All About Snacking With Type 2 Diabetes

All About Snacking with Type 2 Diabetes

The definition of a snack is: "a small bit of food between meals." This begs the question - what constitutes a small bit of food? Typically, we say to limit snacks to 200 calories or less.The American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests that you make snacks "nutrient rich, mini meals" that will not exceed your daily calorie budget. Snacking with Type 2 diabetes can be especially tricky because not only are you managing calories for weight purposes, you also need to snack in a way that doesn't negatively impact blood sugars.
Ideal snacking will depend on your lifestyle, blood sugar patterns, and medications. If you do need a snack, it's probably best to limit snacks to about 15-30g of carbohydrates and make sure that the snacks contain protein and fiber. The exact timing of snacks and amount of carbohydrates will vary from person to person.
How Do You Know if You Need a Snack?
Your Blood Sugar is Low: Are you feeling shaking, sweaty or disoriented between meals? This may mean that you blood sugar is too low. Certain medications can put you at increased risk of having a low blood sugar - and if you delay or skip a meal, or don't eat enough carbohydrate at a meal your blood sugar can drop. A low blood sugar is considered anything less than 70mg/dL (some people can have symptoms at higher levels). When you feel "funny" or symptomatic, you should test your blood sugar. If your blood sugar is low, you will want to treat it with 15g of fast acting carbohydrate: 3-4 glucose tablets, 4oz of juice (1 small juice box), 8oz of skim milk, and then re-test to make sure it has inc Continue reading

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What employers can do to manage Type 2 diabetes in the workplace

What employers can do to manage Type 2 diabetes in the workplace
Its estimated that over 30 million Americans approximately 1 in 10 have diabetes. About 1.25 million have Type 1 Diabetes, and the remainder have Type 2. Of the 30 million with diabetes, over 7 million have yet to be diagnosed.
Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the U.S., with over 300,000 death certificates citing the disease as an underlying or contributing cause. And more cases are on the way:1.5 million new diabetes diagnoses are made in the U.S. every year, and in 2015, 84.1 million Americans 18 and older had prediabetes.
According to the Health Care Cost Institute ,the annual cost for diabetic care is significant: over $10,000 more per year than without the disease. For employers, employees and dependents, the annual costs continue to rise:
$14,999 annually for people with diabetes;
$4,305 annually for people without diabetes;
$15,456 for children (018) with diabetes;
$16,889 annually for pre-Medicare adults (5564) with diabetes;
$1,922 annual out-of-pocket medical spending for people with diabetes; and
$738 annual out-of-pocket medical spending for people without diabetes.
In 2012, the annual cost of diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. for employers amounted to $245 billion, including $176 billion in direct medical costs and $69 billion in reduced productivity.About 1 in 3 adults has prediabetes (86 million Americans), but 9 out of 10 are not even aware they have it. Prediabetics can develop the disease within five years.
For most people, Type 2 diabetes occurs later in life, typicall Continue reading

Benefits of Indian Gooseberry in Controlling Diabetes

Benefits of Indian Gooseberry in Controlling Diabetes
Benefits of Indian Gooseberry in Controlling Diabetes
Explore the benefits of all-in-one Indian Gooseberry (Amla), the elixir-vitae since ages.
The story of amla or Indian Gooseberry dates billions of years ago when this universe was still in formation. God and Demon were fighting. Just then, from the vast ocean of Milky Way, a few drops of amrit fell on the Earth. In modern times, these drops are called as amla. In those days, the fruit promised immortality. Nowadays, we cant say about immortality but yes, a bowl of amla berries surely offers relief from the biggest of disease we mortals are facing today, diabetes to be precise.
Diabetes is an irreversible condition that occurs due to high blood sugar levels in the body. Blood sugar can elevate due to two reasons as mentioned below.
Its the responsibility of a hormone called insulin to maintain sugar levels of the body. But at times due to infiltration of immune cells, pancreas stops producing insulin . And so, this results in excess blood sugar leading to excess fat and hence, diabetes.
In this condition, though insulin is produced by pancreas, it is not able to reach out to the cells. Cells of the liver become resistant to insulin and thus, the amount of sugar starts to deposit in the bloodstream. This can either be hereditary or can be caused by a sedentary lifestyle.
High blood sugar not only leads to diabetes but it also poses our heart, liver and kidneys at risk. Therefore, before our blood sugar level comes at bay, we should adopt changes in our diet pat Continue reading

Diabetes devices move from painful fingerpricks to slick tech

Diabetes devices move from painful fingerpricks to slick tech
This photo provided by Abbott Laboratories shows the company's FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitoring device. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the device, which continuously monitors diabetics blood sugar levels without requiring backup finger prick tests. Current models require users to test a drop of blood twice daily to calibrate, or adjust, the monitor. (Abbott Laboratories via AP)
Diabetes devices may be having their iPhone moment.
For decades, the daily routine of diabetics involved painful needles, finger-pricking lancets and imprecise glucose meters. Now, manufacturers have begun incorporating the slick and consumer-friendly designs of Silicon Valley, linking to phones and other tech devices.
This is a crossroads for diabetes technology, said Raj Denhoy, an analyst at Jefferies in New York.
September marked a breakthrough in the US, as regulators approved the first glucose-monitoring system that doesnt need a blood sample, the FreeStyle Libre by Abbott Laboratories. The new devices do away with fingerpricks, changing an unpleasant, several-times-a-day routine into quiet monitoring in the background through a sensor worn on the back of the upper arm.
Other companies have been left behind. Johnson & Johnson is closing its insulin-pump unit after failing to keep up with Medtronic Plc. DexCom Inc, the current leader in glucose-monitoring systems, lost a third of its market value on Sept 28 after Abbotts Libre got approval.
On DexComs earnings conference call Wednesday executives, peppe Continue reading

How to Cope With the Many Stresses of Diabetes

With diabetes, 2 + 2 don’t always equal 4, says John Zrebiec, chief of behavioral health at the Joslin Diabetes Center. “People who don’t have diabetes think that if you do everything right, it should turn out right. But with diabetes, you have to realize that the results you get aren’t always equal to the effort you put in.”
Zrebiec notes that a typical person with diabetes has to make 90 to 200 decisions a day to deal with the chronic condition. What — and what not — to eat. When and how and if to exercise. When to take blood glucose readings and medications. How to pay for those medications. Those are just a few of the decisions.
Plus the disease is progressive, which means that what worked yesterday may not work today. And if you’re newly diagnosed, there can be difficulties around how to change long-standing behavior — like snacking before bed or mindless eating in front of the TV, says Jill O’Donnell, a registered nurse and certified diabetes educator at the Mayo Clinic in Fairmont, Minn.
“Sometimes people think they’ve been doing the same thing for the past five years and their diabetes is going to be unchanged,” says O’Donnell. “But that’s not the reality. They’re trying to figure out what they’ve done wrong, but it’s simply that their diabetes has progressed.”
The Stresses Add Up
All of which can lead to “diabetes distress” and in the most extreme cases, diabetes burnout. That’s the point where people with diabetes simply give up trying to monitor their care.
Too much frustration can also lead to symptoms that are simil Continue reading