Archive for April, 2008
April 21st, 2008 at 05:07am
Under Diebetes Management
The most important part of any diabetes symptom management is monitoring blood glucose levels. There are three main ways that glucose levels in the blood can be monitored.
1. Fasting Blood Glucose:
Fasting blood glucose or fasting blood sugar is taken after an eight hour fast and measures the level of glucose in the blood at that time. Depending on the lab conducting the test the normal value of this test should be between 70 to 110 mg/dl. If the diabetes is uncontrolled these fasting glucose levels are much higher then normal.
2. Glycosylated hemoglobin:
Glycosylated hemoglobin (HgbA1c) is produced through a process that is irreversible. Hemoglobin combines with glucose as the red blood cells circulate through the blood stream and forms glycohemoglobin. Depending on the amount of glucose in the blood stream a certain amount of glycohemoglobin is formed during the red blood cells 120 day life span. Because of this the amount of glycosylated hemoglobin is a good measure of the average amount of blood glucose level over that 100 to 120 day time span before the test. The more glucose in the blood stream the greater the end value. Short term factors such as food, exercise and stress will not affect this value making it easy to take a blood sample at any time and is much easier then scheduling a fasting blood glucose test.
3. Self-monitoring.
This type of blood glucose test can be done in the diabetics own home with a glucometer or blood glucose meter, which is available for purchase at any pharmacy. This device is used to monitor glucose levels at any time but in particular before and after eating and before bedtime. The glucometer is used with a drop of blood obtained through a finger prick to measure blood glucose levels at specified times during the day. By self monitoring the diabetic can chart their glucose level which is important to maintain glycemic control. Through this method the affects of their meal plan, exercise program and other factors can be evaluated to see if the goal of their medical nutrition therapy is being met.
These charts generated from the self monitoring should be reviewed by the diabetic’s health care team to make determinations about their food intake, insulin requirements and exercise plan. This allows their doctors and nutritionists to individualize the care plan to the particular diabetic’s needs. This makes the older method of offering general diet plans and tear-off diet sheets a thing of the past.
The type of diabetes and treatment that is prescribed will determine the number of times the diabetic will need to test the glucose levels in their blood. Some may even need to monitor up to ten times a day, before and after each meal and again at bed time.
Diabetic blood glucose monitoring is the lifeline that allows all diabetics to control their disease and live a normal life.
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April 15th, 2008 at 06:34am
Under Diebetes Management
If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, your md has probably mentioned that you should pay careful attention to nutrition and diabetes diet as part of your treatment program. Nutrition experts say that there is no one diabetes diet, but people with diabetes should follow the nutrition guidelines in the Food Pyramid, while paying special attention to carbohydrate intake. People with diabetes should also eat about the same amount of food at the same time each day to keep blood sugar levels stable as part of their diabetes diet.
Getting Started With Nutrition Treatment
If you’ve never attempted to eat a healthy, well-balanced diabetes diet before your diabetes diagnosis, it can be difficult to know where to get started. Try these tips from the American Dietetic Association:
Eat more starches such as bread, cereal, and starchy vegetables. Aim for six servings a day or more. For example, have cold cereal with nonfat milk or a bagel with a teaspoon of jelly for breakfast. Another starch-adding strategy is to add cooked black beans, corn or garbanzo beans to salads or casseroles.
Eat five fruits and vegetables every day. Have a piece of fruit or two as a snack, or add vegetables to chili, stir-fried dishes or stews. You can also pack raw vegetables for lunch or snacks.
Eat sugars and sweets in moderation. Include your favorite sweets in your diet once or twice a week at most. Split a dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth while reducing the sugar, fat and calories.
Soluble fibers are found mainly in fruits, vegetables and some seeds, and are especially good for people with diabetes because they help to slow down or reduce the absorption of glucose from the intestines. Legumes, such as cooked kidney beans, are among the highest soluble fiber foods. Other fiber-containing foods, such as carrots, also have a positive effect on blood sugar levels. Insoluble fibers, found in bran, whole grains and nuts, act as intestinal scrubbers by cleaning out the lower gastrointestinal tract.
After a diabetes clinical diagnosis, consider seeing a dietitian and developing a diabetes diet meal plan to get started. Taking into account your lifestyle, your medication, your weight and any medical conditions you may have in addition to diabetes as well as your favorite foods, the dietitian will help you create a diet that will prevent complications of diabetes and still give you the pleasure you’ve always had in Eating.
