Diabetes - Diet and Diabetes

There are multiple aspects to the relationship between diet and diabetes. On the one hand, anyone with diabetes will need to take extra care with diet in order to help maintain the proper glucose level. On the other, those who don't have diabetes - but have a genetic and/or environmental or lifestyle disposition to develop it - can help stave off the disease in part through good dietary choices.

It isn't the case, for example, that eating sugary foods leads to diabetes. The causes of the disease are complex and not fully understood. But what is known shows that there is both a genetic and many possible environmental factors. Only part of that is the amount of sugar ingested.

Nevertheless, it's true that those with a high sugar diet will tend to be overweight (as measured, in part, by a BMI over 27) and therefore are at greater risk for developing Type 2 diabetes. That's particularly true for those who tend to carry that extra weight around the waist.

As such, a diet that is generally healthy for everyone is the same diet that will help stave off diabetes, or lessen its effects for those who already have the disease.

A diet that contains the proper amounts of vegetables, fruits and whole grains, as well as good protein sources, is helpful for everyone, including the diabetic. Fat itself isn't to be totally excluded, but should be consumed in moderation.

Fat gets a bad reputation because (a) it's over twice as high in calories than other foods (9 calories per gram as opposed to 4) and, (b) there are certain fats that are less healthy than others (transfats as opposed to healthier unsaturated fats). A certain amount is essential for good health.

While a diabetic should be prepared at all times to consume a snack or bar that will help stabilize glucose at the right level, in general it's helpful to establish a routine. That makes it easier to monitor glucose level and to predict what it is likely to be when you're not watching it. That also helps smooth out the level of glucose in the blood over time. Spikes or dips are to be avoided.

Those with diabetes who also want to reduce weight or body fat need to take extra care. After consulting a physician to establish a good diet for their particular circumstances, counting carbohydrates will need to become a regular routine. Most carbohydrates are what the body breaks down to produce glucose. That has a direct effect on the glucose-insulin balance so important for keeping diabetes under control.

While protein or fat consumption doesn't directly determine the amount of insulin needed, these too should be consumed in carefully regulated quantities. Excess consumption can make anyone overweight and the diabetic is more negatively affected if that occurs than others.

Consistency is key. Establish a healthy diet plan for your individual circumstances and stick to it, making gradual adjustments as needed. In the long term, it will help minimize any problems associated with diabetes to the maximum extent possible.

Diabetes - Coping With Diabetes

Coping with diabetes typically involves a combination of physical treatments and psychological adjustments.

Over time, diabetes can affect the kidney, eyes and other vital organs and systems. The kidneys may filter less efficiently. Eyesight may become less sharp. But all those physical circumstances can be managed through careful diet, exercise, and (if needed) drugs.

But coping with the disease and its effects involves another dimension, one less easy to quantify and treat, and one which has both physical and mental consequences.

Stress from being concerned about those effects can be both cause and consequence. Stress weakens the immune system, which in turn reduces the body's ability to ward off infection, colds and so forth. Those are just some of the possible complications of diabetes. But those in turn may lead to additional stress as the ability to function is reduced. A vicious cycle is established.

Breaking that cycle requires a broad spectrum of diabetes management techniques. Keeping the body as healthy as possible will minimize the effects. Keeping the right attitude will help reduce the odds of the effects occurring in the first place.

That's not easy. Accepting that management of diabetes and its effects is a long term, often a lifetime, proposition is the first step.

Careful monitoring of blood glucose levels is a basic and essential factor. Controlling that level - by diet, exercise, and (if necessary) medications - is vital. That helps reduce the physical strain on body systems. That helps reduce the worry. Monitoring and management will need to become a daily routine, as common as brushing your teeth.

Knowledge can help motivate the patient to engage in that practice. Being fully aware of the possible complications, and the near certainty of having them if inaction is the choice made, can provide an incentive to take action. Knowing what your body will do can help you control both the potentially harmful physical effects and your attitude about them.

