Most people, when diagnosed with diabetes, go through at least one period of denial. Denial is a time when you do not believe that your diabetes will truly affect you. It is a time when you feel exempt from reality: “surely, not me!” Denial at a diabetes diagnosis is fairly common, and a normal part of dealing with the news. It is longstanding denial that can be dangerous to your health.

People choose denial for a variety of reasons. In some cases, it might seem easiest to ignore the problem so it will go away. In other cases, a person will be scared of the responsibility that diabetes brings. This might even occur later in their life when they get diabetes fatigue or burnout from caring for a condition day in and day out.

You might be in denial about your diabetes if you find yourself rationalizing things. When you rationalize, you try to make something seem like it is okay or fine. You might say to yourself, “one bite won’t hurt,” or “I can miss one day of exercise.” The reality is that these are just the things that can hurt you when you have diabetes, and they can lead to more fluctuations in your blood sugar, which in turn can lead to complications from your diabetes.

There are a few areas that diabetics are most likely to rationalize about. The two major points are diet and exercise. Without maintaining a healthy diet and exercise schedule, diabetics can put themselves at severe risk. Diabetics in denial can also avoid proper self-monitoring for blood glucose levels. You might feel that you no longer need to test your blood sugar because you will just know what your level is at by how you feel. Although you will get more adept at gauging your blood sugar independently, you can never stop testing, because many other factors influence the way you feel. You wouldn’t want your blood glucose to spike because you confused the beginnings of a cold with low blood sugar.

People with diabetes might also smoke and think that it will not affect their lives. The truth of the matter is that smoking will kill you if you have diabetes or not. If you have diabetes, it will increase your chance of complications. “Just one puff” is too much.

If you are in denial, you might think that your type 2 diabetes is not serious. If you feel that taking pills is less serious than injecting insulin, you might be right. This, however, is not a reason to neglect yourself, because not properly managing your type 2 diabetes can lead to insulin dependence.

Managing diabetes is a time consuming process. You need to check your feet for complications, as well as go to the doctor’s office more often. You might be jealous of your friends and family because they have much less responsibility for their health. This is not productive for you. Remember that taking care of your diabetes is actually time that you spend taking care of you. You can even reward yourself for positive diabetes management habits. Perhaps if you are diligent with your diet, exercise, and self-monitoring of blood glucose for a month, you will reward yourself with a massage, or a new shirt, or a new book.

There will be periods when you feel that managing your diabetes is out of your reach and not possible. This is not the case. You can manage your diabetes, and you can cope with it.

Write down your diabetes-related goals in a workbook. Having your goals written down will help you to achieve them. Chart your progress towards these goals. Often, the simple fact of knowing that you will write down your food at the end of the day makes you eat healthier so that you feel good about yourself when you write it down.

Tell your friends and family about your diabetes. Explain to them that encouraging you to go off your diet and exercise is not helpful, and help them understand the consequences that can occur. If your friends and family know about your diabetes, they will be able to help you stick to your healthy habits.

You can get over periods of denial about diabetes. Your diabetes management will help prevent complications and will allow you to lead a long and fulfilling life

Most people, when diagnosed with diabetes, go through at least one period of denial. Denial is a time when you do not believe that your diabetes will truly affect you. It is a time when you feel exempt from reality: “surely, not me!” Denial at a diabetes diagnosis is fairly common, and a normal part of dealing with the news. It is longstanding denial that can be dangerous to your health.

People choose denial for a variety of reasons. In some cases, it might seem easiest to ignore the problem so it will go away. In other cases, a person will be scared of the responsibility that diabetes brings. This might even occur later in their life when they get diabetes fatigue or burnout from caring for a condition day in and day out.

You might be in denial about your diabetes if you find yourself rationalizing things. When you rationalize, you try to make something seem like it is okay or fine. You might say to yourself, “one bite won’t hurt,” or “I can miss one day of exercise.” The reality is that these are just the things that can hurt you when you have diabetes, and they can lead to more fluctuations in your blood sugar, which in turn can lead to complications from your diabetes.

There are a few areas that diabetics are most likely to rationalize about. The two major points are diet and exercise. Without maintaining a healthy diet and exercise schedule, diabetics can put themselves at severe risk. Diabetics in denial can also avoid proper self-monitoring for blood glucose levels. You might feel that you no longer need to test your blood sugar because you will just know what your level is at by how you feel. Although you will get more adept at gauging your blood sugar independently, you can never stop testing, because many other factors influence the way you feel. You wouldn’t want your blood glucose to spike because you confused the beginnings of a cold with low blood sugar.

