctors aren’t addressing well enough. Borderline high blood pressure and inflammation get overlooked by physicians in young women they assume are healthy and fit. The longer they go unnoticed, the more damage they can do on your cardiovascular system.

The good news is there are a number of ways you can reduce these risk factors right away with just a little tweak to your routine.

Take a minute next checkup to ask your doctor, or the nurse who takes it, what your blood pressure is. Even if she didn’t tell you it was high (a reading of 140/90 or higher), don’t assume you’re in the clear. If they’re above 119/79, start making changes. Hypertension forces your heart to work harder to pump blood through the body, which can cause arteries to narrow and increase the risk of heart attack or stroke.

The University of California, San Francisco did a study and found nearly 20 percent of people under the age of 35 have prehypertension (between 120/80 and 139/89). The study found that these young adults were more likely to develop high blood pressure, or hypertension, over the next twenty years than those who had healthy readings.

We have probably all heard at one time that to prevent hypertension, lower our sodium intake. The average American consumes 41 percent more sodium a day than the recommended 2,400 milligrams. Much of this sodium comes from processed foods, like canned soups, salad dressings, and frozen entrées.

Next, think about nutrition. Eat more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, poultry, low-fat dairy, and nuts, as well as less saturated fat, red meats, and sugar. Following a diet like “DASH” will help you get sufficient nutrients proven to lower blood pressure. If you can stick with the plan you’ll reduce your heart disease risk by 24 percent. For more details, search “DASH” on http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/.

Be sure to put a bunch of bananas in your shopping cart. Potassium works with sodium to regulate the water balance in the body, which promotes normal blood pressure. Most women get only half the 4,700 milligrams of potassium they need daily; in addition to bananas (422 milligrams each), eat your way to this quota with foods such as halibut (490 milligrams for 3 ounces) and tomato sauce (453 milligrams per half cup). An alternative to eating enough is to use a supplement instead. You can save some bucks by getting quality supplements on line. Just click on these links for Potassium and Fish Oil.

Those dark circles under your eyes aren’t the only consequence of partying too long. Some research at Harvard stated that people who slept five or fewer hours a night had a 39 percent greater risk of having heart disease than those who had at least eight hours of down time. Your body needs time to repair the daily damage to cells and tissues. Try a power nap on the weekend. It’s also a way to relieve built up stress. Snoozing for 30 minutes at least three times a week reduce the odds of dying from heart disease by more than one-third.

Make yourself a PBJ to fight inflammation. Peanut butter is loaded with magnesium, and researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina found that people who consumed at least 320 milligrams of the mineral daily halved their risk of having elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, which signal inflammation. A 2-tablespoon serving of peanut butter provides 49 milligrams of the mineral; beans are also an excellent magnesium source, as are spinach and artichokes.

One last thought is to rethink your birth control plan. The same hormones that prevent pregnancy (estrogen and progestin) could also make your blood vessels less flexible and, over time, and raise your blood pressure. Go over your options every once in a while with your gynecologist. As an example research in Obstetrics & Gynecology said that women who use the birth control patch, have double the risk for blood clots as those who take oral contraceptives. This might be because they’re exposed to 60 percent more estrogen.

For most women, the benefits of birth control pills outweigh the drawbacks. But if you smoke or have pre-hypertension or hypertension and you’re on the pill, check your blood pressure with a home monitor at least once a week. If there are any changes let your family doctor and gynecologist know so they can keep an eye on your immune system.

B Is For Banana

A is for Apple, but B is for Banana. Banana is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and might even be called a super-food.

Many of us have been trying to get more fruit into our diet lately, and some information about the banana and the effects on the body makes for fascinating reading. Even though we eat more fruit than in the past, we might still rely on supplementation to keep us in peak health.

In athletics, coaches advise eating bananas about a half hour before a game for an extra boost of energy. The research says that two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90 minute workout. Bananas contain three natural sugars, sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber.

Keeping fit is only part of why we need them in our daily diets. Bananas can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions.

This tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, so it’s perfect for high blood pressure. The US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke. Research in The New England Journal of Medicine, stated eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%.

