For a Diabetic, Continuing Education Is a Must

By Sean Kelley

123rf/Health

When I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1999, I went through a nutrition retraining session with a nurse educator. Like other newly diagnosed diabetics, I learned about portion size, how to count carbs, and how to identify foods that could cause my blood sugar to spike.
An enormous amount of information was imparted in the 45-minute private session and in two group meetings I attended. Too much information. I retained very little, beyond being able to identify how many carbs are in certain foods like small apples and cooked carrots.
The hard thing about managing type 2 diabetes isn’t taking medications or injecting insulin. It’s not even checking blood sugar (although that’s the thing we complain about the most). The hardest thing is changing lifestyle habits—particularly those around eating—that have been built up through decades of living before diabetes. Read More