Diabetes is a metabolic disease marked by high blood glucose, also known as blood sugar. It is an inability to maintain healthy levels of glucose in the blood, giving rise to numerous symptoms that can affect the entire body and can lead to potentially life-threatening complications such as kidney failure, heart attack, high blood pressure, infertility etc.
This is typically because the body can no longer absorb sugar into its tissues, either because the insulin hormone required to trigger its uptake is missing or ineffective.
It is among the most common of chronic disorders, affecting up to 5–10% of the adult population. The prevalence of diabetes is increasing dramatically day by day.
Types of Diabetes
There are three types of diabetes: Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes and Gestational diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes
It occurs when your body does not produce any insulin. It is sometimes called juvenile diabetes because it is usually discovered in children and teenagers, but it may appear in adults, too.
While its cause is not always clear, the condition runs in families, indicating a genetic role and possible early environmental factors.
Type 2 Diabetes
About 85 to 90 percent of chronic diabetics have the second category of the illness. It occurs when your body does not produce enough insulin or does not use the insulin as it should. In the past, doctors thought that only adults were at risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.
However, an increasing number of children are now being diagnosed with the disease. Doctors think this increase is mostly because more children are overweight or obese and are less physically active. It is often preceded by a condition called Prediabetes, where blood sugar levels are elevated but symptoms are yet to appear.
Gestational Diabetes
As the name suggests, gestational diabetes is a condition that affects women during pregnancy. Up to around 15 percent of pregnancies will be affected between the 24th to the 28th week of gestation. It is caused when the placenta’s insulin-blocking hormones create a greater demand for insulin in the body.
Unlike other forms of diabetes, this acute condition is relatively temporary, with most mothers recovering normal insulin responses after the birth. Though, it can increase the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes later in life.
Prediabetes
Prediabetes occurs when blood sugar levels are higher than they should be, but not high enough to officially be diagnosed as diabetes. Pre-diabetes greatly increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The good news is that, if you have prediabetes, you can prevent or delay the onset of full-blown Type 2 Diabetes by making lifestyle changes. These include eating a healthy diet, reaching and maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising regularly.
Symptoms of diabetes
- Extreme hunger.
- Extreme thirst.
- Frequent urination.
- Unexplained weight loss.
- Fatigue or drowsiness.
- Blurry vision.
- Slow-healing wounds, sores, or bruises.
- Dry, itchy skin.
- Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet.
- Frequent or recurring skin, gum, bladder, or vaginal yeast infections.
Although diabetes can’t be cured, you can still live a long and healthy life with the help of Ayurveda. Ayurvedic Treatment for Diabetes mainly focuses on correcting the lifestyle through changes in diet, physical activity and herbal medicines.
Classical Ayurvedic therapy for madhumeha (diabetes) begins with an assessment of the dosha imbalance. In all types of diabetes, kapha and vata both are often vitiated and aggravated as well. Therefore, therapies will be directed at both vata and kapha simultaneously to restore the balance of the doshas.
Herbal supplements developed by using conventional medicinal herbs such as karela, jamun, amla, haldi, gurmar, neem, tulsi, triphala, Ashwagandha, giloy, mulethi, have anti-diabetic properties which helps to lower blood glucose level, improves metabolism, boosts immunity and reduces sugar cravings. These are also helpful to detoxify blood, treat constipation, regulate blood pressure, and administer other diabetes related health problems.
Ayurveda treatment for Diabetes uses some special therapies based on condition and type of Diabetes. Lifestyle modification is an integral part of Diabetes treatment in Ayurveda.
How can Diabetes be prevented or avoided?
Talk to your doctor about your risk factors for diabetes. Although you may not be able to change all of them, you can make changes to significantly lower your risk.
- Any amount of activity is better than none. Try to exercise for 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week. Exercising helps your body use insulin and lower your blood sugar level. It also helps control your weight, gives you more energy, and is good for your overall health.
Regular Yogasana and Pranayama helps in better glucose utilization and reduce the requirement of medication. It also helps in maintaining optimum weight. If diabetics practice the Asanas such as Sarpasana, Suryanamaskara, Pashchimottanasana, Suptavajrasana, Halasana, Sarvangasana, Chakrasana, and sheershasana regularly and meticulously follow the rules of eating, they would derive maximum benefits from the medicines.
- A diet high in fat, calories, and cholesterol increases your risk of diabetes. You must begin by avoiding sugars in all forms. Get rid of rice, potatoes, white bread, sugar coated cereals, bananas, colocasia and much more.
Add a lot of green leafy vegetables to your diet to improve your nutritional status and metabolism. In addition to these, add some Ayurvedic herbs such as turmeric, bitter gourd, gurmar leaves, bael, amla, fenugreek to your diet which act as a natural medicine for diabetes.
Also, remember to watch your portion size. How much you eat is just as important as what you eat. Eat at about the same time every day. This helps keep your insulin and sugar levels steady.
- Maintain a healthy weight.Losing excess weight and maintaining a healthy body weight will help you in 2 ways. First, it helps insulin work well in your body. Second, it will lower your blood pressure and decrease your risk for heart disease.
- Take your medicine.Your diabetes may not be controlled alone with diet, exercise, and weight control, you should get prescribed and recommended Ayurvedic medicine to get best results. These help your body use the insulin it makes more efficiently.