Living With Diabetes

Information and Resources on Diabetes

If you are living with diabetes or have a loved with the disease, it's important to work together to manage diabetes to stay healthy and prevent complications. Managing diabetes is not easy, but support from family members can make it much easier. The NDEP has resources for making healthy lifestyle choices that not only help people with diabetes manage the disease, but also help keep the whole family healthy!

Step 1: Learn about diabetes

Type 1 diabetes - the body does not make insulin. Insulin helps the body use glucose from food for energy. People with type 1 need to take insulin every day.

Type 2 diabetes - the body does not make or use insulin well. People with type 2 often need to take pills or insulin. Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes.

Gestational diabetes - may occur when a woman is pregnant. Gestational diabetes raises her risk of getting another type of diabetes, mostly type 2, for the rest of her life. It also raises her child’s risk of being overweight and getting diabetes.

Step 2: Know your diabetes ABC's

A for A1c Test

A for the A1C test The A1C Test shows you what your blood glucose has been over the last three months. The A1C goal for many people is below 7. High blood glucose levels can harm your heart and blood vessels, kidneys, feet, and eyes.

B for Blood Pressure

B for Blood pressure. Your blood pressure goal should be below 140/80 unless your doctor helps you set a different goal.

High blood pressure makes your heart work too hard. It can cause heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease.

C for Cholesterol

C for Cholesterol. Ask what your cholesterol numbers should be.

LDL or “bad” cholesterol can build up and clog your blood vessels. It can cause a heart attackor a stroke. HDL or “good” cholesterol helps remove cholesterol from your blood vessels.

Step 3: Manage your diabetes

Many people avoid the long-term problems of diabetes by taking good care of themselves. Work with your health care team to reach your ABC goals (A1C, Blood Pressure, Cholesterol): Use this self-care plan.

Use your diabetes meal plan. If you do not have one, ask your health care team about one.
- Make healthy food choices such as fruits and vegetables, fish, lean meats, chicken or turkey without the skin, dry peas or beans, whole grains, and low-fat or skim milk and cheese.
- Keep fish and lean meat and poultry portion to about 3 ounces (or the size of a deck of cards). Bake, broil, or grill it.
- Eat foods that have less fat and salt.
- Eat foods with more fiber such as whole grains cereals, breads, crackers, rice, or pasta.
Get 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week. Brisk walking is a great way to move more.
Stay at a healthy weight by using your meal plan and moving more.
Ask for help if you feel down. A mental health counselor, support group, member of the clergy, friend, or family member who will listen to your concerns may help you feel better.

Learn to cope with stress. Stress can raise your blood glucose (blood sugar). While it is hard to remove stress from your life, you can learn to handle it.
Stop smoking. Ask for help to quit.
Take medicines even when you feel good. Ask your doctor if you need aspirin to prevent a heart attack or stroke. Tell your doctor if you cannot afford your medicines or if you have any side effects.
Check your feet every day for cuts, blisters, red spots, and swelling. Call your health care team right away about any sores that do not go away.
Brush your teeth and floss every day to avoid problems with your mouth, teeth, or gums
Check your blood glucose (blood sugar). You may want to test it one or more times a day. Use the card at the back of this booklet to keep a record of your blood glucose numbers. Be sure to take this record to your doctor visits.
Check your blood pressure if your doctor advises.
Report any changes in your eyesight to your doctor.

Step 4: Get Routine Care to Avoid Problems

If you have diabetes, at each visit be sure you have a:

blood pressure check
foot check
weight check
review of your self-care plan shown in Step 3

If you have diabetes, two times each year get:

A1C test - it may be checked more often if it is over 7

If you have diabetes, once each year be sure you have a:

cholesterol test
triglyceride (try-GLISS-er-ide) test - a type of blood fat
complete foot exam
dental exam to check teeth and gums - tell your dentist you have diabetes
dilated eye exam to check for eye problems
flu shot
urine and a blood test to check for kidney problems

If you have diabetes, at least once get a:

Pneumonia (nu-mo-nya) shot

The marks show actions you could take.

Ask your health care team about these and other tests you may need. Ask what the results mean.
Write down the date and time of your next visit.

Use the card of the back of this booklet to keep a record of your diabetes care.

If you have Medicare, ask your health care team if Medicare will cover some of the costs for
- learning about healthy eating and diabetes self-care
- special shoes, if you need them
- medical supplies
- diabetes medicines

This information is originally found at http://ndep.nih.gov/index.aspx
For more information please visit their website, it has fantastic information and resources about diabetes

Additional Information and Resources

Go Meals
A mobile application to help with keeping track of your Blood Glucose results and to help you eat out healthier: www.gomeals.com

dLife
A website focusing on Diabetes in your life. It has a lot of information on everything you need to know about diabetes. www.dlife.com

Fruit and Veggie Tracker (document download)
This document is a printable sheet for you to easily track your daily and weekly consumption of Fruits and Vegetables. You can download the document below!