Diabetes is on the verge of becoming a full-grown health crisis in the U.S. and the stats are there to prove it. In 2015, 30.3 million Americans, or 9.4% of the population, had diabetes. This includes the approximate 1.25 million American children and adults that have type 1 diabetes. Diabetes is currently the seventh-highest cause of death in the U.S., and also carries a high cost for the healthcare industry. In 2012, $245 billion was spent due to diagnosed diabetes cases. In addition, this trickles down to the individual level. Average medical costs for people with diabetes were 2.3 times higher than those without.
Despite the weight that diabetes can place in your life, there are more means than ever to help live a full and comfortable life. As the population living with diabetes grows, so does the amount of technology and products out there to support and sustain them. If you’re dealing with diabetes, make sure that you know about all the latest innovations out there to help you live your best life.
Dietary Help
When it comes to foods, you probably already know what to avoid, but what can be a bit more difficult is the foods that you want to eat. There are several different meal options that you can come up with from groups that are healthy. Here are some options:
- Beans and legumes
- Green vegetables
- Citrus fruit
- Sweet potatoes
- Berries
- Tomatoes
- Cold-water fish
- Nuts
- Whole grains
One thing that may be worth doing if you’re concerned about a healthy diabetes-friendly diet is working with a nutritionist. By taking a customized look at your nutrient intake and needs, they can guide you towards the best food options for both your body and price range. They may also be able to provide supplementation that helps as well. Note that not all dietary supplements are diabetic-friendly, so you want to take extra effort to consult with your doctor.
Tech Benefits
Along with more food options that are friendly for diabetics, both commercially and for cooking, there are many other things that are being developed to help people with their daily diabetic issues. For example, one of the biggest headaches was finding a glucose monitoring system. Normally, people had to use a machinery to take fingertip blood samples to determine the amount of glucose in the blood. This could be inconvenient, and in some cases, painful. A recent development in this area has been using a sensor wire underneath the surface of the skin.
According to Bloomberg, “the bulk of the sales are to the 1.25 million American diabetes patients with the most severe form of the disease, type 1. There’s a larger, mostly untapped market: the about 20 million Americans with type 2, whose body’s ability to use insulin fades slowly over time and who don’t regularly use tools to manage their disease.
This isn’t the only testing advance that allows diabetics to monitor their health with little inconvenience. For example, rather than waiting for things to get out of hand to a potentially dangerous degree, you can invest in something like ketone testing. Testing level of ketones in your blood in your blood can provide an important indication as to whether or not you need more fluids or are feeling the effects of an injury or illness.
There are other options as well, such as insulin pumps, and the technology is improving every day. However, you need to take consideration as to how your finances will be impacted by buying and maintaining this equipment.
From food that you can eat in a quick pinch without worrying about aftereffects to various methods to test yourself on the go, there are more means than ever to help you live with your diabetes rather than trying to live around your diabetes. This is an important distinction to make, but there are two more addendums to put along with this option.
First is the mental piece. This may not be directly affected by diabetes, but the stress of living with this condition can lead to several issues. However, consulting with a mental health professional can help you with strategies to tackle this stress along with a judgment-free zone to talk about your issues. The second piece, as we alluded to before, is keeping your medical professional in the loop, especially if you plan on incorporating some of the items on this list.
