What Are The Problems With Diabetes And High Cholesterol Levels?
Posted by Owen Jones in Uncategorized, tags: beverages, cooking, diabetes, diet, disease, drink, food, gourmet, health, illness, lifestyle, other, recipes, self help, UncategorizedDiabetes is a chronic disease which can have numerous side effects. The illness (normally) comes about as a result of the pancreas not producing sufficient insulin, which you need to handle the sugar level in your blood.
Having diabetes, or too much sugar in your blood can have serious consequences such as cataracts (treatable blindness), decayed teeth and an elevated danger of common infections.
However what lots of people do not realize is that there is a link between high cholesterol levels and diabetes. This link is known as macular edema and it affects eyesight. If you have diabetes and high cholesterol levels, you ought to be paying meticulous attention to your diet in order to avoid macular edema
Macular edema is frequently a painful, non-reversible kind of blindness.
If you are unsure about cholesterol, it would be best if we discuss this subject in order to clarify. People talk about ‘cholesterol levels’ because there are three measurements that are vital. HDL cholesterol is often called ‘good cholesterol’ and LDL cholesterol is called bad cholesterol.
It is important to have LDL because it helps in the production of bile and vitamin D and it assists regulate hormones, but too much of it can block arteries and cause heart problems. HDL is ‘good’ because it soaks up LDL and takes it back to the liver where it is got rid of.
Those are the two key levels. You might be forgiven for thinking that it is best to have as much HDL as you can, and this is a fact, to a certain extent, because you do need LDL too, but the combined of both of these levels is also significant. You must not have a high level of both together either.
The other reason why these levels are more relevant to diabetics is because diabetics with a high level of LDL run roughly three times more risk of developing macular edema than non-diabetics. Therefore the threat of high cholesterol for diabetics is crucial.
This is such a serious problem that diabetics are warned to check their cholesterol levels very often. The good news is that diabetics will already be following a diet and the low cholesterol diet is fairly similar and is easy to integrate into your current one.
The foodstuffs that you should avoid to reduce your LDL cholesterol level include saturated fats such as are present in red meat and dairy products like full-fat milk, butter, cream and cheese.
It is also present in trans and hydrogenated fats, which are present in junk foodstuffs and cheap margarine.
The foodstuffs to eat in order to raise your level of HDL are in essence mono- and poly-unsaturated fats, vegetarian foodstuffs such as fresh fruits and vegetables, soya products, fish, nuts and grains, especially whole grains.
Roughage and fibre are what you ought to be looking for. Fish and olive oil are also useful in the fight against LDL cholesterol.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of topics, and is now involved with 500 Delicious Diabetic Recipes. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Easy Diabetic Meals
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