These Are The 14 Early Signs Of High Blood Sugar Levels You Shouldn’t Ignore

Diabetes is a life-threatening disease which occurs due to high blood sugar levels over a longer period. The disease is manageable with life-long treatment which involves insulin shots, and there’s no cure for the disease yet. However, by learning how to recognize the early signs of diabetes, you can avoid the great damage it does to your body.


In general, diabetes occurs due to high sugar consumption. The crystalline compound can be found in literally every food we eat, including processed foods and fruits. Glucose is certainly essential for our body – it gives our cells energy and is essentially food for the muscles, but if its levels stay too high for a prolonged period, it will lead to diabetes and damage vital organs such as the kidneys and eyes. This is why it’s so important to recognize the early signs of diabetes on time and protect your body accordingly.

Most early diabetes symptoms are misdiagnosed or overlooked as they mimic symptoms of other diseases. Here’s what symptoms you should keep eye on:
  • Increased thirst and hunger;
  • Frequent urge to urinate;
  • Loss of focus;
  • Blurry vision;
  • Dry mouth;
  • Impotence;
  • Dry and itchy skin;
  • Nerve problems;
  • Weight gain;
  • Recurring infections;
  • Slow healing of minor wounds;
  • Severe fatigue;
  • Digestive problems;
If you’ve recognized some of these symptoms, we suggest visiting the doctor as soon as possible. If you’re diagnosed with diabetes, you need to pay more attention to your diet. Excluding sugar from it is a must, as is consuming foods with a low glycemic index. The Glycemic Index is a scale that goes from 0-100 and indicates the amount of carbs found in specific foods.

Besides the obvious removal of soft drinks and sweets from your diet, you’ll also need to stay away from the following foods with a high GI:

A piece of white bread
A piece of white bread has a GI of 70 – considering that sandwiches require 2 bread slices, this can easily add up and significantly raise your glucose levels. Instead of white bread, we suggest eating whole grain or brown bread types which have a lower GI.

Rice cake
Rice cakes are certainly healthy and not so harmful if your blood sugar levels are normal, but they can be pretty dangerous for diabetics. Rice cakes have a GI of 78, so make sure to avoid them.

Baked potatoes
Yes, they surely taste great, but baked potatoes rate pretty high on the GI scale. A medium-sized baked potato has a GI of 85, which means that you should avoid it if you’re already suffering from high blood sugar levels.

On the other hand, there are many foods with a low glycemic index you can safely enjoy. Here are the 3 best:

Walnuts
Walnuts are the perfect snack if you’re a diabetic – they have a GI of only 15, which means they won’t raise your glucose levels. Furthermore, they offer numerous health benefits for both men and women.

Broccoli
Broccoli can actually reverse some of the damage caused by sugar, and is a nutrient-rich vegetable that is a great substitute for meat.

Eggs
Eggs have no carbs at all and are probably the perfect breakfast choice for diabetics. If not consumed in excess, eggs can keep your blood sugar levels and your overall health in check.

Due to the increased presence of sugar in our diet, it’s vital to pay more attention to the signs of diabetes and act on time. Diabetes is not a simple problem – leaving it untreated can lead to serious health problems and can also be fatal. If you recognize the aforementioned symptoms, you should immediately consult with your doctor on the next steps you should take.

6 way to maintain eye health

Prevention is best than remedy, no exception to eye well being.

The attention is likely one of the sense organs that's necessary for people. Sustaining eye well being can forestall you from the danger of eye illness to lack of imaginative and prescient. Listed here are some issues you can do to keep up eye well being.


Routine Eye Examine
Each individual, starting from youngsters to previous age, it is strongly recommended to have their eyes checked by a watch specialist at the least as soon as every two years.

Who's older than 40 years are suggested to have their eyes checked yearly. That helps stop eye illnesses related to growing age, equivalent to macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts, whereas youngsters should be examined, at the least every two years, to detect imaginative and prescient issues that may affect their studying skills. Youngsters don't have to have the ability to learn to do eye examinations.

By eye examination to the physician, varied eye illnesses and signs may be detected early. The therapy will be more straightforward.

Eat Nutritious Meals
Analysis reveals that wholesome meals that include a wide range of vitamins, equivalent to nutritional vitamins A, C and E, zinc, lutein, selenium, and omega-Three fatty acids, will help keep off age-related eye issues, comparable to cataracts and macular degeneration. These vitamins may be obtained by consuming inexperienced leafy greens, salmon, tuna, eggs, nuts, and oranges.

