diabetes education
i know this may sound "stupid" since i’m a diabetic but would
appreciate anyones wisdom on this….i’ve been diagnosed as diabetic
for 2yrs now (i’m 32) My dr.(general) said all my levels
were "funky"(high tryglicerides, thyroid, high calcium, low potasium
and other things i can’t remember) so he would send me to an endo. So
endo puts me on meds and gave me a new meter since the one i had i
bought on ebay. Well the point is i’ve never been educated on
diabetes. Maybe the endo assumed i knew since i was "diabetic". Lately
since reading these posts, i dont even pay nearly half the attention to
my diabetes. Maybe i’m in denial. I don’t even test every morning and
definitely never after meals. I dont even know what are normal blood
readings suppose to be. All i know is that your fasting is suppose to
be under 120. And y’all been mentioning carbs i didn’t realize as a
diabetic we needed to watch our count. i just assumed it was because we
needed to watch our weight. So my point is do y’all know of a site
where i can learn the basics of diabetes? i want to start testing after
meals but dont even know where my count should be at. Well thanks for
reading
veronica
January 5th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Hi Veronica,
You can visit the American Diabetic Association (diabetes.org) and start to
learn about this disease.
Also check into your local chapter, most places have one. They can start you
on the path. Keep in mind, they recommend a diet higher in carbs than what we,
as diabetics, should be having.
Check with your local hospital (or look in the phone book, ask the local
diabetes group) and see who offer’s classes on teaching you about what you need
to be doing.
Start a food and excerise diary. WRITE everything you do and eat down. This
gives you a starting point on the road to recovery. You can’t figure out where
you are going if you don’t know where you are at.
If your doctor won’t help you get things under control or answer your
questions to your satisfaction, GET A NEW ONE! This disease is hard enough to
deal with if you don’t have a good team of medical professionals to help you.
Been there, done that and it hasn’t been fun.
Your blood sugar meter needs to become your best friend. When I went to my
diabetes educator, I was advised to test on the following schedule:
AM-upon arising (before meal)
two hours after eating breakfast
before lunch
two hours after eating lunch
before dinner
two hours after eating dinner
right before bed
The doctor wanted me to note all the blood sugar levels as well as what I ate.
If, after two hours, my blood sugar was within 50 points of where I started,
what I ate was ok. If it was higher, I ate the wrong things.
I have discovered that on the Byetta, it is better to test three hours after
the meal because I was noticing a spike at the two hour range. This I attribute
to the effect of the Byetta slowing the food being moved through my system.
Everyone here will have different tips and advise on what works for them.
Some snack, some don’t, some follow a strict schedule, some can’t.
My recommendation is to start with tracking what you eat–write down how much,
the calories, carbs, fats, etc. Don’t not write something down to make the
journal look good. WRITE EVERYTHING, EVERY QUANITY down!
Once you start doing that, you will be suprised about what and how much you
are eating. I know I was. It was a real eye opener. Once you do that, and do
it for a couple of weeks at least, you have something to look back and make
changes to.
Hope this helps.
Melodie
veronica
January 5th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Hi, Veronica,
I would like to suggest a very good book to you called <<*The First Year:
Type 2 Diabetes: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed (First Year,
The) >> This book is written by Gretchen Becker and a co-author and will
tell you all you should know. It is available in paperback at Amazon and
may well be at your local library . This is a book written for the average
person, and is very easy to understand.*
*I am not a big fan of the American Diabetes Association because they don’t
really seem to have the health and welfare of the diabetic person at heart.*
The diet they recommend would keep my numbers way up!
I am happy for you that you are deciding to take charge of your diabetes and
wish you the very best.
Jo in Minnesota
January 6th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
On 5/5/07, Margaret wrote:
<< Don’t eat white food. Avoid white bread,
potatoes, pasta, white fruit (bananas, apples, pears).
Look for whole wheat and whole grain versions of
these foods. >>
Margaret - your response was excellent and a lot of good advice. However, I
disagree on avoiding "white fruit". If you understand the glycemic index,
you will understand that most people can eat all of these. Bananas should
never be eaten by a diabetic once they are over-ripe or soft at all. If
there is a green tinge on the banana, the glycemic index will be considerly
lower than if the banana already starts to have brown spots. When my
bananas have a green tinge, I put them in the fridge and they are then still
firm for three more days no matter what color the banana peel turns.
An underripe banana has a GI of 30, slightly underripe (tinge of green on
the peel) has a GI of 42 whereas an overripe one (yellow with brown spots)
as 48 and higher depending on the degree of ripeness.
A raw apple is 39-40 GI and a raw pear is 41.
So, all of these fruits have a low GI. Understanding the GL is of help,
too, and a green tinged banana just does fall into the low GL and an
overripe one would not. Mendosa says he tends to just use the GI as that
has proven most accurate for him in his testing.
Fruits play an important role for the diabetic - the benefits of fiber and
other nutrients are great. Also, having that taste of ’sweet’ helps many to
feel they have had a ‘treat’ and makes it easier not to eat sugar.
That said, the meter is the only true test for each of us. You may not be
able to eat any of these fruits whereas many should have no problem with
them.
For those trying to understand the glycemic index, www.mendosa.com does have
a lot of good information (and Mendosa is my ‘hero’), but this site is
easier to navigate and is excellent:
www.glycemicindex.com Some of the internal links are also helpful.
January 8th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Hi Veronica
Hope these help
January 8th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
go to diabetesmonitor.com baz
veronica
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
January 10th, 2007 at 4:50 am
The glycemic index does not work for everyone. I cannot eat bread of any
kind, potatoes, fruit or dreamfields pasta without extra insulin to
cover it.
This is a do it yourself disease. We all react to things differently. I
think it is better to cut out all the starches then slowly work them
back in as you tolerate.