Diabetes is characterized in two types: Type I and II. In the type I diabetes, the immune system abort the function of pancreatic cells and it stops making insulin hormone. In type II diabetes, alterations in insulin secretion occur, and body cannot utilize the insulin effectively because of increased resistance against insulin. If not treated and monitored properly, it can turn up into life threatening disease (Webmd.com, 2014; Rubin, 2011).
I. Diabetes Monitoring and Treatment
A. Glucose meters
Using a glucose meter for monitoring blood sugar on a daily basis has become a habit of millions of Americans. Glucose meters are small battery-operated devices that enable people to monitor their glucose levels anytime and where. It works through reading a drop of blood provided by user on a disposable test strip. Glucose meters are very convenient to use and show results in its digital display window in a short time. Keeping a regular watch on the test results, users can consult their health care provider for an overall disease management. Several precautions are must while using such devices. For the accurate results, the testing site should be cleaned and free of sugar residues. FDA keeps a strict eye on all glucose meters and analyzes the strips before they can be marketed (Rubin, 2011).
B. Insulin treatment
Diabetes patients are prescribed insulin for both cases as in type I, body cannot produce insulin and in type II body cannot use available insulin properly. Patients of type I diabetes have to take insulin but in the type II diabetes can be managed only through healthy diet and exercise (Webmd.com, 2014). Based on the reaction mode insulin is categorized in four types:
1- Rapid-acting insulin that starts working immediately in a short time of few minutes and lasts for a couple of hours.
2- Regular acting insulin that takes around 30 minutes to commence but lasts for 3 to 6 hours.
3- Intermediate-acting insulin, it takes 2 to 4 hours to start its work and its effects last for approximately 18 hours.
4- Long-acting insulin, this type has no peak levels in the bloodstream, and it keeps working for a whole day (Webmd.com, 2014; Rubin, 2011).
Sometimes insulin is required more than once a day. If required to keep the insulin levels maintained, practitioners may prescribe other medicines also with insulin.
Insulin is administered through injections or inhaled insulin, and insulin pumps are also available in the market. Site of injectable insulin on the body also defines the effects and benefits of shots. It is advisable to inject insulin shots on belly, arms, thighs, and buttocks.
Several side effects of insulin are low blood sugar, weight gain, contraction of lungs in asthmatic or lung disease patients on administration of inhaled insulin (American Diabetes Association).
C. New Medications
Often oral medications (pills) are also prescribed with or without insulin to maintain the requirements of blood glucose levels. In the need of more than one drug, doctors also prefer combination therapy with selected medicines that work well together. The options and availability of a variety of drugs lead to the effective combinations. The most common drug includes metformin, with the brand names Fortamet, Glumetza, Glucophage, and Riomet. It controls the amount of glucose in blood (Webmd.com, 2014).
D. Diet and exercise
Diet impact the health of diabetic people at a large extent. It means it is necessary to be aware of the contribution of food to the blood glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure. A healthy diet impacts the body metabolism in many ways. It facilitates controlling blood glucose and maintaining a normal weight. Through reducing the body fats it keeps bad cholesterol low while escalating the good cholesterol (Rubin, 2011).
Exercise and moderate physical activities help reducing the amount of insulin and ease managing the glucose levels in the blood. According to the experts, physical activity and exercise for diabetics are mandatory. An exercise schedule of minimum 30 minutes a day should be the minimum target. A 10-minute walk can impact the situation miraculously. Training with weights and other resistance equipment may protect from muscle loss that often results in fat accumulation (Rubin, 2011).
