Diabetes is a medical term to describe a condition where the human body cannot control the amount of sugar in the blood, causing the blood-sugar levels to be high. Diabetic patients are categorized by two types of diabetes: insulin-dependent and non-insulin dependent. Both types of diabetes may lead to serious complications including blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, hypertension, and circulatory disorder leading to lower-extremity amputations.
Lifestyle changes are inevitable for diabetic patients, from simple self-care to medical treatment, or to an extreme point hospitalization. Financially, diabetes may take a toll on a patient’s life but the most important thing is to keep emotion in check. Diabetes may not temporary; patients might need to live with it throughout their life.
One of the many ways to cope with diabetes is to ask for help. Diabetics should know they are not alone; there are a lot of support groups for diabetic patients nowadays to help them cope with the disease. Knowing other people who have been, or are going through the same path is a good ground to share experiences and understanding of their plight, which is needed by most patients. Other than support groups, diabetic patients may also talk to their health care provider, dietician, diabetes educator, and pharmacist for any diabetes-related questions or concerns.
Another way to better cope with diabetes is to do it with the support of family and friends. Otherwise, one may feel alone and isolated when dealing with diabetes. People tend to be stronger when they have a strong support system; let family and friends be involved in diabetes management.
For diabetics, strategies and skills to cope with daily challenges can be built and learnt. Learning proper ways to handle daily stress and to control the frequent emotional ups and downs is a must, but most of all, people diagnosed with diabetes need to take control of their life by learning all there is to know to understand how diabetes will affect their body and what needed to be done to control the blood glucose levels. Having diabetes should not prevent you from having a normal life; follow doctor’s advice and maintain both your lifestyle and also your blood levels.
By: Brenda Williams
Posts Tagged ‘Lifestyle Changes’
What Causes Diabetes?
March 8th, 2010
If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, or you fear developing diabetes, you may want to know what causes it. At one time, nobody knew what caused diabetes, but after years of research, we do now know what causes diabetes, and in many cases, how to prevent it.
The leading cause of diabetes was once thought to be inheriting it through the blood lines. This is still a major cause of diabetes, but no longer the leading cause. If someone in your blood line has diabetes — particularly in the direct blood line of the generation before you, you are at a higher risk of developing diabetes.
The leading cause of diabetes, however, is being overweight. When you are overweight, your body becomes more resistant to insulin. This is particularly true if your BMI, or Body Mass Index, is greater than 30%. If you don’t know your BMI, measure your waist. If you are female and your waist is bigger than 35 inches, or if you are male and your waist is bigger than 40 inches, you are at risk of developing diabetes.
Whether you are overweight or not, eating a poor diet is a cause of diabetes. Your diet should be high in protein and fiber, and if it isn’t, you are at risk. Leading a sedentary lifestyle is also a factor. You need to be exercising at least three times a week, for 30 minutes each time, and preferably 30 minutes a day, five days a week.
Recent research has discovered that infections, such as strephylococci, can also lead to diabetes. Age is being blamed as well. As you get older, your chances of developing diabetes increase. Furthermore, just as diabetes can lead to high blood pressure, suffering from hypertension can lead to diabetes. There are also numerous drugs that can actually aid in the development of diabetes, such as Clozapine, Risperidone, Olanzapine, Ziprasidone, and Quetiapine.
If any of these situations apply to you, you should get tested for diabetes. You should also take steps to make lifestyle changes to avoid the development of diabetes.
By: Milos Pesic
Treating Type 2 Diabetes With Lifestyle Changes
March 7th, 2010
Diabetes type 2 is an increasingly common problem in Western Societies.
So much so, that it is estimated that 1 in 4 people in adulthood will have diabetes or prediabetes.
This is a huge proportion of people.
Yet it’s a problem that can be modified or reversed altogether with lifestyle changes.
Even if it can’t be completely reversed, lifestyle changes can make a significant improvement and will compliment medications well.
But the fact that prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (non insulin dependent diabetes) can sometimes be reversed has spurred many people to make healthy lifestyle changes and avoid the need for medications, and the health problems associated with these conditions being out of control.
So let’s have a look at the top tips for lifestyle changes to help with the treatment of diabetes type 2.
Here they are:
1. Having low GI instead of high GI foods.
This is helpful for preventing as well as treating type 2 diabetes.
There are studies now showing that consumption of a high GI drink (the study looked at soft drinks in particular) everyday increases the likelihod of developing diabetes.
In terms of treatment, low GI foods don’t spike the blood glucose levels as much as high GI foods,
For example, take leafy green vegetables instead of potatoes, have sourdough or multigrain bread instead of white bread, and have whole fruits instead of fruit juices.
2. Have lean sources of protein, not sources of protein that contain high fat.
Learn protein sources include natural yogurt, chicken (skin off), fish, tofu, and eggs.
Lean proteins are great as they give you the protein requirements without excess fat, and they also lower the GI values of foods as they slow absorption of carbs.
2. Regular aerobic exercise such as walking.
Before starting to exercise, check with your doctor in case you need to do tests to ensure that you’re safe to exercise.
Exercise helps to reduces blood sugar levels, inmproves sensitivity to insulin (so helps the cause of type 2 diabetes), reduces cholesterol levels, decreases blood pressure, and reduces stress.
In fact some studies show that exercise was as good or better than medications in treating prediabetes.
3. Weight loss.
By doing the above, you will achieve weight loss in a healthy way.
One more handy tip.
Rememebr to avoid having one or two big meals a day.
Many people do this to try to lose weight but it does the opposite. It slows your metabolism greatly and will stop you from losing weight.
Instead, have 3-5 small meals a day.
This will maintain an even blood sugar, as well as keeping your metabolism high, both very important when you want to lose weight and reverse diabetes type 2.
So there you have it.
Thes tips will help you with both weight control as well as treating diabetes naturally.
Because your blood glucose levels will be more even, you’ll feel better mentally as well. An added bonus so many people don’t realise until they experience it, and never want to go back!
So enjoy these tips and if you know of anyone else with diabetes and will benefit from these tips, why not let them know about this article?
By: Matt Hamburg
