Treatment Options

Helping Yourself

If you have diabetes, you can help control your blood sugar by making some lifestyle changes, including adding exercise to your daily regimen and watching your diet.

Exercise can:

• decrease insulin resistance in Type 2 diabetics
• improve circulation
• help achieve and maintain an ideal body weight

Dietary management of carbohydrates, which are a type of sugar, and animal fats helps to:

• control the amount of sugar in the blood
• assist in weight control

To eat healthier:

• Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables
• Eat a variety of grain products, including whole grains
• Include fat-free and low-fat milk products, fish, beans, skinless poultry and lean meats
• Choose fats with 2 grams or less of saturated fat per serving
• Limit your intake of foods high in calories or low in nutrition, including high-sugar foods like soft drinks and candy
• Limit foods high in saturated fat
• Limit your salt intake to less than 6 grams a day
• Limit your alcohol consumption
• Know the serving sizes or portion sizes of the foods that you eat

Proper foot care is also very important for diabetes management. You can help yourself by:

• Checking your feet daily. Look for:
  • Skin color changes
  • Pain in legs
  • Ingrown or fungal toenails
  • Corns or calluses
  • Swelling of foot or ankle
  • Open sores that are slow to heal
  • Dry cracks in the skin
• Cutting toenails regularly
• Washing your feet daily
• Choosing the right shoes (includes measuring the foot length and width)
• Avoiding shoes that put excess pressure on your feet (high heels, sandals, pointed-toe shoes), avoid walking barefoot, avoid wearing socks with seams, and avoid wearing nylon stockings if you're being treated for an infection.

In all types of diabetes, it is necessary to monitor blood sugar frequently. You may do this at home with a blood glucose monitor. Your doctor may use the glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) test, which will help him/her determine what your average blood sugar level has been over a period of several months. Having this test can help you reduce the risk of serious, long-term complications.

Controlling cholesterol can help lower your chance of developing long term damage to your heart. It is important to know your LDL (low density lipoprotein-also known as "bad cholesterol") cholesterol, HDL (high density lipoprotein - also known as "good cholesterol") cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. Controlling cholesterol can help lower your chance of developing long term damage to your heart.

Current guidelines recommend maintaining cholesterol levels to:

• LDL less then 100 mg/dL, or even lower as indicated by your doctor
• Triglycerides less than 150 mg/dL
• HDL greater than 40 mg/dL

It is important to eat a low-saturated fat, low-cholesterol diet to keep your cholesterol within healthy limits.

Controlling blood pressure can also lower your chance of developing long term side effects. If you have diabetes, your blood pressure should be lower than 130/80 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) to reduce your risk.

Stop smoking. Smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. Smoking also increases the risk of nerve damage, kidney disease, cancer, and lung disease.

Yearly exams. It is important to follow up with your provider and have yearly physicals, eye exams, foot exams, dental exams, and vaccinations.

Testing for diabetes may be appropriate for members of the immediate family (mother, father, sister, brother or children) of people with diabetes. Testing is especially important for any family member who has one or more risk factors.

<< Back

Note: The above information is intended to supplement, not substitute for, the expertise and judgment of your physician, pharmacist, or other healthcare professional. It is not intended to diagnose a health condition, but it can be used as a guide to help you decide if you should seek professional treatment or to help you learn more about your condition once it has been diagnosed.