What is Gestational Diabetes?

What is gestational diabetes?

Gestational diabetes, also known as gestational diabetes mellitus, GDM, or diabetes during pregnancy, is a type of diabetes that only pregnant women get. If a woman gets diabetes when she is pregnant, but never had it before, then she has gestational diabetes.

Normally, your stomach and intestines digest the carbohydrate in your food into a sugar called glucose. Glucose is your body’s main source of energy. After digestion, the glucose moves into your blood to give your body energy.

To get the glucose out of your blood and into the cells of your body, your pancreas makes a hormone called insulin. If you have diabetes, either your body doesn’t make enough insulin, or your cells can’t use it the way they should. Instead, the glucose builds up in your blood, causing diabetes, or high blood sugar.

Gestational diabetes happens in about 5 percent of all pregnancies, or about 200,000 cases a year in the United States.

How do I know if I have gestational diabetes?

Health care providers will test most women who have average risk for gestational diabetes when they are between 24-28 weeks pregnant.

If your risk is higher-than-average, your health care provider may test you earlier, possibly as soon as you know you are pregnant.

There are two approaches to testing for gestational diabetes:

  • In the one-step approach, a woman will fast for 4 to 8 hours. Then a health care provider will measure her blood sugar and will do so again 2 hours after she drinks a sugar drink. This type of test is called an oral glucose tolerance test.
  • In the two-step approach, a health care provider measures a woman’s blood sugar 1 hour after drinking a sugar drink. Women whose blood sugar is normal after 1 hour probably don’t have gestational diabetes. Women whose blood sugar is high after 1 hour will then have an oral glucose tolerance test to see if they have gestational diabetes.

Will gestational diabetes affect the baby?

Most women who have gestational diabetes give birth to healthy babies, especially when they control their blood sugar, eat a healthy diet, exercise, and keep a healthy weight.

In some cases, though, gestational diabetes can affect the pregnancy and baby. Some potential risks include:

  • The baby’s body is larger than normal—called macrosomia. A large baby may need to be delivered by a surgical procedure called cesarean section, instead of naturally through the vagina.
  • The baby’s blood sugar is too low—called hypoglycemia. Starting to breastfeed right away can help get more glucose to the baby. The baby may also need to get glucose through a tube into his or her blood.
  • The baby’s skin turns yellowish and the whites of the eyes may change color—called jaundice. This condition is easily treated and is not serious if treated.
  • The baby may have trouble breathing and need oxygen or other help—called Respiratory Distress Syndrome.
  • The baby may have low mineral levels in the blood. This problem can causes muscle twitching or cramping, but can be treated by giving the baby extra minerals.

How is gestational diabetes treated?

Many women with gestational diabetes have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies because they follow a treatment plan from their health care provider.

Each woman should have a specific plan designed just for her needs, but there are some general ways to stay healthy with gestational diabetes:

  • Know your blood sugar and keep it under control – By testing how much sugar is in your blood, it is easier to keep it in a healthy range. Women usually need to test a drop of their blood several times a day to find out their blood sugar level.
  • Eat a healthy diet – Your health care provider can make a plan with the best diet for you. Usually controlling carbohydrates is an important part of a healthy diet for women with gestational diabetes because carbohydrates affect blood sugar.
  • Get regular, moderate physical activity – Exercise can help control blood sugar levels. Your health care provider can tell you the best activities and right amount for you.
  • Keep a healthy weight – The amount of weight gain that is healthy for you will depend on how much you weighed before pregnancy. It is important to track your both your overall weight gain and weekly rate of gain.
  • Keep daily records of your diet, physical activity, and glucose level – Women with gestational diabetes should write down their blood sugar numbers, physical activity, and everything they eat and drink in a daily record book. This can help track how well the treatment is working and what, if anything, needs to be changed.

Some women with gestational diabetes will also need to take insulin to help manage their diabetes. The extra insulin can help lower their blood sugar level. Some women might also have to test their urine to see if they are getting enough glucose.

What happens after the baby is born?

