Diabetes: A peek into my mailbox

Dear Bob­bie:

I read your col­umn each week. I was told four years ago that I had dia­betes. I am not on any dia­betes med­i­cine at the time. I was told that I could con­trol my sug­ars by diet and exercise.

I have not been able to exer­cise lately because of arthri­tis and a skin con­di­tion that keeps me out of the pool. In fact, I haven’t done any reg­u­lar exer­cise for eight months.

My weight has increased and I’m always tired. I am very thirsty and just feel run down and weak. I need a list of foods that I should be eating.

You say in your columns that there is not a “No-No” list of foods. Can you send me the “Yes-Yes” list?

— Too Sweet For My Own Good

Dear Too Sweet:

I do not have a “Yes” list for peo­ple with dia­betes. There is not a list of foods that you should eat. The dia­betes meal plan starts with a lifestyle of eat­ing a con­sis­tent num­ber of car­bo­hy­drates at con­sis­tent times of the day.

Your body is try­ing to stay in bal­ance. Con­sis­tency is the key. Pam­per your pan­creas func­tion. Don’t make it work too hard and it will have a bet­ter chance of pro­duc­ing the insulin when you need it. There may be a time when your body is unable to pro­duce insulin or use it prop­erly but con­sis­tency gives it the best advan­tage to func­tion before then.

I rec­om­mend that you talk to your doc­tor and get a pre­scrip­tion for dia­betes edu­ca­tion and med­ica­tion. Many hos­pi­tals pro­vide a dia­betes self-management train­ing pro­gram that is cov­ered by most Medicare and insur­ance plans. Dur­ing the ses­sions, you will learn more about dia­betes and how every part of your life is affected by this disease.

Many peo­ple, includ­ing some health pro­fes­sion­als, think that man­ag­ing dia­betes only con­cerns the diet. What you con­sume is only part of the solu­tion. The tim­ing of the meals and the amount that you eat is even more impor­tant than the kinds of food that you put in your mouth.

Exer­cise is under­rated. Actively using your body to use the sugar in your blood as fuel can con­trol dia­betes. In fact, a research study revealed that some peo­ple can have sta­ble blood sug­ars just by walk­ing one mile a day with­out chang­ing much else in their lives.

The sooner some­one with dia­betes begins tak­ing med­ica­tion to con­trol their blood sugar, the lower the risk of unwanted com­pli­ca­tions later in life. Sooner is bet­ter than later.

The amount of stress in your life can affect your sug­ars, too. An edu­ca­tion pro­gram can help you iden­tify the trig­gers in your life that affect your blood sug­ars. Iden­ti­fy­ing a prob­lem is halfway to solv­ing it. Tech­niques to con­trol stress are discussed.

As I said pre­vi­ously, I do not have a “Yes” list of foods. I have a “Yes” lifestyle. Ask your doc­tor to pre­scribe dia­betes edu­ca­tion. Call your insur­ance com­pany and ask how many hours are cov­ered for Dia­betes Self-Management Edu­ca­tion and Med­ical Nutri­tion Ther­apy. It could change your life.

—At Your Ser­vice, Bobbie

Bob­bie Ran­dall is a cer­ti­fied dia­betes edu­ca­tor and a reg­is­tered, licensed dietit­ian. She super­vises a dia­betes self-management train­ing pro­gram at Aultman-Orrville Hos­pi­tal, Orrville. Con­tact her at bobbie.randall@aultmanorrville.org or 330–684-4776.

Posted by Bobbie Randall on Aug 22 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.