Tag: #type2diabetes

Remembering Grandma

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It has been exactly 20 years today since my grandmother passed away. My grandmother was a fierce, intelligent woman who held our family together.

I was a teenager when my grandma’s health declined. She had congestive heart failure, diabetes, and was legally blind. As a teen, I did not understand the extent of her health problems nor how they related.

Now that I’m living with the same diabetes diagnosis, I understand what my grandma was going through, how diabetes and heart disease are linked and how those issues can potentially limit your life.

It’s my mission to share what I’ve learned with people with diabetes and their loved ones. There is a family history of diabetes on both sides, and I just want to do my part in changing the narrative.

On this day of remembrance, I want to encourage you to keep your health in check: learn more about your condition, maintain a healthy diabetes management routine, and if you need help, don’t be afraid to ask. Don’t let diabetes limit your life.

Until Next Time,

The Genetic Diabetic

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Motivational Monday

Every member of this community is here because they or someone they know is battling diabetes.
Diabetes is a life-long condition that takes work for us to manage. What may work for us one day might not work the next. So many factors contribute to our numbers fluctuating. There’s always a chance that the condition will progress even if you do everything you can.

However, we still have three options for how to approach the way we handle this:

– Giving up and don’t do anything about this condition

– Giving in and doing the least we can to treat this condition

OR

– Giving our best and not only control our condition, but do our best to learn about diabetes and to try and discover ways to stop its progression by doing our best. Additionally, even when treatment fails, you don’t give up or give in.

This week’s Motivational Monday’s Message:

Don’t give up.

Don’t give in.

⭐️Give it all you’ve got⭐️

Until Next Time,

The Genetic Diabetic

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Food and Nutrition Friday: Hydrating Foods

Today, we’ll talk about how to stay hydrated with the food we eat!

Soups and Broths

A great way to hydrate your body is by drinking soups and bone broth. Soups based on broths like non-creamy chicken noodle soup, french onion soup, vegetable soup, and bone broths can help provide total fluid needs and are high in sodium, which is beneficial to your hydration. Sodium is lost through perspiration, and it must be replaced. If you’re athletic or highly active, replacing sodium is especially important.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Food is able to meet about 20% of your hydration needs, which is why eating fresh fruits and vegetables can enhance your hydration levels. Fruits and vegetables also have various minerals and fibers that promote a healthy metabolism.
Here are some fruits and vegetables and their water content percentages:

Cucumber- 96%

Watermelon- 96%

Pineapple- 95%

Celery- 95%

Lettuce- 95%

Blueberries- 95%

Tomatoes- 94%

Pear- 92%

Grapefruit- 90%

Melon- 89%

If you have trouble keeping hydrated, these are great options for preventing dehydration and keeping your blood sugar levels at a reasonable level!

Until Next Time,

The Genetic Diabetic

Wellness Wednesday: Ways to Combat Diabetes Distress and Burnout to Prevent Depression

Yesterday, we’ve discussed diabetes distress and diabetes burnout. To recap:

Diabetes distress occurs when someone feels overwhelmed by the daily demands of managing diabetes.

Diabetes burnout occurs when a person becomes tired of managing their condition, and then ignores it for a while, or even permanently.

If diabetes distress and burnout are not taken care of, both could lead to depression.

There are ways to prevent diabetes distress and burnout before they cause serious long-term complications or lead to clinical depression.

  1. Observe your feelings. When you have diabetes, you can experience frustration, stress, and fatigue a lot more than usual. When you experience these feelings for a long period of time, you might need help managing your diabetes.
  2. Speak with your healthcare provider about your feelings. If you are experiencing any difficulties with your diabetes care, talk to your doctor, nurse, diabetes educator, psychologist, or social worker. They can help you with problem-solving your diabetes concerns. They may also suggest that you speak with other health care providers.
  3. Consult your healthcare provider if you are experiencing negative reactions from others. It is important not to feel that you must hide your diabetes from others; your health care provider can help you manage feelings of being judged by others.
  4. Find out if you can receive assistance with the costs of diabetes medicines and supplies. Your pharmacist and health care provider may be able to assist you with the cost of your medication if you are concerned about the cost. Additionally, look into community health centers to see if they offer programs to help people get insulin, medicines for diabetes, and supplies (test trips, syringes, etc.).
  5. Talk to your family and friends. Tell the people around you how you feel about having diabetes. Be honest about the problems you’re having. Just verbalizing how you feel can have a positive effect on reducing stress. However, in some cases, the people around you can add to it. Be clear about how and when you need their help.
  6. Allow your loved ones to help you manage diabetes. The people who are closest to you can help you to take your medicine, monitor your blood sugar levels, participate in physical activity with you, and prepare healthy meals. They can also learn more about diabetes and go with you to appointments. Provide your loved ones with ways to help you manage your diabetes that are useful to you.
  7. Speak to others who suffer from diabetes. It may help to talk with others who have diabetes. They can give you insight into how they manage their diabetes and what works for them. Other people with diabetes can help you feel less alone and overwhelmed. You can find diabetic support groups in your community or online by asking your healthcare provider.
  8. Focus on one thing at a time. Managing your diabetes can be overwhelming. If you are suffering from diabetes distress, make a list of every task that you have to do each day. Try to complete every task one at a time.
  9. Take it one step at a time. You don’t have to meet your fitness goals immediately. You may want to walk for 10 minutes, three times a day, five days a week, but you can do it by walking twice a day or every other day.
  10. Spend time doing what you enjoy. Take time to do something you enjoy; it might be talking to a friend, playing with your children, or working on a project you enjoy. Look for activities around your area that you can do with a friend.

When you address the source of your distress and burnout, you will be able to regain control of your diabetes management with the help and resources you need.

Please don’t wait to get help, you don’t have to suffer diabetes stress or burnout any longer.

Until Next Time,

The Genetic Diabetic