One survey undertaken by MIND on people suffering from depression indicated that many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, which helps you to relax, improves your mood and therefore you feel happier. Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Bananas have vitamin B6, which assists in regulating blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood and help calm the nervous system. They can also assist people in quitting smoking. The B6, B12, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in a banana, helps the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

If you are Anemic bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood because they are high in iron.

Have you heard the expression "going bananas" It comes from the effect they have on our brain. Students at a school in England were helped through their exams by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power by making them more alert. Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates the body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Because bananas have a natural antacid effect, try one if you suffer from heartburn. It neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach. Due to the fiber content including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without having to use laxative.

A quick way to cure a hangover is with a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

If you are pregnant, snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness. In addition many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Are you into natural alternatives? People say you can remove warts by taping a piece of banana skin on them with the yellow side out. Also people claim that rubbing mosquito bites with the inside of a banana skin reduces swelling and irritation.

Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found stress and pressure at work leads to binging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Researchers found the most obese hospital patients were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. Their conclusion was that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, control blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Keep Your Healthy Habits for the New Year

These days our economy is forcing us to be more frugal than in the past years. With costs like health care and prescriptions rising, along with everything else, it’s good to know that you can still supplement your health without going broke. SupplementsToGo is still providing quality products at prices that allow you to maintain your healthy lifestyle and supplement regimen.



After working so hard to make the right nutrition choices you want to keep the gains you made last year. Getting essential vitamins and minerals is important for a healthy diet. For many of us, our food choices do not always provide enough of the nutrients our bodies need, so adding dietary supplements into the daily routine has become a more popular way to get the nutrients our bodies need.

With so many choices it’s hard to know where to start sometimes. We hear everything from fiber, Vitamin C, the B Vitamins, Calcium, Potassium and Magnesium, multivitamins, and the list goes on depending on the particular needs.

In order to begin the year with healthy habits, here is a short list of popular supplements that others are getting online in order to benefit their healthy lifestyle resolutions. For strong healthy bones Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc and/or a Vitamin D supplement. Your immune system gets added support from Vitamin C.

One of my main supplements is Fish Oil which is well known for its ability to help the heart and cardiovascular system, and the B Complex vitamins play an important role in giving us more energy. Lutein is important for clear, healthy vision. These nutrients play different, but essential roles in your well-being.

Keep in mind that even though our country’s financial system is a little out of whack right now, don’t let your healthy lifestyle suffer also. STG can help make your life easier, and a whole lot healthier. Add lots of these essential nutrients to your daily regimen, and enjoy the endless benefits of good health at cheap prices you can live with.

What is Magnesium Diabetes?

Magnesium Diabetes is the most common disorder associated with low magnesium. As many as one out of every three people with diabetes is low on this mineral. Even more convincing: Studies show that as magnesium intake goes up, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes goes down.

Although a few studies have shown that nutritional supplements of about 350 mg a day improve insulin resistance and blood sugar control, there's little agreement among experts as to whether low magnesium levels are the cause or the result of diabetes.

Still, experts say it's a good practice to make sure you're getting enough magnesium. (Most people, especially seniors, don't.) Supplements come in a variety of forms, including magnesium acetate, aspartate, carbonate, chloride, citrate, glycinate, hydroxide, lactate, oxide, or pidolate. And they come in a variety of combinations, from multis to special-formula supplements for diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis. One study found magnesium citrate to be well absorbed.

Natural foods like green leafy vegetables, legumes, nuts, wheat germ, and whole grains provide magnesium to the body.

For the body to function, each cell must "open its door" and allow sugar to enter. Chromium has been called the key that unlocks that door. Without it, sugar builds up in the blood, and eventually diabetes develops.

It would seem to make perfect sense, then, to take chromium supplements to avoid high blood sugars. And some studies have suggested that supplementing with chromium helps keep blood sugar under control. But according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), only very low chromium levels cause problems. For most people, the ADA says, chromium supplements offer no known benefit. A recent animal study also found that one form of chromium, chromium picolinate, can trigger potentially cancer-causing cell mutations.

