https://youtu.be/OlZrxvXiFwA

Velma Glover, RN, and Idongesit Obeya, RN, discuss the importance of understanding how diabetes can affect your health, the link between diabetes and heart disease, how to take charge of your health to reduce your risk, and how to join the Know Diabetes by Heart Initiative. —concluded by a Quiz facilitated by Velma and Idongesit. After watching this webinar, you will better grasp what diabetes is and how to manage it.

3:42 Velma’s Introduction
4:02 Know Diabetes by heart KnowDiabetesbyHeart.org
4:32 What is Diabetes
5:49 Types of Diabetes
7:24 People at higher risk of developing diabetes
8:37 What is type 2 diabetes?
8:53 Understand the link to heart disease 
9:31 Questions to ask your doctor
10:15 Health care tips for all
14:31 Idongesit’s Introduction
17:54 Health care tips for all continued
15:56 Quiz starts
37:46 Find out more about Know Diabetes by Heart at KnowDiabetesbyHeart.org
38:37 Wrap up Healthy Hearts Webinar Series

What is diabetes? (4:32)   

Diabetes is a condition that causes your blood glucose 9or blood sugar) levels to rise too high.

  • More than 30 million Americans have diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes

How Diabetes works:
– your body makes and uses insulin ( a hormone) to keep your blood sugar in the normal range.
– when you have diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use insulin efficiently—causing your blood sugar levels to go too high.  

Types of Diabetes (5:49)

Type 1 Diabetes- Your body produces little to no insulin. 

Type 2 Diabetes- Your body produces insulin but does not use it well or make enough.

Diabetes in Pregnancy- Your body cannot make and use all the insulin it needs for pregnancy. 

People are at higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes (7:24)

Non-White
Family history of diabetes
Diagnosed with diabetes when pregnant
Lack of regular exercise
Overweight or obese
45 or older

Understanding the link to heart disease (8:53)

– People with diabetes have a higher risk of heart disease.

– When diabetes is not managed adequately, it can damage your blood vessels. 

– Damaged blood vessels are more likely to be injured from high blood sugar, high blood pressure, plaque build-up, and swelling

– The build-up of plaque can clog arteries, leading to a heart attack, stroke, or heart failure.

Health care tips for all (17:54)

  • Talk to your health care provider at your next appointment about ways to reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke.
  • Make lifestyle changes

– Follow a heart-healthy diet
– Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight
– Being physically active
– Not smoking 

  • Properly manage stress
  • Monitor and keep track of your blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight
  • Take your medications as prescribed.

In conclusion

Velma’s tip “Make sure you eat before going to a grocery store. Don’t be hungry when you’re there because you will have the nice candy bars at the register, and there will be enticing stuff all around. Oh, I’m hungry. Let me just have that. Planning to eat before you go to the store can help.”

Resources in this Webinar
https://www.empoweredtoserve.org/en/
https://www.knowdiabetesbyheart.org/

Learn more about Healthy Hearts Communities “I Am Because We Are.”
https://heartofagiant.foundation/sign-up-free-for-2hc/

Comprehensive healthcare support, education, coaching, and access to digital health technology to patients and their families between doctor’s visits to better health outcomes.
Sign up here for the Healthy Hearts Community. It’s Free

 

Here are some critical moments in the discussion:

10:45 Idongesit on diabetes “ The benchmark is worse than what it was 30 to 40 years ago. Lines are being blurred these days with foods that we’re eating are not quality. We increasingly see diagnosis benchmarks blurred, like type one diabetes. It was commonly referred to as juvenile diabetes, usually seen in children from birth to maybe 18 years old. Children are now being diagnosed with type two diabetes. Which is commonly associated with lifestyle choices or food choices, or a sedentary lifestyle., We’re not moving much as nature would intend us to do. So we’re finding that more and more people are being diagnosed with conditions.”

12:42 Velma on lifestyle changes “Lifestyle makes a big difference with diabetes. And again, how active you are. I know we just, with the pandemic, went through the change of being at home. So, sitting at the computer a lot, we do a lot of zoom meetings, and it takes a more conscious effort for us to be more physically active, especially when we’re at home. And, um, so definitely that’s a key one. And, I knew when I grew up, we were outside all the time playing very physically active, but as an adult, you know, you have to go to the gym now.”

15:34 Velma on medication “I know for me, what helps me is having a pill case and putting my pills out weekly. And then that tells me when I forget, oh, I didn’t take it this day. But being able to do things, help yourself manage, and just good control of being on top of your medicine.”

16:57  Idongesit on overeating sugar “when you have a lot of sugar circulating in your body more than your body needs, it accumulates and causes things to accumulate in your body. Things like plaque, which is a derivative of oils that you eat. It starts to accumulate in your blood vessels, arteries, and veins. So instead of them being nice and round and having enough passage for blood to flow through them, it narrows it. Which can lead to heart, blood pressure, and blood clots occurring because the blood cells are bumping into each other, causing bruising over time. So yes, when you overdose your body with something naturally good for it, but in too much of a high concentration, it cannot get rid of it. It affects you in so many ways that affect your heart and kidneys; you name it.”

19:10 Velma on managing diabetes stress “When you have social gatherings, you just can’t go and do what you see everybody else doing. You have to think through your own life, like what you’re going to eat and what you’re not going to eat. And people may impose, and you have to say no and feel good about it.”

21:05 Idongesit on managing diabetes stress “You have to cook; differently, you have to modify salt, you have to modify sugars and what you drink. If you are drinking juices, you now have to drink water or more natural juices, and also be aware of how much of that you’re taking in. You have to be aware of your snacks, so you can just eat chips just because, you know, you want to eat chips, and you can’t just pop in any mint or chew any gum. So it is stressful when people have to modify every aspect of their lives actively. Over time it gets easier.” 

24:50 Velma on controlling what you eat “All of a sudden find that you have diabetes and look at, okay, now I need to control. And not eat a lot of things. It takes for me some psychological help to look at how to manage or like I’m an emotional eater. And there are a lot of people that are emotional eaters. It comforts them. To be able to like, look at, okay, well, how do I provide comfort? How do I understand my mentality and how I respond to things and deal with it in a way that helps me to manage and keeps myself helping?” 

34:26 Velma, on adding movement to your day, “planning your movement is also key. You are getting that cardiovascular. As well as the resistant training, as you get older, you lose muscle mass, and you have to get that resistance lifting weights and stuff into your day to at least two or three times a week. It makes a big difference.”

Idongesit on adding movement to your day “That’s what I, for 30 minutes or an hour every day. And you’re going to attain the weight loss that. You’re striving for and also modify your diet. Eat half of everything or a quarter of everything, and that is how you go about it.”

44:24 Velma on managing stress “For me, I’ve learned as a nurse too, not just as a nurse, but in nursing, you repressed your feelings a lot to continue to take care of your rest of the patients. Like you got to get through your day. And when you hold onto those feelings, you sometimes bury those feelings alive in your body, but it sits in your organ and creates stress in your body. And it’s really important that we release tension and stress in our body on a regular basis.”