For most women, blood sugar levels go back to normal quickly after the baby is born. Six weeks after the baby is born, you should have a blood test to check your blood sugar levels. The test also checks for your risk of getting diabetes in the future.

If you know you want to get pregnant again, have a blood sugar test up to three months before becoming pregnant to make sure your blood sugar level is normal.

Children whose mothers had gestational diabetes are at higher risk for obesity, abnormal glucose tolerance, and diabetes.

Women who have had gestational diabetes and children whose mothers had gestational diabetes are at higher lifetime risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes. It may be possible to prevent type 2 diabetes through lifestyle changes. Talk to your health care provider about diabetes and increased risk from gestational diabetes.

Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Hair Loss Treatment: Do It The Natural Way!

Hair Loss Treatment: Do It The Natural Way!

Hair loss treatment can be done inexpensively by doing it the natural way. You may not have the money to afford any surgery. Simply pay attention to your diet and make use of natural plants for hair loss treatment.

Your Diet Matters In Hair Loss Treatment

You may have forgotten that the hair is composed of protein therefore it is a must that you take in sufficient protein in order to maintain a healthy hair. To be able to sustain a healthy hair growth, nutrients are needed as they do take care of the hair and the scalp. The numerous nutrients which you need to take in are protein, B-complex, Vitamins A and C, omega-3 fatty acids, and cysteine, which is another amino acid. Any deficiency with these nutrients is likely to cause hair loss. Vegetarians should not forget that they should integrate foods rich in protein in their diets such as the beans, wheat, brown rice, corn, nuts, or seeds. The cysteine is another amino acid which makes up the protein. It can be found in foods rich in sulfur like the meat, fish, egg yolks, onion, nuts, garlic, kale, raspberries, and cabbage. This amino acid is also a renowned detoxifier.

The vitamin B, most especially the biotin, aids in maintaining the health of hair. Among the best sources of the vitamin are the egg yolks, milk, meat, brewer’s yeast, soybeans, saltwater fish, and whole grains. You should remember that taking in the uncooked egg whites deplete the biotin content in the body so therefore eating it must be avoided. The use of saccharin which is commonly found in most toothpastes and taking in of antibiotics also produce an adverse effect on your body’s biotin absorption.

Then, make sure you take in enough Vitamin A. The best sources are broccoli, carrots, pumpkin, fish liver oil, yellow squash, spinach, sweet potatoes, peaches, and cantaloupes. Vitamin C is another very important component that ensures a healthy hair. It can be found from the citrus fruits, green vegetables, and berries.

The Omega-3 fatty acids are needed for a good circulation that will feed the hair roots. It also supplies the body with enough motivation to get on with the production of the hormones. Its best sources are the tuna, salmon, and flaxseed.

Plants That Help Out With The Hair Loss Treatment

Among nature’s components which help out in hair loss treatments are the aloe vera, jojoba, henna, capsicum, lemongrass, and Dong Quai. What are these? What good do they bring as hair loss treatments?

The aloe vera promotes the balancing of the scalp’s Ph and then heals from the inside. It also cleans the pores. The jojoba treats eczema, dandruff, seborrhea, and psoriasis. It works well as a moisturizer so hair loss can be minimized. The henna works as a natural conditioner, repairs, stops hair breakage, and restores the silkiness and shine of the hair. The capsicum treats hair loss by as much as 50% and heightens the flow of blood. The lemongrass stabilizes the oil in the scalp and gives out enough nourishment for the hair. The Dong Quai possesses phytoestrogens that minimizes the buildup of the DHT.

It never fails to secure the natural hair loss treatments via the use of herbal plants and maintaining a proper diet. Your hair is your crowning glory. Hence, learn to take care of it.

Article Source: Health Guidance

Jeanette Pollock

Are You Suffering From Tension Headache?

Are You Suffering From Tension Headache?

Whether headache is the cause of tension or the tension is the cause of headache? Think over… if their origin is due to the common cause?

Well, the dividing line between tension and headache is thin.

The tension headache is the unique and generous gift of high paced life style of the modern world. Most of the people caught in the grip of this civilization are out to run an endless marathon that has no end. Many of these crazy run ups end on stretchers, ambulances and ICUs in the hospital. Tension headaches are directly responsible for this sorry state of affair.

