Diabetic Care for Dummies

Most people are aware of the series of books for dummies. These publications cover a number of subjects such as a variety of books relating to the computer. There is "Football for Dummies," "Baseball for Dummies," "Food for Dummies" and the list goes on.

It may already be published, but if it is not there should be a "Diabetic Care for Dummies." Another title might be "It's the Calories, You Fool."

There is a great amount of awareness that there are many people who are diabetic and that number keeps growing. One of the concerns is for people who are diabetic and do not know it. There are numerous complications due to diabetes, including death. Not being aware of the disease could help to lead to a complication.

Another concern is for the pre-diabetic, those not diagnosed for diabetes, but from all indications there are risk factors signifying a big possibility of becoming a diabetic. Many of these people can head off becoming diabetic by diet and exercise.

Many diabetics do not do anything to keep their diabetes under control, they continue to smoke, do not exercise and do not make any effort to eat the proper foods. Many of these are heading to major complications -- it is just a matter of time. It becomes a way of slowly committing suicide. Still, when precautions are taken and an effort is made to keep the diabetes under control, it may not be enough.

Some are able to master it and do maintain good control. Most find it to be difficult. Thus, we dummies need to continuously gain knowledge and maintain a good attitude toward good management. There is no vacations a continuous 24/7 all year, all of the time.

The goal is to maintain an Hb1ac of 6.5, at least fewer than 7. That is a measure of the average sugar blood for the previous two or three months. It provides better information than the daily blood glucose readings. I will have to confess to you, that mine is not down there where it is needed. The last time, it was taken it had gone up -- but Christmas and the holidays was in that span of time. That really is not a good excuse.

Almost three months ago, I was put on a continuous monitor. This monitor checks the blood level every 5 minutes. A record was kept on what was eaten, when medications were taken when exercising and other information. It revealed information that a person really does not want to know. Yet, it is necessary to be aware of this information and to be aware of what is happening -- including how the diet affects the blood level.

The continuous monitoring was a good learning experience. I feel like, I have done a fairly good job of regulating my food intake and what I eat. Still, it is not near good enough. This dummy needs to do a better job! To have a tight control on the sugar glucose level is difficult. The blood glucose level from the daily pricking of a finger should be 80 to 120. Some say that the top needs to be 110, but I will gladly accept 120 rather than to be in the 200 to 300s.

Keeping a tight control is difficult. It is easy to get a high, and sometimes a low. When it gets down in the 50s or 60s, it is too low and certainly affects a person. To bring it out of a low, it is easy to over do it and put it in a high range.

I never did want to be a calorie counter, but that is needed. It is so easy to eat the wrong foods in the wrong portions, or to over do it when snacking. It is suggested that each of us need to measure or weigh our foods and to keep count of the intake.

The physician told me that my daily calorie count should be 1,800 -- that is only 600 each meal. That is not much. Just look at the food labels and you will notice that some foods really add to that calorie count and it really does not take much.

Many salad eaters eat salad to cut down their calories or carbs, but they load their salad with salad dressing. As a result they are eating food with many carbs or calories.

At the group diabetic education program this week, Darla Englebrecht, diabetes nurse educator, led a tour at Ramey's to look at the food labels. It is important for all diabetics (everyone) to check the food labels. Some interesting things were observed.

Once in a while all of us would like to eat candy, which is alright if portions are small and other foods are reduced. When looking at the candy from one manufacturer, the sugar free had more carbs per serving than the regular candy. The sugar free had sugar alcohol instead of sugar. It is not a sugar and will not act as fast as sugar, but it still is carbs. Besides sugar alcohol can cause gas. For this make of candy, it is better to eat the regular candy, than what is labeled as sugar free.

Picking up a fat free food appears to be better for a person by keeping down the fat. When cutting back on the fat something is added and often has more carbs. It is better to pick up the regular food in these cases instead of the regular product and consume less carbs.

There is much to learn and many challenges for diabetics to manage the disease.