Local  expert endorses Diabetes UK approach

Woking Lions offer free diabetic testing

“Making small changes can lead to big differences,” says Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals Diabetologist Dr Mike Baxter says, endorsing the theme for Diabetes UK’s National Diabetes Week.  “For the increasing number of people who suffer with diabetes it is important that they change their habits.  Even the smallest changes can result in a significant improvement in their long term health.”

Some of the recommendations made by Diabetes UK and endorsed by Mike Baxter include:

·          Making small changes in your life

·          Thinking ahead by recording what you do and eat during a day

·          Start reading food labels to increase your awareness of what is in food

·          Cut back on fat, salt and sugar

·          Become more active with lifestyle-based activity\

·          Reduce your alcohol intake

·          Eat regular meals

·          Take a packed lunch to work to avoid temptation

·          Eat more fruit and vegetables

Woking Lions has arranged for qualified nurses to test for diabetes in Wolsey Place Woking (outside Sainsbury's) from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm on Saturday 16 June 2007. Diabetes UK will also be there to provide information about diabetes.  Anybody is welcome to come for a test or just pick up some information.

Dr Baxter continued: “In any year the average diabetes patient will spend three hours being cared for by a doctor and 8,757 hours looking after themselves.   The recent Stephanie Marks ‘Living with Diabetes Day’ was a tremendous success and we must do more of the same.    It demonstrated the importance for patients, and any one who has to support someone with diabetes, about having a better understanding of this disease.   Currently only one in ten people with diabetes has been on an education course and the Stephanie Marks Diabetes Resource Centre will help address this problem.   We expect to make an announcement about the Centre shortly.”

Dr Baxter continued: “In May Dr Sue Roberts, the national director for diabetes, published her report ‘Working together for better diabetes care; the clinical case for change’.   This important report recognised that care for those with diabetes has to change as the burden of the disease increases.   We need to redesign health systems to ensure that we can give people the best care possible.   We have done much locally and the new Stephanie Marks Diabetes Resource Centre will be an important part of local plans to ensure that both patients and healthcare staff can play their part in diabetes care.”  

Small Changes Lead to Big Differences

Lifestyle changes - Make small changes in your life

Whether you have diabetes or are at risk of developing the condition, even small changes can make a big difference to your life.   We live in a busy society where a complete lifestyle overhaul in the quest for health and fitness is not always possible overnight. But making small changes can have a great benefit for your health – and only you can make the difference ...

Think ahead - Take some time out

Take a bit of time to become aware of what you actually do in a day as this will be useful when deciding what changes can or need to be made, if necessary.   Perhaps keep a food and exercise diary?

What’s going inside?

Start reading food labels and increase your awareness of what is really in your food - start by looking at salt, fat, calorie intake.  Do you know how much you should be eating? The Food Standards Agency website has a guide to understanding food labelling. 

Cut back on sugar

The good news is that sugar does not need to be excluded from your diet if you have diabetes. Sugar should be limited as part of a healthy diet especially if you are trying to lose weight.   Why not try some diet, low-calorie fizzy drinks and sugar-free or no-added-sugar squashes. Intense sweeteners such as Splenda, Hermesetas, Sweetex and Canderel can be useful to sweeten hot drinks. As a guide, you should read nutrition information on labels - 15g sugar or more per 100g is a lot, and 5g sugar or less per 100g is a little.

Make activity a part of your life - Become more active with lifestyle-based activity

Did you know that just 30 minutes' exercise five times a week can decrease cardiovascular risk. Exercise doesn’t mean spending hours in the gym - instead build more activity and bodily exertion into your daily lives such as:

·          walking up an escalator

·          getting off one bus stop earlier

·          using a push lawn-mower instead of an electric mower

·          washing your car rather than going to the carwash

·          going for a walk or cycle with a friend or your children

·          parking at the furthest point of the car park.

·          Why not take up a new hobby that gets you out and about?

Eat and drink well

Reduce your alcohol intake

Alcohol is high in calories and makes you feel hungry. The maximum recommended units per day is two units for woman and three units for men. A drink can now contain more units than you think - a pint can contain as much as three units and a small glass of wine (175mls) contains around two units.   Try alternating one alcoholic drink with one non-alcoholic drink, add soda water or lemonade to white wine to make a spritzer, make sure you fill up a tall glass with a soft drink.

Eat regular meals

Are you missing meals? Is breakfast one of these meals? Try taking something in to work such as yogurt and fruit, a smoothieor cereal. Perhaps you could leave the box of cereal at work?

Be prepared

Take a packed lunch to work – start with once a week. Cook extra food and freeze for times when you don’t feel like cooking.

Portions

Using your plate as a rough guide will help you to eat foods in recommended portions.

Dish meals up in the kitchen rather than at the table when it is so easy to take second helpings. 

Put your knife and fork down in between mouthfuls and allow at least 20 minutes to eat. 

Salt - is your food full of it?

The recommended guideline is no more than 6g a day which is equivalent to one teaspoon a day. Try other ways of flavouring your foods using herbs and spices instead of salt, and opting for lower-salt versions when you buy ready meals.

Eat less fat

Your small change could be to:

·          opt for a skinny cappuccino rather the full-fat one

·          choose a skinny muffin rather than the regular one

·          try thin-based pizzas rather than deep-pan or stuffed crust

·          go for jacket or boiled potatoes rather than chips or have a smaller portion

·          ask for salad dressing to be separate from the salad so that you can control how much is added

·          grill, poach or boil food rather than frying it.

Eat more fruit and vegetables

Be adventurous and try new fruits and vegetables.   Be creative and try freezing chopped fruits such berries and banana skewers, exchange chips and dips for crudités and houmous, stew fruit with cinnamon or have tinned fruit

as a dessert.

Factfile - Diabetes Week - 10 to 16 June 2007

About diabetes

Diabetes affects people of all ages. There are currently more than two million people in the UK with diabetes, plus an estimated 750,000 people who have the condition and don’t know it.   In people with diabetes, the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood is too high because the body cannot use it properly. There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2.

Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent diabetes, develops if the body is unable to produce any insulin. This form of the condition usually appears before the age of 40.  Type 1 develops quickly, usually over a few weeks, and symptoms are normally very obvious. This form of diabetes accounts for just 5 to 15 percent of all people with diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly. In most cases this is linked with being overweight.  This type of diabetes usually appears in people over the age of 40, or over the age of 25 in South Asian and African-Caribbean people. Recently, increasing numbers of children are being diagnosed with the condition.    Type 2 diabetes develops slowly and the symptoms are usually less severe; some people may not notice any symptoms at all and the condition may be picked up in routine medical checks.   Type 2 diabetes accounts for between 85 and 95 percent of all people with diabetes.

Symptoms of diabetes

Symptoms include:

·          increased thirst

·          going to the loo all the time, especially at night

·          extreme tiredness

·          weight loss

·          blurred vision 

·          genital itching or regular episodes of thrush

·          slow healing of wounds.

Treatment

Managing the condition involves maintaining a healthy lifestyle – which includes eating well, keeping active and controlling weight. Treatment can also involve taking tablets, such as sulphonylureas and biguanide, or injecting insulin.   Around five per cent of total NHS resources (and up to 10 per cent of hospital inpatient resources) are used to care for people with diabetes.