Sport and Diabetes

Exercise lowers blood sugar levels as well. Incorporating a regular exercise program into your life is important whether you are diabetic or not, but it’s especially important if you have high blood sugar. Work with a specialist who can help design a program for your needs. If you can’t do that, take a walk. Walking is the most natural and comfortable form of exercise; it gets the circulation moving, cleanses the lymph nodes, increases the heart rate, gets the lungs pumping, and is a wonderful and safe exercise that everyone can enjoy.

Golden Seal: The Golden Healer

One herb that would most benefit the management of diabetes (of any type) alone would be the herb golden seal (Hydrastis canadensis). Golden seal is a bitter herb that has an antibiotic effect on the body and is used by many to fight infections. Its use for diabetics may have been overlooked, as this herb also lowers blood sugar levels.

In fact, some borderline diabetics have tried golden seal with success before using insulin to lower their blood sugar levels. Insulin is a substance produced by the pancreas to lower our blood sugar level. This substance is insufficient in diabetics. When using golden seal to lower the blood sugar, you will decrease your insulin requirement, so please work with your doctor to have your insulin requirement checked regularly. I have seen many utilize golden seal and other herbs in combination to make it possible for my clients to eliminate the need for insulin. This is just another wonderful benefit of using herbs for health. A combination of any of the following herbs will help to bring down and regulate your blood sugar: cedar berries, burdock, horseradish, golden seal, and Siberian ginseng. Psyllium hulls are also an excellent bulk fiber to use when suffering from diabetes. The fiber swells in the digestive tract and slows the absorption of sugars, which helps keep blood sugar from spiking up and down rapidly. Taken before each meal, psyllium hulls are a positive addition for diabetics, especially those who lack fibrous foods in their diet.

Trace minerals and zinc are other helpful supplements for diabetics of either type. With more advanced diabetes, circulatory herbs such as cayenne pepper are useful; the glands need to be balanced, the circulation improved, and the kidneys strengthened in someone with diabetes

Diabetes: How Sweet It Isn’t

Diabetes mellitus, commonly referred to as diabetes, is another serious illness and should be supervised by your medical doctor. It is an illness where the body loses its ability to utilize insulin, a chemical our pancreas makes to control the level of glucose in the blood. There are actually four types of diabetes, but we will discuss the two main types, Type I and II, in more detail.
Type I diabetes tends to run in families and is the more serious form of the disease. Type I diabetes is also called insulin-dependent diabetes, juvenile onset diabetes, brittle diabetes, or ketosis-prone diabetes. This type most often develops during childhood, although young adults also can develop this form. In childhood and in Type I diabetes, coma from not enough insulin is a constant danger. Type II diabetes is also called non-insulin-dependent diabetes, adult-onset diabetes, ketosis-resistant diabetes, or stable diabetes. Type II often develops in overweight adults. Insulin tablets are sometimes used for Type II diabetes, although insulin is given in injections in more severe cases. The kind and amount of insulin given varies with the person’s condition, and stress of any kind may require a change in the dose. Type II diabetes is a condition usually brought on by lifestyle factors such as lack of exercise and too much sugar or carbohydrates in the diet. Because it is lifestyle-related, this condition is easier to control and may even be reversible with natural remedies. Let’s see how we can work to reverse this problem by using nutritious herbs.

Other Things to Cheer You Up

A wonderful combination of Chinese herbs used to beat mild depression that seems to linger over your head like a dark cloud is a combination containing perilla, saussurea, gambir, bamboo, bupleurum, pinellia, aurantium, zhishi, ophiopogon, cyprerus, platycodon, ligusticum dang gui, panax ginseng, hoelen, coptis, ginger, and licorice. This combination will work on decongesting the liver which can help lift depression.
Another good single herb to use along with this Chinese combination is milk thistle. Besides stemming from a burdened liver, depression can be brought about by other physical factors, including nervous system or chemical imbalances, thyroid problems, or circulatory problems.
The B-complex vitamins can help combat stress and should always be considered when depressed. Zinc is another mineral crucial to mental health, and a zinc deficiency should not be overlooked with serious depression.
You might want to consider some extra steps as well if you cannot seem to snap out of depression:

• Find yourself a good counselor/psychiatrist/psychologist.
• Get some exercise.
• Temporarily change your environment to help stimulate a change in your mood.
• Act happy! The saying goes that if you act happy, you will eventually be happy.
• Smile and tell me you’re cranky, try it!
• Remember the big picture, and get philosophical. Things don’t seem so glum when you realize that there is a universal order and that everything happens for a reason.
• Try helping someone else who’s worse off than yourself. Remember that we all have something to offer the world. So don’t be sad—be glad you have something to offer!
• Give your cat some catnip and watch her play!

