Diabetic Foot Care Basics

Diabetics have been told for years of the importance of proper foot care and have been taught several proven methods to reduce the likelihood of diabetic foot injuries from occurring. Simple methods that help to prevent serious diabetic complications of the feet are:

Inspect Feet Every Day. Diabetics need to take a close look at all areas of their feet every single day. Use a hand mirror if needed. Look for calluses, red spots, sores, cuts and embedded foreign objects. Reduced circulation in the feet of diabetics and nerve damage that changes or reduces the sensation to pain causing stimuli are the reasons that those with diabetes needs to visually inspect both feet every day.

Wash feet daily. Clean feet will be less likely to become infected. Standing in the shower and washing yourself does not count as cleaning the feet. A soft cloth doused in lukewarm water that is essential. Remember that the water should be lukewarm, not hot.

Nerve damage can cause a diabetic to be burned by hot water and not feel the pain. If there is nerve damage in the hands as well, a thermometer can be used to positively determine water temperature. Use a mild moisturizing soap. If there is concern or doubt about which soap is acceptable, consult your podiatrist.

Keep feet dry. For a diabetic it is essential to ensure that feet are not kept moist or wet. Moist feet are breeding grounds for bacteria and fungi that cause infection. The skin of feet that remain moist for even just a few hours can begin to lose integrity sufficient enough to become open. This can become particularly problematic since diabetics heal more slowly. Slower healing of the feet can result in serious complications that could lead to amputation.

Wear properly fitting socks. It is imperative that diabetics always wear socks. Diabetics should not wear sandals or flip-flops, and should never go barefoot even while at home. One minor injury can lead to serious complications. Socks should be of a natural fiber such as cotton or wool and some natural fiber/synthetic blends are acceptable too. Socks should not constrict blood flow at the ankle or calf.

Wear shoes. This cannot be overemphasized. Along with socks, it is vitally important for diabetics to wear proper footwear. Open footwear such as sandals or flip-flops can be an invitation for trouble. For the poolside, as well as in the pool, use aqua shoes. Shoes should fit comfortably, be properly sized and should not cause any red spots or blisters to form on the feet. Remember, always carry out a daily visual inspection to make sure spots and blisters have not appeared on either foot. Do not rely just on feel alone. Style is nice but ultimately keeping ones feet healthy is the goal.

Diabetes: Fruits To Avoid

‘Good fruits for diabetic patients. Do they exist? What are they?’ I get asked these questions all the time. But there’s good news! When it comes to diabetes, fruits to avoid equals a big fat zero! And ALL fruits are part of the ideal diet for diabetics! Like vegetables for diabetics, fruits are filled with fiber, minerals and vitamins. You do have to count fruits as part of your meal plan, because they do have fructose, a form of sugar (but not in a bad form). But eating fresh fruit is perfect for the diabetic with the sweet tooth, as fruit can do a lot to alleviate those sweet tooth cravings.

What are the best choices of fruit for diabetics?

The best choices of fruit for diabetics are any that are fresh, frozen or canned without added sugars.

General Tips: Good Fruits for Diabetics

1.Choose canned fruits in juice or light syrup (heavy syrup is DEFINITELY not on the Good Fruits for Diabetic Patients list. In fact, it would be on the Diabetes: Fruits to Avoid List!

2.Dried fruit and fruit juice are also nutritious choices and good fruits for diabetic patients, but the portion sizes must be kept small so they may not be as filling as other choices.

Tips for the Diabetic Diet For Carb Counters. Portion sizes for diabetics are the size of a small piece of whole fruit, or a half cup of canned or frozen fruit. This has about 15 grams of carbs. Melons and fresh berry services sizes range from three-quarter to a cup. WARNING: Keep fruit juice to a minimum! And read the labels! Absolutely, positively, no high fructose corn syrup! Many so-called fruit juices contain this poison-it’s a plague to be avoided. Only 2 tablespoons of dried fruit like raisins or dried cherries contains 15 grams of carbohydrate so be cautious with your portion sizes! Fruit can be eaten in exchange for other carbohydrates in your meal plan such as starches, grains, or dairy.

