5 Foot Care Tips for Diabetics:

1. Check your Feet Daily
Look at your feet every day for cuts, blisters, sores and swelling
Use a mirror to check the bottoms of your feet or ask a family member or friend for help if you have trouble seeing

2. Keep skin soft and smooth
Use cream on the top bottom of feet, avoid between the toes

3. Smooth corns and callouses gently
Use a light hand and pumice stone.  Do NOT use sharp objects on corns and calluses

4.  Wear shoes and socks at all times Do not walk barefoot.
Wear comfortable shoes that fit well and protect your feet that do not cause pressure or friction

5.  See a Podiatrist
Diabetics should ask their primary care physician for a referral to a qualified podiatrist
A qualified Podiatrist can check your feet regularly and ensure they stay happy and healthy!

Recently, studies have come out showing a link between pain tolerance and sleep impairment.  One such study from PAIN, a publication from the International Association for the Study of Pain, showed people with insomnia and other sleep issues have increased sensitivity to pain.  The effect on pain tolerance appears strongest in people who suffer from insomnia and chronic pain who may benefit from treating both conditions.  This recent study was led by Børge Sivertsen, PhD, of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen.  Sivertsen has produced several studies on  sleep impairments and pain in both adults and adolescents.  This recent study included a large population of 10,412 participants with the average age of 58 and 54% women.  This was self-reported sleep measure study where patients provided information on sleep duration, sleep onset latency (SOL), and sleep efficiency, as well as frequency and severity of insomnia. The main outcome measure was pain sensitivity tests, including assessment of cold-pressor pain tolerance. The study found that all sleep parameters, except sleep duration, were significantly associated with reduced pain tolerance. Both the frequency and severity of insomnia, in addition to SOL (sleep onset latency) and sleep efficiency, were associated with pain sensitivity in a dose-response.  Another important finding was that there was a relation between effect on pain tolerance when combining insomnia and chronic pain.   To sum it up: the study concluded that sleep problems significantly increased the risk for reduced pain tolerance.   Comorbidity of sleep problems and pain are linked to disability and chronic pain syndromes (i.e. fibromyalgia, arthralgia, neuralgia)

According to the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine, most people have insomnia at some point in their lives and it usually happens during times of stress and goes away in a few days or weeks without treatment. Professional help is needed when insomnia lasts for months or even years. Untreated insomnia causes daytime functioning problems such as fatigue, irritability, and difficulty with concentration and memory. Long-term, chronic insomnia may also be associated with depression, drug and alcohol use, heart disease and more recently decreased pain tolerance. 

How to Get a Good Night's Rest
Behavioral Sleep Medicine (BSM) is a growing area of the sleep field that focuses on the evaluation and treatment of sleep disorders by addressing behavioral, psychological, and physiological factors that prevent people from getting a restful sleep.  Some forms of BSM include treatments with devices like bright light boxes.  Bright light boxes still need further study on their effectiveness but have been shown to decrease depression and fatigue in seasonal effective disorder.   Usually BSM treatments do not include medications but occasionally some interventions may be used together with certain prescription and non prescription  medications to help patients tolerate medical therapy such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for sleep apnea. 

BSM focus is on introducing behavioral changes that have been proven to improve sleep. This cognitive approach focuses on looking internally to examine, manage, or modify sleep interfering thoughts and beliefs that can interfere with sleep.   This approach also helps finds the triggers that help promote or inihibt sleep. 

Some at home tips on getting a better night's rest include; turning off TVs, computers, cell phones and other blue light souces atleast an hour before you go to bed.  If you can not turn off all devices and a light is still showing you can cover up the light.  A tip that I personally have started using since I have neck and TMD joint pain is; ensuring that my head and neck are in a neutral alignment while sleeping.  Make sure that you have a pillow that helps with this in order to prevent headache and neck pain or stiffness.  Try not to sleep on your stomach since this can twist your neck. 

Cheers to Your Health!



