Tag: Blood Sugar Levels

Type I Diabetes Diet

According to the American Diabetes association and the American Dietetic Association, there are very specific guidelines regarding your diet if you have Diabetes and the following article will outline those guidelines for your Type I diabetes diet.

Diet is important when you have diabetes because the insulin you take helps control your blood sugar levels but cannot do it all by itself. You must follow a balanced Type I diabetes diet to be able to maintain consistent blood sugar levels throughout your day.

If you have been recently diagnosed with diabetes and need to give yourself insulin shots everyday, or several times a day, then you should do yourself a favor and make sure that you start eating your meals at the same times every day. This will help you stabilize your blood sugar levels quicker and decrease any signs and symptoms of hyperglycemia (too much sugar in the blood stream), or hypoglycemia (too little sugar in the blood stream).

Keeping everything balanced is your best bet to making sure that your blood sugars remain stable. This is key to your continuing good health. Limit your carbohydrate intake and get some regular exercise, even if it is just a walk through the neighborhood everyday. These two things along with your regular monitoring of your blood sugar and taking the insulin as directed by your doctor will make managing your diabetes a lot easier.

Carbohydrates are also known as simple sugars. This means that when you eat them they are immediately converted to sugar for energy in your blood stream. When your pancreas is not working right, it cannot release insulin to combat the increase of sugar in your blood. This is why you need to give yourself insulin when you eat.

Planning your meals does not have to be a chore. To make it easier, sit down once a week and make up a menu for that week. Balance every meal with protein, carbs and a little fat. Once you have it all written down then making your grocery list is easy. Make sure you throw in some healthy snacks, too, and never, ever skip meals.

Your doctor will most likely refer you to a dietitian. They can help you figure out how to change your eating habits so you are getting all the nutrients you need and customize a meal plan to help control your blood sugar levels. If you follow all of their recommendations you really should be able to manage your diabetes quite well.

If, at any time, you have a question about something you want to eat and are unsure if you can, or should, call your doctor or dietitian to make sure that what you want to eat fits into your Type I diabetes diet. Keeping a close eye on everything you put into your mouth, getting some regular exercise, and working with your doctor to get to the right insulin dosage can keep you from having an unstable range of blood sugars and an increased risk of experiencing complications from diabetes.

Onset Diabetes Diet

If you have been diagnosed with onset diabetes diet changes are one of the things you will need to consider to help you control your blood sugars. Do not panic, this is not going to be that hard. Talk to your doctor first and see if she wants you to consult with a dietitian, especially if you are unsure of where to begin.

Learning what foods to eat, how much of them to eat and at what times to eat them should all be taken into consideration when talking about an onset diabetes diet. Your biggest challenge now is to learn to keep your blood sugar levels consistent throughout your day.

Making good food choices and eating at the same times everyday will help you start to feel better, maybe lose some excess weight, and decrease your risk of developing complications of diabetes like heart disease, stroke, blindness and other problems caused by diabetes that you should discuss at length with your doctor when she gives you your diagnosis.

Choosing to eat a more healthy diet does not mean you have to give up your favorites. You can still enjoy some of the things you like the best without having to worry about your blood sugar spiking on you. It may just be a matter of eating smaller portions of the things you like the best.

Here are ten ideas to make your choices seem a little easier:

1. Eat a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. They add color to your meals and can make them more appealing to the eye.
2. Eat more whole grain foods like brown rice and whole wheat pastas and breads. Whole grain will keep you fuller longer and will not make your blood sugars spike.
3. Once or twice a week, throw in some dried beans or lentils into the mix. Chili or soup is a great way to fill up without consuming a lot of calories.
4. Fish is a great source of protein and essential fatty acids. Work some into your meal plan two or three times a week.
5. If you have to have red meat, choose a lean cut and if there is any visible fat present, trim it off before you cook it.
6. Chicken and turkey are loaded with protein, just make sure the skin is removed first.
7. Make your dairy foods non-fat or low-fat.
8. Drink lots of water. Stay away from sweetened drinks like soda.
9. Use olive oil or canola oil to cook with instead of margarine or butter, you do n ot need the calories or saturated fats.
10. You can still have dessert, just watch your portion sizes. Try cutting back to a half portion or maybe even smaller if you can.

See, not so hard, you can do this onset diabetes diet. It may take a little practice at first but you will soon be able to incorporate these guidelines into your day and make it seem like you have been doing it all your life. So much better to control your blood sugars every day. So, talk to your doctor about everything and ask for help if you need it.

