Diabetic Diet & Blood Gluecose

i just learned that by the age of 50-60, 50% of my generation is expected to have diabetes, knowing this i think that a diabetic cook books might be a good preventive measure. is it?

I second what Tabea said. Most diabetic cookbooks are a joke with a scattering of useful recipes, but sadly many diabetics rely on them far too much. Diabetic recipes tend to push the low-fat mantra because diabetes is strongly associated with elevated lipids and heart disease, but there’s not a lot of science to back up that natural, healthy fats are any more likely to cause heart disease than foods low in fat. And what we do know is that persistently high blood sugar due to diabetes can absolutely cause heart disease. The way to combat high blood sugar is to restrict carbohydrates, especially high-glycemic carbohydrates, like wheat, rice, corn, and potatoes. Fat does not elevate blood sugar and in fact helps keep blood sugar stable. Protein is very blood sugar friendly, too. Non-starchy vegetables are excellent for blood sugar control, as long as they are eaten in moderation.

There’s no harm in adopting a true diabetic diet. It’d probably be much healthier than the average American diet. There’s no guarantee you won’t get diabetes, though. If you have a genetic tendency, then it may just be unavoidable. This diet could help you lose weight, if that’s a goal, and reduce how much insulin your body has to make. There is a theory that insulin resistance, which causes higher insulin levels, stresses and then overtaxes the pancreas, destroying the pancreas’ ability to make enough insulin. A lower-carbohydrate diet requires less insulin because, without a lot of carbs, there’s less glucose in the blood.

How starches carbohydrates etc. should a diabetic get each day if you are a normal body weight and running blood sugars in the 200′s while on glucophage 500? Doctor wants me to see dietician but don’t have money right now.
So if someone could give me an idea of the average of what a 150 pound adult should get and amount of calories should eat? at least to get me started?

You’re really going to need to experiment, as your weight really doesn’t tell us anything about how well you can control your blood sugar, but I’d start with 100-150 grams of carbohydrates per day and go downward if your blood sugar levels don’t drop. I eat 30 grams or under per day because I find that I can reduce spikes and stay <100 mg/dL 99% of the time by doing this. This is fairly extreme for most diabetics, though, which is why I recommend you begin at higher number of carbohydrates and reduce as needed. You’re on a small dose of Metformin and Metformin is one of those diabetic drugs that really only works with accompanying changes in diet, so you will have to limit carbohydrates.

As for calories, I don’t know how tall you are or what sex you are, so I can’t estimate, but most healthy weight adults eat anywhere between 1500-2000 calories a day. Calories aren’t the most important aspect of diet to measure, though. Calories don’t raise blood sugar. You would only watch calories if you were trying to maintain a certain weight. Otherwise, to bring down blood sugar, you need to focus more on carbohydrates.

Also, as you diet, you’ll learn that not all carbohydrates are created equal. You may eat 20 grams in nuts and non-starchy vegetables and 20 grams in bread with wildly different numbers afterward.

The pancreas pretty much does as it’s instructed to do. It’s rarely dysfunctional except in the case of pancreatitis or type 1diabetes. In the case of hypoglycemia (too little blood sugar) the pancreas is putting out too much insulin. In the case of hyperglycemia, it’s not putting out enough insulin or the cells are resistant to the insulin. But in each case, it’s not the fault of the pancreas. It’s just not getting the right instructions.

The pancreas is involved but in particular the Islet of Langerhans cells within the pancreas. There are different types of cells within these Islets. The different types of cells produce different hormones including insulin, somatostatin, amylin, glucagon and Ghrelin. The hormones involved with glucose homeostatis are Insulin and Glucagon. Insulin causes cells in the liver to uptake glucose out of the blood stream and store it as Glycogen. Glucagon has the opposite to Insulin. So if someone if having a hypoglycaemic attack, an immediate injection of Glucagon causes the Liver’s Stores of glucose to be released and help return the blood glucose levels to normal. However, after this someone should be given a sugary snack to replace these lost glucose stores.