People with diabetes might also smoke and think that it will not affect their lives. The truth of the matter is that smoking will kill you if you have diabetes or not. If you have diabetes, it will increase your chance of complications. “Just one puff” is too much.

If you are in denial, you might think that your type 2 diabetes is not serious. If you feel that taking pills is less serious than injecting insulin, you might be right. This, however, is not a reason to neglect yourself, because not properly managing your type 2 diabetes can lead to insulin dependence.

Managing diabetes is a time consuming process. You need to check your feet for complications, as well as go to the doctor’s office more often. You might be jealous of your friends and family because they have much less responsibility for their health. This is not productive for you. Remember that taking care of your diabetes is actually time that you spend taking care of you. You can even reward yourself for positive diabetes management habits. Perhaps if you are diligent with your diet, exercise, and self-monitoring of blood glucose for a month, you will reward yourself with a massage, or a new shirt, or a new book.

There will be periods when you feel that managing your diabetes is out of your reach and not possible. This is not the case. You can manage your diabetes, and you can cope with it.

Write down your diabetes-related goals in a workbook. Having your goals written down will help you to achieve them. Chart your progress towards these goals. Often, the simple fact of knowing that you will write down your food at the end of the day makes you eat healthier so that you feel good about yourself when you write it down.

Tell your friends and family about your diabetes. Explain to them that encouraging you to go off your diet and exercise is not helpful, and help them understand the consequences that can occur. If your friends and family know about your diabetes, they will be able to help you stick to your healthy habits.

You can get over periods of denial about diabetes. Your diabetes management will help prevent complications and will allow you to lead a long and fulfilling life.

Diabetes is a life long disease, and how to control this life-long companion?

You can expect co-operation from this disease provided you show some positive signs of awareness about the damaging consequences of neglecting it.

To talk about the Type II diabetes, it is now fairly sure that 9 out of the ten cases can be controlled and cured, provided dietary precautions are taken, and you do regular exercises. Judge what is suitable for your health, by self-assessment and by consulting the doctor and stick to the schedule.

I presume you are a non-smoker and are taking effective steps to control your weight. The body has a foolproof and intricate mechanism to control the glucose levels in the bloodstream. It should not be too low or too high. What you eat is assimilated by the body priority-wise. Carbohydrates are converted into glucose and rapidly absorbed in to the bloodstream.

The reason for diabetes is the inability of the body to make enough insulin or utilize properly the insulin that it produces.

When the insulin-making cells are permanently disabled, the result is the incurable type I diabetes. In both the types of diabetes, nutrition plays a very important role. You may be able to maintain your body and check the advancement of the disease, by proper diet. The factors that contribute to diabetes type II, are the very same old factors that do the damage in most of the serious types of ailments that affect the human body. They are being overweight, having improper diet, doing no exercising, and indulging in smoking and alcohol!

Give adequate activity to your muscles. They are designed for hard work. Activities improve their ability to use insulin and absorb glucose. The insulin making cells get some intermission and function effectively. It is not that you require tough exercises. Light exercises done with discipline and regularity, will help you a lot.

Make whole grain and whole grain products, sprouted cereals a regular part of your diet. Carbohydrates that are not easily digested, will not help your cause.

Chicago, Illinois September 23, 2006. The heart failure was produced strictly by feeding the monkey a high fat/high cholesterol diet. The diet was very much like what many Americans consume every day. They called it SuperMarket Food. It was about 42 percent fat and about a 50th of an ounce of cholesterol per day. After two years on the diet the monkey had developed the characteristic yellow outcroppings (called xanthomas) on his skin, which showed that its atherosclerosis was already well developed.

After two and a half years of feeding, the fatal heart attack happened. The attack was massive, involving about half of his left heart muscle. The heart and the coronary arteries looked just like a human heart looks after such an attack.”

The heart showed many areas of cell death, and the arteries were filled with plaques. It should be pointed out that rhesus monkeys do not have heart attacks under normal circumstances. On ordinary “monkey chow,” a rhesus monkey will never have a heart attack.

