Type 2 diabetes rates have risen markedly in recent years among the general population around the world. The rise has been noted particularly—but not exclusively—in Western countries. Several factors, including the ancillary introduction of environmental precipitators, such as BPA, as well as diets that are rich in processed and ultra-processed foods, have been cited by studies as likely contributors to this trend. The rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes is particularly worrisome given the subsequent increase in the likelihood of strokes and heart disease as well as eye damage and kidney disease.

Environmental Health Perspectives recently published the results of a nine-year study that was conducted by Australian and French scientists. The study found a correlation between exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), which is commonly found in many plastics, and the emergence of type 2 diabetes. The research, which was conducted by the Melbourne-based Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, concluded that consumers should be advised to refrain from re-using plastic bottles and take-out containers, which are two of the more commonly used plastics with BPA content, as a way of reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes. The study also found a correlation between exposure to BPS, which has been used extensively as a BPA substitute in response to restrictions on BPA usage, and the emergence of type 2 diabetes.

A second and even more recent study, which was published on December 16, 2019, by Jama Internal Medicine, pointed to a likely correlation between the consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) and type 2 diabetes, citing a 15% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes with every 10% increase in UPF consumption. The study’s results remained statistically significant even following adjustment for metabolic comorbidities, weight change, and other factors among the subjects.

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Scientists are overwhelmingly in consensus that one of the keys to remaining healthy in the long term is to adopt a diet that minimizes and optimally excludes all ultra-processed foods altogether. Processed meat and dairy products served at fast-food restaurants, other processed foods that are rich in white sugar, white flour, processed starches, and trans fats, as well as drinks laden with high white sugar contents, have all contributed to the global rise of obesity and heart disease. However, the results of the study, which involved more than 104,000 participants, provided data as to the impact of UPF on type 2 diabetes in particular. They were described by the authors as providing supporting evidence to the argument that UPF consumption should be restricted specifically in order to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The study is significant considering that ultra-processed food consumption has been on the rise in recent decades in the West, and that trend has since become increasingly prevalent in non-Western countries in more recent years. Whereas some scientists argue that a diet consisting solely of whole foods and that is entirely vegan is the healthiest, others view a broader diet that includes fish, eggs, low-fat dairy products, and lean poultry as more conducive to the ultimate goal, especially given the body’s need for fiber, vitamins, protein, and minerals, some of which can be harder to extract from a purely vegan diet.

Naturally, in order to ensure that a healthier diet is truly efficacious, it needs to be complemented by adopting a healthier lifestyle that includes regular exercise. Several studies indicate that taking natural supplements also contributes to optimizing the impact of dietary change, particularly if that change involves the complete removal and replacement of many components that formerly were staples of the subject’s diet. Natural supplements also have been proven to be effective for other purposes, including anti-inflammatories and even in controlling sugar levels in the blood, which is crucial for averting and dealing with type 2 diabetes.

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For example, turmeric has been known for its anti-inflammatory properties by Chinese and Ayurvedic herbalists for more than 4,000 years. This was confirmed through a study by the Journal of Medicinal Food, which found 1,000 milligrams of turmeric daily to be effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin, which is available in supplements that are manufactured by Me First Living. Ayurvedic and Chinese herbalists routinely prescribe turmeric to treat diabetes as well.

A second example is Solgar’s evening primrose oil, which comes in soft gel capsules. The supplement has several gamma-linolenic acids and serves as a common herbal medicine to treat multiple conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis and menstrual pains as well as other inflammations. Evening primrose oil is considered to be a good source of fatty acids that may be present in insufficient quantities in a vegan or lean diet.

While the former two can help prevent type 2 diabetes, those who may already have the disease still have use for certain supplements as part of their efforts to combat the condition. CuraLife’s CuraLin contains a blend of natural ingredients, which have also been used by Chinese and Ayurvedic herbalists. The active ingredients in this supplement include Swertia Chirata, which facilitates insulin release, reduces glucose absorption, and improves the intracellular metabolism of glucose. Other ingredients include fenugreek, which improves insulin production, release, and sensitivity, as well as amla, Gymnema Sylvestre, karela, and Tinospora Cordifolia, which are known to contribute to the control of glucose levels in the blood.

The adoption of a lifestyle that includes an overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, a plant-based and healthier diet can greatly help avert the onset of type 2 diabetes and keep it under control after it has presented itself. The revised diet should be complemented by avoiding contact with environmental toxins such as BPA, a regular regimen of exercise, and a discerning selection of natural supplements that can help control sugar levels in the blood and keep them at healthy levels.

