Screening For and Treating Long-Term Diabetes Problems

    People with diabetes should have regular exams to help find and treat long-term diabetes problems. All long-term diabetes problems have effective treatments.

   The long-term problems that occur in people with diabetes can usually be prevented or delayed if they are found and treated at an early stage. For example, kidney disease can be slowed or prevented by controlling high blood pressure and high blood sugar and by taking special medicines. Severe eye disease can be managed by laser surgery. Problems of circulation in the legs, heart or brain can be improved by treatments that may or may not involve surgery. These examples show that it is important for people with diabetes to be treated for diabetes problems at any stage of the disease to prevent the problems from getting worse.

   All people with diabetes should be examined by their health care providers for the problems that can occur with diabetes. Regular exams by a health care provider can help find problems at a time when they can be treated and managed successfully. You should have your feet, eyes and kidneys checked on a regular basis. Other tests may also be needed.  

  You should work with your health care provider to make healthy lifestyle choices to help control and manage your diabetes. Eating to control blood sugar and blood fat levels, taking prescribed diabetes medicine, getting regular physical activity, and getting regular foot and eye exams are all important for good health and to help control diabetes.

What can a physically active lifestyle do for me?

      Physical activity also plays an important part in preventing type 2 diabetes. A major Government study, the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), showed that modest weight loss of 5 to 7 percent—for example, 10 to 15 pounds for a 200-pound person—can delay and possibly prevent type 2 diabetes. People in the study used diet and exercise to lose weight.

                           Research has shown that physical activity can

lower your blood glucose and your blood pressure
lower your bad cholesterol and raise your good cholesterol
improve your body’s ability to use insulin
lower your risk for heart disease and stroke
keep your heart and bones strong
keep your joints flexible
lower your risk of falling
help you lose weight
reduce your body fat
give you more energy
reduce your stress levels

Using the Diabetes Food Pyramid

The Diabetes Food Pyramid has six sections for food groups. These sections vary in size. The largest group -- grains, beans, and starchy vegetables -- is on the bottom. This means that you should eat more servings of grains, beans, and starchy vegetables than of any of the other foods. The smallest group -- fats, sweets, and alcohol -- is at the top of the pyramid. This tells you to eat very few servings from these food groups.
Eat servings from all the food groups other than the fats, sweets, and alcohol, every day. Eat the recommended number of servings on the pyramid within each food group. The exact number of servings you need depends on your diabetes goals, calorie and nutrition needs, your lifestyle, and the foods you like to eat. Divide the number of servings you should eat among the meals and snacks you eat each day. The Diabetes Food Pyramid makes it easier to remember what to eat. For a healthy meal plan that is based on your individual needs, you should work with a registered dietitian (RD) with expertise in diabetes management.

Nutrition and Diabetes

NUTRITION IS ESSENTIAL
As you have read in the article on diabetes in this website, aggressive management of your blood sugar (glucose) is essential to prevent further complications of the disease such as blindness, amputations and kidney disease. While diabetes often requires insulin or oral medication for proper control, it is important to remember that proper nutrition is also equally critical in diabetes care. You will not be able to achieve good control of your diabetes without making changes in your diet!
Nutritional management, in the form of a meal plan designed especially for you, will help you to maintain blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible, and maintain or lose weight.
Like many people, you may not have had much success with dieting in the past and you may feel apprehensive about the need to be on a meal plan for essentially the rest of your life. You can improve your chances of succeeding by having a team of health care professionals design a plan that fits your lifestyle. Also, the meal plan may not seem so overwhelming once you realize that the general dietary recommendations for diabetics are very similar to what is recommended for all Americans. The following chart illustrates this.