Natural Therapies, Homeopathy and Diabetes

Diabetes is a degenerative metabolic disorder affecting the way our bodies use digested food for growth and energy. Most of the food we eat is broken down by the digestive juices into a simple sugar called glucose. Glucose is the main source of fuel for the body. After digestion, the glucose passes into our bloodstream where it is available for body cells to use for growth and energy. For the glucose to get into the cells, insulin must be present. (Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, a large gland behind the stomach.) When we eat, the pancreas is supposed to produce the right amount of insulin automatically to move the glucose from our blood into our cells. In people with diabetes, however, the pancreas either produces little or no insulin, or the body cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood, overflows in the urine and passes out of the body. Thus, the body loses its main source of fuel even through the blood contains large amounts of glucose.

Homeopathy and Diabetes

Homeopathy sees diabetes as a reflection of the body's inability to function optimally, an imbalance that results in the body's incapacity to effectively utilise the insulin that it produces, or to produce sufficient insulin for its needs. According to Alternative Medicine The Definitive Guide: " Homeopathy is a complete system of natural medicine that can have a therapeutic effect on almost any disease or health condition."

The metabolic condition of a patient suffering from diabetes requires both therapeutic and nutritional measures to correct the illness. Along with the patient's strict compliance to a proper diet, homeopathy can regulate sugar metabolism while helping to resolve metabolic disturbances that lead to diabetes. Furthermore, homeopathy helps stimulate the body's self-healing powers to prevent health conditions related to the illness, such as glaucoma, hardening of the liver, hypertension, depression, atherosclerosis, kidney failure, rheumatic processes, heart disease, etc.

Homeopathy has proved to be of tremendous value in reversing diseases such as diabetes.

Nutrition and Diabetes

The most important part of successfully controlling adult onset diabetes is controlling what you eat. You need to regulate the amount of sugar, starches, fat, and refined foods eaten. For example, if the dinner meal were spaghetti and meatballs and salad, you would need to eat less spaghetti or eat whole-wheat spaghetti and eat more salad and meatballs in the meal. Spaghetti, like white breads and other pastas is a refined starch that converts into glucose in the body.

It would be helpful to think of eating a bowl of spaghetti or a slice of white bread as eating sugar. If however, a small amount of spaghetti is eaten with a protein and fiber, the body handles its effects better. The protein in the meat and the fiber in the salad slow the glucose released into the blood stream. This lessens the harmful effects of the excess glucose – remember the kidneys and eyes. Even better, substitute the high fat meatballs with low fat turkey or chicken in the salad.

Try to make the following changes:

Eat whole grains. Buy spelt, quinoa, whole wheat, corn, or rice pastas, whole wheat bread. If it is white, then think of it as sugar.
Eat lots of fiber. Fiber is found in beans, grains, fruits, and vegetables. Because fruit contains high amounts of a type of sugar that converts into glucose, limit fruit to 1 piece daily.
Minimise the amount of sugar you eat. Sugar is in everything from soft drinks, to pastries, to catsup. Always eat protein and/or fiber if eating sugar. Don’t substitute artificial sweeteners (except the herb Stevia) for sugar. The artificial sweeteners are associated with many over 25 complaints ranging from headaches to vertigo. More importantly the American Diabetic Association recommended that anyone with diabetes not to eat any sorbitol.
Keep the diet low fat. Some fat like those found in avocados, nuts, and grains is needed, but not the kind that you can pour.

Physical Activity

Exercise stimulated the cells that absorb the glucose in the body to do their job. Exercise can take many forms from walking the dog, to parking farther from the store in the parking lot, to the chair aerobics often demonstrated on television. It is important to do some form of exercise daily. It is a great tool that helps your body control the diabetes.

Spiritual, Mental, and Emotional

Type II diabetes often follows a major trauma in the person’s life such as the loss of a spouse. Instead of seeing diabetes as a sentence that must be carried out, think of it as an opportunity to get back into mental, emotional and physical balance. Maybe the disease is forcing the person to look at him or herself.

Why is this happening? Now (s)he must think about everything (s)he put into his/her mouth. Suddenly, the body is out of balance; it has decided not to do a job that it had been doing for years. So how do you regain this balance? If you already have a religious belief, strengthen it. If this has been an area in your life that you have ignored, then embrace it. There are so many different ways to approach it in both Eastern and Western disciplines.

Whatever you chose, take time to think about your life and its direction. Lessen negativity in your life. Work on improving relationships that add to your life and eliminating those that make you unhappy. Focus on being happy and productive.