Diabetes and Diet

Eating right for diabetes comes down to three things:  

  • What you eat. Your diet makes a huge difference!! You should eat mostly plant foods, cut back on refined carbs and sugary drinks, and choose healthy fats over unhealthy fats.

Refined carbs and sugary drinks create a quick spike in your blood sugar and may cause an over secretion of insulin with resulting hypoglycemia in Type 2 Diabetics.  This results in eating more to overcome the low sugars which results in weight gain as increasing insulin levels also results in increased fat storage.  This results in increase insulin insensitivity which worsens the diabetes.  Dizzy yet!

  • When you eat.Diet is part of it, but keeping regular meal and snack times also affects your blood sugar levels and will help to keep them more constant.

Spacing small frequent meals regularly helps level out insulin levels and decreases weight gain.

  • How much you eat. Portion sizes matter. Even if you eat very healthy meals, if you eat too much you will gain weight, which is a factor in diabetes.

Focus on SMALL frequent meals.  Unfortunately, small and American don’t coincide!  But we must change our way of thinking about food.  We don’t need all you can eat to get our money’s worth.  We don’t need to have it our way.  Split a meal with your spouse or friend.  You’ll be surprised how satisying it is.  We do need to be healthy!

You do not need to eat special foods, but instead simply emphasize vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. A diabetes diet is simply a healthy eating plan that is high in nutrients, low in fat, and moderate in calories. It is a healthy diet for anyone!

Source : http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_diet_diabetes.htm

Live long and prosper,

Dr. Ray

Posted in Diet | 4 Comments

Hyperglycemia linked to low water intake

A recent artical in Diabetes Care showed a link between low water intake and hyperglycemia.  Please discuss your appropriate water intake with your health care provider as your requirements may not be standard due to associated heart or kidney disease.

  Original artical by Ronan Roussel, Léopold Fezeu, Nadine Bouby, Beverley Balkau, Olivier Lantieri, François Alhenc-Gelas, Michel Marre, Lise Bankir, and for the D.E.S.I.R. Study Group

Low Water Intake and Risk for New-Onset Hyperglycemia Diabetes Care published ahead of print October 12, 2011, doi:10.2337/dc11-0652

Posted in Hyperglycemia | 1 Comment

Insulin Use in Diabetes

Insulin therapy is recommended for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and an initial A1C level greater than 9 percent, or if diabetes is uncontrolled despite optimal oral glycemic therapy, such as with glyburide, metformin, and actos as examples. Insulin therapy may be initiated as an addition to oral medications, starting at 0.3 unit per kg (kg=pounds/2.2), or as replacement to oral medications, starting at 0.6 to 1.0 unit per kg. When using replacement therapy, 50 percent of the total daily insulin dose is given as basal, and 50 percent as bolus, divided up before breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Glucose control, adverse effects, cost, adherence, and quality of life need to be considered when choosing therapy. Metformin should be continued if possible because it is proven to reduce all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events in overweight patients with diabetes. In a study comparing premixed, bolus, and basal insulin, hypoglycemia was more common with premixed and bolus insulin, and weight gain was more common with bolus insulin. Titration of insulin over time is critical to improving glycemic control and preventing diabetes-related complications.

Thanks for reading!

Dr. Ray

Posted in Insulin | Tagged | 1 Comment

Gender Difference

New research suggests that men develop type 2 diabetes at a lower BMI (body mass index) than women.  Let’s get exercising guys!

Dr. Ray

Posted in Diet, Exercise, Gender Difference | 1 Comment

Hypoglycemia Underreported

A recent article on our Medical News page reported that 1/3rd of diabetic patients did not report symptoms of hypoglycemia due to not understanding what the symptoms are.  I want to make sure you know!  Please report to your provider if you’re having any of the below symptoms.

Hypoglycemia (or low blood sugar), happens when the level of glucose in the blood drops too low for what the body requires. It can occur among individuals with type 2 diabetes and is connected with certain medications for type 2 diabetes. Symptoms include, sweating, hunger, anxiety, palpitations, tremors and behavioral changes.

Sometimes when first being treated for diabetes and getting your sugars to normal you may also experience these symptoms.  When you do experience these symptoms, please record your glucose, as well as time of day and relation to time you’ve eaten, and report them to your provider.

If you’re experiencing these symptoms associated with a low blood sugar (less than 70 on your meter) more than once a week, call and move your appointment up so you can discuss this with your provider.

Treatment of  hypoglycemia involves the rapid delivery of a source of easily absorbed sugar. Regular soda, juice, lifesavers, table sugar, and the like are good options. In general, 15 grams of glucose is the dose that is given, followed by an assessment of symptoms and a blood glucose check if possible. If after 10 minutes there is no improvement, another 10-15 grams should be given. This can be repeated up to three times. At that point, you should be considered as not responding to the therapy and an ambulance should be called.

The equivalency of 10-15 grams of glucose (approximate servings) are:

  • Four lifesavers
  • 4 teaspoons of sugar
  • 1/2 can of regular soda or juice

TAKE CARE!

Dr. Ray

 

Posted in Hypoglycemia | 6 Comments

Blog About Diabetes

This blog is about anything to do with diabetes!  We’re excited to have this forum with you. We look forward to keeping the topic lively and getting your feedback on what you want to know from us! Posts from the blog will be by Marie Miesel, APN and Lori Ray, MD.

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment