Diabetes Treatment
Treatment of Diabetes with Diet, Nutrition, Exercise, and Weight Loss
When you are diagnosed with diabetes you will need to approach life in a brand new way. The proper diet, nutrition, exercise, and weight loss will all need to be considered so that you can live your life to the fullest despite your diagnosis. Diabetes is considered a chronic disease but it does not have to devastate your life if you take the proper action and begin to control the disease instead of letting it control you. If you have to make changes it may be hard in the beginning, but over time it will become part of your life and you will learn to appreciate the changes and sacrifices you have to make so that you can live a happy, healthy life.
Diabetes Diet and Nutrition
When you are diagnosed with any type of diabetes, whether it is type one, type two, or gestational diabetes you will likely need to change your approach to diet and nutrition. Many people do not need to lose weight but they have to cut out some of the primary ingredients of their diet. Simple sugars can be a real problem if they are introduced into the diet of a diabetic too often. It is not that you cannot ever have these things again, you just have to eat foods that are made primarily of simple sugars in moderation.
If you have diabetes you will likely be given some help in determining what is and what is not a good way to eat. Usually dieticians and doctors will use carbohydrate counting to help you out. This means that each meal you will be given an allotment of carbohydrates and you will need to get as close as you can to that number of carbs. This means if you are given 70 grams of carbohydrates for breakfast you need to try to eat this amount of carbs every day for breakfast to keep things consistent. If you eat a lot more or a lot less it will drastically affect your blood glucose and it can take you a day or more to stabilize again. You can use this carb count in any way that you see fit, but generally you'll want to get the biggest bang for your buck so you'll want to stay away from sweetened cereals, regular syrups, and the like. Again, your doctor and dietician will help you make wise decisions.
Not only do you have to cut out some of the simple sugars that most people eat when you are diagnosed with diabetes and learn to count carbohydrates you will also have to learn to eat balanced meals. The reason for this is that the sugar that you do take in will be better utilized if you eat it along with a protein. Proteins slow the speed at which sugar is absorbed into the blood which will help limit spikes in your glucose levels. Balanced meals are also better for the body and will help give you the energy you need to get through the day without eating extra meals that may not be good for your diabetes management.
Exercise
In addition to eating the proper foods those that are diagnosed with diabetes are encouraged to exercise for at least thirty minutes every day. This might be a difficult change for some patients but it is a necessary one. When you have diabetes it means that for whatever reason (dependent upon the type of diabetes you have and your specific situation) your body is not using glucose as efficiently as it should. When you exercise you are helping your body use the excess glucose in your body in the most efficient way possible. Many people who are diagnosed with diabetes that exercise daily report a drastic change in the amount of insulin and other drugs that are required to keep your glucose levels stable and of a normal level.
You do not have to immediately start exercising if you are not already accustomed to daily exercise. You can start out with just five minutes a day of the exercise of your choice and gradually build up to more and more so that you get to about 30 minutes a day. You can walk, run, swim, lift weights, or do anything that you think you would enjoy doing, as long as you do it on a daily basis. Doctors report that their patients that exercise daily not only see better glucose levels with less medication they also experience less in the way of diabetes complications later on down the road, and that is a terrific reason to exercise every day!
Weight Loss
Weight loss is undeniably a part of diabetes management. This can be especially true for those that have type two diabetes. Many type two diabetes patients could easily maintain normal glucose levels if they could lose weight. Weight loss will allow the body to produce the same amount of insulin that it is producing right now but it would be more effective because there is less body mass. Being overweight and obesity is directly linked to a increased risk of developing type two diabetes, so it makes sense when you have already been diagnosed to lose weight to make your insulin production and use of glucose more efficient than it is at your current weight.
Anyone that has diabetes (aside from those that are pregnant) should try to maintain their ideal weight for their body type and height. Your doctor can help you ascertain what your ideal body weight is and what the best way is for you to reach that goal. Diabetes care requires that you maintain your body and keep it in the best shape possible and one of the best ways to do this is through weight loss. With your weight loss you will likely find that diabetes management becomes much easier and those that have type two may be able to do away with almost all medication!