Stress is one of the main causes of poor academic performance, poor personal and professional relationships, and overall bad health amongst college students. Ignoring stress can lead to more severe problems such as high blood pressure, ulcers, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, headaches, depression, mood swings, forgetfulness, and difficulty concentrating, all of which are detrimental to your academic performance. Sadly, nothing can eliminate all stress completely, but it can certainly be reduced and maintained. There are several ways you can stay healthy and strong while in a stressful situation.

Here are five ways college students and young professionals are using to tackle stress on a daily basis.

1. Exercise

Most colleges give students access to sport complexes, fitness centers while some going to the extent of offering group classes in cycling, yoga, and other forms of exercise. All students should dedicate at least a few hours a week to exercising. Regular exercise will serve one throughout his or her life, regardless whether one is in college or not. Most fitness centers and gyms have flexible hours to accommodate varying work and student schedules.

2. Develop planning and time management skills

Procrastinating until the last minute can lead you to miss assignments deadlines which will cause stress. Having a habit of creating a daily and weekly schedule that includes time for assignments, exercise and social time will solve this problem by assuring that you are never hustling to complete multiple assignments at the same time at the last minute. If possible, do your assignments in advance. When heavily bombarded with multiple assignments, it is better to find assignment doers online to help with some work rather than submit incomplete or poorly done assignments that will affect your grade and cause you more stress.

Make use of classmates who can hold you accountable for your schedule. If you have a roommate, post the schedule on your study desk so that he/she knows when to engage and when to respect your space.

3. Find quiet time to meditate

Taking a break from studies to watch a movie, play video games or engage in social media is a good way to unwind but sometimes these actions crowd your mind and inject stress from others, who don’t have your schedule in mind, into your life. Make a point of including time on your daily schedule for quiet time from these entertainment and social distractions. Meditation will allow you to digest all that you’ve consumed and it will clear your mind for what’s coming next.

4. Maintain a journal

There is power in writing down one’s thoughts, concerns, hopes, aspirations, fears, and deepest thoughts. Some feelings are better kept secret, however, simply keeping them bottled up inside can cause frustration. A journal is more than just writing down a daily account of one’s life, a journal gives one an opportunity to be truly honest with oneself and when read later, offers an opportunity to reflect on how much you’ve grown and increased your resilience to stress over time.

5. Take a break from Social Media

Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram provide us with entertainment, information, and immediate access to friends. However, they can also monopolize our time at a juncture when we don’t have enough time. Try unplugging from social media for a few hours a day every day and see how it affects your level of stress and academic performance.

There is nothing you can do to guarantee you will not experience stress. Your ability to regulate what stress you allow into your life and the habits that you develop and keep in order to manage that stress will make all the difference.

Back pain is a real issue for some who spend too much time in a chair with inadequate back support. A chair that is not designed for back and body support can slowly wear down your muscles and spine over time and create chronic pain. Often the support system of a chair can be improved with a seat pad or lumbar back support cushion. A newer class of seat pads that can also help in this area is a bed wedge cushion.

Use of Wedge Cushions

Orthopedic issues aren’t only a problem for those who play sports, are very tall, or suffer an accident. Back problems such as coccyx pain can come on gradually from simply sitting in a chair that you’re your back and spine in a slightly off position. This extra effort on your muscles over time can eventually result in chronic pain, just from sitting in your office chair all day.

In our society there are many people who spend the majority of their time sitting, and often this means sitting in a single chair. This means the health of their back, torso, and upper body depends significantly on the support structure of that chair. If any type of pain starts to develop, such as back pain or coccyx, often the cause is a lack of proper support in the chair they are spending their time. This is where a bed wedge cushion can really help.

Prevent Back Problems

This is where a best wedge pillow comes in and helps to prevent back problems. A wedge cushion creates additional elevation to the back portion of your seat, and creates a forward angle for the body. If used correctly, your spine and back can be correctly positioned so as to relieve your muscles from the additional strain. This creates a more comfortable sitting situation, and frequently a relief to chronic back pain.

Right shape

If you are using a similar seat pad, like a lumbar back support cushion or massage cushion, but are not seeing any results in terms of long term comfort, you might consider a wedge seat cushion. Because wedges have different objectives when it comes to changing your seat position, they may have different results than lumbar or regular seat cushion. Wedge cushions are unique in shape and approach and thus may be better than what you’ve tried.

