Awareness is the key to managing diabetes. Understanding what makes your blood sugar rise and fall daily is critical to controlling the disease. Many factors can effectively help manage diabetes, like diet, medication, weight loss, and exercise, to name a few. Additionally, diabetic patients can benefit from having a dedicated team of medical professionals focusing on the disease. South Carolina & Georgia House Calls has a diabetic clinical pathway guidance program that offers participating patients a 91-day treatment plan with multiple resources for excellent medical outcomes.
Weight Loss:
The American Diabetes Association recommends that anyone with a prediabetes diagnosis lose between 7 and 10 percent of their body weight to prevent disease progression. At first, that might seem like a lot, but for a 175-pound person, that would only be between 12.25 and 17.5 pounds, a pretty reasonable goal that could be achieved with a better diet. If a person takes off even more weight, it will yield additional benefits. It is recommended that a patient talks with their doctor to set a goal for a reasonable weekly weight loss program.
Getting Physical:
Break up periods of inactivity, like watching TV, working on a computer by taking a walk, or just standing and moving about the house. Adding aerobic exercise to your daily routine will make you feel better, help your weight loss program and lower your blood sugar. Experts recommend at least 150 minutes a week for aerobic exercise, which is just over 20 minutes per day. Aerobic exercise could include fast walking, bike riding, dancing, water aerobics, and swimming.
Counting Carbs:
Keeping track of carbs in your meals and drinks will help make managing blood sugar easier. Sugar is hiding in many processed foods, so creating a healthier diet begins at the grocery store. Sugar-sweetened beverages are the worst possible drink choice for a person with diabetes because of their high carb count. Trans fats should also be avoided; they are found in foods like margarine, peanut butter, and frozen dinners, and manufacturers add them to crackers, muffins, and other baked goods to extend shelf life. The CDC website has Comprehensive lists of foods to avoid as well as the best foods for a person with diabetes.
Preventative:
The diabetic specialty group within SC & GA HC has a new tool in the fight against Retinopathy. Their sophisticated new portable retina screening camera gives practitioners in the diabetic specialty group the ability to offer an essential early screening solution for their diabetic patients. Diabetic Retinopathy is caused by damage to the blood vessels in the tissue at the back of the eye, and poorly controlled blood sugar is one of the risk factors for the disease. Although there is no cure presently, early detection and treatment can slow the progression of the disease. There are multiple other screenings that should be performed at varied frequencies for a person with diabetes, including A1C blood test, blood pressure, ankle-brachial index, body mass index, cholesterol, and bone mineral density.
SC House Calls & GA House Calls is a network of over 250 medical professionals providing In-home medical house calls and Telehealth visits to Private Residences, Assisted Living Communities, and Skilled Nursing Facilities. SC House Calls serves all 46 Counties of South Carolina. New patient registration, appointments, and 24-7 access to medical professionals are available through its Center for Telehealth @ 800-491-0909
