Do you know about - Living With Type 2 Diabetes - The Importance Of Knowing Your ABCs
Hemoglobin A1c Chart! Again, for I know. Ready to share new things that are useful. You and your friends.A week ago, I was doing an admit history and physical on a new patient. He had been a type 2 diabetic for over 15 years. Unfortunately he had developed kidney failure and was initially doing well on peritoneal dialysis. Recently he had developed an infection in his belly and so had to be changed to hemodialysis.
What I said. It isn't outcome that the real about Hemoglobin A1c Chart. You see this article for facts about that want to know is Hemoglobin A1c Chart.How is Living With Type 2 Diabetes - The Importance Of Knowing Your ABCs
We had a good read. For the benefit of yourself. Be sure to read to the end. I want you to get good knowledge from Hemoglobin A1c Chart.He seemed well versed on how his blood sugars were doing, recognizing that the recent infection was causing the sugars to rise.
He had great insight for a person living with diabetes.
I was impressed and then asked him this, 'So what's your A1C?' He gave me a blank stare, 'What's that?' he replied. I was taken aback at his response, 'You know your glyco hemoglobin?' I ventured again. Another blank stare. 'Never heard of that' he responded off handedly.
Here was a guy who by all intents and purposes seemed actively engaged in managing his diabetes. And yet he had NEVER heard of the A1C!
So I've decided to dedicate this week, to getting to know your numbers.
One of the keys to Living powerfully with diabetes is to know your numbers.
I love acronyms. Using the letters of the alphabet in an easy to understand way. This is how my upcoming book, 'Dr Eno's guide to Living Powerfully with Diabetes' is organized. Using the letters of the alphabet, I take on different topics in the learning about diabetes.
Today, I'm going to use the simple acronym ABCs. The first item will be for what I'll call actual numbers and the smaller 'a' will go with some of the lifestyle adjustments that need to be made as a person living with type 2 diabetes.
So here goes:
A for A1C and activity
B for Blood sugar and bmi
C for Cholesterol and calories
A1C
A1C is a short name for glycosylated hemoglobin. Now I know that may sound like a mouthful so we made it easier and abbreviated it to the A1C. The A1c is calculated as a percentage point. It's the average of the blood sugar levels over the past 6- 8 weeks. The A1C measures the amount of sugars that attached to the red blood cells.
The higher the blood sugars, the higher the A1C. Typically the red blood cells live for about 120 days before they die off.
A1C is measured as a percentage and the goal is to keep it less than 6.5% or 7%. The latter depends on which recommendations your doctor is going by. I typically like to keep it really simple.
I encourage my diabetes patients to aim for less than 7%. An A1C less than 7% correlates with sugars on average less than 140 mg/dl.
So remember this is the average of what your sugars have been over the last 6- 8 weeks. Even if at times the sugars go higher than 140 mg/dl, but the average readings are less than or around 140 mg/dl, then there's a good chance that your A1c will be within the range of 6.5-7%.
How to get tested for the A1C:
This is one test in which it is not necessary for you to fast overnight. Most healthcare providers can do this test in their office. There are also home test kits available. If you decide to start doing home testing, please be sure to share your results with your healthcare provider so that they can keep track with you.
Activity
In order to live powerfully with diabetes, I encourage my patients to adapt some form of physical activity. Increased physical activity helps to not only control blood sugars but also has many other benefits. I have listed over 61 benefits of exercise.
I know a lot of people have time as an excuse for not getting active. But there are creative ways to incorporate physical activity into your daily activity that adds up.
For instance instead of looking for one 30-45 minute block of time, how about creating 3-4 10-15 minute blocks of time throughout the day? Instead of taking the elevators, look for every opportunity to take the stairs. Get to work 15 minutes earlier park 2 blocks further and walk. Get a pair of ankle weights 2-5 lbs and walk around with them during your day. Spend time walking outdoors. If you have a dog instead of delegating that task to your kids, get a long leash and walk it!
I just came up with just a few ways to increase physical activity. Take a look at the benefits of exercise and see whether that will motivate you to come up with some more.
