Garlic and Diabetes - Does it help?

We have seen the medicinal properties and the usages of garlic in the previous posts. We know garlic is a disinfectant with anti- bacterial and anti-fungal properties. And it has got many healing powers and it is believed to be one of the diabetes natural treatments. If you are diabetic and want to keep your blood sugar under control garlic is one of your good options.

Let us see how and why.

The main content of garlic is ALLICIN. This allicin naturally reacts inside the body and helps to improve the Glycemic control. The ALLICIN reaction can counter the negative levels of insulin and maintain insulin level in the case of TYPE II diabetes (non-insulin dependent).

It is proved that Garlic can slow down the process of free radicals production and help in lowering blood glucose levels. The study in King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia on rats (link here) and by other scientists on humans (link here) have shown the properties of garlic like anti-hyperglycemic and lipid-lowering properties. These suggest that garlic can be a valuable addition in helping Type-II diabetes patients with good Glycemic control and also in preventing long term complications from diabetes 

I have suggested in my earlier posts on usage of honey, that diabetic patients can use small quantity of raw and pure honey daily in the morning and given a recipe also – i.e. Take a tumbler of warm water, Add 1 Teaspoon honey, Stir well, Add few drops of lemon and drink it. This energy drink should be taken in the empty stomach.

Likewise another health drink at bed time is with garlic. Take two or three cloves of raw garlic drop those cloves in a tumbler of hot milk, leave it for some 15 minutes, and then drink it at the bed time. This will help you in preventing against many diseases

Always use only peeled garlic cloves. All of us know that garlic is used in our kitchen in various forms to prepare various dishes. 

If you worry about how to break the garlic bulb , How to peel it etc, check out the 2 minute video from American diabetes association. It is interesting and funny.

My advice is to consult your doctor before using either honey or garlic as a regular measure. 

Diabetic patients should do regular exercises, have to follow their diet chart, should take medicines in time and have to undergo tests regularly . By this way diabetic patients can lead a normal and healthy life.

In my next post will share my views about another natural herb.

Garlic – Natural food related to Heart and blood systems

In our previous post, we saw the uses of “Insulin Plant” as natural remedy for diabetes. Now, we'll see about another useful plant that is regularly used as a flavour in cooking.

Garlic Plant is a close relative of onion and other bulbous plants. For many generations garlic is in use because of its medicinal value. Garlic has been used widely to prevent or help in the cure of many illnesses like Ulcers, Headaches, Cancers, Diabetes, High cholesterol, Blood pressure, Fatigue, Liver disorders, Bronchitis and more. It is even helpful in curing Snakebite. 

Some of these effectiveness have been confirmed by “NIH” – National Institutes of Health, U.S.A (mainly in case of BP, Hardening of Arteries, Prevention of Colon, Rectal and stomach cancers etc.). Check out the NIH Link here.

The main medicinal ingredient in garlic is ALLICIN which is an anti-biotic and antifungal compound. This is released when crushing garlic cloves and ALLICIN is what gives the famous garlic smell.

  

Garlic is a natural plant used widely in cooking as a flavour in various cuisines in Asia, Middle east, Southern Europe etc. It is also used as a medicine in ancient and modern to cure many diseases because of its medicinal properties.

Garlic is recommended for the prevention of some types of cancers like Rectal Cancer, Prostate cancer and colon cancer etc.  It is a good herb for prevention of cancer.

Garlic helps to boost up our metabolism rate, thereby helping to reduce over weight easily. It is sometimes called the miracle food in reducing weight. Also garlic lowers or helps to regulate blood sugar. Hence diabetic patients can also take this wonderful drug regularly.

Garlic is also referred in many places as a repellent and even as an antidote for insects and snake bites.  

In the case of earache, just crush one or two cloves of garlic and put two or three drops of oil in to the ears, it will give immediate relief.

For the best result use only Raw garlic because if cooked it will have very little medicinal effect. Use only 1 or 2 cloves of raw garlic a day. Taking more than 1 or 2 cloves daily is not advisable since it may harm to health.

In the cases of children, heart patients, diabetic patients have to consult your doctor before consuming this natural herb.

Next post will cover some more usages of this wonderful nature product.

Insulin Plant is a natural remedy for Diabetes

I have given some information about the benefits of honey for Diabetics, and my opinion that type-II diabetic patients can use little quantity of pure and raw honey daily.

