Living with feline diabetes - week two

It is 2 weeks now since Caesar stopped being given Purina One and Whiskas to eat.

He is drinking less water because he now gets his fluids from the food he is eating.

He is still urinating in his dirt tray a bit more than usual as he mostly stays indoors due to the winter weather, but I no longer have to empty his dirt tray every day.

I had a reply to my letter from Purina One during the week.  You may read it here.

I find it amusing that the letter says ‘In the wild cats would naturally ingest plant material contained in the stomachs of their prey’. 

So in the wild, do prey eat processed foods such as soybean meal, whole grain corn, corn gluten meal, brewers rice? 

Tomorrow I have an appointment with Lyn Thomson of Raw Essentials.  You can read about her philosphy here.

I am looking forward to discussing with Lyn how raw food may help to reverse cat diabetes.

From Helen Wenley at Cat Diabetes – How to prevent, reverse and care for your Diabetic Cat 

Experts Say Overprescription is Rampant

articles.mercola.com

Overprescription is going out of control in America as doctors rely on prescription drugs to treat symptoms rather than look for the root causes of...read more at Experts Say Overprescription is Rampant

Be sure to read the above article if you wish to be pro-active with your health.

[Dr Mercola says] One of the surest ways to avoid falling into the drug trap is to simply embrace the fundamentals of good health, such as:

·         Eliminating fructose and most grains

·         Eating unprocessed, high-quality foods, organic if possible, right for your nutritional type. If you haven't reviewed my comprehensive free program please do so when you have a moment.

·         Getting sufficient amounts of sun exposure to optimize your vitamin D levels

·         Consuming enough high quality animal based omega-3 fats

·         Exercising regularly

And I suggest that you also consider adding advanced quality nutritional supplements to the above list to ensure that you are getting all the nutrients that your body needs.

Get your free ebook – Five steps to choosing nutritional supplements

From Helen Wenley @ Healthy Aging Resources

Raw meat ONLY for cats

This article from Raw Essentials explains why cats should eat only raw meat.

Cats prefer their natural diet -

A two-year research project conducted at the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition in Leicestershire, England indicates that healthy pet cats regulate their nutrient intake to mimic what they would eat in the wild.

http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/214/6/1039

Research Proves It: Cats and Carbohydrates Don’t Mix!

Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they have nutritional requirements that can only be met with a diet based on animal tissue. The macronutrient profile for cats is high in protein and fat, consistent with a meat and bone based diet.

According to study authors:

The carbohydrate ceiling explains many of the intake patterns seen in both dry and wet diet experiments and suggests that cats may only be able to process ingested carbohydrate up to a certain level.

The feline body is specifically designed for a very low carbohydrate diet.

They have no taste receptors for sweet flavours.

Low rates of glucose uptake in the intestine.

No salivary amylase to break down starches

And a reduced capacity of pancreatic amylase and intestinal disaccharidases

 In other words, cats don’t produce the enzymes required to digest carbohydrates. The only carbohydrates felines eat in the wild are pre-digested and are found in the stomachs of prey animals.

Read more here... Cats prefer their natural diet

Multivitamin Supplementation Can Have Positive Effects On Body Weight

New research suggests that obese individuals who use a multivitamin/mineral supplement may experience both a decrease in body weight and improved serum lipid profiles.

Obese individuals are more likely to have lower blood concentrations of most vitamins and minerals.  In a new research published in the International Journal of Obesity, scientists evaluated the effects of multivitamin/mineral supplementation on body fat, energy expenditure, and lipid profiles in obese Chinese women.

Ninety-six obese Chinese women between the ages of 18 and 55 participated in a 26-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intervention study.  Subjects were divided into three groups, receiving either a multivitamin/mineral supplement (MMS), 162mg of calcium, or placebo daily.  Body weight, BMI, waist circumference, fat mass, lean tissue, resting energy expenditure, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose and serum insulin, total cholesterol, LDL and HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides were measured at the beginning and end of the study period.

After 26 weeks, the multivitamin/mineral group had significantly lower body weight, BMI, fat mass, total and LDL cholesterol, significantly higher resting energy expenditure and HDL cholesterol than individuals in the placebo group.  They were also more likely to have a reduced waist circumference.  The calcium group also had significantly higher HDL cholesterol and lower LDL cholesterol levels compared with the placebo group.

The results suggest that multivitamin/mineral supplementation could reduce body weight and fatness and improve serum lipid profiles in obese women, possibly through increased energy expenditure and fat oxidation.

Source: 
Li Y et al. Effects of multivitamin and mineral supplementation on adiposity, energy expenditure and lipid profiles in obese Chinese women. 2010. Int J Obes (Lond) 34(6):1070-7.