Blood Sugar
For a type 2 diabetic, whether speaking with your healthcare provider or with a family member or friend, the discussion always goes to how the blood sugars are. This is also known as home blood glucose monitoring. Sometimes I'm surprised to find a patient who has no interest in checking their blood sugars.
Knowing your blood sugar levels gives you instant feedback as to how well you are managing your diabetes. It alerts you to a problem even before your healthcare provider becomes aware. I always try to remind my patients that on average barring any complications that require more frequent visits to see me, on average I only get to see them 4-5 times a year. That's every 3-4 months!
Knowing your blood sugars is a key component to living powerfully with diabetes.
A common drawback I hear from some type 2 diabetics is they do not like to stick their fingers every day as it becomes painful.
I always have a counter offer:
If your A1C is less than 7% then I allow checking blood sugars 3-4 times a week.
I also outline a strategy in my upcoming book on how to get the maximum amount of information from those blood sugars not only for yourself but also your healthcare provider.
BMI
With the current obesity epidemic and more than 2/3rds of Adult Americans are overweight or obese.
The BMI is the most practical way to evaluate the degree of excess weight. It is calculated from the weight and square of the height as follows:
BMI = body weight (in kg) ÷ stature (height, in meters) squared
BMI correlates with body fat and is relatively unaffected by height.
When I had an office-based practice I intentionally kept a BMI chart in each of my examining rooms. This gave my patients time to take a long and hard look at their BMI before I came in to see them.
I was often bemused when I heard some patients state they were a 'little overweight' and then be shocked to discover they are in fact they are obese.
Know your BMI
Remember my mission is to arm you with knowledge. With knowledge comes the power to make more powerful decisions and choices.
The definition of overweight and obesity varies by race.
Overweight for Caucasians is a BMI between 25 and 29.9 kg/m2.
Obesity is when the BMI of 30 kg/m2 or more.
For Asians, overweight is a BMI between 23 and 29.9 kg/m2. And obesity a BMI >30 kg/m2.
The WHO and NHLBI Guidelines are currently applied to whites, Hispanics and blacks.
Just as I shared there are charts and also you can get apps and also computer software to assist in the calculation of BMI. A simple way would be to check with your healthcare provider.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is produced in the liver. It gets transported from the liver to the cells of the body attached to proteins. Once attached to proteins it becomes lipoproteins. It has many functions in the body and they help to keep us healthy. In my book, I share with you the ways that cholesterol works in our bodies.
However just as sugars serve a good function but once they run high they can cause diabetes, the same thing happens to cholesterol.
It is important to know your numbers for the lipoprotein levels. Lipoproteins are also known as lipids.
You should get a fasting lipid panel as part of your routine diabetes care at least once a year.
There are several components of the fasting lipid panel:
HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) I call it the 'happy cholesterol' This level should be more than 40 mg/dl. More than 60 mg/dl is excellent. LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) I call it the 'lousy cholesterol'. You want to keep this as LOW as possible. The current guidelines are to get the LDL as low as 70 mg/dl. Triglycerides - simply put are all the fatty substance in your blood. Currently a lot of experts feel that triglycerides can cause heart disease alone. The goal is to keep the triglycerides less than 150 mg/dl.
Calories
The amount of calories that you eat plays a critical role in how well controlled your blood sugars are going. Calories are also tied directly to how much weight you gain or lose. It's a very simple equation.
Calories in more than calories out = gain in weight (high BMI + High blood sugars + high A1C)
Calories in less than calories out = weight loss (lower BMI + normal blood sugars + normal A1C)
Ways to monitor your calories:
I have dedicated an entire chapter to nutrition in my soon to be released book.
A simple way to start of is to simply watch your portion sizes. Don't fill your plate Eat only till you are about 80% full. This is a principle that the Okinawan's in Japan use. They live into their 100s. Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. Drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water per day. This helps to keep you full. Increase the intake of fiber. This also helps control your blood sugars.
So there you have it. A guideline to knowing your numbers. I'd recommend that you bookmark this article and come back and read it often.
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