What is the source of these tensions? An individual, on a normal working day is connected to his family, his friends and his office. Any serious tension in any of these places is the direct cause of their tension headache.

The causes of tension headache may be simple or complex. Your son’s poor percentage in the higher secondary examination, and his inability to get admission in any of the reputed Colleges might become a major reason for your tension headache. Well, any kind of stress or worry could be the root of your tension. This is why tension headache is the most common form of headache.

Herein, the tension type headache is not to be confused with any of the serious forms of headache. Tension headache could be due to a single factor. The moment a solution is found to the problem, it disappears.

You may not need any treatment or medicine for this type of tension headache. This headache can be compared to the sharp, passing showers. It comes and it goes. But if you experience intense pain when you have such headaches, you need to consult your doctor immediately.

How to treat the tension headache? The correct treatment is to go to the root cause of the tension and treat that cause. When that cause is satisfactorily resolved, the headache is also gone.

And last but not the least, solving your tension headache through over the counter medications is neither the correct nor the recommended solution for it. At best, this can be described as a temporary solution. The effect of headache will reappear again.

So, learn to be at peace with yourself to treat this peculiar headache. Find a solution in the activities that pleasure you. You may read some lessons on right type of living as well. For, good literature many a times solves the riddles of tension.

Article Source: Health Guidance

Javier Fuller

Seven Reasons For Temporary Hair Loss

Seven Reasons For Temporary Hair Loss

Not all types of hair loss would lead to permanent baldness. Depending on the nature and cause of the baldness, the chances of growing back your hair could be good. Temporary hair loss could be caused by several factors. The seven very common causes of temporary baldness could be (1) illness, (2) poor nutrition, (3) medications, (4) medical treatments, (5) recent high fever, flu or surgery, (6) infancy (7) childbirth.

According to medical studies, people who are diabetic, suffering from lupus and thyroid disorders often suffer from hair loss. According to medical practitioners, hair loss can be attributed as an effect of the illness and the poor absorption of nutrients into the body of a sick person. This condition is often times temporary and the hair would often re-grow upon the patient’s recovery. The medications and medical treatment undergone by a patient also contribute to hair loss. There are certain medications, especially those drugs used for treatment of gout, arthritis, depression, heart problems and high blood pressure and those treatments used to fight cancer, which cause hair loss in some people. In most cases, as soon as the patient is taken off medication, the hair would grow again.

Aside from illness and medications, there are natural bodily transitions, which could result to hair loss. Childbirth may cause excessive hair loss for several months in some women. During pregnancy, women often experience active hair growth and after delivery, the excess hair is shed as the body corrects itself. In infants hair loss usually occurs when the first six months and the baby sometimes go bald. The shedding of hair is a natural process in this case. As the baby grows older, more permanent hair replaces the old ones.

Article Source: Health Guidance

Jeanette Pollock


Fitness Can be a Simple Pursuit in Your Life

It has been complicated and mystified in our culture. You have been brought to an understanding that, without a thorough knowledge of a machine or the free weights room, you cannot master fitness. On the contrary, physical strength and an impressive physique are simple to achieve, and the cornerstone for a healthy body.

Obesity, scrawniness, whatever physical defect you visualize yourself to have, is easily overcome once you are given insight to the true sources of fitness. No gym membership is required. Very little time is required. More than anything else, fitness is a state of mind and a level of consistent commitment.

Thoroughly explore the issues of fitness, of building a physique that is healthy and attractive, and expand on the simple means to this end every day. Your greatest focus should be on how fitness can be simply incorporated into your daily events, with no significant need for strenuous exercise in your leisure time.

What you need to understand is that no matter what your job duties may be, there is a way and the time to perform your work duties and still strengthen your spine, your abs, your shoulders, arms, legs, and chest. Between this change in mindset and a few simple stretching techniques, a healthy and strong physique is easily accomplished.

