NutritionExerciseWeight LossVisionPediatrics
Stop bringing home "Junk Food" or get rid of the ones you currently have. These are all those products loaded with fat and sugar and very little nutritional value, like chips, cakes, ice cream, sodas, cookies or donuts. Then, fill your refrigerator with a variety of fresh fruits, raw vegetables, fat-free yoghurt, fat-free cheeses and fruit juices without added sugar. Prepare popcorn in a steamer or with a little olive oil in a deep pan and try to have nuts and peanuts in they feel like something salty but healthy.
Establish schedules for homework, TV and Computer. You must encourage your child to get involved in regular daily exercise outside school. We know that physical education at school is not enough. Children must do at least 30 minutes a day of any aerobic activity and 60 minutes if they have to lose weight. You can try to go out with them every afternoon, skate, ride bicycle, jump rope, and play ball, whatever you can imagine that helps burn calories.
Show your kids the natural taste of foods with little salt and they will continue to eat a lower salt diet as adults when the association between a high salt intake and high blood pressure becomes important. Lots of processed products are loaded with salt, the same happens with cured meats, chicken broth, canned foods and chips. Teach them to choose more natural foods without that much salt.
“Junk foods” that contain lots of refined sugar, such as candy, soda, sweet breads, cakes and ice creams, supply your child with only “empty” calories that have little or no nutritional value but yet are high in calories. Try to make a habit of having fresh fruit as desert and snacks and also prepare some deserts with fruit but the less amount of sugar possible.
Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia are associated with poor learning and impairment of mental development. You must make sure that your child eats a diet that is rich in iron. If your youngster is a poor eater, a daily iron supplement may be needed. I would advise you to talk to your child’s doctor about this. Also, you can add foods rich in vitamin C to the iron containing foods to increase their absorption by 60%.
It will help your child’s digestion but also may help to protect him against gastrointestinal illnesses, including appendicitis and diverticulitis, as well as cancer of the colon and rectum.
Water is such an important nutrient for our body that constitutes almost 75% of our organism. Your kid should drink several glasses of water a day according to the amount the doctor recommends, depending on his age. But please try to give him plain, purified water and try to make it official at home to drink water instead of sodas.
Most probably you have heard that if you have diabetes, your kids are also at risk for developing it. It's true.
In the last 10 years, diabetes has increased by about 50% in the
U.S. and almost as dramatically in other parts of the world.
A recent study conducted by the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that between now and the year 2050, the total number of people diagnosed with diabetes in the U.S. will rise 165%.
The Most Worrisome Trend: Diabetes in Our Children
Obesity is one of the factors that triggers diabetes, and lack of physical activity contributes to both obesity and diabetes. If we continue with our bad habits and let our children grow up watching television and playing on the computer without doing any sports or eating healthy, we are helping them to gain weight.
Prevention
Although diabetes is a disease that is spreading at an alarming rate throughout the world, the good news is that it can be prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle.
And of course, the first thing we can do to prevent diabetes is to shed any excess weight and start leading a healthy, active life. A recent study by the U.S. National Institutes of Health showed that doing 30 minutes of exercise a day and losing 5% to 7% of your body weight is enough to lower the risk of diabetes.
But if we want to lose weight, or if we need our children to do so, we must encourage them to be active at least 60 minutes every day, besides eating healthy.
That is why if you have diabetes, it is so important to foster good lifestyle habits for your family. Your children can reduce their chances of developing diabetes just by staying slim and doing exercise.
It's hard to change your habits, but when you think about how important it is to keep you and your family healthy, you really have to make the effort. Just a few changes can accomplish a great deal.
Here are some tips for improving your family's well being:
· Serve fresh fruits and vegetables at each meal.
· Establish an exercise routine you enjoy that includes the whole family.
· Eliminate candies and sweets from your home.
· Try to make sure everyone has breakfast before they leave home in the morning and that they take fruit or a healthy snack to eat between meals.
· Make sure you and your family learn about diabetes care.
You can probably come up with some other ideas for improving your and your family's health, and steer them away from diabetes. It really is worth the effort.
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When most people think of diabetes, they usually either think of young kids with Type I diabetes that need daily insulin shots or older, overweight adults with Type II diabetes.
Now though, with the childhood obesity epidemic, there has also been a big increase in the number of children with Type II diabetes, which used to be thought of as adult onset diabetes.
Obesity or being overweight is one of the biggest risk factors for diabetes, both in kids and adults. You can use our BMI Calculator to see if your children are overweight. If they were, it would be a good idea to discuss it with their Paediatrician, help them to eat a more healthy diet, and increase their physical activity.
Your child's ethnic background can also be a risk factor for diabetes, which is more common in American Indian, African-American, Hispanic American, and Asians/South Pacific Islander children.
A family history of diabetes, especially in first- and second-degree relatives, can also be a risk factor for children developing type 2 diabetes.
Unlike kids with type I diabetes, who usually only have a 5% chance of having a family member with diabetes; type 2 diabetics have a 74-100% chance of having a family member with diabetes.
In children with Type I diabetes, the typical symptoms are well known, including increased urination (polyuria), increased drinking (polydipsia) and weight loss.
Type II diabetes is more subtle in children, who are usually overweight and either have mild or no polyuria or polydipsia. Another sign or symptom of Type II diabetes is acanthosis Nigerians, a black, velvety discoloration to a child's neck and skin folds.
