Type 2 diabetes and cranberry juice.

Why is this important to you? Actually there is no shortage of medical evidence that unsweetened cranberry juice is a good way to treat infections of the urinary tract. Complex polysaccharides found in cranberry juice (and in juices of other bog berries, such as blueberry), coat the lining of your bladder and urethra so bacteria can never "root" and the flow urine simply washes them away.

Many people with diabetes, type 1 and type 2, find when they go for their annual or bi-annual medical check-up, they have a urinary tract infection. Yet they had none of the usual signs which include:


pain and burning when passing urine
frequency of urination and only passing small amounts
cloudy urine... sometimes blood is present
feeling generally "bad" all over... tired, shaky and washed out

By the time you have a fever this indicates the infection has reached your kidneys... usually there is no fever when the infection is in your bladder or urethra.

As you can see, the nature of urinary tract infections is that they can continue unnoticed at low levels for weeks, months, or even years. The bacteria in your urinary tract cause a constant, low level of inflammation that isn't enough for you to mention to your health care practitioner, but it is enough to generate inflammatory proteins that circulate throughout your body.

Uncontrolled blood sugars result in spillover of blood glucose into your urine, and that sugar provides constant nourishment for bacteria. The bacteria can grow into mats and tangles that "hug" the lining of your bladder and urethra so they don't flow out with your urine and this is why they don't get detected in urine tests. And they can pump out just enough of the triggers of inflammation... they encourage the "growth" of belly fat and also hardening of the arteries.

What will help stop low-level bladder infections?

Cranberry juice keeps bacteria from forming colonies. A shot glass of cranberry juice at least once a week may stop in it's tracks any low-level bladder infections. Just be sure you drink real cranberry juice or blueberry juice straight, with no added sugar or aspartame.

A regular dose of berry juice not only will get rid of bladder bacteria, it may even help you control both blood sugar levels and your weight. Try a weekly glass of cranberry juice and see if you can't detect improvement in control of your type 2 diabetes.

Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes.

We know that there is a gene that is associated with diabetes. We know how to create diabetes in the laboratory animals, how to measure blood sugar control over a three-month period, and what the ideal fasting blood sugar level is. We have better ways to deliver insulin to those via pumps (Type 1 Diabetics) and how to prevent problems in those who still give themselves injections. We know what to look for to identify the complications of diabetes and when to intervene so that these complications don’t become life-threatening.

All these are medical and technological advances but it’s the nutritional advances that are helping diabetics the most. We know that antioxidants quench free radicals that are created during infections, and diabetics are more prone to infections of all types. Scientists told us that cataracts were a result of the excess blood sugar that needed someplace to go. Researchers reported on the Glycemic Index for carbohydrate foods in the 1980s and diabetics learned that all carbohydrates are not equal. We learned that foods containing the most fiber were the ones that delayed the blood sugar rise after a meal. We discovered that certain foods and herbs contained medicinal constituents that had the potential to lower blood sugar levels and that if we consistently ate them, our blood sugar levels could be drastically lower.

What many people have discovered now is that the more that Type 2 Diabetics focus on their diet, the more quickly they can regain control over their blood sugar levels. The result of this is less chance of developing complications such as peripheral neuropathy, dementia, cataracts, infections, high cholesterol, kidney damage and high blood pressure.

Whenever you are starting any type of protocol for beating Type 2 Diabetes, it is really important to start with diet. Reduce the carbohydrate foods that are high on the Glycemic Index (GI) scale. Replace the hydrogenated fat foods with ones rich in healthy fats such as avocados. Stop eating sugar and processed foods and only let foods touch your lips that are wholesome. Take your supplements to insure that you have healthy levels of all nutrients that your body needs. Don’t give your body a reason to have diabetes.