Diabetes Educators: Why They Are Important In Diabetes

Diabetes education is the cornerstone to diabetes management, this is because diabetes requires day-to-day knowledge of nutrition, exercise, monitoring, and medication. 

Diabetes is unlike other diseases, such as cholesterol and blood pressure, where medication alone can at times successfully treat it.There are a lot of other components to diabetes, such as: nutritional management, physical activity, medications, glucose monitoring, and psycho-social adjustment.

Diabetes education makes you more aware about diabetes, what it takes to treat it, and also gives you the power to control it and make necessary changes to lifestyle.

Diabetes education and management should be done with a team.

The team should consist ideally of:

• a physician who understands diabetes
• a certified diabetes educator
• an exercise physiologist 

Your diabetes self-management goals not only should be individualized, but also measurable and achievable. You should focus on specific short-term goals as well as long-term goals. 

Diabetes education is an ongoing process that should be under a certified expert.Diabetes educators are trained under a team of Endocrinologists and are the best service providers on diabetes care and management. They are your support system along with the endocrinologist.

Diabetes educators help you in ways more than one. Here are a few: 

• Informed and healthy food choices.
• Better diet planning and adherence.
• Awareness and execution of active lifestyle with respect to regular exercise due to knowledge about dangers of sedentary lifestyle on blood glucose levels.
• Being proactive about taking the prescribed medicines, as directed. Also, better understanding of change in medicines, possible side effects, changes observed and discussing everything with the diabetes educator or doctor.
• Keep blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels under control due to understanding of the implications of not doing so.

Being aware about diabetes gives you the power to control your diabetes, so it doesn’t end up controlling you.Along with an educator another very important part of your diabetes management should be proactive monitoring of blood glucose levels by using Control D Glucometer to take regular readings and maintaining a record of the patterns.