Consider material 

When choosing a wedge pad for your seat or chair, pay attention to a few key attributes. One is the material it is made from. Many today are made from memory foam, which is excellent for any type of seat cushion. It can provide great support that shapes exactly to your body. You should also look at the height and thickness of the wedge, and this is where you’ll get different results depending on these dimensions.

Improves Support Mechanism

You may even find some unique products like inflatable wedge cushions that use air as the support mechanism. These allow you to alter the support level and softness of the cushion by increasing or decreasing the air pressure in the wedge cushion. These inflatable cushions have received fairly good reviews so far.

If you have a seat that is causing some sort of muscle pain or chronic back pain, and traditional back seat cushions have not solved your problem, then consider a wedge seat cushion. This may very well be the solution to your sitting problems.

It is no surprise that something like an office chair or receptionist chair would lack proper support. These types of chairs often have simple, low cost designs and were never researched for long-term effects on back support. While there are very, very good chairs on the market that provide excellent back support including extra support in your lumbar area, they can be quite expensive.

A wedge seat cushion improves the support structure of chair that needs it by given the torso and back added lift. You can also use wedge pillow for snoring issues too. By putting your spine in a more upright position, it keeps it straighter and in a more natural position. This creates slightly less strain on your back muscles, and even if the amount is minimal, considering the number of hours a person spends in a chair.

When it comes to knee pain, it can happen to anyone anywhere. Knee pain can be the outcomes of the injuries faced, hard physical work, or just the mere creeping deterioration of the joints. When you over-work on them you are causing more than one aspect of your knee to send you the pain signals. Pain in the knee is something that is quite unbearable so, you need to take heed to proper care as well as the use of items that would be providing you a sigh of relief from this pain such as the use of Memory Foam Knee Pillow. 

With the right medical attention, the issue can be detected that is causing the pain in your knee and according to that the treatment would be given by the doctors but there are people out there who are suffering from both short and long-term knee pain issues and this makes things complicated. 

Today we have brought for you some great ways in which you can get the perfect relief from the knee pain:

10- Starting with RICE treatment

RICE method is quite effective for those who are suffering from knee injuries. For assisting in the reduction of both swelling and pain, this is a recovery method that is well undertaken by the athletes. In order to reduce the healing time that is managed well with the swelling and the blood flow, these methods can easily work together for the proper management of the injuries.

RICE usually stands for Rest, Ice, Compression & Elevation.

 After an injury that will helped your injured knee “Rest” as well as means taking a proper rest as this will have a proper recovery process. The wound would be chilled with the help of “Ice”, and on the affected area this would have a great effect helping with the reduction in the swelling that is there around the knees and if there are any damages over the soft tissues. The same goes with “Compression” and “Elevation” means keeping a knee pillow for knee pain as these forces the blood to flow upwards when you lift up your knee.A Diet That is Anti-Inflammatory

It is a bigger part of the effective knee injury treatment over a significant amount of time when it comes to anti-inflammatory pain medication and this can cause a lot of harm to the internal organs as this depends on what you are consuming. For reducing the inflammation and the soft pain that comes along with the same, you will surely come across several other ways. The main aspect of anti-inflammatory foods has assisted several people in the effective management of their knee pain that is both short and long terms.

9- TAI CHI

The best solution to chronic pain and to be able to recover slowly from that of a knee injury, you need to indulge yourself in some slow and careful exercises. There are several ways in which you can have it achieved but the one that is loved by all is in practicing Tai Chi. The mind and the body are focused through a huge range of lowered impacted motions when it comes to the process of tai chi. 

8- Supports and The Braces 

A walking aid or a brace is the best friend of people who is suffering from knee injuries. If your knee pain is due to the weight and the stress that you are undertaking while walking means that you are to taking the weight off the knee significantly increasing your ability to be able to move around in the best way. There are several other methods too that are involved herein as well as products are also available that provide the best relief from the knee pain such as that of the memory foam pillow and others.

7- Therapy of Heat and Cold

Every joint pain can benefit a lot with the application of the perfect temperature although the RICE method is usually meant for some recent injuries. For the effective reduction in pain and for the promotion of the relaxation as well as the healing method the hot and the cold therapy are both quite useful but they need to be based completely on the symptoms that you are undergoing.

