Living with Diabetes

If you've been diagnosed with diabetes recently, you may be wondering what you should do next -- and how you are going to live with this disease. The fact is that most people who are diagnosed with diabetes live very well -- and you can too!

Your doctor will tell you that you must eat a healthy diet. If you are overweight, the first objective will be to get the weight off. You probably think that diets are miserable experiences, and you aren't looking forward to it. The truth is that you aren't going on a diet. You are about to make a lifestyle change -- because if you don't, your blood sugar is going to remain out of control, and you are facing heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, and even amputation of your lower limbs. Does eating right still seem bad or impossible?

Your doctor will most likely recommend a diet that is high in protein and fiber, but low in carbohydrates and sugar. He may recommend that you only consume a certain number of calories per day, which will be based on your age, your weight, your goal weight, and other factors.

You can still eat good food! That's the good news. You just have to learn to stay away from the bad foods, and to control your portions. You don't have to be hungry -- ever. Eat six small meals a day, instead of the usual three.

Your doctor will suggest that you exercise, as this is important not only in control of blood sugar levels, but also for weight loss and the circulatory system, which is affected by diabetes. Problems with the circulatory system are why the lower limbs get amputated. Therefore, don't look at the exercise as a bad thing if that has always been the way that you've seen it. It's a good thing that means that you probably won't have your lower limbs amputated.

You may not see it this way now, but many diabetics find that their diabetes diagnosis, and the potential health problems that go with uncontrolled diabetes, have changed their lives for the better, and again, they learn to live very well indeed!