Diabetes Specialist

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a chronic health condition that causes high levels of glucose, or sugar, in your blood. Glucose is your body’s preferred source of fuel and it comes from the food you eat. Insulin is a hormone made in your pancreas that helps get the sugar from your blood into your cells to supply the energy.

If you have diabetes, this process doesn’t work properly, resulting in high blood sugar levels.

There are two primary types of diabetes:

• Type 1 diabetes: your body doesn’t make enough insulin
• Type 2 diabetes: the insulin your body makes can’t get the sugar into the cell

Type 2 diabetes is more common than Type 1 diabetes, and often occurs in adults. Being overweight or obese increases your risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Do I need to follow a special diet for diabetes?

You don’t need to follow a special diet, but you do need to make smart food choices to help maintain blood sugar levels. Dr. Gartner provides nutritional guidance to help you understand how food affects blood sugar and the types of changes you can make to your current diet to gain control over your blood sugar. She offers diabetes nutritional counseling whether you need to lose weight or not.

How can a weight-loss program help my diabetes?

Carrying excess weight with diabetes increases your risk of developing diabetes-related complications, such as kidney or heart disease. Dr. Gartner is an expert in both weight loss and diabetes, and can create a weight-loss plan that helps you lose the weight and improves your blood sugar control. Dr. Gartner also designs an exercise program that fits your weight-loss needs and fitness level.

With weight loss, a healthy diet, and regular exercise, you can reduce your blood sugar levels, decrease your medication dosage, and possibly even discontinue one or more of your medications.

Can I prevent diabetes?

In some cases, diabetes is preventable. If your blood sugar is running high, but not high enough to be diagnosed with diabetes, you may have prediabetes. If you’re overweight or obese with a diagnosis of prediabetes, Dr. Gartner and her team at 360 Medical Weight Specialists can develop a weight-loss program to help you shed pounds and reduce your risk of developing the disease.

For nutritional management of your diabetes, call 360 Medical Weight Specialists today, or use the online booking button to schedule a consultation.