Some health care professionals say that diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. 100 million U.S. adults are now living with the condition or prediabetes. That’s when blood glucose levels are too high, but not high enough to be called diabetes. Santa Ana’s South Coast Post Acute would like to take a few minutes to delve into the topic of diabetes and ways to treat it.
Diabetes is a medical condition in which the body does not properly process the food we ingest for use as energy. Most of the food we put in our bodies is turned into glucose, or sugar, for our bodies to use for energy. When you have the disease, your body either doesn’t manufacture enough insulin or can’t use its own insulin as well as it should. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. and can lead to complications such as premature death, heart disease, vision loss, kidney failure, and amputations of legs, toes, and feet.
Over the last decade, the cases of people living with the disease jumped almost 50 percent, to more than 30 million Americans. That’s 9.4 percent of the U.S. population. Another 84.1 million have prediabetes, a condition that if not treated often leads to Type 2 diabetes within five years. Living with diabetes puts a large emotional, physical and financial burden on entire families–each year, diabetes costs the American public more than $245 billion.
To treat Type 2, eat a diet that is low in sugar, including from fruit, as well as saturated fats. Control your glucose level and manage your weight with aerobic exercise, such as walking, swimming, and bicycling. Check your blood glucose levels regularly.
If you have questions about dealing with this horrible disease, contact South Coast Post Acute today.
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