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Diabetes in adults is often so mild that it is detected only by blood and urine tests. Children and adults with insulin-dependent diabetes show many of the symptoms described below.
Because the blood glucose cannot be used by the tissues, the level of sugar in the blood rises (hyperglycemia). After a night’s fast the blood sugar remains above the normal level (70 to 120 mg per 100 ml). If a glucose tolerance test is made the diabetic patient shows a curve that begins at a higher level and stays higher than the curve for a normal person. The curve comes down slowly for the diabetic person, but sharply for the normal person.
When the blood sugar exceeds the renal threshold (180 mg per 100 ml), some sugar is excreted in the urine (glycosuria). To excrete the sugar, water is taken from the tissues. Thus, the patient complains of frequent urination (polyuria) and increased thirst (polydipsia). The appetite is often increased (polyphagia) because the patient is not fully utilizing the food he normally eats.
When the body is unable to use carbohydrate, it oxidizes more and more fat to supply energy. The liver breaks down the fatty acids to ketones (acetone, beta-hydroxybutyric acid, acetoacetic acid). Normally, the ketones are further broken down to yield energy and the end products carbon dioxide and water. However, in diabetes the breakdown of fatty acids is more rapid than the body can care for. Some of the ketones are excreted in the urine (ketonuria, acetonuria). The ketones are acid products. When they accumulate in the blood the pH of the blood is lowered; the patient then has symptoms of acidosis or diabetic coma.
In addition to the symptoms described above, patients often complain of poor healing of cuts and scratches; boils; itching; cold feet; numbness and tingling of the extremities; and blurring of vision. Cardiovascular disease, renal diseases, and blindness are complications in patients who have had diabetes for many years.
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1.     Lots of exercise is the most important single thing, aside from dietary restrictions, that a diabetic can do to help himself. Hard exercise in fresh air, such as sports, jogging, swimming, and hard physical labor will help to keep “the fire of the metabolic processes
burning fast”. Heavy physical work and strenuous sports diminish the need for insulin.
2.    Fasting is usually not advisable for diabetics. For obese diabetics, a short juice fast is possible, but only under a doctor’s control.
3.        Avoid all mental and nervous stresses and strains, which have a detrimental effect on the condition.
4.        Avoid constipation.
5.         Use dry brush massage twice a day. It will improve metabolism and circulation, so vital for diabetics.
6.        Prevalence of diabetes is higher in soft water areas. Diabetics, and those who wish to prevent diabetes, should drink naturally hard, heavily mineralized water, which contains chromium and other trace elements. Clinical studies have demonstrated that an ample supply of trace minerals, particularly chromium and manganese, is important for effective glucose utilization. Chromium aids in metabolism of excess sugar. Two milligrams of supplementary chromium can be given for six months, preferably in combination with manganese and other trace elements.

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This was referred to earlier in passing, but for completeness let us consider it a little more fully. Alternating applications of hot and cold to the spine, at the base of the neck, can bring great relief in many cases of extreme tension. Prolonged nervous strain, such as that produced by anxiety or other emotional stress, often shows itself as great hardness of the muscles in this area. Pressures thereby exerted on nerves can embarrass the working of the heart. Conversely, if there is cardiac distress — as indicated by precordial pains or spasms of angina — the base of the neck is involved. To break into this situation, which so easily becomes a vicious circle, the simple hydropathic routine can be extremely effective.
In most households, the most convenient equipment consists of: two ordinary bowls or basins, ‘washing-up’ size; two face-cloths or other pieces of Turkish towelling about one foot square; a kettleful of boiling water.
The method is to have one basin half-full of water as hot as can be comfortably borne by the hand, the other full of water as cold as can be run from the tap. The cloths are each folded into thickish pads, about 4 inches by 6 inches in area, and each is immersed in one bowl. Take the pad from the hot water, and squeeze it out firmly, then apply it closely over the base of the neck, between the shoulders. Keep it in contact for fully half a minute, then replace immediately with the other pad, freshly squeezed out from the cold bowl. The second pad should be kept in place for a similar interval, meanwhile the hot bowl is topped up with a little boiling water so that the following application from it is a little hotter than the first. Hot and cold pads may be alternated for anything up to twenty minutes although often half this time will be found gratifyingly effective.
It is important to start with the hot pad and finish with the cold.
In less acute conditions, other forms of simple hydrotherapy may be at least as effective. For example, the use of the waist compress, with or without a neck compress, may produce a marked and lasting reduction of excessive nervous and cardio-vascular tensions.
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