There are implications for pre- and early 2 Diabetics. Some have found help with these kinds of natural exercise and eating. Risk of Diabetes in the USA is greater than ever today, and complications from the killer degenerative diseases like, heart disease, atherosclerosis, cerebrovascular disease (stroke) and arterial hypertension are greater than ever also. We are relearning that “The bottom line to holding in check the degenerative diseases can be boiled down to five words: Stay lean and stay active”

It appears that there is hope for all including those with pre- and early type 2. While we humans do not eat “monkey chow” we should eat the Good Foods, the “Longevity Foods.” Talk with your nutritionist and discover these foods. There is a Treasury of easy to identify healthy, Longevity Foods just sitting in the Supermarket just saying “Pick me-Pick me.”

Diabetes is one of the most dreaded diseases of the current generation. While for some, diabetes may not be as frightening as cancer or brain damage, it can indeed be a grave condition that could affect one's life entirely. Such is why those who have diabetes cannot be too careful to adjust their lifestyles to keep the symptoms of the disease manageable. Some people even go too careful that they believe that they have to leave out so much of the things they enjoy in life such as eating sweet food. However, such is not entirely the case. Diabetic people can still take pleasure in certain foods to keep their sweet cravings at bay. One way of doing this is by eating fruits ñ Mother Nature's sweet gift to people.

In general, eating fruits can be good for people because fruits are great sources of many essential vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients that provide a lot of benefits to one's health. However, diabetics might be concerned whether fruits can increase their blood sugar levels or not. The quick answer to that is a simple yes. Fruit, like any other food that contains sugar does increase one's blood sugar. Moreover, fruit can increase blood sugar as fast and as high as other types of food with the same amount of sugar. But does this mean that a diabetic patient has to avoid eating fruits in the same manner as avoiding candy? Not entirely.

Missing out on fruits is not a good idea for diabetics, or any other person. The many benefits that fruits give are very important. Compared to cakes, candy, and other sugar-rich foods, the calories provided by fruits are not empty. Add to this the fact that the concentration of sugar in most fruits is not as high as those in sugar-laded food items, thus eating a piece of apple would not increase blood sugar as much as eating a slice of chocolate cake. The key here is moderation. Of course one would expect to have a great rise in blood sugar after eating a basketful of grapes, but who can eat that big amount of fruits in one sitting? The truth is, one can only eat so much amount of fruits because they can provide satisfaction quicker than sugary snacks.

People are also not created equal. One's reaction to a certain type of food might be different from another's response. Thus, it might take two bananas to increase the blood sugar significantly for one person, but for another guy, the same increase might happen after just eating one banana. The responsibility of the diabetic patient therefore is to find out how his or her body responds to the fruits being eaten. This can be done by monitoring one's blood sugar levels.

When monitoring one's sugar levels, it is important to be honest regarding the serving sizes one consumes. A very large apple may not count as just one serving, thus it is important to honestly judge whatever amount is taken in. One can then have a blood sugar level test an hour or two after eating fruit to see how high or low the fruit has increased the glucose in the blood. Monitoring is very important for one to know how the body gets fruits in. Once a good understanding regarding the relationship of fruits with one's glucose levels, one can then have pretty much a good knowledge of how little or how big fruit servings should be.

Diabetics can indeed eat fruit, and eating fruits may be a great way for them not only to meet the body's nutritive requirements, but also to manage those sweet cravings. By knowing how the body reacts to the fruits one consumes, one would certainly know how best to enjoy fruits, making help one enjoy life as well.

Discovering you have type 2 diabetes is a life-changing experience. It can be a life-change that is good or it can be disastrous. And popping pills to control your diabetes may not be the answer, but, it's up to you. Let me explain...

The majority of newly diagnosed people have type 2 diabetes. Lifestyle is believed to contribute hugely to the development of this type of diabetes; the wrong lifestyle for your body. Eating the wrong foods - and often too much; a sedentary lifestyle - too much sitting around at a desk, watching TV or sitting at a computer or just general inactivity all contributes. Your body loses the battle to keep your blood-sugars at a safe level for you and you develop insulin resistance; type 2 diabetes.

Drastic life-saving changes are needed. So what do we do? 'Pop a pill' and carry on (almost) as before. Sure you might make some token changes, like not eating so many cakes, sweets and biscuits. Or you might cut down on the sugary drinks.

But, for the vast majority of us, that's about as far as it goes.

And that's not good news for our health.

How do I know this?

Because I have type 2 diabetes - diagnosed in 1982.

