Tuesday, December 27, 2011

New Year’s Resolutions for Diabetics from Wayne HealtchCare

The New Year means setting resolutions. As a diabetic, this is a great time to set realistic goals for your diabetes management. Take a few moments to reflect on your diabetes care during the past year and decide which area(s) you feel ready to make small changes. Focus on the Self Care Behavioral Goals: healthy eating, being active, monitoring, taking medication, problem solving, healthy coping, and reducing risk.
Here are some areas to focus your goals to stay healthy with diabetes:

  • Take your diabetes medications as prescribed. Consider having your physician adjust your medication or start insulin if needed to help control your blood glucose. Remember adjusting your diabetes plan of care does not mean you have failed in your diabetes management. Diabetes is a progressive disease and adjustments will need to be made on occasion.
  • Eat balanced meals which contain food items from the different food groups to provide needed nutrients. Do not skip meals. Keep your intake of carbohydrates consistent. Increase your fiber intake gradually. Limit your intake of empty calories, high sodium foods, unhealthy fats or fried food items.
  • Carry a fast acting source of carbohydrate with you to properly treat hypoglycemia when it occurs.
  • Focus on increasing your movement. Let's do the math. There are 1440 minutes in a day. Experts say you only need to be physically active for 30 of those minutes. Start out slowly and look for ways to be more active throughout the day: walk the dog, take one bag of groceries in the house at a time, park farther away in the parking lot, or walk around the room during commercials.
  • Miss fewer blood glucose checks. Observe for patterns in your blood glucose and tell your physician or educator about these patterns.
  • Get support from family, friends, etc. Let them know what type of support you need to better manage your diabetes. (Examples: place the meter on the table to remind me to test my blood glucose, call me to go for a walk, or try a new recipe with me).
  • Reduce your risk of complications by: having a diluted eye exam, check feet daily, stop tobacco use, or have your kidney function checked.


If you are interested in learning additional ways to help improve/maintain your blood glucose levels consider attending Group Diabetes Classes at Wayne HealthCare. This program will provide you with the knowledge to help make healthy lifestyle decisions regarding your management of diabetes. The classes are for individuals who are newly diagnosed and individuals who have had diabetes for years.

Group classes meet once a week for four weeks. During the classes you will learn the following: 1) facts associated with diabetes, 2) the relationship between diabetes and healthy eating, 3) the value of monitoring and using the blood glucose results, 4) the importance of exercise, 5) how diabetic medications work, and 6) ways to reduce risk of complications.

The cost of each class is $10 or $40 for the series of four classes. The first class of the New Year will be held January 9, 17, 23, and 30, 2012 from 1 pm- 3 pm. Pre-registration for the classes is required.

This these dates do not work with your schedule the classes will be held at alternating times throughout the day. Morning classes will be held from 9 am-11 am in March, June, October and December. Afternoon classes will be held from 1pm -3 pm in January, April, July, August, and November. Evening classes will be held from 6pm-8pm in February, May, and September.

If you prefer to meet individually with the Certified Diabetes Educator, you can receive education regarding Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) and Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT).

During DSME, you can learn more about the following: 1) using a meter and how to interpret blood glucose results, 2) how diabetic medications work on the body to improve blood glucose, 3) overview of diabetes, 4) the progression of diabetes, 5) ways to incorporate physical activity into your lifestyle to help manage diabetes, 6) reducing complications, and 7) controlling blood glucose.

During MNT education, you will learn that by planning and moderation an individualized meal plan can fit into your lifestyle. We will discuss the different nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. The educator will incorporate the diabetic diet into others diets you may be following (low cholesterol, low sodium).
Medicare patients with diabetes will have co-payments and deductibles waived for Medical Nutrition Therapy, under the Affordable Care Act. This means that if you are on Medicare, it should not cost you anything to receive education regarding the diabetic diet. Medicare should pay for 80% of Diabetes Self-Management Education.

For more information regarding the programs offered by Wayne HealthCare Diabetes Self Management Program please call 937-547-5750.

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