Don't Play Smartphone Too Lengthy
Observing a pc or smartphone display screen for too long could cause eyestrain. Signs can embrace complications, neck ache, ache within the shoulders and again, dry and tense eyes, issue specializing in gazing a distance, and blurred imaginative and prescient. In the event you work at a pc all day, every 20 minutes, change your eyes to six meters for 20 seconds to cut back eye pressure. Or it's also possible to relaxation your eyes for 15 minutes each 2 hours. In case your eyes feel dry, blink usually.

Carrying Sunshades
Not solely does the pores and skin have to be shielded from the dangerous results of the solar's ultraviolet rays, the attention additionally wants. Eyes that can be too usually uncovered to ultraviolet gentle can expertise cataracts, macular degeneration, burning corneas, and even eye most cancers.

Don't smoke
Smoking can improve the danger of cataracts, macular degeneration, and optic nerve injury that may trigger blindness and damage in the retina. Smoking also can trigger plaque buildup in blood vessels and weaken the arteries, thereby growing the danger of coronary heart assault.

Diligent in Sports activities
Analysis reveals that the train can cut back the danger of imaginative and prescient loss as a consequence of hypertension, diabetes, and excessive levels of cholesterol.

Instantly seek the advice of an ophthalmologist if complaints on the attention proceed, or if the eyes feel sore, swollen, delicate to gentle, equivalent to darkish spots floating when trying, or if you happen to expertise imaginative and prescient issues.

How Do I Preserve Wholesome Imaginative and prescient?
Sustaining wholesome imaginative and prescient is more significant than getting an everyday vision screening. Your total well being can impression your eye well being. Listed here are six suggestions for sustaining good eyesight.

Eat the Proper Meals
Fill your plate with meals excessive in omega-Three fatty acids and nutritional vitamins C and E. These vitamins might assist decrease your probability of creating macular degeneration or cataracts. Inexperienced veggies, salmon, eggs, and citrus fruits are a terrific place to start!

A nutritious diet additionally decreases your probability of diabetes, which is likely one of the leading causes of blindness.

Use Protecting Eyewear
An estimated 2.5 million eye accidents happen within the U.S. annually, so it is somewhat necessary to put on correct eyewear to guard your self against eye accidents.

Whether or not you're on the job, engaged on a house enhancement undertaking, or taking part in hockey with the neighborhood, all the time put on protecting eyewear or security glasses to keep away from the danger of something making contact together with your eyes.

All the time Put on Sunshades
Don't only use the free pair of shades you picked up at a live performance. Put money into a kind couple that may truly shield your eyes from the solar's UV rays. An excessive amount of UV publicity will increase your probabilities of cataracts.

When purchasing in your subsequent pair of sun shades, search for 99-100% UVA and UVB safety.

Throw Away Outdated Make-up
  • Do you know the microorganism grows quick in liquid make-up?
  • Change your merchandise every Three months to keep away from creating a watch an infection.
  • By no means share cosmetics with others and keep away from the shop samples.
  • And clear your face earlier than and after utilizing make-up.

Take Frequent Display Breaks
  • Whenever you stare at a pc, pill, or cellphone display screen too lengthy, you may get expertise eyestrain, dry eyes, neck and shoulder ache, and complications. To keep away from this stuff you must:
  • Take a display screen break each 20 minutes
  • Discover a supportive chair and ensure your display screen is eye degree
  • Maintain your glasses/contacts prescription updated and appropriate for gazing screens
  • Bear in mind to blink!

Get Common Eye Screenings
Everybody needs to be getting eye screenings regularly. Through the selection, your physician might suggest you schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist if they consider there's a possible imaginative and prescient downside.

Listed here are some issues you possibly can anticipate throughout a complete eye examination:
  • An assessment of your well being and household historical past of eye illness, like glaucoma or macular degeneration
  • Imaginative and prescient testing
  • A dilated eye examination to test the retina and optic nerve
  • Refraction check to find out the sharpness of your close to and distance imaginative and prescient

Anybody with signs or a historical household past of eye illness, diabetes, or hypertension ought to see an ophthalmologist find out how regularly your eyes need to be examined.

6 Important Signs You’re Consuming Too Much Sugar

We love sugar – somehow our body is conditioned to love it. It provides us energy and since our body requires a lot of energy, it desires sugar. But while it might crave sugar a lot, it does not mean that we can take in a lot of it. Our body has a delicate mechanism and everything must be in balance. An excess of sugar can cause a lot of issues in our body.


If you are facing any of these problems, then the chances are that you are taking in a lot more sugar than you should:

You have a desire for sugar
Sugar has a tendency to cause addiction. It can create a form of a chain reaction that will make you want to have more sugar. As an addict, you might feel the lack of energy and want more of it or else you might be feeling exhausted most of the time. But when you do have sugar, there might be a short burst of energy, which will be followed by an immediate form of exhaustion, a sign that you are eating too much sugar.


