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Living Healthy with Diabetes


Diabetes affects around 16 million Americans and about 800,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Diabetes attacks men, women, children and the elderly. It spares no race.

Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, blindness in Adults and amputations. It is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and birth defects and it shortens life expectancy by up to 15 years. So you can see what I am up against. It is up to me to make sure that none of these things ever happen to my daughter. My daughter Ashley has Diabetes Type 1. She will be 10 years old March 15th. Ashley has been a diabetic for 5 years.

Five years ago I was totally overwhelmed by all that information. I felt helpless and depressed. I was sure this was a death sentence for my daughter. This was because of my total ignorance of Diabetes. A person can live a full life with Diabetes. It just takes some extra care. A good diet plays an important part in a Diabetics life. They need to put together a meal plan with their doctor & dietitian. My daughter has several meals a day. She has breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack, dinner & another snack. She has these meals at the same time every day. This is important. It helps keep her body on a schedule and her blood sugar regulated. Skipping meals and snacks may lead to large swings in blood sugar readings. To keep blood sugar levels near normal a Diabetic must balance the food they eat with the insulin the body gets from injections and with physical activities. Blood sugar monitoring gives you the information you need to help with this balancing. Near normal blood sugar readings will help you feel better. Normal is between 70 and 120. They will also reduce your chances of complications.

Lets talk about how a Diabetic needs to eat. Everyone needs to eat nutritious foods. Our good health depends on eating a variety of foods that contain the right amount of Carbohydrate, Protein, Fat, Vitamins, Minerals, Fiber and Water. Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat are found in the food that you eat. They supply your body with energy. Your body needs insulin to use this energy. Insulin is made in the pancreas. If you have Diabetes, either your pancreas is no longer producing insulin or your body can't use the insulin it is making. So your blood sugar levels are not normal.

Starch and Sugar in foods are Carbohydrates. You can find starch in breads, pasta, cereal, potatoes, beans, peas and lentils. Natural sugars are in fruits, milk and vegetables. There are added sugars in desserts, candy, jam and syrup. All of these Carbohydrates can affect your blood sugar. When you eat Carbohydrates they turn into glucose and travel in your bloodstream. Insulin helps the glucose enter the beta cells in your pancreas where it can be turned into energy and stored. Eating the same amount of Carbohydrate daily at meals and snacks can help you control your blood sugar levels. Protein is in meats, poultry, fish, milk and other dairy products, eggs, beans, peas and lentils. Starches and vegetables have small amounts of protein. The body uses protein for growth, maintenance and energy. Your body needs insulin to use the protein you eat.

Fat is in margarine, butter, oils, salad dressings, nuts, seeds, milk, cheese, meat, fish, poultry, snack food, ice-cream and desserts. There are three different types of fat. Monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated. Everyone should eat less saturated fats found in meats, dairy products, coconut, palm or palm kernel oil, and hardened shortening.

Saturated fats can raise your blood levels of cholesterol. The fats that are best are the monounsaturated fats found in canola oil, olive oil, nuts, and avocado. The polyunsaturated fats found in corn oil, soybean oil, or sunflower oil are good too. After you eat fat it travels through your bloodstream. You need insulin to store fat in the cells of your body. Fats are used for energy.

So you can see what a big role insulin plays in your body. Good diet is very important for a Diabetic. Excersize is also very important. A Diabetic can live a healthy full life if they do three things. Eat healthy, Excersize, and inject the right amount of insulin. It takes dedication and hard work. But in the end it is totally worth it because it is your life.

Devoting her last 8 years to Diabetes Education, Kimberly maintains her website ElviraDarkNight.com and publishes the Living Life as a Diabetic Newsletter as well as dispatches donated Diabetic supplies to needie individuals without Health Insurance. Kim would like to personally invite you to become informed on issues of Health, Nutrition & Diabetes.


