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How To Adapt Your Recipes How to lower the fat content Ingredient Replace with Full cream milk Reduced or non-fat milk Full cream evaporated milk Low fat or lite evaporated milk Yoghurt Low fat or diet yoghurt Cream Low fat or lite evaporated milk Low fat yoghurt Sour cream Low fat yoghurt, small amounts of reduced fat sour cream Coconut cream Low fat evaporated milk plus coconut essence Lite coconut milk or dilute the coconut cream Cream cheese Ricotta or cottage cheese Regular cheese Lower fat hard cheese such as Edam (25%) Butter Mono/polyunsaturated margarine and vegetable oil eg canola or olive oil Cooked chicken with skin on Remove chicken skin. Cook chicken on a cake rack Fatty meats Lean meat - remove visible fat Streaky bacon Middle eye rasher Fried food Grill or microwave food Luncheon meat 97% fat free ham Tuna or salmon in oil Tuna or salmon in brine or spring water Puff and regular pastry Filo pastry and spray with a small amount of oil

Living Well with Diabetes      Tips Sweeteners The sweet taste of sugar: what are the alternatives? Find out about artificial sweeteners. Serving Sizes How to determine serving sizes for all healthy family members, whether or not they have diabetes. Diet Dilemma With the huge array of diet and weight loss books on offer, what really works? Casseroles Preparing and cooking meals can be stressful at the end of a busy day. Find out out to be well prepared with casseroles. Healthy Cheese Choices Do you wonder how cheese fits into your eating plan? Alison Pask gives us a guide to making healthy cheese choices. Lunches How about experimenting with some different lunches? Alison Pask suggests healthy choices to try at midday. Nuts The benefits of eating nuts are often under-recognised. Dr Alexandra Chisholm explains why nuts in your diet are a good choice. Legumes Alison Pask tells us about health benefits of legumes that we can't afford to ignore. Pr...

Annual Diabetes Checkup It is important for all people with diabetes to get an annual check up with your doctor or specialist (your doctor or specialist may recommend you have more regular check ups).  Some of the things that may be checked at your check up along with goal levels are below. It's important to note that all targets should be individualized as appropriate for each person, but in general the following targets are recommended: Date Weight Blood Pressure (goal ≤ 130/80) HBA1c (goal ≤ 55 mmol/mol) Total Cholesterol (goal ≤ 4) HDL Cholesterol (goal ≥ 1) LDL Cholesterol (goal < 2 ) Triglycerides (goal < 1.7 ) Microalbuminuria (ratio < 3 ) Date of last eye examination (at least every 2 years) Foot check, sensation and pulses

Gestational Diabetes Gestational diabetes occurs when a pregnant woman has high levels of glucose in her blood. High blood glucose is caused because the mother can’t produce enough insulin (a pregnant woman’s insulin needs are two to three times that of normal). There are two reasons why the mother needs more insulin: Because pregnancy causes certain types of hormones (that are made by the placenta) to be released. These hormones make it harder for insulin to do its job Because the growth demands of the foetus (developing baby) increases the mother's need for insulin Unlike Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes is only temporary and usually disappears after pregnancy. However, a woman who has had gestational diabetes has an increased risk (50-60%) of developing Type 2 diabetes in the future; therefore they should be tested for Type 2 diabetes each year. Why insulin is important Insulin is a natural hormone produced by the body. It is needed to take the s...

Obesity is generally caused by eating too much and moving too little. If you consume high amounts of energy, particularly fat and sugars, but don't burn off the energy through exercise and physical activity, much of the surplus energy will be stored by the body as fat. Calories The energy value of food is measured in units called calories. The average physically active man needs about 2,500 calories a day to maintain a healthy weight, and the average physically active woman needs about 2,000 calories a day. This amount of calories may sound high, but it can be easy to reach if you eat certain types of food. For example, eating a large takeaway hamburger, fries and a milkshake can total 1,500 calories – and that's just one meal. For more information, read our guide to  understanding calories . Another problem is that many people aren't physically active, so lots of the calories they consume end up being stored in their body as fat. Poor diet Obesity doe...