Gaining more weight
Sugar does not contain any fiber or protein. So technically, the amount of sugar we burn, the more calories we produce. As we burn sugar, it triggers the production of insulin which directs the sugar in specific channels so that it gives us the much-needed energy. But when there is too much sugar intake, the body can’t understand how to balance out the insulin production and this results in insulin opposition. The more insulin obstruction takes place, the more weight is gained, as the pancreas start to get overpowered.

Flu
Too much sugar intake can result in problems of our immune system and this will further result in a lack of defense against cold or flu viruses. Thus, if you diminish taking in sugar, you will have a stronger immune system.

Foods taste less sweet
According to Alpert, when you have an excess intake of sugar, then you will create a tolerance towards the sweetness of sugar. Your taste buds will expand and food will taste less sweet. Chances are that if you control your sugar intake then the taste buds will contract and you will gain your sugar-tasting abilities back.

Hazy brain
One of the major symptoms of having a high intake of sugar is mind haze. That is when you suddenly feel hazy and it generally occurs after you have supper. The sugar levels climb up quickly and then it drops suddenly which results in mind haze. If this occurs, then it’s time to consult a doctor and start limiting sugar-based products.

Skin issues
When sugar is taken in excess then there is a chance that you will start to have some provocative skin diseases, like rosacea, dermatitis, and dryness. If you drop the intake, then the conditions are likely to recover on their own. On top of all that, Dr Sherri Greene has said that since sugar has the tendency to provoke your skin, it can also cause plantar fasciitis – a condition that thickens the tissue on the soles and heels. It can also result in adrenaline exhaustion which can cause dark circles to form under the eyes.

Sugar intake is a pertinent issue and if you are already facing any of these factors, start to limit your sugar intake. And it’s best if you take the help of a doctor and dietician while you are doing so. Best of luck.

Important Signs That Your Body Is Too Acidic And How To Deal with It

Too much of anything is harmful for our bodies. So it is obvious that when our bodies are acidic beyond a certain level, it becomes an unhealthy body. Acidic environments are a boon for bacteria, illness, and yeast. The body also uses minerals present in our bones and vital organs to get rid of acid and expel it.

Thereby, the body might lose large portions of these vital minerals such as calcium, sodium, magnesium, and potassium. Their absence might go undetected before the body cannot handle it any further which leads to acidosis.

So, to help our bodies get rid of all this acid generation, a healthy intake of alkaline food is a must.

Unbalanced acid in the body a.k.a acidosis can cause health problems such as:
  • Sensitive and inflamed gums, cavities
  • Deficient immune system
  • Stiff neck, backache
  • Problems in breathing, coughing, other respiratory issues
  • Increased yeast, fungal growth
  • Blood vessel blockage, oxygen reduction
  • Faster heart-beat, arrhythmias, heart ailments
  • Gaining weight, insulin inhibition, obesity
  • Kidney and bladder infections
  • Free radical damage acceleration
  • Aging prematurely
  • Stomach problems, vomiting, diarrhea
  • Bone density loss, osteoporosis, fractures in hips
  • Drowsiness, loss of focus, headaches
  • Acne, skin problems, allergies
Understanding The Level of your pH is important
You should start by getting information about your pH because it lets you get an accurate insight into the level of acidification present in the body. A pH reading in the range of 6.75-7.25 is considered as a healthy pH reading.


Acidity cannot be distinguished based solely on taste alone
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of acidic food is lemon. But the interesting fact is that lemon becomes alkaline by the time it reaches our stomach. The acid contained in lemon gets oxidized into water and oxygen. That helps the body avoid high acidic concentration.

Foods which contain calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, and sodium help our body alkalize acids. Hence, they’re considered to be alkaline forming foods. Both alkalinity and acidity are common factors in most foods. The ones with higher alkaline minerals are usually considered alkaline and vice versa.

The human body has thresholds
A balanced diet is important because the body cannot compensate for all the additional acidic minerals that we consume. A lot of diseases and sickness are the end results of our bodies’ efforts to balance out the acidic environment in our systems.

Eating too much acid forming food such as meats, dairy, grains and sugar will lead to our bodies becoming acidic. While, on the contrary, eating too much alkaline-inducing foods such as greens, sea vegetables and fruits will lead to high alkaline concentration in the system. Harmony of foods is essential.