For the Create a Plate Method. If you’re using the plate method, a 1/2 cup of fruit salad or a small piece of whole fruit for dessert nicely compliments the non-starchy vegetables, small portion of starch and protein foods that are on your plate.

For using the Glycemic Index. Most fruits are Low Glycemic Index (GI) Foods because of their fructose and fiber content. Melons and pineapple have medium GI values, as do some dried fruits such as dates, raisins, and sweetened cranberries. Fruit is really encouraged when using the glycemic index to guide food choicesso enjoy them.

Fruits for Diabetics The following is a list of good fruits for diabetic patients:

Apples, Applesauce, Apricots, Banana, Blackberries, Blueberries, Cantaloupe, Cherries, Dates, Dried fruit, Figs, Fruit cocktail, Grapefruit, Grapes, Honeydew melon, Kiwi, Mango, Nectarine, Orange, Papaya, Peaches, Pears, Pineapple, Plums, Raspberries, Strawberries, Tangerines, Watermelon

Diabetes: Fruits to Avoid List

NONE!!

Diabetic Food List For Type Two Diabetics

If you were diagnosed with type two diabetes, you should have a list of diabetic foods. In facts, you want to eat everything that truly gives you pleasure and satisfaction.

Unfortunately, eating unlimited amounts of whatever you feel like is usually how people end up with type two diabetes in the first place. You can still eat the foods you want, but you’re going to have to keep an eye on making better food choices and saving the treats for when you’re going to really enjoy them.

There are whole books on this sort of thing, so I’m just going to give you the quick and dirty diabetic food list to get you started. I’ll keep this as short and simple as I possibly can:

Meats – Basically, you can eat anything that used to have a face. Beef, chicken, fish, pork, etc. You’ll want to avoid any kind of breading except as a treat, but you should have protein at every meal.

Vegetables – You can also have pretty much as much as you like of anything green. Or really, any vegetable – spinach, pepper, tomatoes, etc. They’re al good for you and won’t negatively affect your blood sugar. This doesn’t include potatoes, corn, and the like.

Fruits – Fruit is tricky. As long as you don’t go overboard, fruit should be fine. Just don’t eat twenty bananas a day. And fruits don’t mean fruit juice.

Fats – Make sure you’re getting natural fats. No trans anything. Beyond that, don’t worry about it. I don’t recommend licking the bacon trough, but the worries about fat are vastly exaggerated.

Diary – Cheeses are usually fine, but other diary should be controlled. Milk is mostly sugar, and it will jack up your blood sugar if you have type two diabetes.

Grains – Should mostly be avoided. Don’t get me wrong, I love bread, but it needs to be something special and not a daily diet staple. Same goes for corn and rice. If you do have grains, go for real whole grains.

Sugar – Should be avoided, as much as possible. Try to only have sugar in things that you really enjoy, and not as routine things. I love tiramisu, for instance, and so when I really want that, I have it. But I keep sugar minimal the rest of the time.

So there you go a simple diabetic food list.

Diabetes Causes And Dietary Treatments For Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease where our bodies do not produce enough or make well use of a hormone called insulin. Insulin is a hormone that responsible for glucose to get into our cells and provide us with energy. Without enough insulin, glucose will stay in our blood and cause our blood glucose levels to raise. Over time, high glucose level will lead to serious damages in heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves.

Read more on Diabetes Treatment and Herbal Remedies for Diabetes. Also visit on Blood Sugar Treatment

Causes of Diabetes

1.Increased cholesterol level

2.High carbohydrate diet

3.Nutritional deficiency

4.Excess intake of oil and sugar

5.No physical exercise

6.Overeating

7.Tension and worries

8.High blood pressure

Symptoms of Diabetes

1.Increased thirst

2.Frequent urination

3.Extreme hunger

4.Unexplained weight loss

5.Fatigue

6.Blurred vision

7.Slow-healing of injuries

Diabetes Management

1.Food – What you eat directly impacts your blood glucose levels. Follow food pyramid for effective diabetes control and blood glucose management. Take food at the same time also the same volume and never skip your food or even snacks.

2.Loss weight If you are obese or overweight try to reduce weight by following food pyramid and increasing physical activity or exercising. Losing weight has a direct positive impact in your blood glucose control.

