New Year Resolution: Say no to diabetes!
By: Set Medikal
Tags: Healthy Lifestyle, Diabetes, New Year

Sweet November has gone, Christmas and New Year have arrived, and finally, we are almost there to leave the most challenging year behind. We all wish for a better start in the upcoming year and we have already started our new year resolutions. However, we all should remind ourselves of the importance of paying attention to eating healthy, breathing rightly, and loving truly.

Today, we want to focus on diabetes, in which the key element is eating healthy.

So, what is diabetes, and how are 465 million people with diabetes struggling from it?

As SET Medikal Business Development Team, we are working not only to look for cash cows, dogs, stars and question marks, but also to bring awareness for all of us to benefit.

Frankly, the case is pretty simple. We need enough energy to survive and to continue running our daily errands. In almost everything we eat, there is sugar (glucose). After a single bite and a series of reactions following it, the glucose goes into our blood, then to our cells, and our body finally starts generating power.

For our cells to generate the necessary power, they need a unique key to open the doors and welcome the glucose. That key is a hormone named insulin, released by a very crucial organ called the pancreas.

If the released insulin amount is low or even none, you become a Type-I Diabetes (T1D) patient. If the cells block the insulin hormone transmission, you become a Type-II Diabetes (T2D) patient. To use the loose glucose in the bloodstream, which is not used by the cells, T1D patients need a locksmith service, external insulin intake. Simple, right?

10% of the T1D patients live with an insulin-depended life, generally starting at birth or a very young age. The rest become diabetes patients due to a low-quality diet consisting of more fat and sugar than the body needs and a sedentary lifestyle, resulting in obesity. The great news is T2D is reversible if the patient is careful, carries on a healthy diet, and is not resisting to change the old habits.

We should all understand one thing!

Compared to a healthy individual, the life of a person with diabetes is complicated and very challenging. According to the IDF statistics, people with diabetes make 300 decisions about managing their situation, such as eating, drinking, finger pricking (blood sample from the finger), insulin intaking, resting, sleeping, and training.

Although diabetes technologies are accessible more than ever, and the technology is getting advanced every other day, the vast majority of the people living with diabetes are collecting blood samples from their fingers four times a day. They are checking their blood glucose levels (BGL), injecting insulin, counting carbohydrates, waking up in the middle of the night, and struggling with mood swings due to insulin highs and lows.

Alerts for Diabetes

Significant Weight Loss

The glucose that never gets into the cell and not plays its role in generating energy keeps hanging around in the bloodstream. However, due to the energy demand and to maintain autonomous activities, our bodies apply to the second energy source, the fat. With the approved application, our bodies start burning the fat and causing a rapid weight loss.

Frequent Urination

To remove the excess glucose from the body, our kidneys get into the picture. Patients’ daily toilet visits can be ten times higher than people without diabetes. However, along with glucose, a significant amount of water and minerals also go away in our urine. That is the reason why patients have to increase their daily water consumption.

Having one or both of these symptoms, you should better check your BGL’s. Symptoms may also include the feeling of tired and having sores that always remain. Early diagnosis and proper diabetes management will minimize the harmful effects of the disease.

If not handled correctly or underestimated, diabetes may have devastating effects on the blood cells, eyes, kidneys, and nerve cells. It can cause amputation of a body part or even loss of life.

Whether it is Type I or Type II, you should nurture yourself with the correct and clean, right amount of food, followed by 45-mins of walking and proper resting.

If Your Fasting Blood Glucose is;

Between 50–70 mg/dl, then you might have been suffering from hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is the condition that the BGL is lower than it should be. In this condition, you might have pulse, sweating, feeling of hunger, and anxiety complaints. If it is not responded to accordingly, blood glucose can go lower, and you might start experiencing issues. And even in severe conditions, it can cause a seizure. To protect yourself from hypoglycemia, you better carry a couple of sugar cubes with you.

Between 70–100 mg/dl, it means that you are at the right spot. You can repeat the test on different days to check if you are around that range all the time.

Between 100–125 mg/dl, it can be an alert for Prediabetes. If the results are recurring, you should see a professional.

126mg/dl and high you probably are not a diabetes patient, but it will be useful for you to see a professional.