You can improve alkaline concentration by:
  • Regular pH checks to stay informed
  • Healthy intake of water and alkaline water whenever possible
  • Reducing acidic food intake
  • Having a healthy green salad instead or regular wheat or grains
  • Replacing flour based wraps with collard greens and lettuce leaves
  • Reduction in the intake of processed foods
  • Replace soda, sugar, and coffee with herbal coffee, green drinks and herbal tea
  • Switching dairy with coconut, almond, or soy milk
  • Drinking green juices and smoothies
Eating Right is Valuable
Eating right and keeping the right pH levels might seem like an uphill task, but once you start to feel the benefits, the reward will definitely be worth it. You will start feeling like you have more energy and the whole index of your health will definitely get better.

Eating has obvious direct benefits on our health as well as harmful repercussions. So eat right, exercise, and life will be happy and hearty.

10 Natural Remedies For Mouth Ulcers: Heal That Sore Spot At Home

A sage, licorice, witch hazel, or chamomile mouthwash or a plain salt water rinse can help crack the whip on mouth sores. Or apply turmeric paste, honey, or myrrh tincture. Avoid toothpastes with sodium lauryl sulfate. Make sure you are getting enough B vitamins, iron and zinc if you’re prone to canker sores.


Mouth ulcers may look tiny and inconsequential but the stinging pain and discomfort they cause can drive anyone over the edge. It doesn’t help that they make eating, drinking, and even talking difficult. Hot food, injury in the mouth, say, by ill-fitting dentures, and biting the inside of the cheek can all cause a mouth ulcer. So can your genes, stress, or certain chronic medical conditions like inflammatory bowel disease or celiac disease. Hormonal changes such as those seen during pregnancy can also be a trigger. Discomfiting as they are, mouth ulcers are usually not serious and tend to clear up by themselves in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, some natural remedies can help you tackle them, ease pain, and speed along the recovery.

It’s easy to confuse mouth ulcers with two conditions, so before you start any of these remedies, make sure you don’t have:

Lichen planus: If you have many ulcers in your mouth, it may be caused by a medical condition such as hand, foot, and mouth disease or oral lichen planus. Hand, foot, and mouth disease can result in a rash on the feet and hands while people with oral lichen planus get a lacy white pattern inside their cheeks. The home remedies for lichen planus are quite different from the ones mentioned here.

Cold sores: caused by the herpes simplex virus, cold sores are highly contagious, painful small blisters on your lips, around your mouth, and even on your gums, mouth, or throat. The blisters are often preceded by a burning, tingling, or itching sensation, and possibly a fever, sore throat, or swollen glands. Cold sores need a separate line of treatment.


1. Rinse With Salt Water
A simple and effective remedy for a mouth sore is salt water. Mix 1 teaspoon of salt in a cup of water and swish around before spitting it out. Salt water has antiseptic as well as anti-inflammatory properties which can help with canker sores.

2. Try A Sage Mouthwash
The culinary herb sage can also work wonders if you have a canker sore and has, in fact, traditionally been used as a remedy for this condition. It has antibacterial and astringent properties which help tackle these uncomfortable sores and help heal them. Prepare a strong sage tea and use it as a mouthwash two to three times a day for relief.

3. Rinse With A Licorice Solution
A licorice mouthwash may be just the thing to heal your mouth ulcers. One study found that people with canker sores who used a mouthwash with this herb experienced significant benefits – 75% of participants found that the sores improved by 50 to 75% within a single day. By the third day, they had completely healed. Add 200 mg of deglycyrrhizinated (DGL) licorice to 200 ml of warm water and mix well. Use this solution as a mouthwash four times daily till you heal. Make sure that you swish the mouthwash around for a few minutes to give it time to work.

While a plain licorice extract will also work for this purpose, DGL licorice is thought to be safer. DGL licorice is basically licorice from which a component known as glycyrrhizin is removed. While glycyrrhizin has many benefits, it can cause side effects like high BP and edema when overused. To be safe for use across all categories of people, many licorice supplements are stabilized by removing this component.

4. Apply Honey
Here’s a common remedy for mouth ulcers that’s available in nearly every home! This sweetener is well-known for its antibacterial and wound-healing properties. In one study, participants applied honey to canker sores four times daily for five days. Honey not only helped eased the pain and reddening due to the ulcer but also reduced the size of the ulcers.

5. Use Turmeric Paste
Turmeric is commonly used in Southeast Asian communities for healing wounds. A potent antioxidant compound called curcumin present in this spice is known to have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and pain-relieving properties. One study looked at the effect of a gel containing 2% curcumin on mouth ulcers. Applying this ointment significantly reduced the size of mouth ulcers as well as pain compared to a placebo. You can also try applying a thick paste of turmeric powder and water with a cotton swab to heal canker sores. Wash after 15–20 minutes.

