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Diabetes Management Information
Diabetes management is something that many must deal with on a day-to-day basis. About 16 million Americans suffer from diabetes mellitus, a chronic disease in which the pancreas produces too little or no insulin, impairing the body's ability to turn sugar into usable energy. While it is treatable, diabetes is still a killer. Thus, diabetes management is extremely important. The fourth leading cause of death in America, diabetes claims an estimated 178,000 lives each year.
Diabetes patient are vulnerable to a variety of complications like blood vessels disease, heart disease, stroke, eye disease etc. Thus, having diabetes means that one should take a closer look on their health in general. The essence of good diabetes management includes regular blood glucose monitoring, physical exercise and good nutrition. Therefore, the treatment is aimed at holding the disease in check, reversing it where possible, and preventing complications.
At the heart of diabetes control are dietary management and drug treatment. The increasing emphasis on the importance of a healthy diet, the availability of glucose monitoring devices than can help diabetics keep a close watch over blood sugar levels, and the wide range of drug treatments enable most diabetics to live a near-normal life. Managing the diet is easier now because of food labeling regulations that went into effect in 1994.
The essence of good diabetes management includes the following:
How Food in Your Diet Affects Your Blood Glucose
Whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, what, when, and how
much you eat all affect
your blood glucose. Blood glucose is the main sugar found in the blood and the
body's main source of energy. If
you have diabetes (or impaired glucose tolerance), your blood glucose can go
too high if you eat too much. If your blood glucose goes too high, you can get
sick.
Your blood glucose can also go too high or drop too low if you don't take the right amount of diabetes medicine. If your blood glucose stays high too much of the time, you can get heart, eye, foot, kidney, and other problems. You can also have problems if your blood glucose gets too low (hypoglycemia).
Keeping your blood glucose at a healthy level will prevent or slow down diabetes problems. Ask your doctor or diabetes teacher what a healthy blood glucose level is for you.
Physical Exercise
Exercise plus a good diet control helps in controlling
diabetes. Beside burning calories, improving the body's response to the
hormone insulin, a regular exercise plan will make oral diabetes medications
and insulin more effective and directly help control blood sugar levels.
Frequent exercise also helps in lowering fat and cholesterol levels in bloods
thus reducing some risk factors for heart disease.
For an inactive person, walking will be a great exercise. Walk for about 20 minutes, three to four times a week, and increase he distance or speed of walks gradually. Avoid doing strenuous exercise especially for those on oral drugs and insulin as it can cause dangerous low blood sugar. Though exercise is highly beneficial to patients with diabetes, special precautions are necessary for those who have diabetes complications.
Bear in mind that each individual has his or her own metabolic response to exercise. An exercise program should be started slowly and with the advice of a doctor.
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