Medications to treat diabetes have revolutionized the treatment of this condition. The number of people with diabetes has been increasing for many years. So, a lot of emphasis has been put on finding new treatments. The number of new types of medications to treat diabetes has greatly increased even in the last five years. This is GREAT news!
So, with all of these new and the older tried and true treatments, diabetes is in good control, right? Surely with all of these options, diabetes is a problem of the past.
Unfortunately, it’s more complex than that. The same things that are causing this increase in number of people with diabetes need to be at the core of the treatment. So what are these things?
At the core of diabetes management
The primary link to the growing number of people with diabetes is the growth of the population. I’m not referring to number of people, I’m referring to SIZE of people.
Obesity has been on the rise. As a population we have gained significant weight. This is one of the main risk factors for diabetes. It is also a risk factor for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, and stroke.
So, besides medications to treat diabetes, changes in diet, exercise, and weight are key parts of treatment. Diet and exercise changes are the best way to manage weight. They are not always the most fun and certainly not the easiest. There are all sorts of ‘quick fix’ schemes for weight management that sound very enticing. But, after all is considered, none of these are as safe or effective as true, daily, positive changes in food and movement.
Daily changes
Move every day. Spend less time in a chair and more walking, participating in dance or games, cleaning, or doing other things that are active.
Diet changes are best made in moderation. Sudden, huge diet changes are very hard to sustain. A few simple changes can make a big different. Try some of these:
- Avoid second helpings
- Eat a bit smaller portions
- Cut back on white bread, crackers, pasta
- Replace with those with higher grain content
- Eat some more vegetables in place of bread and sweets
- Eat some more fruit in place of sweets
It is important to make changes that you can make new habits. Keep up these gradual changes over time.
Be good to yourself. If you occasionally slip and fall back in old habits, pick yourself up, forgive yourself, and try again. As you adopt healthier habits, your weight decreases, and you move more, you will start to feel better and more energetic. That will made it easier to continue to make positive changes.
If you want to talk about more details aobut how you can start making these changes, contact us at www.medsmash.com.
BIBLICAL APPLICATION
Just as it is tempting to let pills fix medical health, it is tempting to let Sunday church fix our spiritual health.
If you go to church most Sundays, you have all you need for spiritual growth and development, right?
Peter had some very insightful instruction about spiritual growth.
1 Peter 2:1-5 ESV
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
I encourage you to read the rest of this chapter of 1 Peter.
2 Peter 1:5-8 ESV
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:18 ESV
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Another verse with some instruction about spiritual growth is:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Growing in your faith is a lifelong quest. With each new thing you learn, your perspective changes and you realize there is so much more to learn.
Sundays, church, and fellowship are incredibly important! And so are all of the other ways you spend time with God and the Bible and other growth opportunities.
Blessings,
Michelle
yourhealthandsoul 