6. Try A Chamomile Mouthwash
Chamomile is another herb known for its healing capacity. Prepare a strong tea and swish it around in your mouth three to four times daily to heal canker sores. Flavonoids such as luteolin, apigenin, and quercetin present in this herb give it anti-inflammatory properties. These enable the herb to soothe the mucous membrane lining your mouth.

7. Dab With A Myrrh Tincture
Myrrh has been used traditionally for tackling mouth irritations. This resin has healing properties and can ease canker sores. Since myrrh is quite gummy in nature, it’s not possible to make a tea out of it. But you can dab the mouth ulcer with the tincture. Traditional healers also suggest mixing 4 ml of the tincture with water and swishing it around in your mouth like a mouth rinse.


8. Rinse With Witch Hazel
Witch hazel contains tannins which give it astringent properties. This herb may ease inflammation too. All in all, a worthwhile combination to ease canker sores and relieve pain. Prepare a tea from the leaves or bark of witch hazel and use it as a mouthwash to combat mouth ulcers.

Use a soft-bristled toothbrush and steer clear of salty, spicy, acidic, hot, and crunchy to avoid irritating a mouth ulcer further.

9. Avoid Sodium Lauryl Sulfate-Based Toothpaste
Is your toothpaste to blame for your canker sores? Research shows that sodium lauryl sulfate, which is a detergent present in some toothpastes, can potentially cause canker sores. It is thought to do this by removing the protective layer of mucin in your mouth. One study found that merely using a sodium lauryl sulfate-free toothpaste for 3 months reduced the number of canker sores from 14.3 to 5.1 on average in participants.

10. Make Sure You’re Getting Enough Vitamin B, Zinc, And Iron
If you are grappling with mouth sores once too often, it’s also a good idea to probe for underlying causes. Studies have found that people who frequently get canker sores may suffer from nutritional deficiencies in vitamin B, zinc, folic acid, or iron. So if you find that you’re getting them frequently, get yourself checked out to see if you are running low on any of these vital nutrients. You can also tank up on foods rich in these to avoid mouth sores.

- Zinc sources include oysters, poultry, dairy products, and whole grains.

- Iron sources include meat, white beans, spinach, kidney beans, seafood, and poultry.

- B vitamins can be consumed through a healthy balanced diet containing whole grains and fruits and vegetables. Vitamin B12 and folate have been specifically identified as being beneficial to those prone to mouth ulcers. You will need to get vitamin B12 from animal sources such as cheese, milk, meat, or egg and folate from green leafy vegetables, beans, nuts, and peas.

See A Doctor If
  • Your mouth ulcer doesn’t heal for a long time (3 weeks). Though rare, an ulcer that doesn’t heal can sometimes be a sign of cancer. It’s always a good idea to get it checked out.
  • You get recurrent mouth ulcers.
  • If your ulcer becomes increasingly more red and painful as this might point to an infection.

Fruits That Burn Fat Like Crazy

Losing weight is not easy. Our bodies evolved to store fat to protect against periods of famine, but since millions of us are now eating way more than our bodies need, we end up with too much fat. To lose it, you need to trick your body into thinking you really are starving by taking in fewer calories than you burn.


Luckily, beyond calorie restriction, there are a few things you can do to jumpstart and extend your weight loss in a healthy way. Fruits that contain the antioxidant anthocyanin (a flavonoid) have been shown in multiple studies to increase the effects of a weight loss diet. You can usually spot an anthocyanin-rich fruit because it will be some shade of red or purple. Here are 7 great ones to add to your daily meal plan.

1. Tart Cherries
Tart cherries are a fantastic thing to eat when you’re trying to lose weight. The University of Michigan did a rat study in which it determined that over the course of 12 weeks, rats fed tart cherries had a 9% greater reduction in belly fat than rats fed a so-called Western diet. The cherries actually altered the way the animals’ fat genes worked.

Tart cherries have also been linked to heart health and a reduction in inflammation, making them a great all around choice.

2. Berries of All Kinds
This is great news, because you won’t get bored with every type of berry to choose from. Fruits in this category are full of healthy polyphenols, which not only help you lose weight, they actually stop fat from forming. A study out of Texas Women’s University discovered that mice who received 3 daily servings of berry or berry powder reduced the expected formation of fat cells by 73%.

Berries are fantastic plain, sprinkled into oatmeal, yogurt, or salads, and even dried or powdered. With this many options, it should be easy to get a little berry with each of your meals.

3. Watermelon
We may avoid watermelon on the assumption that it is mostly sugar and well, water, but it is actually quite healthy for you. According to the University of Kentucky, eating watermelon may lower your fat accumulation and improve lipid profiles to boot.

