How Do I Know If I Have Diabetes? Your doctor may suspect you have diabetes if you have some risk factors for diabetes, or if you have high levels of blood sugar in your urine. Your blood sugar (also called blood glucose) levels may be high if your pencreas is producing little or no insulin (type 1 diabetes), or if the body is not responding normally to insulin (type 2 diabetes). Getting diagnosed begins with one of three tests. in most cases, your doctor will want to repeat a test that is high in order to confirm the diagnosis: A fasting glucose test is a test of your blood sugar levels taken in the morning before you have eaten. A level of 126 mg/dL or higher may mean that you have diabetes. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) entails drinking a beverage containing glucose and then having your blood glucose levels checked every 30 to 60 minutes for up to 3 hours. If the glucose level is 200 mg/dL or higher at 2 hours, then you might have dia...
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Diabetes Food Tips to Avoid There's a lot of information about what to eat and what not to eat with diabetes. Find out expert advice on common misconceptions to feel more confident about the foods you eat and the choices you make. Misleading Advice: Avoid all added fats. There's good reason to keep small amounts of fat in your healthy eating plan. It tastes good, plus fat helps your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins and other important disease-fighters. For example, eat a mixed-vegetable salad without dressing and you won't absorb much of the vegetables' carotenoids such as lycopene and alpha- and beta-carotene. Scientists are interested in carotenoids for their possible roles in the prevention of heart disease, cancer, and age-related eye disease. Expert Tip: Apply commonsense portion-control techniques to all foods. Use just a tablespoon or two of dressing on your salads, and look for more of the heart-healthy fats, such as mono...
Food to Avoid with Diabetes Think Twice Before Eating These Foods At Diabetic Living, we believe that eating with diabetes doesn't have to mean deprivation, starvation, or bland and boring foods. However, some foods really are best left on the table or in the store. Everyone -- with diabetes or without -- would be wise to avoid or limit the foods on this list because they are high in saturated fat, sodium, calories, or carbs, or might contain trans fats. High amounts of sodium and saturated fat can lead to heart disease, while excess sugars, high carb counts, and added calories can cause unwanted weight gain and blood sugar spikes. If you see some of your favorite foods on this list, don't despair: We've picked healthier options for you to choose from that taste great. So you can have your fries and eat them, too -- provided they're baked rather than deep-fat fried. Nachos You walk into a restaurant and you're feeling starved....
Food for Beating Diabetes Every time you roll your shopping cart into the supermarket, you’re making a decision that goes far beyond whether you’re going to have pork or pierogies for dinner. You’re actually choosing between being a victim and a victor. What you put in your cart goes a long way toward determining whether you’ll be compromised by diabetes or start controlling and eventually even beating it. That’s why we’ve assembled the following list of the 20 best foods for fighting diabetes. Every time you go to the store from now on, take this list with you and check off each item. In fact, if your favourite store has a delivery service, sign up for it so your supplies are automatically replenished every few weeks. Research proves that making a few key changes to your diet such as eating more produce, fewer refined carbohydrates, plenty of lean protein, and more ‘good’ fat’helps improve blood-sugar control and cuts the risk of d...
How To Give An Insulin Injection WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: What do I need to know about insulin syringes? Insulin syringes come in different sizes depending on the dose of insulin you need. Your healthcare provider or pharmacist will help you find the right size syringe. Use the correct size insulin syringe to make sure you get the right dose of insulin. Where do I inject insulin? You can inject insulin into your abdomen, upper arm, buttocks, hip, and the front or side of the thigh. Insulin works fastest when it is injected into the abdomen. Do not inject insulin into areas where you have a wound or bruising. Insulin injected into wounds or bruises may not get into your body correctly. Use different sites when injecting insulin. For example, inject insulin into different places in your abdomen. Insulin injected into the same site can cause lumps, swelling, or thickened skin. How do I inject the insulin with a syringe? Clean the skin where you will i...
BOOSTING YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM The immune system is a complex but vital part of your body function. Its key role is to identify the body's enemies and destroy them. Every moment of every day we are exposed to constant attack from a wide array of "micro-terrorists" in the form of bacteria, microbes, viruses,toxins, and parasites, all waiting to invade our bodies and destroy our health. The main"gates" into the body are the digestive tract, which lets in food; and the lungs, which lets in air. In the digestive tract, we have the gut-associated immune system which will allow completely digested food- the simpel sugars, amino acids and fatty acids- to pass through the gut wall and into the body. meanwhile, the nasal passages help prevent unwanted pathogens from entering the lung. Inside the body, the immune system has a powerful army of over one trillion special cells to identify and destroy invaders, on duty 24-7. As long as yo...