Tuesday, November 8, 2011
color trends
article found at http://www.millionlooks.com/special-today/lady-gagas-incredible-costumes-at-2011-mtv-ema/
Diabetes
Diabetes is a lifelong (chronic) disease in which there are high levels of sugar in the blood.
See also:
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas to control blood sugar. Diabetes can be caused by too little insulin, resistance to insulin, or both.
To understand diabetes, it is important to first understand the normal process by which food is broken down and used by the body for energy. Several things happen when food is digested:
- A sugar called glucose enters the bloodstream. Glucose is a source of fuel for the body.
- An organ called the pancreas makes insulin. The role of insulin is to move glucose from the bloodstream into muscle, fat, and liver cells, where it can be used as fuel.
People with diabetes have high blood sugar because their body cannot move sugar into fat, liver, and muscle cells to be stored for energy. This is because either:
- Their pancreas does not make enough insulin
- Their cells do not respond to insulin normally
- Both of the above
There are three major types of diabetes. The causes and risk factors are different for each type:
- Type 1 diabetes can occur at any age, but it is most often diagnosed in children, teens, or young adults. In this disease, the body makes little or no insulin. Daily injections of insulin are needed. The exact cause is unknown.
- Type 2 diabetes makes up most of diabetes cases. It most often occurs in adulthood, but teens and young adults are now being diagnosed with it because of high obesity rates. Many people with type 2 diabetes do not know they have it.
- Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar that develops at any time during pregnancy in a woman who does not have diabetes.
Diabetes affects more than 20 million Americans. Over 40 million Americans have pre-diabetes (early type 2 diabetes).
Symptoms
High blood sugar levels can cause several symptoms, including:
- Blurry vision
- Excess thirst
- Frequent urination
- Hunger
- Weight loss
Because type 2 diabetes develops slowly, some people with high blood sugar have no symptoms.
Symptoms of type 1 diabetes develop over a short period of time. People may be very sick by the time they are diagnosed.
Signs and tests
A urine analysis may be used to look for high blood sugar. However, a urine test alone does not diagnose diabetes.
Your health care provider may suspect that you have diabetes if your blood sugar level is higher than 200 mg/dL. To confirm the diagnosis, one or more of the following tests must be done.
Blood tests:
- Fasting blood glucose level -- diabetes is diagnosed if it is higher than 126 mg/dL twice. Levels between 100 and 126 mg/dL are called impaired fasting glucose or pre-diabetes. These levels are risk factors for type 2 diabetes.
- Hemoglobin A1c test --
- Normal: Less than 5.7%
- Pre-diabetes: 5.7% - 6.4%
- Diabetes: 6.5% or higher
- Oral glucose tolerance test -- diabetes is diagnosed if glucose level is higher than 200 mg/dL after 2 hours. (This test is used more often for type 2 diabetes.)
Screening for type 2 diabetes in people who have no symptoms is recommended for:
- Overweight children who have other risk factors for diabetes, starting at age 10 and repeated every 2 years
- Overweight adults (BMI greater than 25) who have other risk factors
- Adults over age 45, repeated every 3 years
Treatment
There is no cure for diabetes. Treatment involves medicines, diet, and exercise to control blood sugar and prevent symptoms and problems.
For more information on how to take care of your diabetes, see also:
Support Groups
For more information, see diabetes resources.
Expectations (prognosis)
Studies have shown that better control of blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels in persons with diabetes helps reduce the risk of kidney disease, eye disease, nervous system disease, heart attack, and stroke.
Complications
Emergency complications include:
- Diabetic ketoacidosis
After many years, diabetes can lead to other serious problems:
- You could have eye problems, including trouble seeing (especially at night) and light sensitivity. You could become blind.
- Your feet and skin can develop sores and infections. After a long time, your foot or leg may need to be removed. Infection can also cause pain and itching in other parts of the body.
- Diabetes may make it harder to control your blood pressure and cholesterol. This can lead to a heart attack, stroke, or other problems. It can become harder for blood to flow to your legs and feet.
- Nerves in the body can become damaged, causing pain, tingling, and a loss of feeling.
- Because of nerve damage, you could have problems digesting the food you eat. You could feel weakness or have trouble going to the bathroom. Nerve damage can also make it harder for men to have an erection.
- High blood sugar and other problems can lead to kidney damage. The kidneys might not work as well, and they may even stop working.
