Over 29 million Americans suffer from diabetes. Diabetes is a very serious condition that requires diligent and conscientious lifestyle choices, especially in the nutrition department. If you have diabetes, a home health care professional can help you make good dietary choices and help you manage your disease.
Understanding Diabetes
Diabetes comes in three forms. Type one diabetes usually affects children and young adults, and gestational diabetes affects certain women during pregnancy. Type two diabetes is the most common form, and usually develops during adulthood. Type two diabetes is problematic because the symptoms are not as immediately noticed; thus, a diagnosis may not occur for several years.
Left untreated, diabetes can be fatal. If you have diabetes, your body either cannot produce insulin or use the insulin that it makes. If your blood sugar gets too high or too low as a result of your condition, you can enter a diabetic coma.
Importance of Eating Well
A healthy diet is important for anyone who wants to live a long and healthy life. If you have diabetes, however, the stakes are even higher. You should avoid foods that are high in simple sugars and simple carbohydrates, like candy, white bread, and processed rice and pastas, and foods that are high in fat, which can make you gain weight and complicate your ability to manage your diabetes.
When you consume too many sugars, your sugar levels are impacted. This does not mean that you should avoid sugars and carbohydrates altogether, however. Knowing what you can and cannot eat can be challenging, especially if you are newly-diagnosed and must restructure your eating habits altogether.
Managing Your Nutrition With Home Health Care
A home health care service can help you manage your diabetes in the comfort and privacy of your home, instead of at a hospital. You can control your diabetes, but doing so is easier with professional dietary assistance.
A home health care service can make your job easier in several ways. Your health care professional will measure your blood sugar and insulin levels, and give you guidance and support in keeping these measurements at healthy levels. Your health care professional can also advise you in your dietary choices, and direct you in your carbohydrate choices so that you do not need to avoid certain foods altogether. Furthermore, your health care professional can get you started and keep you motivated on an exercise regimen, which will keep your weight down and your ability to control your diabetes easier.
Next Steps
If you already receive home health care, understand that your health care professional is there to help you manage your diabetes. Keep your health care professional informed about your progress, and express any worries that you might have. If you do not have home health care, consider the benefits; you can potentially prevent future medical problems with the assistance of a health care professional (such as one from The Village At Morrisons Cove) who can help you with your condition and direct your lifestyle choices in a way that will prevent your diabetes from negatively affecting your life.
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