Fitness and health are easier to attain than they are made out to be. Proper fitness is the key to excellent health. The fads in fitness, however, have misled, bored, and driven many away from the concept of fitness.

Try to find exercises that are easy to do, that will strengthen your body, balance your spine, invigorate your immune system, increase your lymphatic flow, and help you win the battle for a healthy body. In the process, you will slowly and surely move towards the physique that is right for you, using exercises that are pleasant, that actually feel good to do, and that will immediately increase your energy and strength.

Sculpting a healthy physique is a part of limiting and eliminating your physical problems, and the way you pursue physical fitness must be done right. It is important to not be deceived by fad books, fad diets, and fad exercise programs. These programs are difficult to follow and few follow through for life.

Create a program that is right for you by learning about foods and how to strengthen your physical body properly. Choose exercises that are actually pleasant to perform, and diets that are delicious and full of the ingredients your body needs to ward off stress and disease. What you will find in time is that the knowledge you obtain, and the exercises you do will be enough to make you a healthier person.

Dr. Bryan Brodeur
https://www.vitalityhouse.com/health.htm

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Treatment for Spinal Column and Joint Decay

The beginning of the end for the human is when the vertebrae of its refined spinal column begin to be subluxated, then fixated, and then fused. This is the beginning of our end, and it can only be addressed by means of a very specialized hand.

The cause of the rigidity, inflexibility, and ultimately the fusion of our skeletal joints are always in the minor misalignments of these joints. The minor misalignments of these joints are referred to in the literature as subluxated joints, or subluxations. Vertebral subluxation, the misalignment of spinal vertebra, is the most damaging of all skeletal misalignments. The misalignments create the fusion, the wear, and the breakdown of our spine, nature’s proudest pillar.

This synchronous tower, left to its own design, is the single greatest source of power for the fragile venous, lymphatic, and arterial systems. This tall, balanced structure is one large, powerful pump, whose force is harnessed by every transportation system in our body. The greatest transport vessels hug the spine and depend on its brute pressures. The gastrointestinal systems depend on its power to create flows within the GI tract, to pump our foods and liquids along the long journey through our digestive system.

But most fantastically, this skeletal structure houses and transports the delicate nervous system, ensuring each strand of our powerful mental pulse travels to its appropriate cell and back again.

All of the stretches in the world cannot restore a micro section of the spine, such as the intervertebral disc, to its exact proper form. For this sort of work you will need a body worker. You will need a body worker who can x-ray the area and, following the alignment issues noted on the x-rays, create a perfect alignment of the misaligned vertebrae. While many chiropractors are able to follow this system, some do not, and some will have no concept of how to follow through on these concepts.

I absolutely recommend that you insist on your next (or possibly first) meeting with your chiropractor, that you and he or she review x-rays of your affected area, that all subluxations and any scoliosis are reviewed, and that a plan for reduction of the misalignments, subluxations, and signs of degeneration be proposed and undertaken. You should be able to have a re-x-ray taken within four to six months, in which your misalignments are corrected, and many of the signs of decay or degenerative arthritis, are reversed by up to ten percent. You do not want to be in the group whose spine is decaying; you want to join the group whose spine is returning to full strength.

Regular monitoring by use of an x-ray, no more than twice within a year, is appropriate and necessary to ensure that your work is moving your body forward. Regular improvement of your spine will place you in the very small minority of people on the planet whose spines are being strengthened with time. The very large majority of us are living with internal dysfunctions that are creating our early demise and the literal destruction of our spine, followed by the decay of our energy and our power.

Dr. Bryan Brodeur
https://www.vitalityhouse.com/back_pain.htm

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The Reduction of the Aging Process

Why do we age? Popular wisdom would have us believe that we age because the earth is moving around the sun. But do we age because time passes? Or do we age because we allow ourselves to age?

The truth is that time does not age us as much as our decisions do. Our decision to create a powerful physique will reverse the effects of time. A decision to live on whole and living foods will refresh our cellular matrix. A decision to open our minds to our longevity and our unlimited potential will be the reason we do not simply age because we believe it to be inevitable.

