Health News: The Latest Advances in Diabetes Care

If you or someone you love are among the 26 million Americans living with diabetes, take heart.

Dr. Steve Edelman has the latest, he is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. He's also been living with diabetes himself --for more than 40 years.

So, what are some of the latest advances for people with diabetes?

The key to staying healthy is to try and keep your blood sugar in a healthy range -- you want to minimize the highs and lows.

That's why regular blood sugar testing is so important. It gives you and your doctor the information needed to adjust treatment and see how food choices, activity and many other factors affect your blood sugar throughout the day and night.

But making sense of the test results and knowing what to do with them can be a challenge.

This new meter, the OneTouch VerioIQ ... is the first one to find patterns of high and low blood sugar and alert people right on the screen.

Every time you test, the OneTouch VerioIQ meter compares your current result with your previous ones and alerts you to patterns you might not even be aware of.

It is so important to find patterns because instead of just treating highs and lows as they happen -- over and over again, you can actually start to look for the cause of the pattern and take action to prevent it in the future.

For example, people on insulin are at the greatest risk of experiencing low blood sugar, which can be dangerous. So identifying and correcting a developing pattern of low blood sugars as early as possible is key.

Some other things people can do to live healthy with diabetes...

In addition to regular testing, and especially for people who are newly diagnosed, it's important to get past the emotional barriers that can prevent people from taking care of themselves. Dr. Edelman tells his patients that living with diabetes is a marathon, not a sprint. You don't have to be perfect. You'll have good days and bad, but every day is a new opportunity to start over.

With the right outlook, lifestyle modifications can be a little easier. Diet and exercise are so important to keeping blood sugar levels in a healthy range. You want to try to get some physical activity every day. And a diet that includes whole grains, non-starchy vegetables and lean meats or fish is the best option.

If you need help, you can also look for support from various online communities or organizations like Taking Control of Your Diabetes - or TCOYD for short - which Dr. Edelman founded, they hold conferences across the country throughout the year with great programs and resources that help educate and empower people with diabetes.

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