Protecting Your Health With Diabetes

Every day more than 4,000 adults are diagnosed with diabetes and approximately 200

people die from diabetes according to the Center for Disease Control. Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke and a leading cause of leg and foot amputations unrelated to injury, kidney failure, and new cases of blindness in adults. However, people with diabetes can lower their risk of complications and live long and healthy lives by following important steps to control the disease:

Talk to your healthcare provider about how to manage your blood glucose (A1C), blood pressure, and cholesterol. If you don't have coverage, you still have health protection options. Treatment can be expensive, so it is important to get insurance. There are some healthcare providers who will cover you although pre-existing coverage may cost more than other plans. VitalOne health insurance agents can do the research and find a plan that works for you.

Get both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines as soon as they are available. For those with diabetes, it is important to ask for the "shot" version of both vaccines. In addition, talk to your health care provider about a pneumonia (pneumococcal) shot. People with diabetes are more likely to die from pneumonia or influenza than people who do not have diabetes. In many cases, the shot is available at no charge with low administration fees.

Stay at a healthy weight and engage in moderate physical activity for 2 hours and 30 minutes each week or vigorous physical activity for 1 hour and 15 minutes each week. Be sure to add muscle strengthening activities on 2 or more days each week. Physical activity can help you control your weight, blood glucose, and blood pressure, as well as raise your "good" cholesterol and lower your "bad" cholesterol. You don't need a gym membership to accomplish this walking, gardening, and even doing housework will take care of the physical.

Choose healthy foods for you and your family and forget the junk. Preparing food at home is better than eating out. This way you can control how much nutritional value you prepare the food with. People with diabetes to realize, and certainly for the family members to realize, it truly is a joint effort. How appropriate is the diet, how healthy is the diet is not only germaine to that person who has diabetes, but actually everybody in the family. Even if the people in the family don't have diabetes, we know that the typical diet that is recommended for people with diabetes is likely to improve cholesterol levels, likely to keep the blood pressure in a better range, and for people who have a genetic risk for developing diabetes themselves can actually prevent diabetes.

Learn how to manage your stress. Stress will cause the blood sugar generally to run quite a bit higher. The body is not programmed to take into account diabetes. So if the blood sugar's already high, here comes the stress, here comes an injury, the adrenaline shoots up, the blood sugar will shoot up even higher.Certainly sitting down and thinking about, and reflecting on what are the stresses in my life -- are there any that are manageable, are there any that are correctible. Looking for some family support is very important. If there are some things out there that just seem insurmountable, going to a physician may be the right step to take.

by: Lenneice Drew

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