Watermelon juice is also credited with a reduction in post-workout muscle soreness. Though largely a summer fruit, when it’s available, you should feel free to have all the watermelon you want.

4. Ruby Red Grapefruit
This breakfast staple is great for reducing belly fat and lowering cholesterol levels. In fact, participants in a six-week study who ate grapefruit with every meal shrunk their waists by an inch on average. Researchers think the reason is down to the powerhouse combination of phytochemicals and vitamin C found in this citrus fruit.


Grapefruit is fun to eat, too. Simply slice it in half and scoop out the segments with a spoon. It also gives a nice tart zing to salads.

5. Pink Lady Apples
Apples in general are a great source of soluble fiber, which becomes gel-like in your stomach and helps you feel full longer. The Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center reports that every time you build in 10 more grams of soluble fiber to your diet, belly fat reduces by 3.7% over a five-year period.

That means that apples can assist your weight loss by cutting food cravings, as well as continue to slim your waistline years into the future. Pink Lady apples have been found to have the most flavonoid antioxidants, making them top among a lot of great apple varieties for weight loss.

6. Nectarines, Peaches & Plums
This family of fruits (stone fruits) is known to help prevent metabolic syndrome, which is simply a name for a group of risk factors tied to obesity and obesity-related diseases. Diabetes is the prime example of a metabolic disorder, and belly fat is a serious risk factor for it.

Stone fruits are high in phenolic compounds that play a part in instructing the behavior of fat genes. They are also lower in sugars than many other fruits, making them ideal for dieters.

7. Pears
Despite being so sweet in taste, pears are predominantly water and fiber, two things that really aid weight loss. You will stay full longer, even though a 100 gram serving of pear only has 56 calories. The fiber also supports healthy digestion and elimination, so that you don’t feel bogged down and bloated.

As a bonus, the vitamin C and vitamin A in pears fight free radical damage and reduce inflammation. That helps you look younger and feel great overall. Just be sure to choose fresh or frozen pears, as canned pears tend to be packed in sugary syrup.

When you’re on a diet, fruit should be your primary source of sugar. It’s something that the body needs for fuel, but the refined sugars in so many processed foods are excessive and harmful. You don’t need to worry about the sugar in fruit very much as long as you eat the whole fruit rather than just the juice. The fiber you’ll get helps modulate the release of sugar into your bloodstream, avoiding a spike and sudden drop in glucose levels. That’s important not only to protect against type 2 diabetes, but also to reduce the food cravings that happen when your blood sugar crashes.

Aim to eat at least a serving of one of these fruits with each meal to amplify your weight loss results – and to enjoy the sweet flavor that’s a gift from nature. Best of luck on your weight loss journey!

Stay Away From These 11 Deadly Foods That Could Cause Cancer

You may know that optimal health starts in the kitchen, and but did you know that diet is at the heart of many cancers?

In fact, up to 70% of cancers are thought to be preventable through diet. The other 30% has to do with genetics and environmental factors that you can’t control.


Still, those are solid odds to encourage better eating! Stick with us for all the foods you would do best to avoid in order to minimize your chances of ever developing cancer.

At the end, we’ll show you an easy way to determine what stuff is actually good to eat.

11. Canned Products
Canned food tends to contain really high levels of salt and/or sugar, but that’s not the main reason it is bad for you. It’s actually the cans that contain the food.

They are often lined with the dangerous chemical BPA, which is a known hormone disrupter that has also been linked to cancer. BPA will leech into whatever food comes in contact with it, especially things that are naturally acidic, such as tomatoes.

Eat your produce fresh or frozen instead, or only buy canned products that are labeled as BPA-free.

10. Soda Pop
We are not telling you anything you don’t already know when we say that soda is bad for you. Sugar is necessary in small amounts, but is also cancer cells’ favorite food, and sodas contain enough to choke a horse.

It also has no redeeming nutritional value and puts you at greater risk of cancer due to the artificial chemicals and colorings that are added. If it’s a caffeine energy boost you need, a much healthier option is lightly sweetened tea or coffee, both of which have anti-cancer properties.

To get the bubbles in soda without the negative health consequences, buy carbonated water and add a touch of citrus juice for flavor.

9. Potato Chips
Chips aren’t healthy because they contain a lot of salt and saturated fat which is overwhelming to your body’s digestive system.

The reason they increase your cancer risk is something called acrylamide, a carcinogenic chemical that occurs anytime food is cooked to a high temperature.

Frying potatoes produces a lot of it, but it’s also the reason why health experts advise against charring your meat during cooking. Acrylamide is also found in cigarettes and is part of the reason they are so deadly.

