by kelsey | Nov 16, 2011 | Diabetes
Did you know that about 25 million people in the United States are living with diabetes? A great deal of my work at the clinic is working with patients who have diabetes and are working hard to keep their blood sugars in a desirable range. Diabetes is characterized by the body’s inability to make or use insulin properly. Risk factors include obesity, inactivity, poor diets, family history, history of gestational diabetes, older age, and some ethnicities are more at risk than others. Managing your diabetes is essential to help prevent any long term complications such as impaired vision, kidney function, nerve damage and heart disease.
Checking your blood sugars regularly is one step for keeping good control of your blood sugars. In addition, it’s important to limit high sugar and white refined grain foods, pay close attention to your carbohydrate intake by eating consistently throughout the day (several small meals and snacks/day), practicing portion control, choosing more whole grains, lean meats, and healthy fats, and of course staying active. Achieving this balanced diet isn’t always easy, which is why we’re here to help! If you want to learn more about eating healthy for good blood sugar control, contact us today!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Jul 7, 2011 | Diabetes, Diet, Food, Weight Management
Have you ever wondered how you can enjoy a sweet treat without all of the added calories?! Here are a few ideas for you:
- Mix flavored yogurt or plain yogurt honey and your favorite fruit.
- Drizzle a bit of honey over mixed melon balls.
- Blend bananas and strawberries, freeze into cubes, and eat like ice cream.
- Sauté or bake 1/2 banana and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon chopped nuts.
- Take three of your favorite kinds of berries; cook half of them with just enough water to prevent burning. Cool and stir in remaining berries. Portion 1/2 cup of the berry compote with 1 tablespoon of your favorite vanilla ice cream.
- Try making your favorite flavor of sugar free pudding with low-fat milk.
- If it’s ice cream that you really want- skip the scoop-yourself containers and buy single-serving novelty treats such as fudgesicles, creamsicles, even chocolate-covered ice cream bars. You’re more likely to limit your portions if they already come in a single serving
Enjoy!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Jun 16, 2011 | Diabetes, Diet, Food
This month’s featured vegetable of the month on one of my favorite websites (www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org) is rhubarb. In the last couple of years I developed a liking for rhubarb. I’m not sure if this is because I usually eat the rhubarb in a dessert and I have a terrible sweet tooth or if I really do like the flavor…either way it’s a great way to get in another serving of vegetables in my diet. Yes, that’s right you read it correctly: vegetable. Rhubarb is actually a vegetable but we think of it more as a fruit as we can it into jam or jelly and use it in desserts like we would apples or strawberries. Here is my pan of cut up rhubarb that I made into a delicious cake. Recipes usually ask for a great deal of sugar to sweeten the rhubarb up so if you are watching calories and sugars, try using Splenda or the Splenda blend when baking. You can also check out the website above for more ideas on how to prepare and serve fruits and vegetables.
Enjoy!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | May 11, 2011 | Diabetes
Thank you Dr. Kimaku and Dr. Likness for helping us out! Our patients and community members appreciated having the doctors there to answer all of their diabetic questions!
Medtronic was one of our 9 vendors that was present at the diabetes fair. Here are a few of our patients checking out the insulin pump products.
We are looking forward to doing another one in the fall with featured speaker(s)….stay tuned for details then!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | May 9, 2011 | Diabetes
Our diabetes fair last week was a great success! Thank you to all who attended! We had multiple booths offering great information about diabetes supplies, self care, medications, etc. Diabetes is a complex disease that requires constant care and attention to prevent long term side affects. Since science is always changing, this was a great opportunity to share with our patients and community members new ideas, materials and concepts for diabetes management. This photo is of Dr. Dan sharing his knowledge at our booth. I will be showing more photos in my next few posts.
-Kelsey
by kelsey | May 2, 2011 | Diabetes
Did you know that 25.8 million children and adults in the US (8.3% of the population) have diabetes? In addition, did you know that 79 million people have prediabetes? WOW!
Proper diet and exercise modifications are essential to controlling diabetes and living a healthy lifestyle. The Brown Clinic offers an outstanding and well-rounded diabetes care team that meets our patients needs. In addition to your personal physician who manages your care, I provide nutrition services, our Diabetic Educator- Kristi Rufer, RN provides self care and insulin management, Dr. Crismon focuses on insulin pumps, Deidra VanGilder, Pharm D assists with medication management, and our podiatrist- Dr. Russell Johnson manages your foot care. Our multi-disciplinary team provides outstanding care for managing and controlling diabetes in our patients.
I am looking forward to attending a 2 day conference Tuesday and Wednesday with Kristi to learn more about ways we can constantly make improvements in the care of our patients with diabetes or prediabetes. In addition, we invite you all to attend our Diabetes Information Day at the County Fair Banquet Hall on Thursday, May 5th from 4:30-6:30pm!
-Kelsey
References: http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diabetes-statistics/
