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I want to

Learn to Manage Your Diabetes

posted by Darlene DeWitt, MS, RD, LD on Monday, November 16, 2020

If you have diabetes, you know how challenging it can be to manage. You’re expected to eat a healthy and balanced diet, get plenty of physical activity, monitor your blood glucose (sugar) throughout the day, take your medications as prescribed, and do all of this to reduce your risk for complications. At times it might seem overwhelming, but you can thrive with diabetes with the assistance of diabetes care and education specialists.

Diabetes care and education specialists work with you to develop a management plan that fits your lifestyle, beliefs, and culture. They’ll help you understand how to use devices like meters, insulin pens, pumps, and continuous glucose monitoring devices; and use the information from these devices and will consider your lifestyle to identify patterns and opportunities for improvement. You’ll work together to find solutions to address your most pressing challenges. Dietitians will help you to evaluate how foods that you eat affect your blood sugar, discuss meal patterns, snacks, and look for ways to help you develop skills to eat in a more healthful way at home and away from home. They also discuss foods to focus on heart health and mindful eating strategies.

Diabetes education can help people with all types of diabetes better manage their blood glucose, develop coping skills to address the daily challenges of the disease, reduce the risks for complications, decrease costs by reducing or eliminating the need for medications and emergency room visits, and help find and access cost-savings programs.

Medicare and most health insurance plans cover diabetes education when it is certified through an accredited diabetes education program. Spencer Hospital has a Certified Diabetes Education Program and we would love to see you.

Ask your primary care provider about working with our Diabetes Education Care Team or call Robin at 712-264-8421 for an appointment.

There are resources available to help you manage diabetes, including the American Diabetes Association. They have a free Living With Type 2 Diabetes program you can join by calling 1-800-DIABETES.

Diabetesfoodhub.org is a food resource that allows you to create a profile and get help finding recipes and making meal plans. The American Heart Association has a great website that also features a store full of cookbooks at heart.org.