Our skin does not need to age as rapidly as most do. Nor do our organs, our spine, or our minds. The bulk of visible aging is a consequence of believing in aging, and allowing aging. Believing in youth and participating in a daily refreshment of your mind, body, and soul is the most potent method you have of reversing aging.

Ignored, our muscles lose their form and their function. Ignored muscles make us look older than we are. They create sagging where no sagging should be accepted. Sagging and wrinkling are primarily a result of ignoring our muscular system, and they can therefore be so much less than what we normally see.

Poor posture ages us. The greatest indicator of age, greater than wrinkles or grey hair, is our posture. A stooped over young man with colored hair will look older than a similarly appearing man with erect posture, some white hair and some mild wrinkling. We recognize, instinctively, that the stooped person is decaying on the inside, and we know, instinctively, that this is a greater sign of aging.

Ignored inflexibility ages us. The way we move when flexibility would be required is interpreted by those around us as signs that we are aging. The very slight rigidity, the very slight stiffness that you have convinced yourself is no big deal is a sign: it is a sign that your physique is dysfunctional, and it is a sign, to those around you, that you are aging. It is not an “expected” sign of growing old. It is a sign that you do not take proper care of the gift of life you’ve been given.

Change the way you think about your body, and change the way you feel in the body you live in. We were designed to live over a hundred years, in energetic, healthy bodies.

Dr. Bryan Brodeur
https://www.vitalityhouse.com/site_map.htm

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Alternative Medicine and Disease Prevention

Alternative Medicine

Acupuncture, Chiropractic Care, and Massage Therapy are available to every member of our society. Each of these therapies have been proven to improve our life and our health. Yet, very few of us have ever undertaken a serious course of Alternative Medicine, let alone a regular course of each. They can be a beneficial, and relatively inexpensive, adjunct in your pursuit of excellent health.

The key to understanding and using these alternative medicines properly is to understand that they are preventative of disease, and contributive to energy. Thinking of these therapies the same way that you think of mainstream medicine will only give you the results that mainstream medicine has.

Whether you have or haven’t explored these areas, you will definitely need a professional opinion in terms of how to properly access these alternative fields of medicine and how to receive the most benefit to your health. Each one of these disciplines carries an important means in addressing the currents which control our health.

Discovering which to use, when to use them, and how to use them, is a step by step process. The empowering effects of these healing arts are criticized and unduly insulted in medical offices to this day. Unfortunately, these critical physicians are often not familiar with the annals of research in the other fields.

It is sad that the ‘real’ doctor of today is educated entirely by the pharmaceutical industry, and would prescribe dangerous drugs before exploring the power of these emerging arts. Even more unfortunately, this leaves the patient without any authoritative guidance as to how to explore the world of Alternative Medicine.

As we consider different health issues, we should also consider which of these alternative care disciplines you should enlist to assist you. Research thoroughly how to select an alternative care doctor and how to receive as much assistance as you can without affecting your pocket book. These disciplines are, in many cases, not any more expensive than mainstream efforts to achieve a health goal . Explore what you feel you’d prefer to avoid in the alternative health field, what you’d be comfortable with accepting, and how to find a medical doctor who is educated well in alternative medicines.

Disease Prevention

Disease Prevention is a popular phrase and a poorly followed principle. The problem we have, as a society, with the concept of disease prevention is that there is nothing exciting about it. If you consider eating healthy and living right only as a means to prevent disease, you’ll never be excited enough to follow it up properly.

The only people who become excited about preventing disease are usually people who already have a disease.

The most effective manner of motivating yourself towards healthy living is to understand how it will bring you closer to a stronger, more energetic person than the one you are today. Using prevention only to prevent disease is both dull and pessimistic. Using the tools you’ve associated with prevention to bring you more strength and vitality can make it exciting and can show you new pleasures in life.

If you can fathom that the same lifestyle you had when you were young is attainable now, this might make the alternative principles of disease prevention a little more interesting to you.

What is important to understand is that alternative principles, such as Vitalism, are a source of rejuvenation, can restore energy, and can even bring energy to a person who has never had strong energy levels. These principles, often associated with helping eliminate or reduce disease prevention, should be followed until an individual has achieved an ideal state of health in their life.

