Intro to Diabetes
Objectives Diabetes: What it is What it does What we can do
Thank you for giving me the chance to speak today. Please feel free to stop me at any time if you have questions, comments, or want me to slow down.
What IS Diabetes?
What IS Diabetes?
Diabetes & the body Diabetes is a disease that makes it harder for the body to keep blood sugar levels in the right range. This will affect how the body works and leads to increased risk of damage to the body. Damage to the body from diabetes is preventable! MEDICATIONS ACTIVITY FOOD
Lets start by talking how things work when the body is healthy
We have lots of reasons why we eat. Just like all living things, one reason, is to give our body the ENERGY it needs!
Our bodies need energy to work, think, grow, heal, move, and keep warm! Every part of the body needs energy so it can do its job.
The food we eat travels to our stomach to get broken down into small parts our bodies can use for energy.
Most of the food we eat is broken down into a sugar called glucose. This is the main form of energy for our bodies.
Insulin To get this energy into all the parts of the body the body also needs to make something called Insulin. Insulin is made in a part of the body called the pancreas.
Insulin is the key that opens up all the parts of the body for energy. With insulin, the energy made by the stomach can get to every part of the body to it do its job!
Any Questions?
Now that we know a bit about how things work when the body is healthy, we can learn more about what happens when the body is hurt by diabetes.
There are two types of diabetes: Type 2 Diabetes is usually caused by two problems Either the pancreas gets tired and can t make enough insulin to handle all the energy coming into the body
Or, the parts of the body stop opening when the insulin comes by. The more this happens, the more insulin it will take to open the body up to energy
And the more the pancreas will have to work to make more insulin, and the more tired the pancreas will get!!!
Type 1 diabetes happens when the pancreas cannot make any insulin at all. People with Type 1 diabetes need insulin from outside the body (insulin shots) to stay alive.
In both types of diabetes, when energy in the form of sugar can t get into the parts of the body, it piles up in the body s pipes with the blood.
This extra sugar sticks to the little parts of the blood called red blood cells. A red blood cell covered in sugar is very sharp and scratchy. + =
As it travels around inside the body it can start to cut and hurt the pipes in the body.
If this keeps up, it can hurt the whole body! This is where all the trouble from Diabetes starts!
Any Questions?
What diabetes does Different parts of the body will be hurt by diabetes in different ways, so it is important to give each part of the body the care it needs to stay safe.
In the eyes the damage happens first to small pipes at the back of the eye. Eventually the damage makes the pipes start to leak, block, and bleed. Over time, the eye becomes so hurt that it no longer is able to see. In Canada, diabetes is still the leading cause of blindness in adults
A healthy kidney works a lot like a kitchen strainer keeping the good things in and letting everything else flow out. With diabetes, the scratchy red blood cells covered in sugar cut and poke holes in the strainer, making it harder for the kidney to do its job.
If this damage keeps happening the kidney stops being able to work at all! There is no way to fix the hurt kidney! Dialysis (a machine doing the kidneys job) or a kidney transplant become the only way for a person with this much damage from diabetes to stay alive.
If the pipes that carry blood through the body get scratched and cut from diabetes, it is easier for fat to stick to them. As fat piles up it turns into clots. Clots in the pipes can stop blood flow, making the heart have to work harder to keep the blood moving. Over time, this can lead to a heart attack.
Just like in the pipes of the body, pipes in the brain can be cut and hurt by the scratchy red blood cells covered in sugar. A clot formed in another part of the body can also come loose and move into brain, causing a stoke. It is very serious when these things happen because damage to the brain can t be repaired. Damage to the brain shows up with another part of the body no longer able to move or do its job.
Feet and hands will also be hurt by scratchy red blood cells covered in sugar. The nerves stop being able to feel and if that part of the body is gets hurt from the outside, damage might not get noticed. If an outside cut or hurt on a foot gets infected and isn t taken care of, the hurt or infection could get out of control. An out of control infection may mean that part of the body needs to be cut off to keep the rest of the body safe. This is called amputation.
What we can do Restore Health
Eat Healthy Like any other high performance machine, the body needs the right fuel at the right time so it can run its best
J. MacLaren
Eat Healthy Choose: Something healthy every 4-6 hours so the body always has enough energy Choose: Healthy foods (high in the nutrients that keep the body strong, and low in those things that can harm the body) Choose: Healthy portions so the body never has too much energy to deal with at one time
Be Active Like all living things, our bodies were made to move!
Be Active Using energy to move is a good way for the body to use up extra energy and keep away from hurt from diabetes At least 30 minutes each day gives the most benefit Doing a mix of stretching, resistance, and cardio activities each week helps keep all parts of the body healthy
Test Blood Sugars Regular testing of blood sugars helps show how the body is responding to food, activity, and medicine.
Test Blood Sugars As diabetes hurts the body, the body might get used to the hurt, or may be confused, and doesn t always send clear messages for what it needs to be healthy Fasting: 4-7 2 hrs After meals: 5-10 By regular testing, people with diabetes get a clearer picture of what is happening inside the body, even at the small blood levels they can t see. Knowing this helps them train their bodies back towards health. Testing also helps them know all the small changes they ve made to live healthy are helping the body stay safe from diabetes!
Take medicine Diabetes gets harder to fight over time: the longer the body fights diabetes, the more help it will need. When healthy eating and activity alone aren t helping to control blood sugars, medicine is the next tool we have to fight diabetes and help our bodies stay healthy.
Any Questions?
Diabetes has real dangers for the body What we have learned But through Healthy Choices we can heal our bodies and help keep them safe!
When we are HOPEFUL HEALTH is achievable!!!