I am a retired physician living with Type 1 diabetes since 1998. I started to exercise regularly in 2007 to help ward off complications, particularly cardiovascular disease. I was unaware at the time that aerobic exercise alone would have little impact on the development of cardiovascular disease. It wasn’t until 2011 when I contemplated doing an ironman distance triathlon, that I discovered diet is the most important determinate in the development of most chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease.
Category: Diabetes Management
We are balancing the need to maintain good blood glucose control with the fear of hypoglycemia. This fear is well founded. Hypoglycemia is not just unpleasant and embarrassing- it can be fatal.
86 million people in the U.S. have prediabetes, but 90% of them don’t know they have it. 30% of these individuals will transition to type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is potentially preventable. Not progressing to type 2 diabetes is far better than being a well-controlled person with type 2.
Rather than telling patients they’re wrong, I try to give them the tools to make good decisions about their health. Guilt is not a motivator. And we tend to overlook baby steps. It’s not realistic to tell a patient to change their entire diet overnight. But asking a patient to cut out one thing, sodas, for example, can make a big impact on overall health.
Feeling ashamed of all the things you should have done won't make your diabetes better. The best thing you can do is take action and get back on track. To make things easier for us, Dr. Zachary Bloomgarden, a New York City endocrinologist has made a list of the things he'd like all of his diabetes patients to do.
I’d like to tell you that I’ve solved shopping-related low blood sugar (shopoglycemia?), but I haven’t. Each week marches on and the milk and coffee must be replenished.
Since I started my practice as an endocrinologist, I’ve had tens of thousands of office visits, mainly seeing people with diabetes. Here’s my wish list of some of the things people with diabetes should know, and do, to succeed.
Diet, exercise, and herbs couldn’t cure my diabetes. I was eager to know if he did know what would cure me. The doctor's take on my health was that I was overly sensitive due to environmental factors. Electromagnetic frequencies were affecting my blood sugar levels and the heavy amounts of supplements I was taking were damaging my liver.
Fear may very well be the number one complication impacting families of children with diabetes today (and many adults, as well). As we glimpse more into life with diabetes, seeing more glucose trends thanks to tools, hearing more stories thanks to social media, being told more and more to fear… it might be crippling many of us. So how does one vanquish fear?
A new survey reveals that many Hispanics are aware that diabetes is dangerous, but compared to non-Hispanics, they are poorly informed about how to best treat the disease. The survey may reveal ways to enact more effective communication tools to better inform Hispanics about improving their diabetes care.