All children who are at risk for diabetes should be tested or screened, beginning when they start puberty or by age 10, since most kids are diagnosed during middle-to-late puberty.
The American Diabetic Association considers kids at risk and requiring testing if they are overweight and has any two other risk factors, including:
Some children who don't meet these criteria may also be tested based on a your Paediatrician’s clinical judgement.
Testing for Type II diabetes should usually include a fasting plasma glucose level, which will be high (hyperglycaemia) if your child has diabetes. Other tests might include a urine glucose test, which will likely show sugar in the child's urine (glycosuria), a random glucose, and/or an HbA1c (a more long term test of glucose levels).
Since your child is likely overweight if he is being tested for Type II diabetes, he should usually also have his cholesterol tested at this time.
If testing is normal, you should still help your child be more active and have a more healthy diet. While your child is at risk, testing is usually repeated every two years.
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You should have an emergency tool kit at hand with some items you could need if you are sick like:
· Your Diabetes Care Team telephone numbers
· Antidiarrheal medications
· Cough syrup (sugar free)
· Cold medications
· Antacids
· Strips or tablets to measure ketones
· If you use insulin, rapid acting insulin like Novo rapid with syringes
· Blood glucose monitoring supplies with new batteries
Read the label before you purchase or use any over-the-counter medication. If there is a warning that people with diabetes should check with their doctors before using the product, do so. Also, look for the inactive ingredients to make sure the medication does not contain sugar, corn syrup or any other source of carbohydrates. Try to have one of these kits at home and also at work or school.
If you take insulin, never omit your insulin, even if you can't eat. You may need additional insulin, or you may need to reduce the dose of insulin if your blood glucose is low or if you cannot eat or have diarrhoea or vomiting. It all depends on your blood glucose level, that’s why you must check your glucose frequently.
If you take pills, and you have vomit or diarrhoea, you must be aware of signs of low blood glucose. The pills you took before getting sick keep working to lower your blood glucose even if you don't eat.
Your blood glucose can go up and also down suddenly, and you should be aware of too high or too low blood glucose levels. Stress caused by the illness can bring your blood glucose up while not eating enough; diarrhoea or vomiting can bring it down. Your body knows there is an emergency, and your adrenal glands release adrenalin and cortisol which make your liver release glucose into your bloodstream, thus, making your blood glucose high.
If you have type 1 diabetes, test your urine for ketones every 4 hours. If ketones start going up, you can be in danger or developing ketoacidosis, which is a complication of diabetes caused by the build-up of by-products of fat metabolism (ketones), which occurs when glucose is not available as a fuel source for the body.
The symptoms of ketoacidosis are:
· Frequent urination or frequent thirst for a day or more
· Fatigue
· Nausea and vomiting
· Muscular stiffness or aching
· Mental stupor that may progress to coma
· Rapid deep breathing
· Fruity breathe
· Headache
· Decreased consciousness
· Breathing - rapid
· Breathing difficulty - lying down
· Low blood pressure
· Appetite - loss
Fats are used for fuel instead of glucose when your body does not have enough insulin. When this happens and the fats are being used as a source of energy, ketones are produced and they and they can be detected with a urine test.
If you do not have diabetes, you usually have only small amounts of ketones in your blood and urine. If you have diabetes, however, you may have high amounts of ketones and acid, a condition known as ketoacidosis. This condition can cause nausea, vomiting, or abdominal pain and can be life threatening.
If you have type 1 diabetes, are pregnant with pre existing diabetes, or who have diabetes caused by pregnancy (gestational diabetes), you should check your urine for ketones. If you have diabetes and are ill, under stress, or have any symptoms of high ketones, you should also test your urine for ketones.
It is still not known which type of ketone test is better for people with diabetes.
Avoiding dehydration is key when you are sick, it is even more important than eating. If you have diarrhoea or vomiting, you must make sure you get adequate fluids. You need water and salts or electrolytes, so you can use sports beverages like Gatorade, fruit juices with water, milk or chicken broth. Try to be aware of the symptoms of dehydration like urinating less than normal and having dry mouth. Try to drink at least one cup of decaffeinated fluid every hour and according to your blood glucose levels, use fluids containing sugar or sugar free.
About food, do not force yourself to eat, if you can eat try to eat something like fresh fruit and vegetable soup, chicken noodle soup or anything light that will provide you with nutrients, fluids and electrolytes. Another food option is saltines or graham crackers, toast, frozen yoghurt, ice cream or jelly.
If you exercise when your blood glucose is high you might put more stress on your body causing your liver to release more glucose to the bloodstream and then you will have even higher blood glucose levels with all the consequences of hyperglycaemia.
Also, the presence of ketones may cause blood sugar levels to rise even higher with exercise. So, if you are sick, rest!
Call your Diabetes Care Team if:
· You have an obvious infection with symptoms and fever
· Your illness lasts longer than 2 days
· You have vomiting or diarrhoea more than 8 hours
· Your blood sugar is over 400 mg in two consecutive tests
· You have moderate to large urine ketones with blood glucose
· level over 200 mg for more than 8 hours
· You feel very ill or experience pain, especially abdominal pain
· You have extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, or dizziness
Try to plan ahead what to do if you are sick and discuss your plan with your Diabetes Team.
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