What are fasting blood glucose levels? For a common diabetic, fasting is a very important thing to know as it affects your entire life. For those who are caretakers of common diabetics this is also very important so that they can properly care for the diabetic. Diabetes is a condition that is becoming more and more common in today’s world, no wonder – due to the large amounts of sugar filled meals and snacks we eat.
Diabetes is also known as hyperglycemia, which stands for high blood glucose levels. When your diabetic body has diabetes the pancreas produces too little of the chemical known as Insulin, this chemical is used by the body to convert the blood sugar in the blood into energy that the body’s cells can use. When this chemical is too low the amount of sugar in the blood rises to dangerously high levels. This can cause serious damage to the diabetic body over time such as heart disease, eye failure, nerve damage, and kidney failure. But all of this can be avoided if you keep your blood sugar levels at a healthy level.
In order to keep a fasting blood glucose levels you should buy a small unit called a blood glucose meter. This small unit is used to measure the amount of glucose (sugar) in your blood. The units are small enough to be held in your hand and easy to read. The glucose units use small plastic strips with special chemicals inside them to help measure the blood sugar. First a small amount of blood is inserted to a small opening in the plastic strip. (The blood is drawn using a special needle known as a lancet) The plastic strip is inserted into the meter and the meter measures it and displays the results on a small screen on the side. These small units are very cheap and can even be gotten for free if need be. The fasting for blood glucose levels amount are 64.8 mg/dl to 120 mg/dl. A person with diabetes will have their blood sugar way higher that so they must keep it in check. Also talk to your doctor about keeping fasting blood glucose levels.
In order to understand what is the cause of diabetes, it’s important to get a few of the basic facts about the disease first.
Diabetes is a non-communicable disease that affects people of all ages from kids all the way through to seniors. Diabetes is a very serious, not only because of the health risks associated with it, but also that it is affecting more and more people every year, not just in North America, but across the entire world.
Diabetes is the Lack of, or Inefficiency of Insulin in Your Body
The way that our body becomes energized is by having the food we eat be broken down into glucose so that it can enter into the blood stream and be delivered to the cells that need energy.
For the cells to use this energy they need insulin, produced by the pancreas. Without the insulin, it’s like the cells are starving for energy because they can’t access the glucose in the bloodstream.
This is really bad, and another way to think about how bad this can be is to think about how you breathe. Your body needs oxygen to survive, and the lungs are the organs that can change the oxygen in the air into oxygen that is usable for your body.
If you think about the way that lungs convert the oxygen so that it can be used, insulin is doing the same thing with the energy being delivered to the cells. Without the insulin, the cells starve, just like without our lungs we would not be able to breathe.
Without the proper amounts of this necessary sugar changing chemical/hormone the blood, glucose levels in the blood stream begin to rise to extremely high levels. Once they reach a certain level the body systems begins to suffer cell damage.
Understanding this condition can be complicated. A good start for someone who wants more insight and possibly a need to help can begin by looking into their choices of masters of nursing programs. You can learn at your own pace and gain the experience needed to truly help friends, family and people alike.
The major cell damage most commonly associated with high blood sugar levels are:
Severe nerve cell damage
Heart damage
Kidney damage
Severe eye damage
This can be avoided if the diabetic can regulate and keep their blood sugar amounts in a normal range for their body that is neither too high or too low.
The next important thing to understand is that there are two different types of diabetes:
type 1 diabetes
type 2 diabetes
The Cause of Type 1 Diabetes
Unfortunately, there is nothing that someone can do about type 1 diabetes, at least not with the current medical expertise that we have today. Type 1 diabetes is caused because your body has ceased to produce insulin.
For one reason or another your body has attacked the pancreas and it is no longer able to function correctly. This type of diabetes can affect anyone and is not dependent on lifestyle.
Type 1 diabetes usually occurs in people under the age of 40, and rarely affects those over 40, and those affected will need to take insulin to regulate their blood sugar level for the rest of their lives.
The Cause of Type 2 Diabetes
Luckily, type 2 diabetes is preventable and in some cases reversible. The reason that we can affect this type of diabetes is that it is largely caused by poor diet, and lack of exercise.
Genetics can come into play here, so if someone in your family has developed type 2 diabetes then you may be at a higher risk for developing it yourself, so you should take care to live a healthy lifestyle so that you won’t have to worry about diabetes.
More good news:85% of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. What this means is that it is within your power to resist the development of diabetes.
Remember that the main causes of type 2 diabetes are:
Lack of exercise
Poor diet
Excess body fat for a prolonged period of time
The Major Causes of Diabetes
The amount of insulin being produced by the body is not enough
The cells have developed a resistance to the insulin and it is not working as effectively as it once did.