To benefit your health, you may wish to consider taking advanced quality multi-vitamins, multi-minerals, omega-3 and Vitamin D3 as a base. 

Other options are to add in CoQ10 and grape-seed extract.

Get your free ebook – Five steps to choosing nutritional supplements

From Helen Wenley @ Healthy Aging Resources

Vitamin D Deficiency in Pregnant Women

High prevalence rates of suboptimal vitamin D levels have been observed in women who are not considered ‘at risk’.  A recent Australian study suggested that all pregnant women in Australia should take a daily vitamin D supplement.

Vitamin D deficiency is common in pregnant women and in breastfed infants, despite the widespread use of prenatal vitamins. Adverse health outcomes such as preeclampsia, low birthweight, neonatal hypocalcemia, poor postnatal growth, bone fragility, and increased incidence of autoimmune diseases have been linked to low vitamin D levels during pregnancy and infancy.

A cross-sectional study of pregnant women was performed to determine prevalence and predictive factors of suboptimal vitamin D levels in 2 antenatal clinics in Australia – Campbelltown, NSW and Canberra, ACT.

The researchers found behavioural factors, such as sun exposure, were not as predictive of suboptimal vitamin D levels as ethnicity, season and BMI among pregnant woman.  The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency was 35% in Canberra and 26% in Campbelltown.  Among the vitamin D-deficient women, 38% were Caucasian and all had a BMI of more than 30kg/m2. Vitamin D supplementation at 500 IU/day was inadequate to prevent insufficiency.

The study suggested routine supplementation for all pregnant women with a higher dose of vitamin D (1000 IU/day) regardless of their ethnicity or exposure to the sun.  Targeted screening of the women at highest risk of vitamin D deficiency should also be continued and supplemented if necessary.

Source:
Sumathy Perampalam et al. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology published online 18 May 2011

This is a message we need to give to the young women in our families!  They can help grow healthy adults.

I take 4000iu of Vitamin D daily.  I note that young people that I know do not spend enough time outside in the sun to benefit from getting Vitamin naturally.  Taking supplements is an important option to consider.

To benefit your health, you may wish to consider taking advanced quality multi-vitamins, multi-minerals, omega-3 and Vitamin D3 as a base.  Other options are to add in CoQ10 and grape-seed extract.

Get your free ebook – Five steps to choosing nutritional supplements

From Helen Wenley @ Healthy Aging Resources

A fish-rich diet of the Eskimos' benefits the Heart

Although 70% Alaskan Eskimos are overweight or obese, they did not show the same risk factors for heart disease as the US population.  They also had a lower prevalence of diabetes.  The latest study suggested that an Omega-3 rich diet may offer protection against some of the harmful effects of obesity.

It has been known that Omega-3 fatty acids are associated with favorable, and obesity with unfavorable, concentrations of chronic disease risk biomarkers.
 
In a cross-sectional study, the researchers analyzed data from 330 people living in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta region of south-west Alaska, who typically consume around 20 times as much omega-3 fats from fish as the average American.  They have similar overweight and obesity levels to those in the US overall but their prevalence of type 2 diabetes is significantly lower, at 3.3% versus 7.7%. 

The researchers examined whether high eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acid intakes, measured as percentages of total red blood cell (RBC) fatty acids, modify associations of obesity with chronic disease risk biomarkers.
  
The study found that those with the highest levels of the omega-3 fish oils docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid had the lowest triglyceride and C-reactive protein levels.  High RBC EPA and DHA were associated with attenuated dyslipidemia and low-grade systemic inflammation among overweight and obese persons. This may help inform recommendations for Omega-3 fatty acid intakes in the reduction of obesity-related disease risk.

Source:
Z Makhoul et al; European Journal of Clinical Nutrition; advance online publication 23 March 2011; doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2011.39

To further benefit your heart health, you may wish to consider taking advanced quality multi-vitamins, multi-minerals, omega-3 and Vitamin D3 as a base.  Other options are to add in CoQ10 and grape-seed extract.

Get your free ebook – Five steps to choosing nutritional supplements

From Helen Wenley @ Healthy Aging Resources

Living with feline diabetes - week one

Today marks the end of the first week since Caesar was diagnosed with cat diabetes.

So how is he?

Well I have noticed that he is drinking and urinating less.

He is still ravenous and gulps his food.

He is not crying so much (except yesterday evening his incessant meowing did get painful so I ended up shutting him away early).

He has a little more energy.

What is he eating?

Certainly not any dry food.

After extensive reading of numerous canned food labels, I found that Gourmet (Heinz Watties Limited) and Dine (Mars Petcare Australia) were two of the few that stacked up – they do not list any cereals in the ingredient list (which I hope I can trust!).

From Helen Wenley at Cat Diabetes – How to prevent, reverse and care for your Diabetic Cat