Diabetes
the sugar disease
| Describing diabetes---the sugar disease |
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What you don't know can hurt you when it comes to diabetes. You have no idea anything is wrong with you, then one day, your life is in danger because your blood sugar is out of control.
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Nearly one out of five adults over 65 is diabetic, but more than half of them
don't even know it.
Normally, your pancreas produces insulin, a hormone that helps your cells take in sugar. That gives your cells the energy they need.
But when you have diabetes, your pancreas may not produce any insulin at all. That's called Type I diabetes. When your pancreas doesn't produce
enough insulin or your cells don't respond properly to it, it's called Type II diabetes.
For both types the results is the same; Too much sugar circulates in your bloodstream.
Type I diabetes usually strikes before age 20. Nine out of every 10 people with diabetes have Type II. It usually surfaces after you're 40.
Most Type I diabetes and about one-third of all Type II diabetes require insulin injections, usually once or twice a day. |
| Your risk of developing diabetes is greater if you: |
- Are over 30 years old
- Weigh more than 20 percent over your ideal weight.
- Have given birth to more than one baby weighing over 9 pounds.
- Are of Native-American, Latin-American or African-American descent.
- Have a parent, brother or sister with diabetes.
lQQk for these diabetes warning signs:
- Frequent urination, especially at night.
- Fatigue, or the sense that something is wrong.
- Unexplained weight loss.
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BREWING
There is a myriad of ways to brew your favorite
coffee and for the most part it all begins with a simple introduction: Know
Thyself. Are you after a thick silty morning mug? A thinner brighter brew? A
full bodied but smooth sensation? Once you have this part down, you’re ready for
the facts.
AUTO DRIP
About 70% of the coffee made in this country is brewed with paper filters, a
method that produces what some refer to as the classic American style:
light-bodied and clear, free of oil or sediment. Due to the popularity of the
drip method, the brewers out there are constantly being improved. Gone are the
accidents, the errant grinds, the unpredictable water temperatures.
One improvement is the “gold” filter which allows more oils and organic
compounds to get into your cup. With a washable filter you eliminate the slight
papery taste due to the disposables, and you get a fuller-bodied brew.
With an auto drip brewer you can usually get peak performance with even the most
inexpensive of machines. Any more money you spend will go towards whatever bells
and whistles fit your fancy. Of course, we at GMCR have our preferences:
Capresso Thermal Coffee Maker
Capresso CoffeeTEAM Brewer
Krups
SINGLE CUP BREWERS
Single-cup brewing is the latest step in the quest for great coffee. GMCR stands
behind the line of
Keurig
brewers which offers easy, fast, personalized coffee – and total
satisfaction. That is, of course, if you are using the right coffee. Luckily, we
make this part easy; our Green Mountain Coffee
K Cups
live up to our standards of great coffee, and ensure that your morning
mug will live up to yours. For more information on single-cup technology, go to
and check out the options from
Keurig.
For more information
on single-cup technology, go to the
single cup page and check out the options from Keurig:
Keurig B40
Keurig B60
Keurig B70
COFFEE PRESS
Developed in Italy in the 1930s, the coffee press is most often associated
with France and most commonly known as the “French Press.” Its sophisticated
design belies the simplicity of the concept - manual filtration. The coffee
press itself looks like an elegant beer mug wearing a cap. Coffee and water are
added to the glass and allowed to sit for around four minutes depending on
taste. Finally a plunger (a mesh filter on a stick) is pushed from the top of
the mixture to the bottom, pushing the grounds to the base of the contraption
and readying the clarified coffee for pouring. The result: A much heavier,
grittier, richer taste than the above-described creation. This difference is due
to the presence of sediments, oils, and a gelatinous substance called colloids,
most of which are eliminated in the drip method. Coffee press users: Make sure
to
grind your coffee
on a course setting as even the biggest grounds have been
known to find their way through this filter. Coffee press novices: Here are some
suggestions.
Chambord Coffee Press
Eileen Press
Bodium Travel Press
Thermal French Press
MOKA POT
Also known as a stovetop espresso maker, the modest metal moka pot creates a
thick dense brew that rivals the real stuff. The moka pot consists of two
reservoirs and a filter that separates them. Water is poured into the bottom
bucket, coffee grounds are spooned into the filter basket, and steam-produced
air pressure forces the not-quite-boiling water through the coffee and up into
the top reservoir. Presto, a perfect little cup. Our experts suggest using
finely ground beans for this one.
GMCR offers:
Bodum Mocca Pot
VACUUM POT
No, this is not a nightmare; you are not back in your high school chemistry lab.
This crazy contraption is actually a coffee brewer, and a good one at that.
Similar in concept to the moka pot, the vacuum pot consists of two glass globes
that attach to either side of a filter. Water is poured into the lower globe,
the lower globe is set on the stove. As in the moka pot, the increased air
pressure (see? chemistry class was relevant!) forces water to escape through a
tube, through the filter, and into the upper compartment. Hot coffee then cools
and is sucked back down to the bottom globe via yet another imbalance of air
pressure. No papery taste, rich but without the sediment of the french press.
Bodum Mini Santos
USA ESPRESSO MACHINE
As its Italian name implies, Espresso is pressed coffee. Even if you are loyal
to your drip brewer, you have no doubt seen the giant espresso machines in
coffee houses, the tampded-down grounds, the slow trickle of the dark rich
liquid into delightfully delicate receptacles. You have heard the hiss of steam
as it makes the coffee and is used to steam the milk, and you have smelled the
luxurious aroma. This is espresso, and to many people, having a machine in the
house that will create this thick, dark, “crema”-topped coffee is well worth the
effort and expense.
What the espresso machine basically does is force water through a compacted cake
of finely ground coffee with pressure and heat high enough to emulsify the oils
and organic compounds that are left out of regular gravity-brewed coffee. Beans
should be blended especially, roasted accordingly, and ground into a fine
powder.
Jura Avantgarde S9 Espresso Maker
Impressa F9 Espresso Maker
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