5 Strategies to Better Manage Diabetes

When you get a diagnosis like diabetes, especially Type 2 diabetes, more potential health problems lie in wait down the road. From vision loss to diabetic foot ulcers, it’s no exaggeration to say that the complications that are linked to diabetes can impact you from head to toe.

If you count yourself among the more than 38 million Americans with diabetes, there’s one thing you should know — these complications can be prevented with good diabetes management practices.

As November is National Diabetes Month, the multidisciplinary team of healthcare providers at Michigan Avenue Primary Care aims to focus on diabetes management and preventive care best practices here. Let’s take a look.

The complications of diabetes

To provide you with a little more motivation, we will briefly review some of the more common complications associated with diabetes. Complications that largely stem from mismanaged diabetes. 

The reality is that many people get to a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis because of unhealthy practices — practices that can not only lead to diabetes, but set the stage for further issues.

As a result, people with diabetes are more at risk for:

• Heart disease — people with diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease
• Chronic kidney disease which affects one out of three adults with diabetes
• Peripheral neuropathy, which affects at least half of people with diabetes
• Vision loss
• Gum disease
• Diabetic foot ulcers and amputation

As you can see, there are some serious, and even life-threatening, conditions on this list. Conditions that can be avoided if you act quickly to better manage your diabetes.

Diabetes best practices 

At the heart of diabetes are higher-than-normal glucose levels in your blood, thanks to a lack of insulin and insulin resistance. And it’s these high glucose levels that lead to many of the complications we outlined above.

People with Type 2 diabetes, as we mentioned, are often diagnosed as adults and only after years of poor health habits that create the imbalance between glucose and insulin. So, this is where you should focus your efforts — undoing these bad habits to create better balance.

To do this, we highly recommend:

1. Daily glucose monitoring

One of the most important steps you can take is to monitor your blood sugar levels regularly, and daily is best. By staying on top of these levels and responding when they’re high, you can keep unregulated glucose from wreaking more havoc in your body.

2. Insulin therapy

Many people with diabetes use insulin therapy to make up for the lack of insulin and insulin resistance. This infusion of insulin helps maintain blood sugar levels within healthy ranges.

3. Eat for better health

It’s imperative that you change some of the habits that may have led to your Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, especially when it comes to diet. Eating foods that are heavy on trans and saturated fats, carbohydrates, and sugar should be kept to a minimum. 

Instead, we encourage you to adopt a Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes healthy fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins. For more on the Mediterranean diet, click here.

4. Move more

Another contributor to diabetes and its complications is a lack of exercise. When you move, it encourages your circulation to flow better and your body to use glucose, both of which are essential for good health.

So, we recommend that you get exercise every day — at least 30 minutes, but more is better. 

5. Lose weight

Carrying excess pounds can not only lead to your original diabetes diagnosis, but it also makes you more vulnerable to the health complications we’ve been discussing. So, weight loss is an excellent way to take charge of your health. The good news is that with dietary changes and an increase in exercise, as we have already reviewed, you’ll be able to shed the pounds more quickly.

If you make the effort to manage your diabetes better, you will not only be rewarded with fewer complications, but you can also greatly improve your overall health on every level.

To schedule a consultation with one of our diabetes experts to develop a more personalized diabetes management plan, please contact us at our clinic in Chicago, Illinois, located in The Loop. You can also visit our urgent care center during operating hours, Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4 pm.