II. Diabetic Meal Planning
A. Federal nutrition guidelines
Nutritional recommendations are made after a thorough review of the relevant literature by an assorted group of extremely qualified clinicians and researchers. Based on the results of clinical trials these expert opinions and recommendations are reviewed and presented to in journal Diabetes Care. According to the federal recommendations, healthy eating is necessary for both children as well as adults, to control obesity and avoid further severe conditions and associated complications. A healthy diet is high in nutrients with a sensible amount of calories per serving. Many American diets surpass the recommended quantity of calories per day but are short of the recommended amount of nutrients. In recent years, Congress and Administration have updated the nutritional standards of foods served for children in schools. A new federal government report revealed that nine out of ten American kids consume more salt than they should which is increasing the risk of high blood pressure and heart diseases. Federal officials also ask the food industry to assist lessening salt levels in food. According to the reputed sources, the amount of carbohydrates in a meal determines the insulin level. Thus, carbohydrate counting is necessary. For successful monitoring, it is also recommended to be aware of the quantity of carbohydrate controllable by each unit of insulin (American Diabetes Association, 2014).
B. American Diabetes Association recommendations
The American Diabetes Association is foremost unit in the fight against Diabetes. Established in 1940, its aim is to stop and cure diabetes and to perk up the lives of all affected people. It uses to come up with new modified guidelines frequently to stop diabetes and its deadly consequences (American Diabetes Association, 2014). Its new recommendations are;
Diabetic people ought to limit or avoid intake of sweetened beverages from any caloric sweetener such as sucrose or high fructose corn syrup, in order to reduce the weight gain risk and decline of cardiovascular risk profile.
The recommendation of ADA for the general populace is to decrease the quantity of sodium to less than 2300 mg /day. It is also suitable for diabetic people, with additional cutback customized for those who suffer high blood pressure. Statistics illustrates that most Americans consume far more sodium than suggested.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA) supplements have no role in diabetic individuals for the anticipation or treatment of cardiovascular risks. Thus, it is recommended to the general public that having fatty fish at least twice a week is appropriate. The new guidelines also highlighted that an ideal quantity of carbohydrate consumption did not provide any certain evidence among diabetic people. It is suggested that the taken carbohydrates should come from vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes and dairy products, instead of other sources that hold extra fats, sugar, and sodium. Similar case is with an ideal intake of total fat. Fat quality is more imperative than its quantity. What matters is the quality of fat whether it is monounsaturated, polyunsaturated fats or trans-fats. The good fat in a moderate amount is good while maintaining the body weight (American Diabetes Association, 2014).
C. Food substitutes
In the book “Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy,” author Hope S. Warshaw, brilliantly demonstrated the significance of meal planning in diabetes in context of American Diabetes Association recommendations and federal nutritional guidelines (Warshaw, 1996).
Diabetes cannot be solved without the appropriate diet, and it does not mean the one should not consume his favorite foods. But a planned diet plan will affect not only diabetic symptoms but also associated health including blood sugar, weight management, and obesity. A trained dietician can help in evaluating the nutrient scale of selected foods such as reading food labels, counting carbs and sizing up portions (Warshaw, 1996). Once one learns the right method of choosing a healthy diet, he or she can dig into a range of delicious meals and snacks. Replacing foods with high-GI (glycemic index) with low-GI foods can benefit the meal planning purpose. Increasing the fiber content is a good option. Though the fiber is also a carbohydrate but the digestive enzymes of stomach and intestine cannot digest so it cannot be used as energy source or counted among calories (American Diabetes Association; Rubin, 2011).
III. Diabetic Lifestyle
A. Facts and statistics on diabetes
Based on the Framingham Heart Study, showed that diabetes decreases the life expectancy, in persons over 50 by an approximation of 7.5 years among men and 8.2 years for women. American Government has evaluated that every second person out of every five Americans develops type 2 diabetes at some point of their adult lives (Webmd.com, 2014).
The diabetes and obesity together have become epidemics with growing human risk of type 2 diabetes with an average rate of 40 percent. In a study, researchers assessed medical information and death certificates for approximately 600,000 adults between the period of 1985 and 2011, and they concluded that life span risk of diabetes is increasing as well as the years of life lost due to diabetes (Webmd.com, 2014).