But I wasn't particularly overweight and I did have a reasonable amount of physical activity in my daily life. So I followed the (then) current expert thinking on the 'ideal diabetic diet', which included a high proportion of high-complex-carbohydrate foods, such as potato, bread and pasta. I didn't make the connection between this type of diet and my constant high blood-sugars.

So I popped the pills prescribed and avoided the obvious sugar-laden enemies; cakes, sweets and sugary treats.

So where's the problem?

The problem is the constant underlying, grinding effect of continuing the wrong lifestyle and eating habits and the consequences it generates. My condition very gradually, almost insidiously, got worse. Yet I was following the eating guidelines I'd been given.

You see, taking drugs to control your diabetes, instead of changing your eating pattern and lifestyle can create an extreme yo-yo effect on your blood-sugars. It did for me. I ranged from a high of 17.6 mmol/l to 2.8 mmol/l (the safe range is between 4mmol/l and 7mmol/l).

And I had no idea of what was happening between my own blood testing sessions - but the overall effect on my HbA1C was not good. Keeping within the 'safe range', for me, was a nigh-on impossibility.

But that was OK, as my overall condition got worse I was prescribed more medication to try to keep my HbA1c levels in control - more pills! Until I reached the stage where the only way forward, if I was to continue using medication to control my sugar-levels, was to go onto insulin injections.

That's when I decided to take proper control of my type 2 diabetes and find out more about it and what it was doing to me.

Diabetes is now considered to be a worldwide epidemic, which has serious after effects like blindness, kidney failure, impotence that in turn makes the illness out of control. A Hypnotist can definitely help a person with diabetes, as a Hypnotist is considered a stress management consultant and a motivational coach. However a Hypnotist can only be a part of your diabetes support group and medical approval is required before enlisting yourself for any hypnosis program.

A person with diabetes will be feeling stressful and it may be difficult for him or her to follow the doctor’s advice. They may want to reach out for something which will make them feel better instantly, for instance for a type of food which may not be a good and healthy choice of food. The hypnotist helps in reducing harmful stress. This stress can affect a person’s power to make choices, which are beneficial for their health. If a persons stress levels increase their blood sugar also increases. The body releases chemicals called ‘insulin-antagonists’ which block the insulin and release stored sugar in the liver and muscles.

Parents of children with diabetes create stress both for the parents and for the child. The parents are tense looking after a sick child and the child is stressed because they cannot deal with the overwhelming problem like any adult. For Child Diabetes Management it is essential that expert care should be provided.

As many as 95% of the persons with diabetes have Type-2 Diabetes and they are obese. Regular exercise and diet management for Type-2 Diabetic patients leads to complete system reduction. There is a need for exercise motivation and weight management. Generally exercise gives you a sense of well-being and positively in outlook. A Hypnotist can help a person with diabetes to reduce stress and help them commit to making better food choices.

Another personal problem that most diabetes patients face which they feel embarrassed to admit to is impotence. These people and their partners are feeling stressed. They may take medication for this problem, which may be inappropriate and actually may cause damage. As many as 60% of the males face this problem.

A Hypnotist can counsel and train the patients how to manage their diabetes and live a healthy life. Even a small reduction in a diabetic patients sugar level reduces their chances of having complications. There are millions of people who have undiagnosed diabetes. A Hypnotist can be an important part of a Diabetics health care system and help cure diabetes to a certain extent.

For centuries people have used French Lilac (Galega officinalis) to treat the symptoms of diabetes mellitus. But it was only in the last century that the active ingredient was isolated and identified. This compound, a single guanidine ring, while itself being too toxic to be used in the long term management of diabetes, led to the development of one of the safest and most widely used of all the antidiabetic medications: metformin.

Metformin belongs to a group of drugs called the biguanides, which consist of two linked guanidine rings. Although it has been used to treat diabetes for at least thirty years, it is only now that we are beginning to get an idea of how it works, even though the exact mechanisms of action remain more or less a mystery.

What we do know, however, is that metformin has a number of different effects on glucose metabolism. These effects lead to improved insulin sensitivity in tissues such as muscle and liver as well as decreased gluconeogenesis ( the synthesis of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources ) by the liver. The net result of these and certain other actions is a decrease in glucose levels. However, because metformin is a euglycaemic agent, blood glucose levels do not fall below normal. Hypoglycaemic episodes do therefore not usually occur.

Metformin also has beneficial effects on lipid metabolism, and tends to result in a lowering of circulating fatty acids and VLDL, both of which are known to be involved in causing cardiovascular disease.