Prevention
Keeping an ideal body weight and an active lifestyle may prevent type 2 diabetes.
There is no way to prevent type 1 diabetes.
To prevent complications of diabetes, visit your health care provider or diabetes educator at least four times a year. Talk about any problems you are having.
References
- Alemzadeh R, Ali O. Diabetes Mellitus. In: Kliegman RM, ed. Kliegman: Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 19th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders;2011:chap 583.
- American Diabetes Association. Standards of medical care in diabetes -- 2011. Diabetes Care. 2010; 34 Suppl 1:S11-S61. [PubMed]
- Pignone M, Alberts MJ, Colwell JA, Cushman M, Inzucchi SE, Mukherjee D, et al. Aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in people with diabetes: a position statement of the American Diabetes Association, a scientific statement of the American Heart Association, and an expert consensus document of the American College of Cardiology Foundation. Circulation. 2010;121:2694-2701.
- Eisenbarth GS, Polonsky KS, Buse JB. Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. In: Kronenberg HM, Melmed S, Polonsky KS, Larsen PR. Kronenberg: Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. 11th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2008:chap 31.
- Review Date: 8/31/2011.Reviewed by: A.D.A.M. Editorial Team: David Zieve, MD, MHA, and David R. Eltz. Previously reviewed by Ari S. Eckman, MD, Chief, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Elizabeth, NJ. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network (6/28/2011).
Copyright © 2011, A.D.A.M., Inc.
Article found at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002194/
Monday, November 7, 2011
HardGainer’s Guide to Chest Training
When it comes to Chest training, we must first analyze the shape and function of the muscle itself. Unlike the biceps, triceps, and back, the chest contains a single muscle, the pectoralis major. However, as we all know, the chest area contains different regions that need to be attacked specifically.
There is the all important upper chest region that lies along your collarbone, the outer chest region that curves toward your armpit, the inner chest region that attaches to your sternum, the bottom chest region that hangs below your nipple, and everything in the middle being considered the middle chest region.
As outlined in all of my training guides, an effective workout targets each of these regions specifically to build a world class chest!
When working a large muscle like the chest, HardGainers should aim for 4 sets, with reps in the 8-12 range.
Hardgainer Chest Workout:
| Exercise | Rep Range | # of Sets |
| Incline Dumbbell Press | 12-8 | 4 |
| Flat Dumbbell Press | 12-8 | 3 |
| Pec-Deck Machine | 12-8 | 3 |
| Incline Dumbbell Flyes | 12-8 | 3 |
I always start off my chest workouts with an upper chest movement. The reasoning behind this is that when isolating the upper chest we are able to take stress off the shoulders and triceps and focus all our energy on hitting the chest area. Thats why we go hard and heavy on this movement. Another reason is purely for aesthetics. If hit the middle chest area first, over time we will build drooping, sagging, pecs. Whereas with a strong upper chest it pulls the pec up making it look better. To warm up your shoulder and elbow joints do 2 warm-up sets of this exercise before jumping into your 4 working sets.
Next we move onto a Flat Dumbbell Press to hit the middle chest area. Lower the dumbells all the way down to your chest and extend out so they are almost touching at the peak contraction. Don’t let them touch as this will take the stress off the pecs and onto your elbows and shoulders.
To get an extra pump going and hit that inner chest effectively we head over to the pec-deck machine. Put the arm back far enough so you get a good stretch at the beginning, and pause for a second at the peak contraction to get a good squeeze in. At this point your pecs should be engorged with blood.
To finish of our workout, we head back over to the incline bench to do incline dumbbell flyes. These take alot of concentration to do effectively. You will need to go light on these to really feel them working. Get a good stretch at the beginning, and slowly bring your arms up in an arc. Hold the contraction while the dumbbells are about a foot apart from eachother at the top. This keeps the stress on the upper and inner chest regions.
This completes our chest workout! At this point you should have an insane pump going on. Remember to stretch out your pecs the next day when they are sore to break down that scare tissue, and get the blood flowing.
You may have noticed that we didn’t hit the lower chest region specifically in this workout. There is a strong reason for that. I believe that lower chest work is left for the advanced bodybuilders who are looking on refining their phsyique. As a hardgainer, if you start hitting the lower chest hard you will end up with drooping, saggy, “man-boobs”. You don’t want that right!!
Article found at: http://www.hardgainersguide.com/hardgainers-guide-to-chest-training/
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