This week's focus: Diabetes: Other Challenges
Dates: 11/7 - 11/9
Times:
Friday, 3:00pm-7:00pm
Saturday, 11:00am-3:00pm
Sunday, 12:00pm-4:00pm

Note: This page discusses diet and lifestyle changes that published research has shown may help protect against diseases that are sometimes associated with diabetes. Talk to your healthcare provider to learn more about your options and before making changes to your everyday nutrition and self-care practices.

Living Well with Diabetes

People with diabetes mellitus cannot properly process glucose, a sugar the body uses for energy. The unprocessed glucose accumulates in the blood, causing levels to rise, while the cells of the body become starved for glucose and at increased risk of new health challenges, including heart disease, atherosclerosis, cataracts, retinopathy, stroke, poor wound healing, infections, and damage to the kidneys and nerves.

Healthy changes to diet and lifestyle may help reduce risks of these related diseases, while taking insulin and other medications, monitoring blood glucose, eating a proper diet, and getting regular exercise, may improve the well-being of people with diabetes.

Reduce Your Risks

In people with diabetes, high glucose levels circulate in the bloodstream, unable to get through the cell doors and provide energy to the hungry cells. Glucose-starved cells become damaged and eventually die, resulting in the loss of tiny blood vessels and nerves, and also leaving cells more vulnerable to oxidative free-radical damage. This disruption of the body’s normal processes leads to complications with the functioning of many organs, causing symptoms such as blurred vision, heart disease, and loss of feeling or painful tingling or other discomfort in the extremities. According to research or other evidence, the following self-care steps may help you beat the odds against many health conditions associated with diabetes. Ask your doctor or diabetes trainer about integrating these simple changes into your diabetes-management program.

Heart Health

• Watch what you eat: Eat lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and fish, and avoid fats from meat, dairy, and processed foods high in partially hydrogenated oils.
• Get smoke-free: Quit smoking and stay clear of cigarette smoke to lower your risk of several types of cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of death in people with diabetes.
• Stay active: Couch potatoes have increased cardiovascular disease risk, so make sure you get regular exercise.
• Get tested: See your doctor to find out if you have problems with high blood pressure or high blood levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, or glucose.

Eye Health: Cataracts

• Enjoy an eye-healthy diet: Eat plenty of green, leafy, lutein-rich vegetables, such as spinach and kale.
• Say good-bye to smoking: Kick the habit to reduce the risk of oxidative damage that can lead to cataracts.
• Block those rays: Shield your eyes from excessive exposure to sunlight to reduce the risk of oxidative damage leading to cataracts.

Eye Health: Retinopathy

• Load up on antioxidants: Combat the free radicals that contribute to retinopathy by eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to ensure you get healthy amounts of vitamins A, C, and E, and minerals such as selenium.
• Sidestep sugar: Some doctors advise diabetic patients to avoid foods containing added fructose or high-fructose corn syrup, as research suggests that they may contribute to retinopathy development. Fructose that occurs naturally in fruit is okay.
• Say good-bye to smoking: Kick the habit to lower the risk of diabetic retinopathy.
• Watch your levels: In a study of type 1 diabetes, people who maintained normal blood sugar levels had less severe retinopathy, compared with those whose levels were higher. Tighter blood sugar control may be achieved with a medically supervised program of diet, exercise, and prescribed medications.

Kidney Health

• Limit red meat: Some research has shown that eating chicken instead of red meat, or switching to a low-protein vegetarian diet, improves kidney function in people with type 2 diabetes. It also favorably alters the balance of fats in the blood, reducing heart disease risk.
• Go vegetarian: Reducing protein in the diet, such as by consuming a vegetarian diet, has lowered kidney damage caused by diabetes and may also improve glucose tolerance in type 1 diabetes. Switching to a low-protein diet should be discussed with a doctor.
• Say good-bye to smoking: People with diabetes who smoke are at higher risk for kidney damage

Urinary Health

• Stay on top of urinary problems: Periodic health histories and physical examinations should be conducted to assess urinary continence and whether bladder function has been compromised by the nerve disease associated with diabetes (neurogenic bladder). If a person is diagnosed with urinary incontinence, an individualized management program should be developed to decrease incontinent episodes.
• Seek treatment: Options for treating urinary incontinence include behavioral techniques, medications, devices, and surgery. Typically, less invasive treatments, such as behavioral techniques, are tried first. Symptoms may be dealt with using absorbent pads, special clothing, or catheters.

Skin Health

• Pamper your feet: People with diabetes may be able to avoid painful and potentially dangerous foot ulcers by monitoring the temperature of their feet in several spots with an in-home infrared skin thermometer twice a day.
• Cover your bases with a multivitamin: In a double-blind study, when seniors with diabetes supplemented their diet with a multiple vitamin−mineral for one year, their risk of infection was reduced by more than 80%, compared with a placebo.

Nerve Health

• Soothe the symptoms: Use a topical cream. A cream containing 0.025 to 0.075% capsaicin (derived from cayenne) four times a day may help control the numbness and tingling of nerve pain (neuropathy).
• Go vegan: When people with diabetic neuropathy switch to a vegan diet (no meat, dairy, or eggs), improvements have been reported after several days. Fats from meat and dairy may also contribute to heart disease. Switching to a low-protein diet should be discussed with a doctor.
• Don’t forget the D: The burning, tingling, and numbness of neuropathy may be relieved by maintaining healthy vitamin D levels through sun exposure, diet, and supplementation. Dietary sources include fish, fish oil, and fortified milk.

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Disclaimer: The information in this page was prepared by Aisle7 for educational purposes only; it is not intended to replace the advice of a doctor. Health claims are based on scientific studies (human, animal, or in vitro), clinical experience, or traditional usage. The results reported may not necessarily occur in all individuals. Consult your doctor, practitioner, and/or pharmacist for any health problem and before using any supplements or before making any changes in prescribed medications, diet, or exercise habits. Aisle7, Walmart, and Pierce Promotions make no representations concerning the information contained in this article and disclaim any liability for such information and the decisions you make based on such information.