St. John’s Wort: A Saint for the Depressed

St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) is a pleasinglooking yellow flowering herb used by many as a mood enhancer and a stress reliever. This herb has become very popular in the media and among consumers in the United States lately. Of course, Germans have known about its positive effects on depression for some time, and doctors there write more prescriptions for St. John’s wort than for antidepressant drugs. (Maybe they are on to something there.)

What is a mind depression?

Depression can be a serious illness—as with all these ailments in this blog, see your health care provider for any medical problem. For the purposes of mild to occasional depression, we will discuss some herbs used to give a temporary mental lift; however, you should also concentrate on what is causing your depression if it seems to be ongoing.
If your goal is to wean yourself from your depression medication while your nervous system responds to your consistent use of herbal remedies and other supplements, you can work toward that goal. However, this should ONLY be attempted under supervision! Do not base your efforts solely on the suggestions given to you here! Do yourself a favor and work with your physician and a qualified herbalist to guide you in your goals.
Otherwise, for occasional “down times” and if you are not already on antidepressants, try the suggestions given here to lift your sagging spirits.

Jojoba’s Witness to Cleaning Up Dandruff

Topically, jojoba oil is one of the best herbal remedies to help your dandruff problem. When applied to the scalp at night and shampooed out the next day, the oil of the jojoba plant will nourish your skin and eliminate dandruff. Some people like to add a drop or two to styled hair for extra shine.
Sometimes dandruff is just your scalp’s way of telling you that your skin needs nourishment. A great combination of herbs to feed the skin, hair, and nails includes dulse, horsetail, sage, and rosemary. Dulse supports the thyroid, and horsetail is rich in silicon to nourish hair, skin, nails, and even teeth. Sage contains zinc and B vitamins that nourish the brain. And we already talked about rosemary’s usefulness for treating dandruff. When combined, these herbs make a great combination for dandruff. Your blood carries nutrients to all parts of your body, and an excellent herb to increase blood supply to the head area is ginkgo biloba. This herb is great for memory loss, too If your dandruff is caused by stress, a B-complex vitamin can help you with that. Other nutrients include beta carotene, vitamin A, and lecithin. Lecithin is a good brain food as well and is used to help the circulatory system.
With any problems affecting the hair, you also might want to have your thyroid checked. The thyroid takes part in regulating the metabolism, and problems with the thyroid can cause hair loss and other symptoms. Also make sure that you do not have high cholesterol, which could interfere with proper circulation.

Rosemary: Dealing with Flakes

Rosemary (Rosarinus officinalis) is an herb used topically for dandruff, but it may also be taken internally. Rosemary should be taken in small doses for internal use to help improve circulation and aid in digestion. Rosemary leaves are rich in minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, and potassium, all of which are needed by the nerves and the circulatory system. Rosemary has a mild sedating effect on the body and can calm frazzled nerves.
Rosemary oil also can be rubbed into the scalp and rubbed onto the temples for relief of tension headaches. You can also make rosemary leaves and flowers into a tea and use it as a hair rinse for treating dandruff.

Dandruff: Not Too Tough

Have you been accused of being flaky? Do your co-workers wonder if it’s snowing outside when they first see you arrive? Do you get asked where the parade was or what celebration you just came from? If so, you could be suffering from dandruff. Dandruff is a common problem characterized by small flakes of dead skin that fall from the scalp and tend to accumulate on a person’s shoulders. This can be quite embarrassing when wearing dark garments. Well, before you go wearing all white, let’s take a look at what can cause dandruff in the first place. You’ll see how herbs used topically and internally have helped many get rid of their dandruff right away.
Poor circulation, nervous disorders, or a combination of both may cause dandruff. When there is poor circulation to the scalp, the skin cells die from lack of nourishment and shed in large flakes. You should improve circulation to help bring nutrients to the top of the head, and you also should decrease stress. Herbs can assist in both of these areas.