8. Smoked And Processed Meats
Red meat in general should be limited due to its high fat content, but any meat that has been processed is best avoided almost entirely. That won’t be easy because a lot of tasty products are on the list, including bacon, lunch meat, sausage, jerky, and smoked barbeque.

A lot of these foods are preserved using nitrates and nitrites, which are linked to cancer. And even though smoking is an age-old technique for preserving food, it causes meat to take on tar in the process. It’s bad in cigarettes and just as dangerous in food.

7. Farmed Salmon
You may be wondering what is left that you can eat, especially in terms of protein, but rest assured that fish can still be a very healthy choice. Naturally lean, it contains high levels of the healthy omega-3 fatty acids that your body really needs.

Unfortunately, farmed salmon live an overcrowded, high stress life and are fed an unnatural diet full of antibiotics and cancer-causing chemicals. As a result, their meat is high in PCBs, dioxins, and mercury – all dangerous stuff for humans to consume.

However, wild sockeye salmon is a whole different story, and a great meal choice if you can find it at the grocery store.

6. Microwave Popcorn
Much like canned foods, the problem with microwave popcorn is the way it is stored. Most microwave bags are lined with a product called PFOA, which has been linked to the occurrence of pancreas, kidney, liver, bladder, and testicular cancer.

When you pop the corn in the microwave, PFOA coats the finished product right along with the artificial trans fat “butter”. Popcorn itself can be a healthy snack, however, if you use an air popper and then toss it with a little bit of garlic-infused olive oil or a flavorful dried herb mix.

5. White Flour
Whole grains are very healthy, but the processing that creates refined white flour completely strips away the value. White flour is also given its color by a blast of chlorine gas, not something you want to be eating.

Besides being nutritionally void, white flour has an extremely high glycemic index, which means that it breaks down into sugar in the body, spiking blood glucose and insulin levels along with it. This state in the body is thought to feed cancer cells. Try to stick to baked goods that use whole grain flours.


4. High Fructose Corn Syrup
High fructose corn syrup is dangerous because, even though it comes from natural corn, the sweetness is highly concentrated. Foods that contain it are likely to put your blood sugar through the roof and create the perfect environment for cancer cells to thrive.

It is not thought to cause cancer directly, but it’s dangerous to create conditions in your body that are ideal for cancer to grow. Avoiding packaged foods and cooking at home is the best way to avoid high fructose corn syrup all together.

3. Alcohol
Excess alcohol consumption is bad for you for lots of reasons. Drinking to excess makes your liver and kidneys work extra hard, not to mention triggers a whole host of bad decisions from your stupefied brain.

Studies also indicate that consuming too much alcohol puts you at greater risk for cancer of the mouth, esophagus, liver, colon, and rectum. How much is too much? In general, one drink per day for women and two for men is considered safe, but there’s no real health benefit to drinking at all. Red wine does contain some heart healthy resveratrol, but so do red grapes.

2. Pickled Foods
Pickling is another form of processing that adds nitrates or nitrites, salt, and artificial coloring to food. In much the same way that too much alcohol can cause cancer in the parts of the body it touches directly, pickled foods are linked to cancer of the digestive track, especially the stomach and colon.

If you really love pickles, take the time to make them at home so that you can control the level of salt and avoid artificial pickling solutions.

1. Hydrogenated Oils
You might think that oil from vegetables ought to be healthy, but this is another case where processing of natural products makes them dangerous. Oil cannot be extracted from whole vegetables naturally, so they undergo a chemical extraction process.

Then, the oil is colored and the natural scent is removed to make the finished product look appealing. This chemical process is what makes the oil hydrogenated.

It is found in many processed foods, added for texture and to preserve them, but hydrogenated oils affect the cells’ structure and flexibility, upping the chance for cancer to develop.

Can you sense the common thread in these cancer-causing foods? Yep, they are all highly processed from their natural form into something more convenient or aesthetically pleasing.

Unfortunately, the processing almost always strips the whole food of its nutrients and adds a level of seasoning with sugar and salt that can be quite harmful to human bodies.

The easiest way to cancer-proof your diet is to focus on buying whole foods at the store and cooking at home, so that you control the processing. When you leave the packaged stuff behind, you can be sure that you know exactly what’s going into your body.

9 Best Herbs For Kidney Cleansing

Kidneys are one of those body parts that most people don’t think about until something goes wrong. Kidneys are actually very important. They remove waste and toxins from the blood.

They clean about 200 quarts a day and remove about 2 quarts that you then pee out. Kidney also help to regulate blood pressure, increase red blood cell productions, and synthesize vitamin D.

