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Diabetes and Behavior
January 27, 2009 |
For people who have Type 2 diabetes, their daily actions can greatly affect the
seriousness of the disease. Amy Carroll works at Lee Diabetes Care with Lee Memorial Health System. She says, “There are people who I’ve seen who have applied lifestyle
changes and just like that, lost 70 pounds, go off all of their diabetes medications.
You’re not ever cured form Type 2 diabetes but you can control it. Exercising is
going to make your cells more sensitive to the insulin to pull the glucose in and
use it for energy versus keeping your blood sugar high.”
Along with exercise, eating healthy is a key part of managing both types of diabetes.
Patients with Type 1 are encouraged to pay close attention to what they eat, that’s
because food can affect the amount of insulin they need to put into their body.
“They have to take their insulin from an injection or an insulin pump. That person has to know what they’re putting in their mouth, what their blood sugar is
and give their insulin so they’re pretty much just doing what their pancreas did
before but from outside,” says Carroll.
Diabetes doesn’t have to have a negative impact on your life. Staying educated and
proactive in managing the disease can greatly decrease it’s impact. Carroll adds, “There’s Olympic athletes with Type 1 diabetes, there’s NFL players, but they have
to know how to manage it. It’s not going to be overnight, but you make up
your mind to do it and in the long run that’s what’s going to keep those horror
stories that you hear about diabetes from happening.”
For more information on diabetes education and management you can call 239-573-5720.
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