Most Americans with health coverage are covered by one of these plans.

Your employer might contract a large health plan to manage employees' health benefits. As an employee, you might have health plan options, such as a choice of a fee-for-service plan, a Preferred Provider Organization(PPO), or a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). The options usually have different costs...

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Your diabetes logbook is an invaluable tool. The information you enter helps you and your health care provider know whether your diabetes care plan is working. Logbooks also help your health care provider know when to make changes to your diabetes care plan to reduce the risk of complications. This information paints a picture of how food, exercise, medication, and ⁄or insulin affect your blood sugar results.

A Logbook Can Help Your Health Care Provider Help You

Knowing blood sugar readings, grams of carbohydrates eaten, and activity level helps your health care provider prescribe the best treatment for you.

• A well–kept logbook will capture peak times when you take medication or insulin—information that is important when developing a care plan...
  
  

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Taking good care of your diabetes today can help you avoid health-related problems in the future. Your health care team will help you design the best care plan for your individual needs.

The primary goals of a diabetes care plan are to:

• Keep blood sugar readings at target levels.
  • 70 to 130 mg/dL before meals
  • Less than 180 mg/dL two hours after meals
• Maintain your hemoglobin A1C levels at 7% or less...
  
  

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Losing weight is not always easy, but understanding how critical it can be to both preventing and controlling type 2 diabetes is a step in the right direction. Here are some essential facts to get you started. Remember: Slow and steady wins the race.

Losing Excess Weight Can Improve Blood Sugar Control

People who carry excess body weight have extra fatty tissue. This fatty tissue produces substances that are thought to interfere with the body's ability to control blood sugar levels. This can contribute to insulin resistance, the condition in which the body must produce higher-than-normal levels of insulin to move sugar out of the bloodstream and into cells...

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For people with type 2 diabetes, exercise is an essential part of their treatment plan. Exercise helps make the body more sensitive to the action of insulin. Additionally, for people who do not have diabetes, regular exercise is thought to help reduce the risk of its occurrence.

Let's take a look at some of the things that happen after exercise that improve the body's ability to use insulin (medically known as improving insulin sensitivity).

• Exercise increases blood flow to the muscles, and increases the blood's ability to transport certain substances.
• The increased blood flow that occurs with exercise increases the ability of muscle tissue to metabolize substances...
  
  

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Did you know that people with diabetes are at a greater risk of heart disease? According to a survey by the American Diabetes Association^®, many people don't.¹ The survey showed that more than two-thirds (68%) of people with diabetes don't consider heart disease to be a serious complication of diabetes. But in fact, heart attacks occur at an earlier age for people with diabetes, and often have more severe outcomes. Because high cholesterol can be a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke, now is the time to cut it down to healthy levels.

Pinpoint the Problem

Research shows that the majority of people with diabetes have one or more cholesterol problems, including high LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, low HDL (good) cholesterol levels, and increased triglycerides (fat stored in body cells). The only way to tell if your cholesterol is out of the normal range is to have a blood test...

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By keeping a written account of what you eat on a regular basis, you can begin to discover your habits, become more aware of what, when, and why you eat, and make the connection between the foods you eat and your moods.

How to Start Your Diabetes Food Journal

• Keep a record. Document what you've eaten, how long it took you to eat, and how hungry you were at the time.
• Be yourself. Write in the style that feels most comfortable to you - in your own words.
• Be creative. Journals are not just for writing...
  
  

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Eating is a celebration of life for everyone, including people with diabetes. Some people with diabetes shy away from certain foods because they do not know how the foods will affect their blood sugar levels. Take heart, because there is a way to enjoy healthy portions of your favorite foods. Checking your blood sugar levels at regular intervals throughout the day gives you valuable information to help you fit a wider variety of foods into your meal plan.

To understand how foods affect you, check your blood sugar levels regularly — at least as often as your health care provider recommends. Checking often shows you how specific foods affect your levels.

• Choose a smaller serving size.
• Combine foods optimally. Some foods tend to raise blood sugar levels more quickly than others. For example, orange juice (and other juices) raises blood sugar levels relatively quickly, while nuts do not...
  
  

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If your to-do list keeps getting longer, it can be hard to stay on track with good diabetes management. Here are a few simple tips to help you find balance (despite your busy lifestyle).

Eat Right on the Run

• Pack a snack, such as a Glucerna^® Snack Shake or Snack Bar.
• Limit sugary drinks. Instead, choose water, unsweetened tea, or diet soda.
• Use reduced-calorie dressing on salads.
• Eat mindfully. By really tasting and enjoying food, you'll feel more satisfied...
  
  

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Rely on Your Numbers, Not on How You Feel

Everyone is different. When blood sugar levels begin to rise or fall outside of normal range, some people with diabetes might not experience any symptoms, while others might have recognizable physical signs.

Your blood sugar level can be affected by factors such as:

• Illness
• Exercise
• Stress
• Excessive heat

You don't have to rely on physical symptoms to tell you when your blood sugar levels are falling outside of normal range. To eliminate some of the confusion about what certain symptoms might indicate, people with diabetes should rely on the numbers they get from home blood sugar monitoring...

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While each person's blood sugar testing schedule is slightly different, many people test at common points during the day. Here are some examples of when people test and the conditions under which most people are advised to test:

• Fasting blood sugar testing: This test is done in the morning upon waking, before eating or drinking anything, before exercising, and before taking oral anti-hyperglycemic medications or insulin.
• Pre-meal testing: Some people test their glucose just before eating, especially if they use short-acting insulin or pre-meal pills to control glucose...
  
  

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Two types of stress can change blood sugar levels:

• Physical stress
• Mental or emotional stress

Each type of stress affects blood sugar levels differently. Physical stress generally causes blood sugar levels to increase. Physical stress includes:

• Illness
• Surgery
• Injury

Mental or emotional stress has mixed effects, depending on the type of diabetes you have:

• Type 1 diabetes: Mental stress can increase or decrease blood sugar levels...
  
  

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Whether you are on vacation, work outside of the home, or are going to a restaurant for dinner, these simple guidelines will help you keep your blood sugar under control.

• Monitor glucose levels more often if you deviate from your diabetes care plan. For example, if you eat foods that you don't regularly include in your diet and/or you eat at a different time than usual, you can benefit from checking glucose levels more often.
• Keep all diabetes care supplies with you in a purse, carry-on bag, or backpack...
  
  

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