World population is looming large with an imminent threat called Diabetes. It is more than a disease. Diabetes creates havoc inside the body misbalancing hormones, blood sugar levels a and many more. So, it is safe to say that the diabetic condition brings many opportunistic health problems too. If something is to be blamed, stress, irregular eating habits, sedentary lives are the major targets. Patients with diabetes are mostly suggested by the clinicians to have balanced diet and to exercise regularly to keep their blood sugar in check. First, let us get an idea about the disease itself.
Diabetes and types:
The major issue in diabetes is the increased level of blood glucose, where the cells are unable to take up sugar from the blood. Insulin is the responsible hormone which helps in the transport of glucose from our food to cells. So, imbalance of insulin or when cells are not able to produce the hormone might cause the disease.
There are a few types of diabetes, among common ones are type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is a type of autoimmune diseases, where the cells involved in our immune response, attacks pancreas-based beta cells, which produces insulin. As a result, very low or no insulin in circulating blood cannot facilitate the adequate amount of glucose transport. Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children. Patients are advised to take insulin dosage from outside for their whole lives.
Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes, which can occur to any age group of people. Obesity and the high fat index are associated with this disease. Due to fat depositions, heart and blood vessels are often affected by type 2 diabetes.
Manage the condition:
Managing diabetes is not like treating a single disease with a set of medicines. The increased glucose level in the blood causes many other health concerns in a long run. So, continuous check at glucose level and managing the lifestyle is the key to reverse it. Besides blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressures are also needed to be under watch.
- Diabetes ABCs: In the medical dictionary, diabetes ABCs means information and condition about a certain parameter of your body. Maintenance of ABC goal can keep a patient away from heart problems and diabetes problems in general. In diabetes ABC, A stand for the A1C test by which you can know the blood sugar level, which B and C stands for blood pressure and cholesterol respectively. And lastly, ‘s’ compels the patients to quit smoking. Regular smoking causes blood vessels to get narrower, which adds up problems in diabetic patients.
- Cultivating an active life: Being healthy requires a person to be active in life. Regular exercise in form of cardio, such as jogging, walking, cycling can keep blood glucose in check. Glucose is our most prominent energy source. Our enzymes break down glucose to smaller molecules and produce energy to be used during any biological function. Working up to 30 minutes regularly and swimming are advised by clinicians to diabetes patients.
- Following a structured meal plan: Avoiding any food with higher calorie should be the main goal while choosing ingredients for the meal plan by the nutritionist. Following a structured meal plan helps the patient to keep glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol at check. The inclusion of whole grain, chicken, lean meats, fish, vegetables, and fruits can help a patient keep up with a healthy life.
- Regular checkup and medicine: A regular checkup by a medical practitioner can help a patient to regularly keep an eye on ups and downs in ABCs. Also, using available commercial kits, checking blood sugar level is easy and effective nowadays. In case of type 2 diabetes, a healthy living can surpass the need of diabetic medicine for a patient. Properly structured meal plans, active lifestyle and following the recommended levels of ABCs can save a lot of pain for type 2 diabetic patients.
- Insulin dosage: Once your doctor decides and refers the patient to get insulin doses from outside to meet the requirement, it’s almost for a lifetime. If your body cannot produce this important hormone, glucose transportation is almost blocked. Generally, patients with type 1 diabetes are advised to take insulin throughout the day with meals. In severe cases, they might be advised to use an insulin pump, which constantly injects insulin throughout the day.
- Milk: To the diabetes patients, it is advisable for patients to consume low-fat or non-fat milk. Also avoiding cow milk could be a good idea because it can induce an immune response to create an inflammation.
- Vitamin C: It has been shown in scientific studies that intake of Vitamin C improves the glucose uptake by the body and it also helps maintain the blood glucose level.
So, here are our understandings of how you should help your body fight diabetes and keep blood sugars on par. While you should avoid medicines, remember to live healthily and to have an active lifestyle to reverse any health concern.
