The term 'Diabesity', recently coined, refers to what is already considered the epidemic of the 21st century and combines two serious problems consequence of modern lifestyle: diabetes and obesity.
As Dr. José Ramón Calle, Medical Advisor of the Diabetes Foundation, explains to Infosalus, the lifestyle of a diabetes patient is the same as we should follow the entire population, based on a balanced diet and the practice of physical exerciseto control the weight and risk of cardiovascular disease.
"We are among the countries of the world with more proportion of obesity among young people due to a diet in which junk food and sedentary lifestyle prevail to which consoles and computers contribute. Stronger awareness campaigns are needed in children to foster customsof healthy life that in the elderly they are already difficult to change, "says the endocrinologist of the San Carlos Clinical Hospital of the Community of Madrid.
Type 1 diabetes
Patients with type 1 diabetes usually participate largely in the evolution of the disorder and have a better education to control their condition, when to perform the controls or how to adjust the insulin doses that must be injected according to their diet."However, the rhythm of life associated with haste and welfare load can lead to many patients being worse educated in their illness of what they should," says the optional.
Type 1 diabetes was known as infant-juvenile diabetes since it began in the child and adolescent era, however there is a growing percentage of people who begin to suffer from it after 30 years.This diabetes requires injected insulin treatment and daily glucose control at different times of the day.
Type 2 diabetes, the known before as adult diabetes, is linked to lifestyle and excess weight and despite the fact that a few years ago the existence of this type of diabetes in minors was considered rare, more and more are diagnosed morecases among them.There are more than 5 million people in Spain suffering from this type of diabetes.
Despite the use of drugs, the pancreas of these people with type 2 diabetes are exhausted and in many cases they end up needing the injected insulin, requiring the same instruction in the disease as a patient of diabetes type 1 of origin.
The doctor points to some of the aspects of which more problems and errors in diabetes control are derived:
* inequality in patients and assistance
There is great variability between patients and their education about disease and accessible resources in the health system.According to Dr. Calle, there are great differences between health centers in terms of training and the means offered to these people to control the disease.
* Follow an adequate diet
The excessive consumption of fat and refined sugars predisposes to excess weight and with it to the greatest risk of hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia."The diet that diabetic patients should follow is the one we should follow," says the specialist.One of the most important errors is the drastic reduction of carbohydrates derived from the idea that its consumption rises blood sugar.
"We must reduce refined carbohydrates such as sweets and buns and moderation integrate slow absorption carbohydrates such as legumes, cereals, rice or potatoes," says the endocrinologist, who adds that the main problem is to change habits whenIt reaches advanced ages.
* 'Recycle' knowledge
The specialist points out that it is necessary for patients to go through informative sessionsPeriodic to 'recycle' your knowledge about how to control your diabetes since after two or three years patients forget the guidelines or relax in practice.
* Exercise is not just walking
Exercise is part of the treatment of a disease that can cause serious complications in different parts of the body.However, in many cases the walk is considered sufficient exercise."Whoever suffers from diabetes should not only exercise but should do it intensity, walking is not enough, it is about practicing bicycle or swimming and sometimes not so much emphasis on this issue is made as it should," he says.
* Control blood glucose
A large part of the diabetic patients control their blood glucose less than they should and largely due to the fact that the administration restricts the dispensation of the reactive strips necessary to measure glucose, says Dr. Calle.
Patients with type 1 diabetes should measure at least 4 times a day their levels while in the case of those who suffer from type 2 this follow -up depends on the degree of the disease.
* drugs are not enough
There are patients who suffer from type 2 diabetes and consider that oral antidiabetic drugs take over the disease, however, Dr. Calle points out that "treatment is based on diet, exercise and medications and the latter are not enough to stop the disease"
The specialist points out that intervening in these three areas decreases the risks of moving to type 1 diabetes and need insulin, as well as possible complications, the most common associated with the retina and the kidney and to a lesser extent to the nervous system.
* Stop vaining type 2 diabetes
There is still erroneous belief among many patients that there are not really suffering from any bad but only blood sugar levels are a bit high and that this does not have gravity compared to type 1 diabetes.