But knowledge alone doesn't lead to the right course of action. A commitment of the will is essential. It takes courage to control diabetes and lead a normal life. That kind of courage is larger in some ways than the type required for emergencies. Long term commitments to meeting daily challenges requires the kind of patience and fortitude that is tougher to call up all the time than for a one-time event.

But that kind of commitment doesn't happen simply by wishing for it. Few can simply will themselves onto the right path. It starts by facing small challenges and overcoming them. A minor dietary change. The adoption of a single brief exercise routine three times a week. Then the actions can become wider - more dietary changes - and longer term, more exercise routines carried out every day.

As you conquer those small hills a little bit at a time, you gain the confidence that you can tackle larger ones and over a lifetime. In time, managing diabetes for most people becomes a routine little more difficult than doing an average school or work assignment. It becomes a few more things on the list of daily challenges to meet and solve in order to get those daily rewards.

Diabetes - Common Symptoms of Diabetes

The symptoms of diabetes can be puzzling. Even the common ones may not be present in all cases. They may come and go. And the same symptoms can be produced by other conditions. Nevertheless, there are a cluster of common circumstances that tend to mark out the disease.

Unusually frequent urination is one of the classic symptoms that suggests the possibility of diabetes. One defining attribute of the disease is excessive glucose levels in the blood. Either the body produces too little insulin to deal with it (Type 1 diabetes), or the insulin isn't used correctly (Type 2).

The body attempts to compensate by eliminating the excess glucose using the urine. The kidneys work at higher than normal levels to filter out the excess sugar. When they can't remove enough, the remainder is passed through when other fluids are eliminated as waste products of metabolic processes.

One result, and an accompanying symptom, is excessive thirst. The diabetic feels as if he or she is always thirsty, and no matter how much fluid is taken in it never seems like enough. That in turn prompts still more urination.

Another common and possible symptom is continual fatigue. Since insulin isn't performing its role properly by aiding the cells to take in glucose from the bloodstream, the diabetic may feel tired. Glucose is the major source of energy for powering an enormous variety of the body's functions from cell repair to major muscle movement.

But other body systems can be affected by diabetes and show up as symptoms.

Blurry vision can result from any number of conditions, even simple age where it is often just presbyopia. Presbyopia results from reduced elasticity of the lenses as we age, leading to a lessened ability to focus. But the cause in the case of diabetes is very different.

High blood sugar levels reduce fluid in the tissues, including those of the eye and in particular the lenses. That affects your ability to focus. When the disease becomes more advanced it can cause new blood vessels to form in the retina. That again affects your vision. Though in this circumstance, the result is more often seeing dark spots or flashing lights, or rings around room lights.

In some instances, cuts (particularly on the feet) may be slower to heal when a person has Type 2 diabetes. The reasons are not yet fully understood, but it is one more indicator. At the same time, the immune system is affected, leading to a lowered ability to fight off infection.

Since so many of these symptoms can be (and are) produced by a number of other conditions, the best course of action if you suspect you have diabetes is to seek a professional diagnosis. Simple blood tests can determine with a high degree of confidence whether or not you do in fact have the disease. They're relatively painless and most are covered by ordinary health insurance.

Diabetes - An Introduction to Diabetes

Diabetes, a disease characterized by chronic high levels of glucose in the blood, is not the major problem it once was. Prior to the end of the 19th century, it might well have been a death sentence for many. Excess glucose can have a number of ill effects, including poor cut healing or kidney damage, even coma. With the advancement of monitoring and insulin delivery methods, it's often now little more than another daily task to perform.

Though the underlying causes are not fully understood, diabetes results from either too little insulin being produced or ineffective use of it by the body. In Type 1 diabetes, for example, the islet cells of the pancreas fail to produce an amount of insulin adequate to allow blood glucose to enter cells where it's used for energy. In Type 2, the cells may resist insulin's action, once again leaving too much glucose in the blood.

But though they're not completely known, experts agree that the causes of the different types of diabetes are generally a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental or lifestyle factors. In some cases, one or the other may dominate. Gestational diabetes, for example, affects about 3% of pregnant women usually from around 24-28 weeks into term. But it goes away after birth. Type 1, on the other hand, affects mostly juveniles and is largely genetic.