According to data on Type I diabetes for 2005, the total 340,000 people in the United States were suffered from type 1 diabetes out of which around 50% were children up to age of 20.
Since 30,000 new cases are observed each year, mostly in children (Webmd.com, 2014).
In the group of children aged 1 to 9, 80 percent have Type I diabetes and 20 percent have Type II. In the age group of 10 to 19, the onset of type II is rising, but still it is not as much high as in the case of type I.
Data statistics illustrated that 25 new cases of Type I is noticed on per 100,000 population each year. The United States showed a little low percentage that is 15 new cases per 100,000 populations every year (Webmd.com, 2014).
B. Symptoms and resources
No symptoms of Diabetes type I appear, until the damage has occurred. It is called as Silent Disease. Type I has plenty of symptoms, several of which are if you know where to look. Several symptoms that children tell as in early disease are: increased urination and thirst, fatigue, dry skin, blurred vision, irritability, extreme hunger and unexpected and unusual weight loss (Webmd.com, 2014). If not treated properly on time, it may result in severe complications like heart diseases and stroke, Vision problems, kidney failure and nerve damages in feet, hand and organs (American Diabetes Association; Warshaw, 1996).
The reason of diabetes is still unknown. The reason of Type I a genetic tendency with a virus but the cause of Type II is genetics including obesity and an inactive lifestyle (Warshaw, 1996).
C. Juvenile, adult and gestational diabetes
American Diabetes Association suggests prediabetes screening for type-2 diabetes. It is important to get the screening done if any of the below holds true:
• Overweight and age above 45 years. Get prediabetes screening in next routine checkup.
• Healthy weight but age above 45 years. Ask the doctor if a screening is required.
• Age below 45 but overweight means BMI or body mass index is larger than 25, and there is one or more symptoms that associate type 2 diabetes risk (Webmd.com, 2014).
Type I Diabetes is also known previously as juvenile diabetes. It is the most diagnosed types of diabetes during childhood. A study was conducted on nearly 6,000 new cases in young white people mostly teens and kids below the age of 19 between 2002 and 2009. The study shows that kids between 5 and nine years had the highest probability of acquiring diabetes while lesser probability among kids younger than four years. Boys were more likely to be impacted than girls. The study shows that Type 1 diabetes rate has increased among school going children in the United States (Webmd.com, 2014).
Researchers have found a correlation between the rise in obesity and diabetes. The rate of disease has reached 9.3 percent in 2010, which means that nearly 21 million American people are fighting with diabetes in 2010 (Webmd.com, 2014).
There has also been an increase in gestational diabetes impacting pregnant women almost one in ten. That number is increasing mostly due to a rise in obese or overweight women (Webmd.com, 2014).
Gestational diabetes also increases the risk for:
• Stillbirth
• Preterm birth
• High blood pressure
• Shoulder dystocia
• Cesarean delivery
Gestational diabetes also poses a risk for children with:
• Jaundice
• Obesity during childhood
• Low glucose levels
• Breathing problems (Warshaw, 1996)
D. Living with diabetes
Diabetes can make one unhappy or sad. Stress impacts the mood and raises blood sugar levels. Stress alters food choices and increases the alcohol consumption. Daily activity is the best solution to avoid stress. Being active brings in a feel good mood through raised up levels of chemicals in the brain. It is not important to go to gym, light sports activity or dance lessons are also good enough (Warshaw, 1996)
Works Cited
American Diabetes Association,. 'American Diabetes Association'. N.p., 2014. Web. 30 Nov.
2014.
Rubin, Alan L. Type 1 diabetes for dummies. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
Warshaw, Hope S. "Diabetes meal planning made easy: how to put the food pyramid to work
for your busy lifestyle." (1996).
Webmd.com,. 'Webmd Diabetes Center: Types, Causes, Symptoms, Tests, And Treatments'.
N.p., 2014. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.