But not everyone is so quick to dismiss chromium's tremendous potential for people with diabetes. "There are several lines of evidence suggesting that higher doses of chromium supplements may be beneficial," says William Cefalu, MD, associate professor of medicine and director of the clinical trials unit at the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine in Burlington. Diabetes experts say 600 micrograms (mcg) a day have proven effective. (The animal studies suggesting a cancer link used much larger amounts than you would get from nutritional supplements.)

Chromium is available in a variety of forms: as single nutritional supplements, as an ingredient in multivitamins, or combined with any number of vitamins and/or minerals. Chromium picolinate and chromium histidine are believed to be better absorbed than other forms of the mineral.

Foods that contain chromium include: black pepper, broccoli, dried beans, and whole grains.

Blood Pressure a Silent Killer? Get it First!

The symptoms and signs of high blood pressure are extremely subtle and you may live with the disease for many years without knowing that you have it. The major damage it can cause includes coronary heart trouble, kidney failure or stroke. I am considered at risk, so I get my blood pressure taken often. I have even been known to sit down at one of those free checkers by the Pharmacy section in the Supermarket, just for kicks. I hear high blood pressure is often called the "silent killer" because there are not a lot of prominent symptoms.

Here are some possible high blood pressure symptoms, but because they are so common, people tend to ignore them. If you have more than one of these pretty often, you might want to talk to your doctor.

Headache
Nosebleeds
Fatigue
Stress
Consistent Anger
Dizziness
Light headiness
Red Face

Something else you can do to alleviate the potential for high blood pressure is to change your lifestyle a bit. Studies prove that when an individual consistently maintains a healthy lifestyle for at least a year-and-a-half, the blood pressure reduces significantly.

There are an estimated 65 million adults that suffer with hypertension in the United States, while another 59 million are pre-hypertensive. As these numbers are extremely alarming, it is imperative that you understand the impact that a healthy lifestyle will have on your life.

There are some simple things you can implement daily that will reduce your high blood pressure without medication being a part of your daily regimen.

A healthy dietary plan not only helps with reducing high blood pressure, but you will feel better mentally also.

Add Fruits and Vegetables:
These are a good source of stable energy, low in calories, assist with curbing the appetite and work to regulate blood sugar. Reduce the total saturated fats also.

Add Whole Grains:
These are a powerful source of complex carbohydrates and help to control cholesterol levels.

Add Exercise/Physical Activity to Your Day:
Exercise 30 minutes a day. It promotes energy, and is a great cardiovascular workout!

Control Your Weight:
Maintain a normal weight. Use less alcohol and salt. Obesity is one of the key elements that cause high blood pressure.

Along with the above tips, there are some natural supplements that can help lower blood pressure.

One of the best herbs for high blood pressure is the tumeric. Tumeric is a powerful East-Indian herb used in curry dishes. Its extract contains curcumin which is a strong anti-inflammatory, which helps reduce cholesterol while also preventing clot formation.

The ginkgo biloba derives from China. It improves blood circulation and dilates arteries to lower blood pressure. Because the herb stimulates increased blood flow to the brain, the Ginkgo helps to improve memory and mental alertness.

Yet, another prominent supplement is the ginger root. Ginger Root is commonly used for Asian cooking. It acts to improve blood circulation and relaxes muscles surrounding the blood vessels. More so, the ginger is a powerful digestive herb; helping to eliminate nausea.

Other important nutrients used to protect your heart are vitamins. Coenzyme Q10 is an essential nutrient found in the body. The vitamin-like substance CoQ10 is a natural element required for the normal maintenance of the heart.

Calcium and magnesium are two popular minerals that reduce elevated blood pressure. The recommended daily amounts of these minerals are an efficient dietary source that assists women with menopause in regard to estrogen levels and men and women over age 65. Vitamin E helps reduce the risk of developing heart disease. And, the combination of Vitamin E and C may actually delay the progression of atherosclerosis.

The National Institution of Health (NIH) provides dietary as well as supplement recommendations to decrease your risk of becoming a victim of this condition. If balanced perfectly, taking herbs and vitamins for high blood pressure will ensure that you are receiving the maximum benefits for your body.