Cleansing kidneys is a popular method of keeping kidney healthy. We’ll discuss nine different herbs that are used for kidney cleansing and give you a freebie in the conclusion. Number three is common in flower arrangements.

Who knew it could help with kidney stones. Number five is not only incredibly healthy but is a versatile vegetable in the kitchen.

1. Chanca Piedra


Chanca Piedra is a South American herb with clinical trials that support the claims. “Stone breaker” is thought to help with kidney stones. Whether it relaxes the urethra, washes out stone fragments, or increases passing of calcium is unknown. However, it does appear to work.

Most people take chanca piedra as a tea. It is thought to be generally safe.

2. Goldenrod


Goldenrod is used to tone the urinary tract and detoxify the kidneys. Clinical trials in animals suggest that goldenrod may reduce inflammation and fight infections, and is a diuretic.

The effective plants include Solidago species, not Verbascum densiflorum. If you are allergic to ragweed, chrysanthemums, marigolds and others, you should avoid taking goldenrod.

Goldenrod is often taken as a tea or tincture.

3. Hydrangea Root


Hydrangea root is a solvent and may smooth the ragged edges of kidney stones and also helps the body use calcium properly. There are ongoing trials on the efficacy of hydrangea root and autoimmune diseases, diabetes, and arthritis. Hydrangea root is commonly available as tinctures or dried roots in capsules.

It is thought to be safe to take for a few days, but not long term. The dosage should be less than 2 grams at a time.

4. Horsetail


Horsetail is a diuretic and antioxidant. Horsetail is known to reduce edema, reduce bladder and kidney stones, help with incontinence and cure UTIs. It may be helpful to support the kidneys. It is generally taken as a tea or capsule.


Horsetail contains a chemical called thiaminase that breaks down the vitamin thiamine. Extended use may lead to thiamine deficiency. Make sure that the horsetail comes from Equisetum arvense, Equisetum hyemale, or Equisetum telmateia. Equisetum palustre is known to be toxic to cattle.

5. Celery Root


Celery seeds and celery root (celeriac) are diuretics. Diuretics may help flush out kidney and celery root is considered stimulating for the kidneys because it contains potassium and sodium.

Celery root is edible and incredibly nutritious or take as an extract or capsule. It also useful in reducing stiff joints, fights colon cancer, and balances blood levels in anemic people. It also helps with digestion and regular bowel movements.

If you are allergic to celery, don’t use celery root or seeds.

6. Gravel Root


Gravel root or Joe Pye weed is also known a kidney root because of its long association with kidney health. Gravel root contains euparin. This solvent has potent activity against harmful organisms and may protect against kidney infections. It is also used for UTIs, gout and kidney stones.

However, it contains hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids which may cause liver damage, cancer and birth defects. If you use gravel root, look for “hepatotoxic PA-free” on the label. Otherwise it is considered unsafe.

7. Uva-Ursi


Uva-ursi or bearberry is an astringent that soothes and tones the urinary tracts and has evidence for cleansing the kidneys. It has been used as a folk cure for infections. A clinical trial in the UK shows that ibuprofen and uva-ursi have alleviated mild, uncomplicated UTIs without use of antibiotics.

Uva-ursi is generally taken as a tea or capsule. Uva ursi is not safe in large doses or long-term.



8. Marshmallow Root


Marshmallow root is used as a flavoring and may calm urinary tract tissues. It is a gentle diuretic and known to soothe mucus membranes. Marshmallow root appears to have many health benefits and is common in herbal remedies. It also has antibacterial properties and fights inflammation.

If using as a kidney cleanser, a tea is probably the most effective form. Marshmallow root is considered likely safe.

9. Dandelion Root


Dandelions are nutritious and have some great health benefits. Dandelion root is a diuretic and the entire plant is filled with anti-oxidants that prevent cell damage. As a side benefit, it fights inflammation and helps control blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and reduces cholesterol.

Take as a tea, capsule, or tincture. Dandelion root is considered safe as a food and possibly safe in medicinal amounts. If you are allergic to dandelions, ragweed, daisies, chrysanthemums, and marigolds don’t use this kidney cleanser.

Conclusion
Here is the freebie herb. Parsley is not just for garnish. Chew it to freshen the breath and eat it as a diuretic. It is incredibly high in vitamin K. Don’t at parsley when taking blood thinners because of the vitamin K content.

Take these herbs in moderation as some are possibly unsafe in large doses. Some of these, like dandelion, grow in your garden and can be made into a tasty salad as well as a healthy tea. Just don’t spray with pesticides and herbicides first!

The final tip is to drink lots of water while taking any of these herbs so that your kidneys have lots of water to work with.