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I will be challenging myself to Run a 10k in the Run10Feed10 Race to Feed Millions of Americans Who Go Hungry Every Day. This Charity is being hosted by the Feed Foundation and Women's Health Magazine and Will be on September 20th 2015 in NYC. 
Please Help Me Raise Funds by Donating $10 or More. 
To Donate You Can Go Here:
https://www.crowdrise.com/drsuzheals10kruntostophunger/fundraiser/suzannefuchs

**I will send the first 5 People to Donate $20 or more coupons for free grub from Beyond Meat**

Be Well

Cheers!

Suzanne

Summer is here, and many of us have cleaned up our barbeque and have begun to grill.  Grilling is fun, fast and considered healthy because it allows the fat to drip away from your food.  Not to  mention it tastes great!

However, you must consider taking caution when cooking your food in this manner.  There has been research performed within the past 15 years showing that grilling isn’t as healthy as we thought.   Cooking foods at high temperatures, have been shown as one of the factors leading to disease.  Some of these are heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and certain cancers as well as causing an acceleration in aging.  This risk becomes even more critical for those already diagnosed with these health conditions. 

This grilling hazard to your health is the result of toxins that are produced and absorbed into the body. These highly toxic substances are called AGEs or Advanced Glycation End Products .  AGEs are created when sugar attaches to either protein or fat in dry heat at high temperatures. Think of it as what happens when you brown food giving it that nice looking appearance and flavor.  These compounds form during dry-heat cooking methods and may cause an increase in inflammation which can damage body tissue.  

AGEs cause oxidative stress and inflammation in your body.  This can contribute to atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries especially in people diagnosed with diabetes.  AGEs have also been associated with other chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease as stated above.  Inflammation and oxidative stress have been associated with many chronic diseases such as chron’s , arthritis and colitis.  Other life threatening conditions associated with a rise in AGEs are inflammation of the heart or myocarditis and nephritis or kidney inflammation leading to high blood pressure and possibly kidney failure. 

Helen Vlassara, a professor of medicine and geriatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, stated that advanced glycation end products, or AGEs are formed during high temperature cooking such as grilling, frying and flame-broiling of meat.  Before Helen Vlassara’s research at mount sinai, it was thought that AGEs were produced only by our own bodies.  Dr. Vlassara's research showed that 10 percent of AGEs in food are absorbed by the body and remain in various tissues for a long time.  AGEs not only age your body but also your brain.  Studies have shown links between high AGEs and Alzeheimer's disease because of inflmmation.   AGEs are  abundant in brain lesions of persons with Alzheimer's or other dementias.  Recently, persons over the age of 80 with memory loss were found to have much higher levels of AGEs in their blood than peers whose memory was intact.

AGEs form when food is cooked at high temperatures and are the most susceptible when food is browned or “cripsy.”  The most dangerous are high-protein, high-fat foods  cooked at high temperatures in a dry environment.  For example; grilling or broiling for 15 or more minutes contains more than five times as many AGE’s as the same exact food boiled or stewed for one hour. 

Mount Sinai research concluded that you can significantly lower the amount of AGE’s in your diet by varying the cooking time and temperature of animal protein foods.   Another tip is to marinate meat before grilling as it might lower the amount of AGEs produced. 

Here are Some Easy Tips to Decrease Your Overall Exposure to AGEs:

- Avoid processed foods.  These may have been exposed to high temperatures to lengthen their shelf life.

- Fill up on raw or steamed fruits and vegetables.

- Eat meat or high protein animal products less often, instead switch them out for whole grains or plant protein.   Try my favorite plant protein products at  http://www.beyondmeat.com/

- Use moist-heat cooking methods more often including steaming, boiling stewing, braising or use a crock pot.

- Consume less fatty foods, trim fat from meat prior to cooking at high temperatures.

- Marinate meat in acidic liquids such as vinegar or lemon juice.

- Cook food to the side of the heat source rather than directly over it.

- When cooking meat on the grill, raise the rack to the highest point as far  away from the heat as possible.

- After cooking cut off any portions of food that were charred or look too crispy!

Sources:
http://theage-lessway.com/
Circulating Glycotoxins and Dietary Advanced Glycation Endproducts: Two Links to Inflammatory Response, Oxidative Stress, and Aging
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?cmd=Retrieve&list_uids=12429856&dopt=AbstractPlus