bitter melon is my best, easy to grow (summer), buy capsules from chemist, they work for me, use the fruit in cooking.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

Very interesting, I'm border line type two and looking for stuff like this, thanks!

Now if I could find something to lower my BP!

wertach, if you can lower your salt intake it should help your BP. All canned and packaged goods have added salt. My husband is a salt addict. He found a good low sodium salt at the health food store.

Thanks, but I can't have any salt substitutes due to other meds.

I don't add much salt and I only cook fresh food. Mostly home grown, no canned and packaged goods, except home canned.

My wife complains about not enough salt in my food. But she doesn't cook! ;)

The only time that I eat out is in an emergency, when I have been at work too long and have to eat something!

Another vote for bitter melon, very helpful if you can tolerate it or make it palatable. The bitter melon vine tips are edible as well.

Wertach, my aunt is an R.N., and she takes hawthorne tablets from the health store for BP.
It didn't help me but doesn't hurt to ask your doctor and try it.

I believe that certain nutrients can go a ways in relieving diabetes....perhaps go a long ways in some cases. I don't see how one isolated herb or food would be sufficient though.

First of all, I would suggest that it is helpful to sprinkle cinnamon on foods where you can.

It could also be helpful to take a gymnema sylvestre supplement. Also vanadium sulfate may be helpful as also chromium polylincate likely too.

In any case it pays to be careful with any diet/supplements when dealing with diabetes.

Thank you for all the replies

Here is another interesing article

Eight Remedies Treat Diabetes Naturally

http://www.naturalnews.com/027252_diabetes_oil_remedies.html

The bitter melon should be juiced and then taken on an empty stomach before eating first thing in the morning. The seeds may be ground to a powder and eaten also. You can also, make a tea from the bitter melon.

I have tried sweet potatoes leaves in the summer, my blood sugar is better control in the summer than winter. I have grown and taken almost raw bitter melon too. I will try to take it on an empty stomach before eating first thing in the morning next summer.

By the way, how do you control insects for bitter melon? It is strange even insect like bitter melon.

Wertach, try reading up on celery and horseradish re: blood pressure. And if you are border line type 2 , then you are also probably wanting to watch your cholesterol (those three are sort of the trifecta of health). Onions and garlic are always helpful. A diet rich in veggies helps all those as long as you prepare them with minimum salt and fat. No the the collard greens simmered for 20 hours in lard aren't gonna do the trick. :)

For people who like to read aout these things, I reccommend "The Green Pharmacy" and "The Herbal Handbook" by James Duke. Those books are very good. I learned about bitter melon there (it works, and we even found a Chinese restaurant that served a couple of dishes made with it). And while you're not likely to grow it yourself, cinnamon extracts are helpful too, for lowering blood sugar.

I eat a lot of veggies, onions, horseradish, and garlic. I don't eat raw celery very often because I only like it slathered in some sort of dip, but I put it in soups.

My cholesterol is excellent, I don't know why... since I like my pork! That is where I get most of my salt!

I tried laying of of the breakfast sausage by eating lean beef and turkey, fresh and home cooked adding very little salt for 6 months. That didn't help!

I tried eating nothing but home grown veggies for a month, no results!

A funny thing about my BP, it is good if my arm is above my heart when checking it. I asked my Dr. about it and he ignored it.

I have a very low heart rate around 50 bpm and poor circulation. I can't sit, stand, or lay in the same position very long, a foot, leg, hand, or arm will go to sleep!

I am no expert, but I think that anything high in fermentable fiber is good for diabetes. Also combining anything high in GI with anything low (say, boiled potato with raw grated carrot) will moderate the glycemic impact of foods.

A few years ago I read some had revamped the glycemic index to something called the glycemic load of foods. Glycemic load was the amount of glucose released over time and was lower for things with more fiber. Sounds similar to what you're saying, glib.

Wertach, I think the cuff is supposed to be even with or higher than the level of you heart when measuring bp. Wonder why your heart rate is so low?

re: fermentable fibers. foods very rich in inulin (no "s"), chicory root and yacon are tops, some also in sunchokes and allium. resistant starches are most abundant in potatoes, and pectin is abundant in many fruits and vegetables. gourmet seeds has chicory root seeds.

Taking a supplement or isolate is not going to truly solve your problem. What you eat, drink, breath, and put on your skin is where your problem truly resides. Simply put, you live unhealthy, you are going to be unhealthy. You have to change your entire lifestyle in order to truly see change.

Here is a link that might be useful: True Healing

sunnibel7,

My low heart rate is hereditary, my Mom and all of my brothers have/had a low heart rate. Mom had a heart "murmur" according to the Doctor's. There has been some concern several times when I have a cardiogram due to un-normal results.

When I do a stress test my heart rate will not get up to the target, the highest it has ever gotten was 90 bpm after 20 minutes on a bike or treadmill. They stop it because of my BP.

Mine is lower than theirs, Their heart rates are/were in the 60's. I think that is due to me being more active than Mom and my brothers. More physically fit. Even though I need to be more physically fit!

I am an electrician, so my job requires a lot of physical activity. I do a lot of climbing, up and down stairs and ladders, and carrying heavy stuff while in the process.

Plus the drugs that my Dr. prescribes lower it also.

Wertach, thanks for explaining! I couldn't wrap my mind around the combination of high BP and low HR. it sounds like a real pain. It makes me wonder if exercise is good or bad for you, since regular exerices can lower your BP and resting HR...

I'm not a doctor, but one thing I've heard from a couple regarding type 2---

Most of the cases are due to overweight/obesity and there are many veggies and starches that are great substitutes, BUT...
it doesn't matter how much you change your diet --- if you don't lose the WEIGHT in conjunction with diet change, there will be little, if any, change in blood sugar readings.

A few easy substitutes--
Brown rice instead of white rices
sweet potatoes instead of starchy
whole wheat, and especially pumpernickel, breads instead of white breads
whole wheat or soba noodles instead of standard pasta

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Sun, Dec 29, 13 at 13:00

sunnibel7,

An update that is good, I got the results back from my diabetes study Friday. I don't have diabetes and no longer considered borderline!

My Dr. (which was a replacement for my now retired Dr.) Left the practice right after my last visit.

He didn't seem to care much about his patients, you could hear him on the phone talking to people about non medical things for 20 or 30 minutes before he would come in and spend 2 minutes with me! He was the one that said I was borderline!

They assigned me to a new Dr. and she looked over my files and called me out of the blue. Even though I have never been to see her!

She asked me if I was willing to try something that she has had success with. She prescribed Micardis for me, so far my BP is good!

She also listened to me when I told her about lower BP when elevating my arm. She said that a lot of Dr's. ignore that and that she wanted to do some extra tests on my circulation problems.

I have an appointment for Thursday morning.

Eating chile peppers stimulates release of GLP-1.