Conclusion? Metformin is an extremely effective treatment for type 2 diabetes, because it acts at the source of the problem: it combats insulin resistance. It has been shown to delay and even prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes in people with impaired glucose tolerance and insulin resistance. And it decreases the risk of diabetes-related death, as well as heart attacks and strokes, in people who already have diabetes. Metformin saves lives.

In addition to this, metformin is used with great effect in the treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome, both improving the symptoms of the condition, and increasing by up to eight-fold the probability of ovulation (and so substantially increasing fertility). It also appears to be safe to use during pregnancy, and significantly decreases the risk of women with PCOS developing gestational diabetes.

Metformin clearly has great benefits for those with insulin resistance and related conditions (such as PCOS, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome). Unfortunately these benefits may come at a price – metformin causes some fairly uncomfortable side effects in some people. These include nausea, loss of appetite, a metallic taste, and diarrhoea, which may or may not be severe. These side effects tend to be present at the start of treatment and with higher doses of the drug. It is most likely that some of the side effects are caused by residual amounts of the drug (in other words, the quantity of metformin that is not absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract) which remains in the bowel and causes irritation and subsequent diarrhoea.

Most of these adverse effects may therefore be controlled by starting treatment on very low doses and slowly increasing the amount of drug taken to achieve the desired results. The absorption of metformin is also increased by taking the medication with food, which leaves less of the drug remaining in the gastrointestinal tract to cause irritation and diarrhoea. Nausea may be improved by taking the medication in divided doses e.g. 500mg every eight hours instead of all at once. The newer sustained release formulations may also help with this problem. It is important to be aware that, in general, all the side effects associated with metformin improve with time.

Another more important, but much rarer risk, is that of lactic acidosis. This seldom occurs unless there are underlying problems such as kidney or liver disease, or heart failure, or if the daily dose of metformin used exceeds the current recommended maximum of 2550mg for adults (or 2000mg extended release formulations) and 2000mg for children. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include weakness, muscle pain, difficulty breathing, stomach pain, dizziness and a slow heartbeat. This is a very dangerous condition, and needs to be treated immediately. Fortunately it is so rare that it is very seldom seen. Having said all this, metformin still has the ability to change peoples’ lives in ways seldom mentioned in medical texts. It relieves the chronic tiredness that people with insulin resistance experience, and decreases cravings for carbohydrates. It also makes weight loss that much easier for people who have always struggled to lose a few pounds, and keep them off.

In conclusion, it may be said that metformin is a relatively safe and effective drug, which has the ability to increase both the quantity and quality of life in those of us unlucky enough to have insulin resistance.

There are many diabetes sufferers in America - around 10.9 million men and 9.7 million women. There are lots of possible complications, but one of the most feared is diabetic ketoacidosis. This complication causes severe damage of the cells, which can result in a variety of illnesses or even death. Some diabetic patients with ketoacidosis are in a permanent coma because one or more of their vital organs have degenerated so badly.

A large buildup of glucose in the body can lead to increased production of ketone bodies. These ketone bodies cause diabetic ketoacidosis. One of the main reasons this is a concern for diabetes sufferers is because diabetes reduces the ability of the body to break down sugar, which can lead to a buildup of glucose. If the body doesn’t break down the glucose, it compromises the production of insulin in the body, and insulin is the counteragent of ketone bodies.

Because lack of insulin contributes to the buildup of ketone bodies, diabetic ketoacidosis is often treated with insulin injections. The reasoning is simple - give the body what it can't produce for itself. If the body's ability to produce insulin has been compromised, then it makes sense it has to be introduced from outside sources.

The sooner diabetic ketoacidosis is treated, the less damage it can do. If you have a suspicion that you or someone you know is suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis, it's important for them to have a medical check immediately. There are certain danger signs to look out for, particularly if you're already aware that the person is suffering from diabetes. These include:

# fatigue
# nausea accompanied by vomiting
# stiff muscles accompanied by pain
# more frequent urination than is normal
# occasional loss of consciousness
# halitosis
# low blood pressure
# shortness of breath
# abdominal pain

Obviously if the diabetic patient is only suffering from one of these symptoms, it could be the result of many different issues. But if the patient is experiencing many of them, it should be taken as a warning sign, and the patient should be taken to a medical professional immediately to check for ketoacidosis.