You can go ahead with the heat therapy if your knee is hurting quite bad. The muscles and the tendons are well relaxed through heat therapy. This is the best way in which heat relaxed the pain. 

6- Effective Management of Weight

It is a known fact that bodyweight plays a lot of parts in the intensity of the knee pain that is experienced by people. The weight of your body falls entirely on your knee. The more you gain weight the more it is going to affect the pain in your knee pretty badly causing some additional risk and damages. If you are facing chronic knee pain issues or issues that are being persisted for a longer period of time, then reducing your body weight will have a significant effect on your pain. With obesity there are higher risks of having back pain too, so to get relief from that you can use knee pillow for back pain.

5- Wearing the Right Pair of Shoes

There are several people who simply fail to understand the importance of wearing the right set of shoes. Wearing the right pair of shoes is going to have a significant effect on both your knees and hips. You will have a great posture with the help of the athletic or orthopedic shoes and this will have some effective results on your knees. 

4- Drawing a Daily Record

When it comes to all, the pain usually varies from person to person. By storing a journal it would significantly help you to track down what would be the causes like and how much pain you are facing and whether or not it is reducing. You can also keep a track of what is causing a reduction in the pain and what are the significant causes behind the elevation of the pain. All you need is to write them down, starting with what and how much you eat. 

Is there anyone you know happen to struggle with diabetes? If you know any then it can cause a lot of damage to your feet as your feet are susceptible to get swollen or cause edema.

While foot problems aren’t totally unavoidable among diabetics, there are lots of things you can do and products you can buy to minimize their effects.

Among diabetes, foot issues are quite unavoidable and there are several things that you would be able to do with the products that you buy have been able to minimize the effects caused. If edema is the problem you are facing then it is recommended that you get yourself a pair of edema boots.

Read on to learn about ten of the best foot care options that podiatrists recommended for diabetics.

What is the effect of diabetes on feet?

Prior to entering into the world of specific products and options for treatment, it is crucial for you to understand the manner in which diabetes usually affects your feet. This is the reason why you need to take proper care of your foot being diabetic.

Diabetic people are neither are able to produce insulin and nor are able to make use of it.  When it comes to the insulin it is basically a hormone that assists the cells to make use of sugar for energy. The sugar usually remains in the bloodstream and it remains high with the lack of insulin or when the body is resistant to insulin.                                                                                         

Including the feet, high blood sugar usually causes a lot of issues within the body. Today we are going to share 8 effective ways in which you can deal with your swollen feet and take care of it.

Have a regular check on your feet 

At the same time every day, make sure that you are examining your feet in the best manner. If you are unable to reach out to your feet or see it then get hold of a mirror to get the best look or you can also take the assistance of anyone else to have your feet examined.

You need to look out for the blisters, cuts, red spots as well as swelling, and also make sure not to walk barefoot if you are facing edema on your foot, make use of the edema compression boots. 

Wash your feet daily

You need to ensure that you are washing your feet in the best way for the prevention of infections. After washing makes sure to dry them carefully even on the spaces that are between your toes.

Apply a thin layer of moisturizer on the tops as well as the bottoms of your feet when they are dry. But, avoid the application of lotions between your toes as this would create excessive moisture and gradually increase your vulnerability over the fungal growth.

Wearing the right shoes and socks

If you are facing lymphedema then you can get hold of lymphedema boots as they would be providing you the comfort you are looking for. Always avoid walking barefoot as this would increase the risk of getting your feet injured or increases the chances of getting infected.

If you are looking for some extra support then you can consult with your podiatrist in regards to wearing the orthotic support to assist with the arch or pain on the heels.

Also, make sure that you are wearing socks with a proper fit and the ones that are not too skinny. You have restricted the blood flow making the condition of your foot worse with the application of a lot of compressions.

Promoting better circulation

It is the most crucial point as the diabetic people are struggling with the worst circulation in their feet to find a remedy to this issue in promoting healthy blood flow. It is a great step when you avoid being sedentary for lengthier periods of time.

You need to stand up for every hour and walk and wiggle around on your toes. It is very helpful when it comes to regular exercises as well as jogging.

For keeping the toes and feet moving allowing proper flow of blood the common plantar fasciitis exercises should be done.

Always trim your nails

Everyone will find a lot of pain with the ingrown nails as they are specifically troublesome for the diabetic people leading up to infections.

For avoiding the ingrown toenails, it should be ensured that the nails are shortened as well as trimmed across. The nails that are rounded specifically grow inwards.