A diagnosis of type 2 diabetes can send your mind into a spin and your emotions all over the place. But it’s not a death sentence and treated sensibly with an increase in physical activity and a healthy eating plan, you will be able to live your life without fear of complications. Become your own expert on diabetes and what affects your blood sugar levels. Always remember you are the captain of your ship and the following people are your crew, chose them wisely:

1. Your health care provider: You really need to be with a health care provider you have confidence in, one who is up-to-date with the latest developments in diabetes treatment. You may prefer to be with an endocrinologist, a specialist who handles all hormone-related diseases or a diabetologist, a specialist who only works with diabetics. You need a health care provider who will help you get your blood sugar levels to near-normal levels. So find someone who is willing to listen to you and answer your questions.

2. A diabetes educator will teach you how to monitor your blood sugar and how to take your insulin or other medications. Your health care provider may recommend a diabetes course you can take at your local hospital. This is one way to learn the practical skills of dealing with type 2 diabetes.

3. Consult with an Accredited Practicing Dietitian: finding the right diet for you is the main controlling factor to bring down your weight, your blood sugar and your cholesterol levels.

4. An ophthalmologist is someone you will definitely want to include. It is recommended people with type 2 diabetes have yearly dilated retinal examinations starting immediately you are diagnosed. This is because type 2 is usually not diagnosed until you have had high blood sugar for a couple of years. Early detection is the key … much can be done to prevent and treat diabetic eye problems.

5. A dentist is another important member of your crew as due to high blood sugar levels, saliva contains sugar levels just as high and this causes tooth decay and gum problems. It is recommended you brush your teeth twice a day, and see your dentist twice yearly.

6. You will want to see a podiatrist yearly even if you don’t have feet problems. People with diabetes often have some nerve damage due to high blood sugar levels. This can result in tingling, burning or numbness in your hands, but more frequently in your feet.

Diabetes represents a metabolic disorder characterized by abnormally high blood glucose levels. Glucose is needed by your body for generating energy, so it is a vital substance, but its blood levels need to be maintained within certain limits, in order to prevent such medical conditions as diabetes.

This health problem is influenced by the food that you consume, but it is mainly caused by the incapacity of the pancreas to release enough insulin. In the absence of insulin, glucose does not reach the cells and the blood sugar levels increase, leading to pre-diabetes or diabetes.

Pre-diabetes can easily turn into type 2 diabetes, and can also lead to heart diseases and stroke. Keep in mind, though, that this condition can be controlled if discovered early. Thus, type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed if you lose weight and perform physical activity of moderate intensity with regularity.

The aforementioned kind of diabetes is also called noninsulin-dependent diabetes, and represents the most frequent type of this metabolic disorder. Besides it, there are two other kinds: type 1 diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent diabetes, and gestational diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes appears in people whose pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to manage the ingested glucose. The treatment in this case includes insulin injections, but also other types of injectable drugs. As with the other types of diabetes, this one also requires physical activity and a certain diet. Keeping blood pressure and cholesterol levels under control seems to be important regardless of the type of diabetes that you have.

Gestational diabetes may develop in the final months of pregnancy, and usually disappears on its own as soon as the baby is delivered. However, women with gestational diabetes are somehow predisposed to type 2 later. Hormonal changes are believed to be the main cause of gestational diabetes, as well as lack of insulin.

Every year on November 14, the International Diabetes Federation celebrates World Diabetes Day. In 2007, this day became an official United Nations Day with the passage of United Nation Resolution 61/225. The goal of the campaign is to draw attention to diabetes and how important it is for the average person to have a reasonable knowledge of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. During the next five years, the event coordinators plan on emphasizing diabetes education as well as prevention programs.

The International Diabetes Federation is composed of 212 member associations in more than 160 countries and territories. All of them are member states of the United Nations. November 14 is observed because it honors the birthday of Frederick Banting who is known as one of the discoverers of insulin. He actually thought up the original idea which led to the discovery of insulin way back in 1922.

Experts have estimated the number of people with diabetes world-wide has reached around 285 million and because diabetics need to deliver 95% of their own care, learning how to stabilize their insulin and blood sugar levels, ongoing education is necessary.

The International Diabetes Federation estimates that over 344 million people throughout the world are at risk for type 2 diabetes.

The risks for developing type 2 diabetes include:

• obesity and carrying excess abdominal weight
• insufficient exercise
• unhealthy eating habits
• increased age
• high blood pressure
• elevated cholesterol levels
• a family history of diabetes
• diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes)
• ethnic background including Asian, Hispanic, Indigenous people (Australia, US and Canada) and African American

Do you know the warning signs of diabetes?

They include:

• frequent urination including during the night time
• dry mouth and excessive thirst
• eating more food but losing weight (type 1 diabetes)
• feeling hungry soon after eating and weight gain (type 2 diabetes)
• fatigue and weakness
• blurred vision
• frequent infections
• slow-healing wounds
• tingling sensation in your hands and feet
• fuzzy head and lack of ability to concentrate

Do you or someone you love have any of these warning signs of type 1 or type 2 diabetes? If so, do not hesitate to make an appointment to see your healthy care provider so a diagnosis can be made and treatment started. Type 2 diabetes is a condition of lifestyle… following a healthy eating plan and increasing physical activity to thirty minutes a day at least five times a week will help to lower blood sugar levels.