You should never take the possible present of ketoacidosis lightly, as the cell degeneration it causes can potentially lead to serious complications such as kidney failure, a comatose state, heart attacks or even death. There are also many other illnesses that can result from ketoacidosis.

Like most things, it's always better to prevent a condition from developing than to try and cure it. If you're already suffering from diabetes, then that's a warning signal in itself. It's important to exercise diligence in knowing and recognizing the warning signs, to help minimize the possibility that this perilous complication can develop, or to get medical assistance as early as possible.

When people are diagnosed with Diabetes, their reactions range from, 'So what, another pill,' to, 'My life is over.' We're going to examine the serious complications of the disease, the available treatments and, most importantly, how you can personally reduce the complications and medicines through diet and exercise to lose weight. Since Type 1 Diabetes occurs in childhood, with medicine and diet control required for survival, the focus in this article will be on the more common disease, Type 2 Diabetes.

What Is Type 2 Diabetes? This is a disease where the body has been overfed with carbohydrates (carbs) for so long, it develops a weird kind of reaction to them. Insulin is a chemical your body makes, to turn carbs into energy in your cells, but, when you've been overdosing on carbs for a long time, your cells become resistant to the insulin and can't absorb the energy. Your cells begin starving even though there's more than enough carbs for energy. The carbs stack up in your body as blood sugar (glucose) and eventually get added around your waist as fat, leading to obesity. The fat and starving cells make diabetics sluggish and tired, and almost continually hungry. It's easy for Diabetics to develop food addictions because of this hunger. As we load up to satisfy our hunger, we send our blood sugar into a roller-coaster, where we risk stroke at high-sugar times and Diabetic coma at low-sugar times.

What Are The Diabetic Health Risks? Stroke and coma are just the 2 immediate extremes of Diabetes. When you add in the fact that Diabetes is the number one cause of kidney failure, a major cause of cardio-vascular diseases and a contributing factor in many cancers, pneumonia and other serious diseases, Diabetes could be the number one cause of death in the U.S. Short of death, Diabetes is nothing to ignore. It's a leading cause of blindness, nerve diseases, periodontal disease, vaginal yeast infections and amputations of fingers, arms, legs, ears, noses and other extremities. It slows healing from all diseases and infections. Diabetes needs to be treated seriously in order to extend your life and retain a high quality of life.

What Treatments Are Available? Diabetes treatment can be as simple as monitoring and diet/exercise control, to adding a pill to your daily medicines, to insulin supplements, to complex and painful surgery and living assistance for normal daily activities. There are new treatments being discovered all the time but you should have the attitude of 'less-is-more' when it comes to treatment. The less treatment you need, the longer and better your life will be. Even with minimum treatment, you'll need to monitor your blood glucose levels regularly to make sure everything is going right. Your doctor will recommend a home glucose monitor, other diabetic supplies and blood glucose lab tests about every 3 months. As your disease progresses, the monitoring and labs will be more extensive. Once you're taking medicine, you should test your blood glucose at least twice daily, when you get up and 1-2 hours after your biggest meal. If you're using insulin injections, you'll be testing more often than that. No matter what stage of Diabetes treatment you're in, diet and exercise can help.

How Do Weight Loss Diet And Exercise Help Manage Diabetes? Unfortunately, many people approach Diabetes like a headache...taking a pill is enough. With this disease, you have to look at diet and exercise as medicine. I reduced my average blood glucose by 50% (to normal) in 6 months just by changing my diet and exercise. Most medicines don't claim to do as much. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is a great place to learn about the disease, treatment, diet, research, etc. Using the ADA diet as a guide, I ate smaller meals with 3 in-between meal snacks, keeping a balance of proteins, carbs and fats, I added high fiber fruits and vegetables, lots of water, and I watched my cholesterol. I should point out that I was less hungry on this diet than when I ate without control. I did aerobic walking and other exercises for 30 minutes, 5-6 days per week. As diabetics, if we reduce our weight by just 5 %, we can make improvements of up to 30% in our blood sugar. For a 200 pound person, that means losing 10 pounds...anybody can do that. You can find more information on diet and weight loss all over the internet. Just be careful to consult your doctor and not do any fasting type diets because they lower your blood glucose too much.

We who suffer from Diabetes need to recognize that this disease will progress, but we can control how fast it progresses. If we just take the meds the doctor gives us, the prognosis isn't good for the length of our lives or the quality. If we decide to fight the disease by controlling our diet and exercise, we may not need medicine for years, we'll add many years to our lives and have a far better quality of life during those years. What's your choice?

