The “Plus” in this blog’s title of Diabetic Food List + Plus refers to those topics, other than food related, that are more general in subject content than would be found on the diabetes food list, but are important enough or may be of interest to my fellow diabetics. The following falls into the latter category.
Diabetes and men, more than the just giving up sugary foods
It affects your sex-life, and even though she is understanding, your partner may not be too happy about that. That is especially sad for younger couples. But thank goodness for the medications of our modern age that at least compensate in part. But far better to take action as early as possible to counter this side effect before its insidious actions become beyond repair.
We are talking here about erectile dysfunction, e-d as it is now often called and about which we see so many television commercials extolling the benefits of one pharmaceutical pill or another, trying to make light of a delicate situation, but off the TV screen it is not a matter to take lightly, much anguish is suffered by otherwise virile men facing this unhappy condition. Diabetes causes impairments to nerves and damages blood vessel and affects muscle function. My doctor called it incipient vascular something or other, whatever, you soon know the results, and it’s not easy to deal with.
Most men will eventually experience erectile dysfunction to some extent during their lifetime – it’s called “impotence”, don’t you hate that word? – but it tends to occur in diabetic men 10 to 15 years earlier than in non diabetic males and worsens with age. According to some medical sources, at age 50 and above, while you are still young, active and energetic in everything else, when your body is still producing adequate amounts of testosterone, about 50% to 60% of men with diabetes will probably be having difficulties, and over age 70 it’s mostly over for 95% of diabetic men. What kind of life is that? Do you want to depend on Viagara, Levitra, or Cialis?
And if you have trouble with your heart, as many diabetics do, such e-d medications may cause dangerous interactions with heart medicines, so now that’s an added factor to be concerned about and that apprehension can be an added contribution to the erectile problem.
So take heed, follow the exercise plan, lose weight, the dietary suggestions, include the right items to your diabetes food list, and do whatever else your doctor advises before it’s too late. Think of the benefits.
This can help the cause:
If you wonder where you place on the weight chart, check out the Body Mass Index tables on this site, if you are above column 25 it might be time to implement a weight-loss plan.
A comment about weight from my other site dealing with diabetes matters:
Even without exercise, by eating 500 calories less each day than your current daily intake, and by staying on that regime for a week, it should achieve about a one pound weight loss – and if continued on that same daily calorie amount for a few more weeks it could result in a 4 to 5 pound weight loss in a month. Just for comparison, 500 calories each day is about equal to a fast food cheeseburger and a regular cola drink each day.
If you eat 3,500 more calories than your body needs without engaging in additional exercise, you will add about 1 pound. Conversely, if you become more active and in doing so burn up 3,500 calories without eating more, you will lose about 1 pound in weight.
For more information on this diabetes related topic
Visit the WebMD article titled Erectile Dysfunction (Impotence) & Diabetes at:
http://www.webmd.com/erectile-dysfunction/guide/ed-diabetes
A four page article by Barbara Minton, Natural Health Editor of NaturalNews.com, titled Sexual Functioning in Men can be Fully Restored Naturally can be found at:
http://www.naturalnews.com/026219_testosterone_chrysin_libido.html
and from Life Extension magazine there is this even more detailed article titled Replenish Testosterone Naturally at:
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2000/jan00-cover2.html
I must admit I have not read this in full, it is somewhat older, from January 2000 and there are later articles but one thing that caught my attention at the end was this statement:
“For the average male over age 40, increasing free testosterone can restore the sexual fire of youth. The only downside to increasing free testosterone levels to those of a healthy 21-year-old is the potential effects it may have on men with prostate cancer. Before embarking on a testosterone-enhancement program a baseline blood PSA test and a digital rectal exam taken to rule out existing prostate cancer. When using testosterone drugs, PSA blood tests should be taken every 30-45 days for the first five months to rule out hidden prostate cancer.”
And just one more, again from Barbara Minton, may be of interest on testosterone and with the alarming title: Low Testosterone in Men Linked to Huge Increase in Risk of Death. How valid are these scary headlines I don’t know, especially the words “Huge Increase”, or whether they are just sensationalized for readership effect, but the article can be found at:
http://www.naturalnews.com/025293.html
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