Articles | Diabetes Healthy Solutions

What is a Normal Glucose Level

For an ever increasing number of people what is a normal glucose level is a really important question. The number of people diagnosed with heart disease, hypertension, and many forms of cancer, has been fairly steady or even slightly declining in recent years, but the number of people with diabetes continues to skyrocket. For those with diabetes what is a normal glucose level is important because low blood glucose levels can be just as much of a concern as high blood glucose levels due to the simple fact the for the body to operate at optimum levels the blood glucose generally needs to stay somewhere between 60 and 10 mg/dl. Diabetes is the number one cause of abnormal blood glucose levels due to the way it affects the way the body is able to metabolize the glucose that is taken in as food.

Glucose is a type of sugar that the body gets from carbohydrates, sugars, and fatty foods that are consumed. Glucose is important because it is used by each cell of the body as a source of fuel, and when glucose levels fall the body begins to shut down just as surely as a car shutting down when the fuel tank is empty. For most diabetics there is a fine line between too much and too little glucose, and they must check their glucose several times a day in order to balance their medication dosage and diet to keep glucose within healthy levels. All it takes is one misjudgment in insulin dosage, or one forgotten meal or snack to cause blood glucose levels to plummet to the point that the diabetic will lose consciousness and could even die without prompt treatment.

If you or someone you know is a diabetic the only way to keep from suffering from low blood glucose levels or high glucose levels is by staying on top of your glucose checks, keeping your diet right, and following your doctors recommendations. You surely don’t want to be on a long trip when your car runs out of gas, and you don’t want to allow your body to suffer from lack of fuel or from an overload of glucose. Be sure and ask your doctor what is a normal glucose level.

Fasting blood glucose level

Let’s face it we all hate to hear our doctor’s tell us that we need to come in for a fasting blood glucose level test. Is it because of the stuff we are required to drink or because we have to go for long periods of time without food or drink? Who knows, we just hate it.

A fasting blood glucose level test is used for many reasons such as family history and diabetes prevention. For many of us, if asked we can tell you someone in our family that we are related to who is diabetic, so by being able to monitor our fasting blood glucose level we can prevent from being diagnosed with diabetes. A fasting blood glucose level test is also performed if a patient starts having signs or symptoms related to diabetes.

A fasting blood glucose level test can be performed in several different ways such as coming into the doctor’s office first thing in the morning after you have been fasting, they will generally stick your finger, take blood or ask for a urine sample and then you may be asked to drink a bottle of basic sugar water or glucose within a certain timeframe and then have your fasting blood glucose level checked again.

Often times even during pregnancy you will be asked for a fasting blood glucose level if you fall into a certain age category, have a family history or are having signs and symptoms of diabetes. Often times when someone is having multiple births or pregnant with multiples such as twins or triplets they may be tested for fasting blood glucose level. By being able to test for diabetes during pregnancy the baby can be prevented as well from possibly having gestational diabetes later on after birth. If a woman is diagnosed as having diabetes during pregnancy she can take the precautionary measures in preventing from later having full blown diabetes.

Glucose monitoring kits

What exactly is a glucose monitoring kit? A glucose monitoring kit is a kit that most diabetics need to start off with because it has all of the necessities that diabetics need in order to start maintaining their diabetes. Glucose monitoring kits often times contain the blood glucose monitor, test strips, lancets and a journal or log so that you can keep your readings logged into it.

Glucose monitoring kits often times even come with a sample diabetes diet in which you can follow to help you know what to eat as well as a small brochure which will help you learn more things about diabetes that can be helpful to you.

When you first become a diabetic it often times can be scary and the more information that you have available to you the better off you are. Glucose monitoring kits often times will be given through hospitals or doctor’s offices as sample packs to a new diabetic so that they have time to research all the diabetic monitoring machines, test strips and all of the other diabetic equipment out there.

Glucose monitoring kits can be purchased at retail stores which will save you money because they have all the things that you need in order to keep your diabetes maintained. Glucose monitoring kits are a great idea because you can have everything you need to maintain your diabetes in one small carrying case so that it is portable and easy to keep up with as you go.

If you know someone who is a diabetic and has trouble keeping up with all of the supplies you may want to purchase a glucose monitoring kit for them or suggest it to them so that they can keep all of their diabetic supplies in one great location.

Diabetic Diet in Spanish, where can it be found?

So many people are being diagnosed these days with diabetes but have you noticed that the majority of times you can only find diabetic literature in English why can you not find a diabetic diet in Spanish?

The Diabetic diet is a very essential part of diabetes because without it diabetics would really be hurting and in trouble, so if you can’t find literature in your preferred format then what use is it to you? So is there diabetic diet in Spanish out there? What about German, Greek or Italian?

When you first get diagnosed with diabetes, it can be a scary thing especially for someone who has never been around someone with diabetes before. Diabetics have to watch and monitor everything that they do such as exercise, diet, what they wear, sugar intake, medications, etc. Being a diabetic changes a person’s life – forever.

For many people when they first get told that they are diabetic, they are confused and often times cluseless; they don’t know what to eat so why not find a diabetic diet that they can follow or at least to help them get started.

Diabetic diet in Spanish can be found in a variety of places such as online, through your doctor’s office or at your local library. The Diabetic diet in Spanish will contain all of the same elements that an English version has but just be translated in Spanish instead.

The Diabetic diet is a very key part of maintaining diabetes because too much sugar can lead to diabetic shock, coma or the organs shutting down because they have to start working too hard. The diabetic diet is also important because it allows a diabetic to remain healthy which whether or not you are diabetic is always a good thing.

So rather you need a diabetic diet in Spanish or English there is a wide variety of places that they can be found.

Meal Planning for Diabetics

These days fitness is all the rage, and all kinds of diets have become commonplace as people seek to lose extra pounds in order to look good on the beach or in the gym, but meal planning for diabetics can be a matter of true healthcare rather than just an effort to look their best. While for most people the issue of diet can often be solved by simply limiting their dietary intake of calories, those who suffer from diabetes must be extremely careful where those calories come from, as their condition prohibits their body from metabolizing the sugars that the take in from their foods.

While many people think of food sugars as being derived from sugarcane, corn, or maple syrup or some other type of sweetening agent, the truth is that food sugars are also derived from sources starches and fats which the body metabolizes into glucose, which is the same kind of sugar the body makes form cane sugar.

Glucose is needed by the body because it is the source of fuel for the cells, but glucose can only be used by the cells in the presence of a hormone called insulin. In diabetes, the pancreas either does not produce sufficient insulin, or the cells of the body are resistant to the insulin which is produced, and this can allow glucose levels to rise dangerously in the bloodstream. Therefore meal planning for diabetics must take this into account and limit not only the amount of sweets but also the amount of starchy foods like potatoes, rice, and breads. As a general rule, white foods are bad foods due to the level of starches in them.

The best place to get advice on meal planning for diabetics is from your personal physician. If you are a diabetic, your personal physician will be familiar with your typs of diabetes as well as your overall health and is the person best qualified to offer food advice.