Stress is any undue strain caused by a difficult situation. It can be physical, such as an illness or injury, or it can be mental, which is generally the kind of stress we hear about. Stress changes your hormone levels, and as diabetes management relies on hormone regulation (particularly insulin), stress affects diabetes management.

When the body is stressed, it enters a “fight or flight” state, where hormones are secreted that allow the body to access more energy from the body’s store. Two examples of stress hormones are adrenaline and glucocorticoid (steroid hormones). Some people with diabetes do not have a proper fight or flight response. Insulin does not allow the stress hormones access to the glucose, and so the elevated glucose circulates in the blood. Stress can increase blood glucose levels.

Stress not only increases blood glucose levels hormonally, it also leads to less healthy lifestyle choices. People might eat out more when they are stressed, or they might turn to comfort foods. These less healthy meal choices in turn lead to poor glucose control.

Stress can also affect how much a person exercises. If a person stops exercising, they will be unable to control their blood glucose, just as if they take less care of their diet. Lack of sleep and irregular sleeping patterns can also cause the body stress.

Stress hormones are designed to fight short-term situations. Some stressors in our lives, however, are long-term (such as illness, divorce, or other psychological situations). It is unhealthy to have stress hormones circulate in the body for a long time.

Sometimes it is an aspect of diabetes that can cause stress. If you find an element of your diabetes management is causing you stress, speak to your health care team. They can help support you in your blood glucose monitoring, diet, and with your medication, as well as with your other concerns.

There are many different ways to reduce stress. Although if you are feeling stressed, it might seem impossible to calm down, try to keep some of these relaxing ideas in mind. It might be helpful to write out some of these ideas, or to write yourself reminders of techniques you can use to cheer yourself up.

Try deep breathing. Simply taking four or five deep breaths will help your respiration and circulation enter a more relaxed mode.

Take some time for you. Choose something that is a treat for you: a massage, a crossword, a long walk, and make that extra time to do it. Even if you are stressed, take the time to take care of yourself. Healthy diet, exercise, and time for yourself will dramatically lower your stress levels.

Get your friends and family to support you. If they know that you are feeling stressed, they can help you find ways to cope. If you think you need to, then consult a professional.

Sometimes, reaching out to help a friend will be something that can help you relieve stress. Doing something nice for someone else makes you feel better about yourself, and so can help you feel less stressed. However, don’t take on other people’s problem. Simply do something small to make their day.

It is the small things that can help you manage your stress. Begin by smiling, which releases endorphins. Try laughing. Hug somebody. These small things which will make your day brighter will also make your diabetes management easier.

Diabetes is a disease where the body cannot properly produce or use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that turns the foods you eat into energy. If your body cannot turn food into energy, not only will your cells be starved for energy, you will also build up glucose (sugar) in your blood. This will lead you to have "high blood glucose levels." Over years, the high blood glucose level can damage major organs like your heart, eyes, and kidneys.

Statistics:

According to the American Diabetes Association, there are 18.2 million people in the United States with Diabetes. That's 6.3% of the population.

Diabetes is found in both men and women over the age of 20. About one-third of Diabetics do not know that they have it. African Americans are 1.6 times more likely to have diabetes than Whites. Latinos are 1.5 times more likely to have diabetes than Whites.

Type 1 is most often found in children, with the peak incidence at puberty. Type 2 is generally found in adults, however an alarmingly growing number of children are now diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes. One of the main causes is overweight.

Types:

1. Type 1 Diabetes is caused by a total lack of insulin that, in turn, produces high blood glucose levels. Type 1 is most often is seen in children, but can develop in adults. If you have Type 1, your health care provider might recommend scheduled, nutritious meals, exercise, medication, and frequent blood sugar level tests.
2. Type 2 Diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin or cannot properly use insulin. This is the most common type. The treatment may be similar to Type 1.
3. Pre Diabetes or Borderline Diabetes may occur before a Type 2 diagnosis. Blood glucose levels will be higher than normal. Good nutrition and exercise may be recommended by your health care provider as treatment for pre diabetes. Even a slightly high blood sugar level is insidious and could affect major organs over time.
4. Gestational Diabetes occurs in pregnant women that have high blood glucose levels. This type of Diabetes can harm both Mother and baby. If you have Gestational Diabetes, your health care provider may prescribe meal plans, exercise, daily testing and medicine.