A Healthier Weight and Lifestyle
Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is important for everyone with diabetes. Weight control using a diabetes diet is extremely important in treating type 2 diabetes because extra body fat makes it difficult for people with type 2 diabetes to make and use their own insulin. If you are overweight, losing just 10 to 20 pounds may improve your blood sugar control so much that you can stop taking or reduce your medication.
If you smoke and have been diagnosed with diabetes, your medical practitioner will recommend that you quit because smoking makes problems caused by diabetes worse. People with diabetes can experience blood flow problems in the legs and feet, which can sometimes lead to amputation. Smoking can decrease blood flow even more. Smoking can also worsen sexual impotence in men, cause high levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad type of cholesterol), and can raise the risk of heart attack and stroke. If you have diabetes and you smoke, you need to quit.
Although alcohol in small amounts can be fit into your meal plan if your blood sugar is under good control, drinking alcohol on an empty stomach can cause low blood sugar.
Alcohol can contribute to complications of diabetes, so ask your doctor how much alcohol can be included in your meal plan and then stick to it.
Moderating Sugar, Fat and Carbohydrates
If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, you may have a lot of lifestyle changes to make. Does that mean you have to give up sugar, fat and carbohydrates forever?
The human breaks down different types of foods at different rates. Carbohydrates (be it potato or table sugar) typically take from five minutes to three hours to digest, whereas protein takes three to six hours and fat can take eight or more hours. That’s why different foods have different effects on blood sugar, such as why ice cream (higher in fat) raises blood sugar levels more slowly than potatoes. But people with diabetes don’t always have to forgo desserts and sweets. They just have to be sure not to eat moderate amounts more than once or twice a week.
To control carbohydrates, try a technique called carbohydrate counting. Carbohydrate counting means counting the total number of grams of carbohydrate you should eat at a meal or planned snack time based on your medication and exercise habits. Then you can choose how to meet those carbohydrate needs. You’ll probably use a carbohydrate counting book, which you can get at a supermarket or bookstore. If you want to learn how to count carbohydrates accurately, make an appointment with a dietitian or a diabetes educator.
Because people with diabetes are at higher risk for heart problems, it’s often recommended that they limit fat below 30 percent of total daily calories by eating less overall fat and less saturated fat. They also need to watch cholesterol, choose smaller portions of lean meats, poultry and fish, and low or non-fat dairy products. Because high-protein diets such as the Atkins diet are high in fat, they are not usually recommended for people with diabetes.
Remember that it will take a while to learn how to adjust to the changes in your diabetes diet and lifestyle after a diabetes physical diagnosis. With practice and help, you can have a satisfying diabetes diet and keep your blood sugar under control, too.
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Glenn Freiboth is a Certified Health Advisor lives in Illinois and has helped many overweight and obese people lose weight and reduce or even eliminate there diabetic medications. Get diabetes diet products at www.GetYouHealth.com
By admin
April 15th, 2008 at 06:29am
Under Diebetes Management
Nutrition plays a big role in the in all of our lives, especially if your a diabetic. When a person is diagnosed with diabetes, they have to often need to overhaul many of the basic activities in their life.
When a person is diagnosed with diabetes, they have to at many of the basic activities in their life. If a doctor confirms a diabetes affliction, they often mention the need for dietary changes. While there is no one set-in-stone plan for a diabetes diet, there are definitely some guidelines that can set you on the right path towards healthy eating.
The food pyramid is a useful tool when deciding exactly what your body needs, and it can be good to follow when diabetic. However, a person with diabetes needs to watch the levels of carbohydrates that they consume. To help to keep blood sugar levels stable, it can be very helpful to try to eat the same types of foods at the same times of the day throughout the week.
There have been claims of type 2 diabetes being cured by diet alone although the diabetic associations are adamant that no cure for diabetes exists.
Maintaining the blood glucose levels can be done with the correct foods eaten in the right amounts. Our bodies need carbohydrates, fats, and proteins to convert to fuel. But in what forms and in what amounts?
Recently guidelines were released that recommend 40 percent of our total daily calories should come from calories obtained from fresh vegetables, fruits, and beans. If you are trying to count calories and using that method of either weight control, or glucose level control, be sure you are eating enough vegetables to give you the proper amount of vitamins and minerals you need.
Protein is needed for fuel energy, however most of us eat more than we need. When choosing protein, we need to choose lean meats, chicken, fish, and lean beef products. We should also avoid cooking these meats in a high fat method. Broiling, grilling, and roasting, even stir frying can make a tasty meal but also be low in fats. If you have kidney problems, you should watch your protein intake even closer.