Low Blood Sugar Child

Low blood sugar child, also called hypoglycemia, can be caused by many different things. The good news is that it is preventable as long as you keep it under supervision. Some kids tend to have problems with low blood sugar more than others. There are common signs that you can keep an eye out for. Once you notice some signs of low blood sugar in your kid, you can then change habits to control the blood sugar levels.

Low blood sugar child symptoms can seem to show up out of the blue. Kids often have big mood swings and we often dismiss them as “a phase” but it can often be a sign of fluctuating blood sugar levels. As a matter of fact, an ADD diagnosis is often the incorrect diagnosis for a child who suffers from hypoglycemia.

Some other common signs of hypoglycemia are turning pale, pounding heart and clammy or shaking hands. The child may not be able to let you know that they feel like they need to eat. They also may be feeling signs of headache or irritability but simply can not convey that to you. If you don’t know that this is the first signs of low blood sugar, you might well just write it off as your child having a bad day or throwing a temper tantrum.

If you start to notice one or more of these warning signs, the best thing to do is give your child a quick sugar spike. Fast acting sugar in the form of juice, dextrose tablets or just a spoonful of sugar can help alleviate the symptoms. You don’t need a lot either, just 4 ozs. of sweetened fruit juice or 2 tbsp. of sugar will be all that is needed. This quick dose of sugar will usually reverse the symptoms in just a few minutes.

If you want to stop the problem before it starts, all you have to do is make sure your child eats at regular intervals throughout the day. Having too long of a time period between meals, especially if your child is getting a lot of physical activity, can cause a drop in blood sugar.

It’s easy to have changes in your schedule from one day to the next, but your kids system isn’t going to be able to handle those changes as well as you would. Try to keep them on a set schedule from one day to the next, no matter how crazy your schedule gets.

Make sure, too, that you don’t feed your kids high carbohydrate meals. When there are a lot of carbs in a meal, your body thinks that it is getting too much sugar and it produces more insulin. The problem is that with a high carb meal, the increase in insulin can cause blood sugar levels to drop dramatically.

Any child can be susceptible to low blood sugar, not just kids with diabetes. Low blood sugar can affect anyone at any age. Low blood sugar child isn’t a big deal and can be easily prevented.

Hypoglycemia Information To Help You Understand

If you think you have hypoglycemia then take heart and keep reading. When you are finished reading this article you will have all the hypoglycemia information you need to help you understand your condition. Understanding what you are dealing with and why are the first steps toward controlling your hypoglycemia.

Hypoglycemia happens when the concentration of sugar, or glucose, in your blood drops to a level your body isn’t used to. Normal values for blood sugar is 70mg/dl to 110mg/dl. If you fall below 70mg/dl and it happens often then you could be hypoglycemic. Anyone can have a glycemic episode once in a while but if you are consistently having symptoms then you and your doctor should discuss adding the diagnosis to your medical chart and starting treatment.

Hypoglycemia may be a precursor to diabetes and the sooner you begin treatment the better off you will be in the long run. Symptoms of mild hypoglycemia include weakness, headache, dizziness, sweating and blurry vision. Some good hypoglycemia information is that these symptoms can be controlled by eating food as soon as you feel them coming on.

Sever hypoglycemia symptoms include heart palpitations and arrhythmia, mental confusion, unusual behavior, convulsions, loss of consciousness and even death if left untreated. Like I said anyone can suffer a hypoglycemic episode, even if they do not have diabetes. Situations which may contribute to having a hypoglycemic episode include eating a meal high in sugar and having your body react by dumping insulin into your system in response to your meal, skipping a meal, not eating or not eating enough when you are supposed to when you feel hungry, exercising too much and drinking too much alcohol can also cause blood sugar levels to drop.

So, how do you prevent or treat you hypoglycemia? Try treating and controlling symptoms by eating small meals throughout the day and limiting carbohydrates. Your doctor may want you to start checking your blood sugar at least daily to get a baseline on where your blood sugars are and what to do about the possibilities of diabetes. Exercise in moderation and do not ever skip meals. Make sure your meals are always balanced without too many carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates convert to simple sugars in your body almost immediately and your pancreas responds in kind and pumps insulin into your system to help manage the blood sugar spike. If you eat too many carbohydrates then the insulin pumped into your system will be a significant amount and will make your blood sugar drop like a stone in a pond. This is where the danger comes in.

If you are already diabetic your doctor should follow you closely until your blood sugars are under control and you get used to the treatment regimen. You may be able to control your diabetes with diet only, if not you will need to get used to giving yourself insulin shots at least daily, sometimes more often.

Hypoglycemia can be a serious medical condition so if it happens more than once talk to your doctor immediately and get hypoglycemia information and learn how to manage your symptoms.