Long-term consequences of type 2 diabetes resulting from ongoing high blood sugar levels as well as uncontrolled blood pressure and cholesterol levels can result in severe complications, including permanent damage to your feet. Actually it takes a long period of time for complications to develop… as much as ten years. This gives you plenty of time to prevent complications developing. However after a while the changes will be fixed and irreversible.

The most common problems experienced by people with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes are problems related to their feet. Feet are particularly vulnerable because of the hammering they receive over time. Our feet were made to walk on uneven grass and dirt not on flat hard surfaces such as concrete… this over times breaks down the joints in your feet.

Several things can go wrong due to high blood sugar levels, these include:

• reduced sensation meaning that you no longer receive warning signals when bumping your feet or standing on sharp objects
• reduction in the quality of the sweat secretions and natural body oils that keep the skin on your feet lubricated

If untreated, these factors will result in further uncharacteristic pressure on joints, skin and bones when walking.

As you can no longer feel your feet properly, damage occurs which may lead to a breakdown of the skin on the soles of your feet… typically open sores that will not heal. Because type 2 diabetes erodes your body’s natural healing capabilities these sores may turn gangrenous, which will in turn be difficult to treat because blood flow has become so poor that antibiotics can no longer reach the heart of the problem.

It is one of the great diabetic tragedies that so many sufferers end up with amputated legs, just because they neglected to carry out daily inspection of their feet… daily inspections are the key to heading off foot problems. Keep a watch out for:

• dry skin on your feet
• loss of hair on your feet
• cold feet
• no foot pulse
• redness of your feet when they are hanging down

Using a magnifying glass or a mirror, check the top and bottom of your feet… a thorough examination should only take a minute. If you have difficulty doing this yourself, ask your partner to help you.

Not everyone with type 2 diabetes has small vessel disease in their feet, but this is a common site for problems to appear. Records show an estimated 15 per cent of people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes will develop a serious foot problem at some time in their lifetime.

Prior to most people coming down with diabetes type 2, they usually have what is a called pre-diabetes. This is a condition where the blood glucose levels are high but not quite high enough to be deemed diabetes. It is estimated that around 57 million individuals in the US have contracted pre-diabetes. This is where Diabetic supplies such as Glucose Monitors can come in handy. These monitors’ help people control their glucose levels and can prevent the pre-diabetic stage turning into full-blown diabetes.

Studies have shown that the body can suffer a certain amount of damage in this stage. When someone is pre-diabetic, they can suffer lasting damage to their circulatory system and their heart. They can get coronary artery disease, which can bring on such problems as a heart attack or even a stroke.

There is a lot that you can do to ward off pre-diabetes or the onset of diabetes type 2. As with diabetes of any kind if you have pre-diabetes you need to watch your diet and exercise closely.

You need to eat a diet high in fiber and low in fat. The amount of salt should be kept to a minimum too. By making these changes to your diet you can keep from getting diabetes type 2 most of the time. This way you won’t have to take any medications and wouldn’t that be nice?

You have to have a enough physical activity to maintain a proper weight to combat the pre-diabetic condition. People need to exercise for at least 30 to 60 minutes daily. This not only helps with glucose levels and lowering or maintaining your weight, but also strengthening your heart. The exercising also can lower blood pressure.

Even losing about 10 - 15 pounds can help the pre-diabetes. If you can’t get all the way down to your ideal weight just work on it a few pounds at a time.

Another thing to be sure to check often is your cholesterol levels. Bad cholesterol or LDL should be lower than 100mg/dl, good cholesterol or HDL varies for men and women, men should have levels of higher than 40 mg/dl and women levels should be higher than 50 mg/dl.

If your children are overweight, they should be screened for this pre-diabetic condition. With children you definitely want to catch this early. Their bodies can develop too many conditions that could ruin their health easily if this would be left undetected and untreated.

Our style of eating has certainly changed over the years shows with the world-wide epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes. We are no longer hunter/gatherers; they were slim as they primarily ate fiber from available vegetation and it was mostly eaten in it’s raw form. Protein was obtained from lean game that was killed and cooked almost straight away, with no fats or preservatives. Not that we want to go back that far!

• contains no carbohydrates
• it does not raise your blood-sugars to a major degree
• actually stabilizes your levels
• in some people can help to decrease their levels
• when you don’t eat enough protein, it is then easy to eat too many carbohydrates
• helps to reduce your appetite
• combined with exercise, burns more fat
• it also helps to preserve your muscle mass. Muscle tissue is efficient at burning fats and sugar.

Fiber:

• lowers your blood-sugar and stops it from rising quickly after your meal
• because it slows digestion it keeps you feeling full for longer
• it adds bulk to your meal, it’s part of the carbohydrate that is not digested
• it adds no calories/kilojoules
• people who eat more are normally thinner than those who don’t
• many of the foods listed as having a low glycemic index contain high fiber
• vegetables and fruit contain two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. The soluble form dissolves in water and helps to reduce both blood glucose and cholesterol levels. Insoluble fiber is the one that remains in your intestine and helps prevent cancer and constipation.

Fats:

• many are essential for good health
• this includes polyunsaturated, eg. omega-3s and omega-6s which are found in fish, seeds, nuts and green leafy vegetables
• mono-saturates are found in avocados and olives
• your body also requires a very small amount of saturated fats
• to help with losing weight, cut back on your total fat intake and substitute healthy fats for not-so-healthy ones.

Maintaining a healthy weight and controlling your blood sugar levels is not always easy for people with type 2 diabetes Having a healthy balanced diet will help you lose weight, especially when combined with physical activity.