The problem with insulin resistance is that what used to work fine for the body, slowly becomes ineffective over time. With this in mind it’s important to realize that your general health and fitness level is very important, and if you want to avoid problems like diabetes later in life, that you should be making good health choices today.
When it comes to eating healthy for most people the main concern is excess weight, a diabetes sugar diet can be a matter of life and death. The body needs glucose since glucose is the fuel for cellular activity. In a normal person even the most sugary and fatty foods will not cause glucose levels to rise beyond acceptable limits because as glucose levels rise the brain signals the pancreas to release a hormone called insulin. Insulin allows glucose to cross over from the blood into the cells to be used as energy, and if there is still too much glucose after cellular energy requirements are met it is stored for future use. In a diabetic, either the pancreas no longer produces insulin or the cells are resistant to the effects of insulin, therefore the glucose level in the blood can rise to harmful levels.
Sugary foods such as candies, sodas, and other sweets can cause the glucose to quickly soar to much higher than acceptable limits and those on a diabetes sugar diet should generally stay away from such foods. Starches like those found in white colored foods like whitebread, rice, and potatoes can also make glucose climb rapidly because the starches are broken down into glucose by the body. A diabetes sugar diet is an important part of the overall health plan that every diabetic should follow to maintain healthy blood glucose levels and head off the worst health effects of diabetes. Diabetes and maintaining your sugar is always key and essential because with high blood sugar you will start having too many medical problems and situations can arise so why not maintain your blood glucose sugar properly as you should? You will be amazed at how much better you will feel with a properly maintained blood sugar level as well as how much healthier you will be.
What is the use to compare glucose meters? Diabetes is a seriously serious condition that affects the body in a bad way. Diabetes is where the body has a high blood sugar and this can because of several reasons. There are actually three different types of diabetes and each is caused by something different.
The first and main form is where the body creates too little of the chemical insulin. This first form is usually diagnosed when the person is young and a still a child. This first form is really hard on a family as it requires full diet changes to everything. The second form is due to the body not producing enough of the insulin and the body not responding well to the insulin that it is given. This is also most commonly associated with people who are way overweight and do not exercise enough. This second kind affects more people than any other form of the condition. This is because of the vast amounts of sweet stuffed foods people in the United States eat every day.
The third and last type is called gestational diabetes and only forms when a woman is pregnant and usually ends after the woman has delivered the child. The problem with gestational or any form of diabetes is that it damages the body. The main damage that is caused by diabetes is permanent and damages the cells of the heart, nerves, eyes, and kidneys; it also increases the chances on contracting heart and kidney disease. This damage is all permanent and is usually not noticed till years later. This makes controlling a diabetic’s blood sugar extremely important. So what is the use of compare glucose meters?
To compare between glucose meters is extremely important. Diabetics have to use these daily so they must know how to use it properly and effectively. So comparing monitors is necessary to pick your best monitor. So now you know what compare glucose meters is for.
What are Elevated blood sugar levels? Elevated sugar levels can mean many things. Diabetes is the main one but other factors such as just eating and such can cause this. Diabetes is a very, very serious disease/condition that affects over 30 million people in the United States alone.
This disease is fueled by large the large amount of sweet packed foods and the defective diabetes gene that is being passed on by the long lives of diabetics. Diabetes is a condition where the pancreas is failing to produce enough or any of the chemical/hormone called insulin. Insulin is a very, very important hormone/chemical to the body. It is used by the body systems to transform the sugar/glucose in the blood into fuel that the body’s cells can use. Without the proper insulin amounts in the blood the cells get no food to run on and the sugar levels start to rise to dangerous levels.
The sugar levels reach a level around 140 mg/dl the body starts to suffer damage. The serious damage that occurs is permanent and will not be reversed. The damage generally occurs to the eye, heart, kidney, and nerves. The main foot nerves get the most damage and usually lose their feeling over the years. But this can be mostly avoided if the diabetic can use certain things to rid itself of the excess sugar. So how can you lower elevated blood sugar levels?
The first way to lower elevated blood sugar level is to talk to your doctor he can give you the best information on the subject. Diet, exercise, and glucose monitoring also helps. Diets can severely reduce glucose levels so talk to your doctor about a diabetic diet. Also talk to your doctor on how you can lower elevated blood sugar levels.
What are fasting blood glucose levels? For a common diabetic, fasting is a very important thing to know as it affects your entire life. For those who are caretakers of common diabetics this is also very important so that they can properly care for the diabetic. Diabetes is a condition that is becoming more and more common in today’s world, no wonder – due to the large amounts of sugar filled meals and snacks we eat.
