Is Your Type 2 Diabetes Really Under Control?
If you are among the growing number of people suffering from type 2 diabetes, here is some good news: A plan of basic therapies including education, a personalized meal plan, nutritional supplements, and ongoing monitoring and support can reduce the amount of insulin and oral medications needed to manage the disease and decrease the symptoms and complications of diabetes. When you are empowered by knowledge, you can learn to effectively manage this potentially devastating disease.
Many diabetic patients think their symptoms are “under control” because they are taking insulin and other oral medications that help keep their blood sugars within acceptable levels.
Click here to comment on this article.Medications are, of course, critical in the treatment of the disease. However, if the patient does not commit to an active role in addressing the causes of problems, then the result may be an ever-increasing dependence on insulin or other medications, which have their own negative side effects over time.
For instance, did you know that insulin is a fat-storing hormone that often leads to unwanted weight gain? That weight gain can then lead to other problems such as high blood pressure or joint problems.
In my own work with patients, I stress four important factors.
The first is education about the disease process. It is critical to understand what diabetes is and what the effects can be on your body. Without proper treatment, problems such as loss of vision, pain or numbness in the extremities, ulcers on the feet, and damage to vital organs can occur. Learning about how the disease affects the body to cause these problems is the first crucial step in your treatment plan.
The next factor is developing a personalized meal plan. “You are what you eat” was never truer than when talking about diabetes. By understanding how certain foods affect your body and your blood sugars, it is possible to enjoy good meals while still controlling blood sugars and decreasing your weight.
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Dr. Marcantel,
Given that you appear to advocate a natural approach to managing type 2 diabetes, you might be interested in this research reported by Dr. Lee Zhong (Ph.D., UCLA, Neuliven Health) on the benefits of some dietary supplements, like mulberry leaf and alpha lipoic acid, in reducing post-meal blood sugar spikes. The research also emphasized the importance of monitoring these spikes (in addition to regular all-day monitoring), since these spikes have been shown to be a major factor in developing diabetes-related health complications. I found this to be very useful information and hope that others will too. See this article published in Diabetes Care, http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/30/5/1272.full, along with this report by Reuters news service: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS295696+12-Nov-2008+MW200....