Seven years ago, doctors told Joe Crump he had diabetes.
He figured the diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes meant he'd have to take a pill and lay off sweets. After all, he felt fine.
"It's hard to respect something that doesn't hurt you," says Crump, 61. "I didn't need to go to the emergency room."
That was until he suffered a minor heart attack in 2007, his second. And simple cuts morphed into wounds that took weeks to heal. And he was diagnosed with cataracts. And his feet and ankles went numb.
That's when he got scared and started listening to a certified diabetes educator who gave him a road map to navigating a disease that affects more than 23 million Americans.
"I'm not ready to check out yet," says Crump, who has since lost 55 pounds and curtailed some of the problems connected to his diabetes.
Crump and millions of other people with Type 2 diabetes fail to control complications of the progressive disease because they don't know where to begin, says Carol Singleton, a registered nurse and owner of Single Source Diabetes of Brandon. Diabetes -- a chronic condition in which the body fails to produce insulin and break blood sugar or glucose into energy -- has no cure.
"Many diseases run their course. ... Diabetes is not one of them," she says.
Controlling diabetes involves understanding the need to balance healthy eating, physical activity, medications and blood-sugar monitoring, Singleton says. Otherwise, the thick, sugary glucose will wreak havoc on blood vessels and associated organs.
Nutrition, specifically understanding the effect of carbohydrates on glucose levels, is one of the more important issues facing diabetics. Carbohydrates are foods that help raise blood glucose, and they come in three forms: starch or complex, sugar and dietary fiber.
Reading nutrition labels helps many people get a grip on carb counts, and most calorie-counting books break down carbohydrate levels in foods. Planning meals in advance and knowing how slow or fast the foods are processed through the body also can help balance blood glucose levels.
The American Diabetes Association suggests in general that a person aim to include in each meal about 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrates mixed with lean protein and fats. Carbohydrate foods are bountiful: bread, cereal, rice and crackers, fruit and juice, milk and yogurt, beans, potatoes, corn, and even sweets and snack foods.
Choosing whole grains, fiber-rich foods and more natural carbs will affect your body differently than processed junk foods.
"A good rule of thumb, especially for grains, is that the further away a food is from its natural state, the less nutritious," the ADA advises.
Singleton warns that eating a healthy diabetic diet is not as simple as cutting out sweets or using weight-loss plans such as the protein-centered Atkins Diet. The foods you choose for every meal combine with medication to affect the up-and-down flow of blood sugars in your body.
"With diabetes management, there are so many risk factors and complications ... it's not just diet and exercise," she says.
Brandon resident Rose Tucker lost more than 60 pounds after being diagnosed with diabetes two years ago. She did it on her own but worries she isn't making the best food choices for herself and her husband, Jim, who doctors say has pre-diabetes. Now, she's attending nutrition and diabetes support groups regularly.
"I've learned you can't learn enough," says Tucker, 68.
Singleton says it's the little things -- such as understanding portion control -- that can make a difference in controlling diabetes. Crump, who serves breakfast at his Masonic Lodge every Saturday, says he wishes his diabetic friends there would listen to this kind of advice. Instead, he watches them load up on too many biscuits, gravy and bacon. They don't realize the effect those meal choices will have, he says.
"People aren't scared enough of diabetes."
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