Diabetes: Complications People with diabetes are at risk for long-term problems affecting the eyes, kidneys, heart, brain, feet, and nerves. Facebook   Twitter   Linkedin   Email Print People with  diabetes  are at risk for long-term problems affecting the eyes, kidneys, heart, brain, feet, and nerves. The best way to prevent or delay these problems is to control your blood sugar and take good care of yourself. Eyes It is recommended that people with diabetes see an eye doctor every year for a dilated eye exam. Eye problems that can occur with diabetes include: Cataracts  — (a clouding of the lens of the eyes) Glaucoma — (increased pressure in the eye) Retinopathy —(eye changes with the retina in the back of the eye) Symptoms of eye problems include Blurred vision Spots or lines in your vision Watery eyes Eye discomfort Loss of vision If you have any changes in your vision, call your health care provider. Kidneys ...

What is Diabetes? Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Blood glucose is your main source of energy and comes from the food you eat.  Insulin , a  hormone  made by the  pancreas , helps glucose from food get into your cells to be used for energy. Sometimes your body doesn’t make enough—or any—insulin or doesn’t use insulin well. Glucose then stays in your blood and doesn’t reach your cells. Over time, having too much glucose in your blood can cause  health problems . Although diabetes has no cure, you can take steps to  manage your diabetes  and stay healthy. Sometimes people call diabetes “a touch of sugar” or “borderline diabetes.” These terms suggest that someone doesn’t really have diabetes or has a less serious case, but every case of diabetes is serious. What are the different types of diabetes? The most common types of diabetes are type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes. ...

Chronic kidney disease These pages offer an introduction to chronic kidney disease (CKD) and why awareness of CKD is important. Some signs, symptoms and diagnosis are also outlined. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a phrase that embraces the majority of renal conditions. It can be thought of as a thief that works quietly at night, without creating any disturbance. CKD is quite often found by accident when the doctor carries out tests to investigate something else say a routine employment medical screening and then discovers signs of kidney disease at an early or moderate stage. Visit our page on the  stages of kidney disease  for further information. If the problem is not discovered, eventually your body will let you know – as well as being ill, the lifestyle you and your family enjoy changes, even your life could be at risk. By this stage it is often too late for any effective preventative measures and a form of renal replacement therapy becomes a life-saving treatment....

What is cardiovascular disease? The term cardiovascular disease (CVD) is used to describe many different conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels. The most common and serious types of CVD in Australia are  coronary heart disease (CHD) ,  stroke  and  heart failure . The main underlying cause of CVD is a process known as  atherosclerosis . This is a condition where abnormal deposits of fat, cholesterol and other substances build up in the inner lining of the arteries to form plaque, which causes the artery walls to lose their elasticity. Atherosclerosis is most serious when it leads to reduced or blocked blood supply to the heart (causing  angina  or  heart attack ) or to the brain (causing  stroke ). The process leading to atherosclerosis is slow and complex, often starting in childhood and progressing with age. CVD is common and preventable in many cases, as a number of its risk factors are modifiable, such as...

Non-communicable disease From Wikipedia A  non-communicabl e  disease   ( NCD ) is a medical condition or disease that is not caused by infectious agents ( non-infectious   or   non- transmissible ). NCDs can refer to chronic diseases which last for long periods of time and progress slowly. Sometimes, NCDs result in rapid deaths such as seen in certain diseases such as   autoimmune diseases ,   heart diseases ,   stroke ,   cancers ,   diabetes ,   chronic kidney disease ,   osteoporosis ,   Alzheimer's disease ,   cataracts , and others. While sometimes referred to as synonymous with " chronic diseases ", NCDs are distinguished only by their non-infectious cause, not necessarily by their duration, though some chronic diseases of long duration may be caused by   infections . Chronic diseases require   chronic care management , as do all diseases that are slow to develop and of long duration. ...