How long does the disorder last usually?

Hypo means Low Blood sugars. Hyper Means High..This usualy means you are diabetic, the life expectancy of a diabetic is the same of any human so long as you treat the condition and look after youself.

I am aware that ketosis occurs in juvenile diabetes or the Insulin Dependant type, but why are the ketone bodies produced??
And what does liver damge have to do with hypoglycemia?

Ketones are produced when the body burns fat for energy or fuel. They are also produced when you lose weight or if there is not enough insulin to help your body use sugar for energy or when you don’t eat enough carbs or you get too low of a blood sugar. Without enough insulin, glucose builds up in the blood. Since the body is unable to use glucose for energy, it breaks down fat instead. When this occurs, ketones form in the blood and spill into the urine. These ketones can make you very sick.

Ketone bodies can be used for energy. Ketone bodies are transported from the liver to other tissues, where acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate can be reconverted to acetyl-CoA to produce energy, via the citric acid cycle.

Hope this helps!

Is diabetes mellitus the specific name for type one diabetes or does mean both type one and two.

Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes—is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. This high blood sugar produces the classical symptoms of polyuria (frequent urination), polydipsia (increased thirst) and polyphagia (increased hunger).

There are three main types of diabetes:

Type 1 diabetes: results from the body’s failure to produce insulin, and presently requires the person to inject insulin. (Also referred to as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, IDDM for short, and juvenile diabetes.)
Type 2 diabetes: results from insulin resistance, a condition in which cells fail to use insulin properly, sometimes combined with an absolute insulin deficiency. (Formerly referred to as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, NIDDM for short, and adult-onset diabetes.)
Gestational diabetes: is when pregnant women, who have never had diabetes before, have a high blood glucose level during pregnancy. It may precede development of type 2 DM.
Other forms of diabetes mellitus include congenital diabetes, which is due to genetic defects of insulin secretion, cystic fibrosis-related diabetes, steroid diabetes induced by high doses of glucocorticoids, and several forms of monogenic diabetes.

So simply diabetes mellitus is the specific medical name for all three main Diabetes type 1 , Diabetes type 2, Diabetes gestational (pregnancy related) and other forms that are listed above.

Hope this helps.

When you go to the doctor and they check your sugar level before you eat anything: what is the difference between a person blood sugar level who has hypoglycemia and a person who does not?

and the difference between a person who has hyperglycemia and a person who doesn’t?

like what are the number differences, btw my doctor said i have hypo

Hypo is slow. Hyper is fast. 100 is average

Hi. I know this has been asked before but it’s been awhile and meters and technology change.

I bought a One Touch Ultra Mini and the results look great. Then I was reading online that a lot of people feel it’s inaccurate, but others say it’s highly accurate.

Does anyone have experience with the 2011 model? I’d hate to go out and buy a new meter and strips for no reason.

Also, what works best for you?

Most meters are accurate enough. I use a cheapo TrueTrack from Walgreens. The meter is always very close to my doctor’s office and laboratory results. I never get wildly inaccurate readings, either. I’ve heard of people seeing 100-point gaps from one reading to another in a short span of time. My meter never shows me a ranger wider than 15 points, and even that’s rare.

Send away for some free meters–most companies are happy to give the meters away–and bring them to your next appointment. Have the nurse squeeze an extra large drop of blood from your finger and then test as many of your meters as you can while the nurse tests you on the office’s meter. Go with the closest one or the one that reads you slightly higher (so that you won’t be surprised when you get your A1c).

Can’t find anything on the web about the percentage of cells in the body that use Blood Glucose.
I know that skeletal muscle which comprises 40% of the body uses it.
List organs or cells that do not use blood glucose.
Thanks.

There are some tissues that do not require insulin for efficient uptake of glucose: important examples are brain and the liver. This is because these cells don’t use GLUT4 for importing glucose, but rather, another transporter that is not insulin-dependent.

Hope this helps.