In all cases, the symptoms are usually roughly the same: excessively frequent urination, unquenchable thirst, sometimes accompanied by dizziness or stomach pains. Naturally, these common symptoms can have a number of causes. Anyone suspecting he or she has diabetes should be tested by a physician.

Those tests are simple and relatively painless, only requiring a small blood sample. Blood glucose level is measured, with normal running around 99 mg/dL, while diabetics have a level of 126 mg/dL or above. It may require more than one test to confirm the disease.

Once confirmed, regular blood glucose monitoring is a must. Fortunately, there are today many convenient ways to do that. Testing devices the size of a cell phone are common. A small sample of blood is smeared on a strip fed into the instrument, which delivers a number within seconds. Some recent devices measure glucose level through the skin using an infrared beam.

Treatments are equally easy for most diabetics. In some cases careful diet and appropriate exercise may be enough to keep the right glucose-insulin balance. In the usual case, insulin delivery is called for. But that too is much easier than in generations past. Small insulin-containing pens can deliver the exact right dose painlessly. Newer oral inhalers are on the market that have met with success.

Though no one wants to have to deal with diabetes, managing the disease is now easier than ever. The possible long term complications of untreated diabetes remain what they always were. By keeping them at bay with simple techniques, most diabetics can enjoy an active fulfilling life just as anyone else.

Symptoms Of Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease that is generally determined by the concentration of glucose in the blood. The amount of glucose in the blood is glycemia. The Glycemic Index indicates which carbohydrates have the highest levels of concentration of sugars and starches that make it so difficult for some diabetes to digest. Most those who suffer from diabetes have either Type I or Type II Diabetes. Generally, when a person is diagnosed with Type II diabetes, they are generally adults. Many people develop Type II Diabetes later in life after experiencing certain symptoms.

Those who suffer from diabetes have a difficult type processing certain foods, such as sugars and starches, into their digestive system. Certain signs of diabetes include frequent urination, increased thirst and desire for fluids and may also include an increased appetite. In many cases, a person with Type II diabetes feels generally unwell but cannot figure out what is wrong. Symptoms can mirror the flu or other illnesses. If you are experiencing frequent thirst, excessive urination and a substantially increased appetite, have yourself checked out for diabetes.

Fatigue is also a symptom of diabetes and Type I Diabetes may cause loss of weight, despite increased eating. The reason for the symptoms is because of the glucose concentration in the blood, also called glycemia. Because the glucose concentration is raised beyond the allowed threshold, glucose remains in the urine, causes more pressure and more frequent urination. When uncontrolled, diabetes can cause kidney edamage.

Some patients with Type I diabetes present with nausea, abdominal pain and an comatose state. Diabetic ketoacidosis is another term for a diabetic coma which can result when diabetes is undiagnosed or uncontrolled. A diabetic coma can result in death.

Most people with diabetes have too much sugar in their blood. There is another type of diabetes, however, called Hypoglycemia, in which the patient has a lower than normal amount of glucose in the blood. This can result in a variety of symptoms including fainting, feeling poorly, impairment of functioning and even coma.

If you have symptoms of diabetes, you should check your blood sugar level with your doctor. Although more definitive tests are needed to properly diagnose diabetes, high or low blood sugar can be an indicator that you should see your doctor to determine the cause of the abnormal blood glucose.

Symptoms of diabetes can be frightening, but are easily controlled. If you feel that you have any of the above listed symptoms, do not be afraid to see your physician. Diabetes, although seemingly scary, is easily controlled. Physicians know more about diabetes now than ever before and there are many effective medications on the market to keep your disease under control.

If you have a family of history of diabetes, are overweight, or have not have your blood sugar tested recently, be aware of the symptoms of diabetes and have your physician test your blood the on your next visit. If you begin experiencing any of the symptoms of diabetes prior to your physician visit, do not be foolish - go to the ER and have yourself checked out.