Dr. Bryan Brodeur
https://www.vitalityhouse.com/chiropractor.htm

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Health Goals – The Vitalism Philosophy

Vitalism is a philosophy on health that is simple to follow and provides powerful effects. At its heart is the belief that living in pain or disease, of any type, is an unnatural state. More importantly, it suggests that pain and disease is a sign that a larger problem is underfoot.

Reducing pain and disease symptoms by fighting them with modern medicines and surgery will rarely touch the larger problem. New symptoms will arise, and new medicines and surgeries for this symptom will continue to weaken the body, harming its precious organs and destroying the body’s immune response strength. What is needed to understand is how to identify the greater problems behind the initial symptoms of pain or disease before they cause the arrival of larger, more complicated conditions.

There should be an adopted focus on learning the basics of vitalism, and with each step, the discovering of major health conditions and understanding their underlying causes, of which may not often be considered or discussed in your doctors office, but which are nevertheless understood and well researched. This way of thinking is a positive means of finding more practical alternatives to drugs, expensive supplements, and surgeries.

Also central to the ‘vitalist’ philosophy is the key principle that a lack of symptoms does not mean health. Health is an abundance of energy. Health is a source of personal power and control over your personal and professional life, along with other relationships. Health is, also, control over your self. Health is having the ability to have your body do whatever you want your body to do.

While the ‘vitalist’ lifestyle is simple and enriching, to educate yourself away from the misinformation you have been fed over the years may take some time and commitment on your behalf. Every effort should be made to strive for information, expanding your understanding of how your mind and your body work together. Soon, you will understand that the food you eat, when eaten properly, brings you energy instead of draining energy. You will understand that the foods that bring you health are delicious and the unhealthy foods you crave are draining.

You will also learn how a lean, healthy physique is enjoyable to obtain and enjoyable to maintain. The same simple steps you need to take to reduce your body pains will bring you a healthier, leaner physique, and an invigorated organic system. We hope to educate you as to what these underlying forces may be and what remedies you may find.

Dr. Bryan Brodeur
https://www.vitalityhouse.com/vitalism.htm

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The Number One Secret For Losing Weight

We all have a few extra pounds we would like to lose. But did you know that this culture is rampant with quick fix diets, supplements, eating programs, and deadly prescriptions that are nowhere near to being the solution you need for losing weight.

First, we had the low fat program, then no fat, then high carb, then no carb, then all meat, then no meat. As for weight losing drugs, we had the heart attack inducing Fen-phen. Then, we had drugs and fads that replaced all of these.

And in another year, another fad will start.

The fact of the matter is, diets simply do not work. Medications do not work. Nothing works to give you a long, lean muscular body until you have tapped into the number one secret for turning your body into a ripped, muscle building and fat burning machine.

And the secret is not simply aerobic exercise or working out. These two will help tremendously, but will not turn the corner for you.

What you will need to turn your body into a fat burning, muscle building, energetic machine, is a sure fire method of turning up your internal metabolic level. Jogging and weight lifting only turn up that consumption function while you are doing them. Drugs and supplements only strain your heart while they temporarily force your body to burn calories.

The surefire method to turning up your internal furnace is simple: you’ll need a daily exercise program that restores your body to full mobility, preferably a program that quietly makes you sweat.

These programs allow your body to suddenly function fully. A fully flexible body becomes longer, leaner, and will naturally burn twice the calories of even an accomplished athlete. Any person who has followed these types of programs faithfully will attest to this: their metabolisms skyrocket. Their immune system power goes into overdrive, and their aches and pains, colds and flus, all seem to go into remission.

So where are these programs? Ashtanga and Hatha Yoga are the fountainheads of these incredible body-shredding programs. Power Pilates and other similar programs are very close followers to these ancient, principled methods.

Turning on your internal furnace has never been easier: look for a powerful home flexibility program and you will see dramatic changes in your physique, your energy, and your life.

Dr. Bryan Brodeur
https://www.vitalityhouse.com/internal_furnace.htm

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