MORE RESOURCES:

The Guardian

Diabetes in pregnancy ups birth defects risk
Times of India
Diabetes during pregnancy increases the risk of birth defects, such as congenital heart disease and spina bifida, by four-fold, researchers say. National guidelines already recommend having good control over blood sugar levels before trying to conceive ...
Diabetes quadruples birth defects risk, say researchersBBC News
Diabetes 'raises birth defect risk'The Press Association
Women with diabetes warned to take precautions when having a babyThe Guardian
Daily Mail
all 209 news articles »


Take steps to detect, reverse pre-diabetes
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
Pre-diabetes is a condition in which a person's blood sugar is elevated but not high enough to be classified as type 2 diabetes. It's a very important condition to understand because there are so many people who, if they realized they had pre-diabetes, ...
The Diabetic Week in Review -- Week Ending 4 February 2012Examiner.com

all 2 news articles »


Research and Markets: Brazil Diabetes Care Devices Market Outlook to 2017 ...
SunHerald.com
GlobalData's new report, Brazil Diabetes Care Devices Market Outlook to 2017- Glucose Monitoring and Insulin Delivery provides key market data on the Brazil Diabetes Care Devices market. The report provides value (USD million), volume (units) and ...

and more »


TopNews United States

Diabetes: Celebrating The Silent Killer
Leadership Newspapers
With the worsening incidence of diabetes sweepiing across the world, EZRA IJIOMA examines the different types of diabetes and reasons for its high incidence in Nigeria. In 2003, when he was 21 years old, Ken developed a puzzling, unquenchable thirst.
A Stomach Bug and DiabetesdailyRx
Diabetes is his daily challengeBlacktown Sun
Former office manager, a diabetic, sues Casper company for discriminationCasper Star-Tribune Online
MLB.com -The Cypress Times -TopNews United States
all 11 news articles »


Medical experts meet in S'pore for diabetes workshop
Channel News Asia
SINGAPORE: Leading international experts in type 2 diabetes are in Singapore to address specific challenges and opportunities of bariatric or metabolic surgery for Asian patients and health care systems. The Asia-Pacific Workshop on Metabolic Surgery ...

and more »


PR Web (press release)

Diabetes is One of the Fastest Deadly Growing Diseases around the World
PR Web (press release)
According to the Centers for Disease Control in the USA: Diabetes is an epidemic. 17 million Americans have diabetes with 5.9 million completely unaware that they even have the disease. Diabetes is the 5th leading cause of death in the United States ...



Diabetes amputations drop, but disease expands
SouthCoastToday.com
By ANIKA CLARK The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published good news recently for the nation's diabetic adults. In 2008, substantially fewer of them 40 and older received lower limb amputations than they had 12 years prior.



Sports-themed windows to benefit diabetes research
Muncie Star Press
MUNCIE -- Pat L. Smith, owner of build, LLC, is offering a collection of sports-themed windows and doors to raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Smith's son, Eric, was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic at the age of 23 while serving ...



Artificial Pancreas' Revolutionizing Diabetes Treatment
Today's Medical Developments
According to a new report by iData Research, the leading global authority in medical device market research, the US diabetes diagnosis, treatment and drug delivery device market was valued at almost $12 billion in 2011 and is expected to reach almost ...



Family Practice News Digital Network

Distinguish Type 1 From Type 2 Diabetes in Obese Youth
Family Practice News Digital Network
New-onset type 1 diabetes in an obese youth cannot reliably be distinguished from pediatric type 2 diabetes on clinical grounds in this era of epidemic obesity. "The only way to distinguish obese type 1 diabetes from type 2 diabetes is to measure ...
Phoenix Diabetes Lifestyle Coach and Endocrinologist Host Free, Informative ...MarketWatch (press release)
Over the Counter: Live healthier now and laterMilford Daily News
All Natural Company True Healthy Products Now Offers Weight Loss And Fitness ...PR Web (press release)
DigitalJournal.com (press release)
all 159 news articles »

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