3.Medicine Have your medicine or insulin in the same time every day without skipping or delaying. Learn to adjust your medicines with respect to your daily activity change of any rare diet change.

4.Scheduled exams Go for regular yearly exam for eye, kidney, heart, nerves and teeth. If you have any symptoms of diabetes complication immediately consult your doctor.

5.Vaccination High blood glucose can weaken your immune system, which makes routine vaccination is important for diabetics. Ask your doctor for details.

6.Aspirin – Aspirin interferes with your blood’s ability to clot. Taking a daily aspirin can reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke a major concern when you have diabetes.

7.Dont smoke If you are a smoker plan to quit. Smoking increases your risk of various diabetes complications, including heart attack, stroke, nerve damage and kidney disease.

8.Alcohol If you are a drinker do so only in moderation and always with a meal.

9.Stress Stress causes hormonal imbalance and prevents insulin to work normally and end up with a bad blood glucose control. So take stress seriously and try to calm your self or practice meditation.

Diabetes Diet Planning, Dietary Treatments for Diabetes
Diabetes is one disease which can be severely aggravated by the wrong kind of diet. Hence Diet planning is the cornerstone of managing diabetes.

1.Avoid sugar in any form – rice, potato, banana, cereals & fruits containing high percentage of sugar content.

2.Include at least one bitter dish in every meal

3.Take plenty of green vegetables, black gram, soy, fish etc

4.Vegetables such as Bitter Gourd, string beans, cucumber, onion and garlic, fruits such as Indian Gooseberry, Jambul Fruit and Grapes and grains like Bengal gram and black gram should be included in the diet.

5.Raw vegetables & herbs play a part in stimulating the pancreas and enhancing insulin production.

Identifying a Diabetic Person from Non-Diabetic

A group of researchers from Imperial College London and Harvard School of Public Health recently conducted a survey regarding the issue on diabetes and based on their study, they found out that there is a staggering increase of 133% on the number of people with the said disorder worldwide. In spite of all controls, so many individuals nowadays are still diagnosed to be diabetic. Claimed as the world’s fifth most common killer disease, such disorder has already caused distressingly high mortality rates worldwide. And what is more surprising for this health report is that if the up surge continues, the researchers predicted that the 150M global diabetes population today will become 350M in 30 years.

Wondering how a person is called diabetic? That is through the help of specialized medical equipments being used by healthcare professionals. During laboratory tests, the doctor will take a specimen from that patient and this will be used in determining the amount of glucose (sugar) present in the blood. The blood glucose level result varies from the type of test that the medical professional (who often comes with a hanging stethoscope on the neck) performs. Basically, there are 4 types of test that can be performed to an individual in order to measure the blood sugar level and this include simple blood sugar level test, fasting blood sugar level test, oral-glucose-tolerance-test, and A1C test.

For healthy non-diabetic individuals, the normal blood glucose level using the simple blood sugar level test and the fasting blood sugar level test ranges from 80-99 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL). If the medical equipments used for simple blood sugar test reveal a result that ranges from 100-199, then that person will be diagnosed to have pre-diabetes. When we say a person is pre-diabetic, his or her blood sugar level is abnormally high but not high enough to be diagnosed for full-blown diabetes whose blood sugar level to 200 mg/dL based on the result that the medical equipments revealed.

For medical professionals, who is already synonymous to individuals in their lab coat and carry stethoscope, at the same time prefer to use the fasting blood sugar level method, a non-diabetic person should acquire a result of 70-99 mg/dL. A fasting blood sugar level result that is in between 100-125 mg/dL denotes pre-diabetes and more than 200 mg/dL simply means the person is having type 1 or 2 diabetes. Meanwhile for individuals who undergone oral-glucose-tolerance-test, the result should be lesser 140 mg/dL in order to consider them as non-diabetic; those with 140-199 mg/dL indicates that they are pre-diabetic and greater than 200 mg/dL is for diabetic.

How about for A1c test? Well, the result of blood sugar level for people with no diabetes should fall in between 4-6%. But if the medical equipments used for hemoglobin A1c test display7%, then this simply means that the person is suffering from type 1 o type 2 diabetes. Taking precautionary measure is vital to prevent larger complications.