In this post I like to share my views about one anti-diabetic plant named INSULIN Plant and its medicinal effects to treat diabetic people. Some of you may know about this plant and may be using it. 

In my view this insulin plant is a medicinal plant that has got medicinal effects to cure diabetes. The leaves of this plant help to build up insulin and that is why it is called insulin plant.

Insulin Plant leaves

The plant has large fleshy leaves (You can see the pictures taken from my Garden) and also big beautiful flowers in yellow and Orange. This plan is native to Southeast Asia, i.e. islands of Indonesia and is being cultivated in India (Himalayan regions) for medicinal purposes.

This plant belongs to the family of COSTACEAE. Consumption of the leaves from this plant is known to lower blood sugar levels. Thereby diabetics who use these leaves report a fall in their blood glucose levels.

Insulin Plant leaves

One of the studies from Indian council of medical research reveals that the leaves of the insulin plant reduced the fasting and postprandial blood sugar levels in rats. 

This plant is easily available in most of the nurseries and in the villages in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Karnataka and some other parts of India.

How to use?

Diabetics can take two leaves in the morning and two leaves in the evening for one week. The leaves must be chewed well before swallowing.

After one week take one leaf in the morning and one in the evening. Continue this for 30 days and studies say that you can take even sweets in small quantity after completion of 30 days of treatment. Try this and see if this helps you keep away the problems of diabetes.

Is there any side effect if we use this natural herb will be your next question. Few say if it is used for a longer period it may cause some kidney problems. In my opinion any drug if is used for longer period may cause some side effects.  So we have to use for a short period and check the result and then continue if necessary.  However the diabetic patients have to take tests after using this plant and consult your Doctor. It is learnt even some allopathy doctors are recommending this herb along with their medicines. Many people are reporting this as a good medicine to help in diabetes.

There are also some other natural plants or herbs which may help to prevent or to cure diabetes but this INSULIN plant is number one.

Caution: Diabetics when using these kinds of herbs or any medicine kindly note the changes in the body due to low sugar. if you feel sudden giddiness, immediately swallow some sugar or sweets and stop the medicines that you are using for diabetes and immediately consult your doctor. Watchout for any adverse or uncomfortable reactions. Always try out medicines or herbs in small quantities carefully.

Your views and comments are appreciated.

Can Diabetics use Honey?

We have seen about the properties and the usage of honey in my previous posts. Now the big question is whether diabetic patients can use honey regularly? My answer is YES. Type II Diabetics can use honey daily in little quantity, say one teaspoon daily in the morning with warm water. Let us see why and how?

Recent study shows that honey improves GLYCEMIC control in diabetics. What is this GLYCEMIC control?

GLYCEMIC control means the control of blood sugar, in other words keeping the blood sugar at normal level. Control of the blood sugar is very good thing in diabetics.

GLYCEMIC index (GI) plays a major role with diabetics and with other people. Honey has got lower GI than sugar. The studies show that Honey’s GI is 55 and that of sugar is 61.  LowGI diets have been proved to help for improved insulin. Since the honey has got lowGI than sugar it provides stronger and steadier sources of energy.

Also research reveals that honey reduces lipid abnormalities (cholesterol). Hence diabetics can consume little quantity of raw and pure honey daily in the morning. Really it will help in many ways. This is from my experience.

While using raw honey for children you have to use only after consultation with your Doctor, say for the type of honey, quality, the dosages have to be checked before using to children.

In my opinion TYPE II diabetics can take honey and others can also do it regularly. My advice to diabetics is they have to monitor their blood glucose levels periodically, have to do exercises regularly and to take medicines in time. They have to follow their diet char strictly. With these regulations diabetics can lead a normal life with HONEY.

I will add more DIABETES related topics and information in coming posts.

Some Usages of Honey

Through my previous post you might have known how good Honey is. Since it contains instant sugar it provides instant energy.

A spoon of honey taken with warm water in empty stomach in the morning will be useful in weight management and will give you energy throughout that day.

Honey can be used in the place of sugar. In other words, it can be used as sugar substitute. Since honey has got more calories than sugar we can take lesser quantity than sugar.

Honey is best for digestion. If you take a teaspoon of honey daily it will help for easy digestion. Always use only raw and pure honey that too with warm water. Raw honey is a natural sweetener.

During cough and cold you can try honey. Honey can also be used to heal wounds.

Honey can be used in fruit salad instead of sugar. A healthy salad can be prepared with honey and banana fruits or with other fruits and vegetables. Honey can be taken with bread slices also.

