As if diabetes management isn't complicated enough, dealing with different types of blood glucose measures can make it more so.
Those cities and towns that have made exemplary advances in planning for a surge of ill patients and ways to mitigate the flu's potential devastation were honored, and the lessons they learned were shared during the Second National Congress on Health System Readiness: Pandemic Influenza Community Preparedness Planning, held July 18 to 20 in Washington, D.C.
"Assuming that the subtyping holds up and meets the test of time, we hope to identify specific treatments for specific types of alcoholics," said Howard B. Moss, MD, lead author and associate director for clinical and translational research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "Some may be more amenable to medications to treat alcohol dependence than others, and researchers might find this information useful as they're putting together trials for new agents to treat alcoholism."
Doctors and psychologists see it all the time: people who have substantial debts are highly stressed and often in ill health. They can suffer from an inability to focus, lowered performance, depression, relationship problems, frequent colds, poor sleep, overeating, digestive disorders, high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease. Although the problem is widespread, medecine doesn’t understand it very well, mostly because of the difficulty in designing appropriate tests (see the Washington Post article “In Over Your Head? Ask Your Body.”). But perhaps a bit of ancient Chinese wisdom can shed some light on the mechanisms involved—and provide a few tips on how to stay healthy in spite of debt and other long-term stressors.
Central to all ancient Chinese sciences, including Traditional Chinese Medicine, is a view of nature called the Law of 5 elements. It’s a way of classifying things according to their main characteristics and describes how they interact. Things that have the same characteristics reinforce each other. Things that are different influence each other along specific energy patterns.
Being in serious debt is a situation that causes a lot of worry and anxiety. Because it usually goes on for a long time, chances are that the ongoing attack will eventually affect our health. While the pattern is the same for everybody, the exact symptoms vary from person to person, depending on our individual strengths and weaknesses.
Directly affected is the digestive system. It belongs to the same group as worry and anxiety, which increase its energy. When we worry too much for too long, eventually our digestion becomes overstimulated. This can trigger all kinds of digestive problems.
Indirectly affected is the heart. It’s responsible for physical and mental activity, for joy and happiness, and provides energy to the digestive system. But when the digestive system is overstimulated, it drains energy from the heart. Our energy goes down, our activity diminishes, we can’t focus or produce, we feel down, even depressed. And, of course, we’re at greater risk for high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. In addition, low heart energy can easily upset our sleeping and make us gain weight.
These are the most common symptoms, but by no means are they the only possible ones. The excessively high energy of the digestive system increases lung energy and diminishes kidney and liver energy, all of which have their own associations, illnesses and symptoms. Both Chinese and Western medicine agree that stress can cause or trigger all kinds of health problems. Fortunately, there are some simple ways to protect our health in times of great stress, in addition to stress management and other coping systems.
It’s best to experiment with these suggestions and adjust them as needed. Listen to your body; use what works and feels good and eliminate what doesn’t. And with a bit of luck, you’ll be able to weather the stress until the debt problem is solved.
Ah, to be able to eat all manner of cakes, cookies, candy bars and other assorted sweets without having to pay the price of sugar overload! Such has been the dream of sugar addicts and diabetics—not to mention scientists and manufacturers—since the late 1800s, when saccharine, the first artificial sweetener, was discovered. Since then, there have been many more sugar substitutes, all promising better health and fulfilment of the sweet-tooth dream—but delivering only a dangerous delusion. Although these products provide zero calories, they’re still sweet, and therein lies the rub.
If these products truly delivered what they promise, if calories truly were the only yardstick by which to measure the effect of sweet foods on the body, then a simple test would show the superiority of artificial sweeteners. Take some people eating something made with sugar and some people eating the same food but made with a sugar substitute, follow them for a while and compare the results. Without a doubt, the second group would be healthier. That’s exactly what researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine did (see article sources below). They tracked some 9,000 people for several years and compared the health of those who drank regular sodas and those who drank diet sodas. To everyone’s surprise, the two groups had roughly the same risk of heart disease. Only people who drank less sodas altogether, whether regular or diet, were at lower risk. Clearly the artifical sweeteners fared no better than sugar. And the experts have no explanation—only theories.
An explanation can be found in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). According to TCM, the taste of a food, among other things, determines how it affects us. For example, a cheese sandwich, a ham sandwich and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich affect our body differently, even if the sandwiches are adjusted to have the same caloric value.
Sweet foods have the characteristic of lowering heart energy. Over time, a diet that’s high in sweets is likely to cause heart problems. It doesn’t matter whether the sweetener is sugar, honey or an artificial substitute, the result will be the same.
There are a few easy steps you can take to minimize the risk to the heart:
If you try any or all the suggestions above, chances are that you’ll soon be giving up artificial sweeteners for good—and improve your health and well-being in the process.
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