Our bodies do need some fat because it helps protect our inner organs, has a concentrated source of energy, helps to regulate body temperature, and is important in healing pain and inflammation. Fats also help us absorb fat-soluble Vitamins such as A, D, and E.
However we do need to be careful about which fats we consume. Saturated fats should be less than seven percent of your caloric intake each day. Looking at food labels is a good habit to start. Many foods now proudly display the fact they have zero transfats. You should try to include in your diet fish products such as sardines or salmon as well as using vegetable oils to make sure you are getting enough of the essential fats.
Carbohydrates are an essential part of our diet. As with fats, there are two different types of carbohydrates. Which carbohydrate you are consuming is important in controlling your blood sugar levels. Counting carbs is easy to do; every package you pick up will have the carbohydrates included in each serving. Good nutrition is choosing complex carbohydrates instead of the simple carbs. Most simple carb foods are sugar related. Carbs can be good for you if they are complex. That means it will take longer for the carbs to be processed. Simple carbohydrates, which most sweets are made of, are processed right away for fuel. Sugar substitutes can be used if the FDA has approved them. A new sugar substitute that is widely used and enjoyed is Splenda. You can use it to bake with, and it is equal teaspoon to teaspoon to sugar. It’s all right to eat a little sugar as long as you are testing to be sure your glucose level under control.
Having soluble fibers in your diet can be of great assistance to your body when you have diabetes. Soluble fibers can be found in many fruits and vegetables. These nutrients help to slow down the absorption of glucose in the intestine, which can help to keep blood sugar levels from getting too high and causing a hyperglycemic reaction. One great source of soluble fiber is the kidney bean. When cooked, these beans have one of the highest levels of soluble fiber found in foods. While soluble fibers can be quite helpful towards diabetic issues, insoluble fibers such as bran and whole grains can be helpful as well. Insoluble fibers help to keep the intestinal tract clean, and this can help you by assuring that glucose isn’t just waiting around to be absorbed.
The American Dietetic Association (ADA) recommends several tips to maintaining a healthy blood sugar level while adhering to a healthy diet. One recommendation that is made is to consume a good amount of starch. Starches such as cereal, bread, and certain types of vegetables should be consumed at the rate of at least six servings per day. In addition to the commonly known starches, black beans, garbanzo beans, and corn are sources of starch that can compliment a meal while giving you your required nutrients. The ADA also recommends that you adhere to the five-a-day plan, eating at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. One of the more obvious tips offered by the ADA is to use sugars sparingly. To locate a dietitian in your area, the American Association of Diabetes Educators offers a phone number to assist you. By calling 1-800-342-2382, you can quickly and easily find someone who can help you with your diet with regards to diabetes.
Helpful Tips for Your Diet
• Certain ice creams can cure diabetes. They do so by their “insulin generative powers and with fairy dust from pixies”.
Well …. technically speaking ice cream is not a diabetes cure. It can’t do that. But it can help!
Low fat ice creams and other dairy products like skimmed milk, cheese, whole milk and so on has been proven in a medical study of 41,000 American men to lower the risk of developing diabetes by 9 percent per daily serving.
Fats and refined carbohydrates like sugar are bad news for the glucose levels of diabetes sufferers, but with careful monitoring of the food labels, you can find dairy products that are suitable for diabetics. If you haven’t got diabetes and you want to reduce your risk for developing diabetes, dairy products, including ice cream of the low fat variety, have been proven critical in the prevention of diabetes. And in some sense I guess you could say that’s a cure. Now where is that Ben & Jerry super-size tub?
• Always carry an apple or some grapes with you. It is one of the quickest ways to get a natural sugar fix if you begin to feel as if your blood sugar levels are dropping too low.
• Candy bars or soft drinks will restore you rapidly as well but if you are diet managing your diabetes then those foods could send you over the edge in the other direction.
• Drinking plenty of water, with a diet high in fiber and low fats are necessary for a healthy diet.
Refined sugar should be cut out if possible, if not, cut out as much as possible. Watch your fat intake also. Eat plenty of fresh vegetables and low fat proteins.
• Watch your carbohydrate and sugar intake are especially important if you have a history of diabetes in your family.
Not all carbohydrates are bad for you, but you should cut out the refined carbohydrates such as sugars and fats. Eating balanced and regular meals will help in keeping a healthy weight.
You may find by eating three regular meals a day, and small nutritional snacks in-between meals, you will feel fuller, and will help overcome the urge to binge on sweet treats.
• Controlling your weight is one of the first steps in controlling diabetes. Watching your dietary intake, losing weight if you are overweight, and reading the labels of the packages you buy at the grocery store will help you delay the onset of diabetes.
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