Symptoms:

The main symptom of diabetes is the lack of insulin activity or the inability for the body to create insulin.

Other symptoms include:

1. increase in urine production
2. blurry vision
3. irritability
4. extreme hunger
5. excessive weight loss
6. increased fatigue

Causes and Risk Factors:

Because hypoglycemia can effect your driving performance (even modestly low blood sugar can do this), if you are at all prone to hypoglycemia, I personally would strongly recommend you check out your blood sugar level each time you are about to drive.

Prior to you putting the key in the ignition, test your blood sugar. There are some great glucometers out there, like the Accu-Check Compact with the Accu-Check Multi-clix lancet pen.

The Accu-Check Compact has a 17 strip drum inside so you don't have to take any extra strips with you. The Accu-Check Multi-clix lancet pen has a drum that automatically holds 6 lancets within the pen to use quickly and easily. Again, you won't have to bring any lancets separately with you. If your blood sugar is low, treat yourself to some juice or hard candy and don't drive until your blood sugar is back to normal. Usually 80 mg/dl and higher you should feel better. Then try and eat a small meal, like a low fat cheese and/or turkey sandwich.

Usually in 15 minutes taking 15-20 grams of Carbohydrate (CHO) will usually bring up your blood sugar to normal range. You can have a 4-6 ounce glass of juice, glucose tablets or 2-3 pieces of hard candy. Don't overdo it because your blood sugar will then go sky high. If it doesn't return within normal limits in 15 minutes, repeat the 15-20 grams of CHO and then check your blood sugar in 15 minutes.

Usually if your blood sugar is above 80 mg/dl, you should feel fine but sometimes going above 100 mg/dl, you'll feel better. You should always follow with a small meal that contains CHO, protein that contains a small amount of fat.

Always make sure you have something to eat right within reach in the car (not in the trunk!). I tell my father to put 2-3 peppermint candy right in his pocket and have a supply of hard candy or peppermint candy always stashed in his car.

It is best if you eat 6-8 small meals a day. This would include a CHO, protein food that contains a little fat included. Example would be a cheese sandwich that contains either 1 or 2 slices of bread, a cheese that is low fat or turkey low in fat but not fat free. The protein and fat does help to stablize your blood sugar over a period of time instead of a quick spike in your blood sugar and a quick drop in blood sugar like juice would do.

During your trip if you need to take an insulin injection or an oral blood sugar medication, then make sure you eat as prescibed with your medication, otherwise your blood sugar can go low. I will be writing about how insulin and certain oral blood sugar medications can make your sugar go low. Not all insulin, esp. Lantus, or oral diabetic medications make your blood sugar low.

Oral diabetic medications that can cause low blood sugar or hypoglycemia

The following sulfonylurea medications for diabetes can cause hypoglycemia or low blood sugar as a side effect.

* Glipizide (Glucotrol)
* Glyburide (such as DiaBeta, Glynase, Micronase)
* Glimepiride (Amaryl)

Repaglinide (Prandin) and nateglinide (Starlix) are not sulfonylurea medications. However, they work in the same way and can also cause low blood sugar as a side effect.

You are unlikely to develop hypoglycemia or low blood sugar levels if you are taking:

* Metformin (Glucophage)
* Acarbose (Precose)
* Rosiglitazone (Avandia)
* Pioglitazone (Actos)

Signs of Hypoglycemia:

**Cold sweat, faintness, dizziness
**Headache
**Pounding of heart, trembling, nervousness
**blurred vision
**Hunger
**Irritability
**Personality Change
**Not able to awaken

It is important to know if you oral diabetic medication has the side effect of low blood sugar because if you are going out or driving, you should test your blood sugar before you leave and make sure you take hard candy with you in your pocket or purse at all times. You should also have a supply of hard candy in your car at all times and not in the trunk of your car.

If you have the signs of low blood sugar, then you should take a piece of hard candy or juice first and then test your blood sugar.

Usually in 15 minutes taking 15-20 grams of Carbohydrate (CHO) will usually bring up your blood sugar to normal range. You can have a 4-6 ounce glass of juice, glucose tablets or 2-3 pieces of hard candy. Don’t overdo it because your blood sugar will then go sky high. If it doesn’t return within normal limits in 15 minutes, repeat the 15-20 grams of CHO and then check your blood sugar in 15 minutes.