As I already stated in my previous post, honey is used in most of the Indian medicines. 

Honey is a natural energy booster. One simple way of preparing energy booster for Adults is given below please try.

Take a cup of warm water, add one spoon of pure honey, stir it well and add few drops of lemon. Now the energy drinks is ready. Take this drink daily morning in empty stomach and see the result. Definitely it will give you energy throughout that day.

If you are having more information about Honey, kindly share as comments, it will be helpful to all of us.

One big question arises with most of the people is whether Honey can be used by DIABETIC People?  I also had this doubt and have collected information. I will share it in my next post.  

Benefits of Honey

Honey is another valuable product from nature. Honey is a great immune booster. The health effects of honey have been noted by mankind since past many thousands of years. It is said that in India Honey has been used in Ayurveda medicines since 4000 years. (There are some proofs that honey was known and extracted even before 8000 years as noted in some cave paintings in Valencia, Spain)  

The benefits of honey with its numerous medicinal effects had been recorded in ancient texts like Vedic, Koran, and Bible and also in various other religious texts.  There are different types of honey available in different countries. But I suggest you to use only country’s nature products. If possible find a quality source from your locality, because it is easy to check the quality.

Because honey contains several medicinal effects it is used in making traditional medicines like Ayurveda, Siddha, Naturopathy etc. We would have noticed that in our home treatments (in other words Grandma’s treatments) especially in case of children they use honey freely to cure many problems. 

Since it contains instant sugar it produces instant energy. The vitamins contained in honey are B1, B2, B3, B6, Vitamin C, etc., Do you know? Honey has powerful anti -bacterial properties. And it is non-toxic with strong effects. The contents in honey includes Sugars, minerals like Magnesium, Calcium, Sodium, Chlorine, Sulphur, Iron, Phosphate etc., The P/H level of honey generally noticed between 3.2 to 4.5. This PH level prevents the growth of many bacteria. See more about Honey’s Nutrition properties in Wikipedia here

Of course honey cannot cure cancer but it is anticancer. All of us very well know prevention is better than cure.

How to find if honey is pure? Here is one simple way. Take a glass of water and add one teaspoon full of liquid honey, if it is pure it will take time to dissolve in water. And if it is impure or adulterated the taste will differs from the original product. Pure honey needs a little efforts of stirring it in water to get dissolved.

Friends, I have given some information about this valuable nature honey if you know anything more about honey please share.

Sunflower Seeds - Good seed/snack for Heart problems

Friends, so far we saw posts regarding Homeopathy and its types of medicines, potency etc. I also want to share you information regarding Nature foods, Natural and Healthy living.

Nature is God’s creation and natural products like Plants, Trees, Roots, Vegetables, Fruits, Seeds, Nuts, Water etc., help us lead a healthy life. Most of the nature’s products are identified as natural herbs because they contain medicinal properties of their own.

In this post, we will discuss about one such natural product SUNFLOWER SEEDS and how it can help us with its medicinal effects.

Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of vitamin E, which has a significant anti-inflammatory property. Vitamin E plays an important role in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.  They help in managing diabetes since they are low in carbohydrate. 

Sunflower Seed

These seeds are very good source of magnesium, hence it will help to reduce severity of Asthma, BP and work well to prevent migraine headache. Sunflower seeds also helps to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Since these seeds contain Selenium which will act to reduce the risk of cancer. The usage of this seeds will also help to control cell damages, thus playing a role in preventing cancer because of the Selenium content.  

Further it should be noted these seeds contain minerals like Calcium, Magnesium, Copper which help to make bones stronger. Since these seeds contain Vitamin E it will help to reduce arthritic pain also.

See this interesting information, if you take just a handful of sunflower seeds a day it will keep heart troubles away. Why? Because these seeds disallow cholesterol from sticking to the walls of arteries, by this way it helps to prevent heart attack.

Now you may understand the importance of this nature food and how it acts in our body with its medicinal properties.

I hope this information will be very useful to you. These seeds are available in most of the departmental stores and are not too costly also..  Don’t use roasted one, use only plain seeds. 

Hint: Although the closed seed is cheaper, I prefer buying the opened seed, otherwise it is a big bother breaking the seeds to get the kernel :).  

Try this to avoid heart problems. Give your comments and also share if you have any information with regards to this topic. It will be much appreciated and useful to all. Ok?