Supplements / Vitamins, etc.

[SCAPER]

I am wondering what you all recommend for daily supplements. I am going to start a stringent supplement program now that I've been diagnosed.

So the first thing I plan to do is start taking the supplements on this web page;

School Yourself on How Vitamins Benefit Diabetes Care - Diabetes Health (http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/1999/04/01/1478/school-yourself-on-how-vitamins-benefit-diabetes-care/)

Then, I plan to add Juvenon to that. I've read a lot of good stuff about Juvenon the past few years and it's really supposed to help with aging of cells and neuropathy.

Other than all those, anything else I need to consider taking?

[DeusXM]

I'm not really convinced there's a need to take vitamin supplements if you cook your own food and eat a balanced diet. If you're not doing that, you're living an unhealthy lifestyle as it is and taking a magic pill won't change that.

From the article:

Some health care professionals say that if you eat a proper diet you should not need extra vitamins or minerals. Campbell disagrees, saying that even people who eat enough fruits and veggies still need supplements.

Take an apple, for example, says Campbell. "People might be eating that apple a year after it's been picked, and by then so much of the nutrients are gone."

Oh, puh-lease. Like an apple lasts that long. Grasping at straws here - oh, and where do the nutrients go? Do they just evaporate into the air or something?

This just flies in the face of evolution anyway. Is it really conceivable that the human body would evolve in such a way that it would be impossible to satisfy its basic requirements from diet alone? This doesn't even make sense.

[foxl]

Just a standard multivitamin (CHEAP!) and 2000 IU Vit D. Per my Internist and Endo.

[GeishaGirl]

I've read that type 1s (you don't specify whether you're a 1 or 2) burn through all the vitamin B's three times faster than normal people. For most people, vitamin B makes its way to the kidneys with everything else, and is refiltered into the blood, but type 1s, for whatever reason, just pee it out.

I started a (normal) dose of B-complex and feel much more peppy for it, though I want to do more research before I triple my supplement!

[SCAPER]

I'm not really convinced there's a need to take vitamin supplements if you cook your own food and eat a balanced diet. If you're not doing that, you're living an unhealthy lifestyle as it is and taking a magic pill won't change that...

balanced diet??? If I eat any carbs at all, my blood spikes. So I am currently on a diet of pretty much pure protein plus a few vegetables or a salad each day. I am not sure that is really what anyone would considered a balanced diet. I'm getting almost no fruits, no carbs, no starches, no beans, etc. That's the whole reason I'm considering a good vitamin regimen is specifically because right now I can't eat a balanced diet.

[plattb1]

A very knowledgeable DF member has the following in his signature:

Bitter Melon, Vanadyl Sulfate
Chromium Pichnolate, Gymnema Sylvestre
Protien Hydrosylates, Amino Acids
Hi-Maize 260, Ground and Whole Flax Seed
COQ10, Celery Seed, Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium
Zinc, Selenium, Vitamin E, Fish Oil
Vitamins Bx, C, Ginkgo
Hawthorne, Vitamin D
Alpha-Lipoic-Acid, Biotin, ACAI Berry

He seems to be achieving good control without medication using these vitamins, minerals, and supplements. His user name is MCS & I'm sure he'll "chime in" with specific comments.

Personally, I take B-12, an inexpensive multivitamin, and D-3 in addition to my prescription meds & insulin.

[DeusXM]

So I am currently on a diet of pretty much pure protein plus a few vegetables or a salad each day. I am not sure that is really what anyone would considered a balanced diet.

Much as I'm loathe to endorse low-carbing as 'balanced', I'd suggest that if you eat enough vegetables, you should still get enough vitamins. There aren't really that many vitamins in potatoes or bread but there should be quite a fair few in brocolli or carrots.

I used to think about taking B vitamins since I'm aware that they seem to be in lower levels in people with diabetes. I've found though that even taking a small amount of vitamin B turns my pee an exciting luminous yellow colour, which is fun and amusing (especially when it's been snowing) but also indicates that I've too much vitamin B in my system.

[Larry H.]

When I first got here I was seeking like every one some way to help combat the diabetes. In my case without drugs as such. I got involved with several people here that were experiencing what they felt was promising results though a number of supplemental things. Unfortunately one very enthusiastic fellow eventually went back to really poor readings and I don't know what happened to him.

What I had settled on as thinking they were helping, and perhaps they were was Salacia Oblonga. Its an Indian Tree Bark product that is hard to find here, but some outlets on line do now sell it. I think Vitacost is one if I recall. By the way they have the most incredible prices on things alternative in the way of vitimans, minerals, supplements, ect. I use them now exclusively for things I want. Cheap and fast.
Any way the Salacia is used in India and other far eastern countries for Diabetes and Cholesterol control. It is not as iffy as some things as too its possible effects on glucose. There are a number of studies some rather recent by the respectable research labs, (one I think for the diabetes association) that showed that taken before meals it lowered the blood glucose by up to 20% over not taking it. Those studies now are of people without diabetes and the last test said it was also effective on type II. I took it for some time. It basically worked like some of the new drugs, Metforium perhaps that work on the digestive system, thus the issues with cramping an gas if taken too heavily.

There are a number of Blood Sugar Supplements, one by Natures Way I used to also take. I did get what I thought was better results with them, but eventually I slacked off as my numbers have seemingly reduced overall and seem to be staying that way for now.

There are all kinds of things that you could take, such as the list given above in a message. How many of them are really worth the price, well it depends. Some of it may be real and some of it is wishful thinking I feel.