Kids at Risk For Diabetes

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8 Tips to Avoid Gestational Diabetes

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Gestational diabetes can be frightening. Women typically get tested between 24-28 weeks gestation. But you can avoid gestational diabetes by knowing your risks and taking action steps to avoid these problems.

Evaluate Your Risk

According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Diabetes Association your risks include:

  1. Over the age of 25
  2. A body mass index (BMI) over 25
  3. A family history of diabetes in a parent, sibling, or a child
  4. A history of a baby born over 9 pounds
  5. Ethic groups at highest risk include Pacific Islanders, Asians, Hispanic
    and certain Native American tribes.
  6. A random blood sugar test over 200
  7. A1C test equal to or greater than 5.7%
  8. A history of Polycystic Ovary Disease
  9. High triglycerides or a prescription to control triglycerides.

It is Proven that Gestational Diabetes can be Prevented

The American Diabetes Association has proven through the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) that lifestyle changes can prevent or delay the diagnosis of diabetes. It is believed that gestational diabetes can be prevented through lifestyle changes. Gestational diabetes is controlled by pregnancy hormones, so you need to make changes early in your pregnancy. As your pregnancy develops, it will become increasingly difficult to control your blood sugar because of your changing hormones. Learning how eat for your body’s needs is essential.

8 Tips to Avoid Gestational Diabetes:

  1. Eat 3 equally spaced meals each day
  2. Limit snacks between meals. (once you start following the gestational meal plan you will have nutritionally balanced snacks between meals and one at bedtime.
  3. Eat a balanced diet (limit sugar, fat, and salt)
  4. Include fresh fruits and vegetables as much as possible
  5. Include whole grains
  6. Limit saturated fats
  7. Avoid sugary drinks and rich desserts
  8. Learn to check labels for portion sizes (Do not eat for two – you need to control your weight gain during pregnancy!)

Making lifestyle changes is very difficult. It is said that it takes 3 months to change a habit. My eBook (coming soon!) will talk about ways to help make changes that will last.

Together we can make a difference in your future.

Please keep an eye out for my eBook – coming soon!

 

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Help for Diabetes During Pregnancy

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Your Gestational Diabetes Diagnosis can be Traumatic

When you are pregnant, being diagnosed with gestational diabetes is the last thing you want to hear. You are given a crash course on how to manage your blood sugar with diet and exercise. You are so stressed out, you probably don’t remember one tenth of what was said.  Your stress continues as you try to “manage” your blood sugar by testing multiple times each day. You feel like your body has betrayed you. All you want to do is have a healthy baby. I know what you’re going through.

Fasting Blood Sugar Test

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) is now requiring new clients to have a fasting blood sugar test during early pregnancy to determine un-diagnosed Type 2 and prediabetes in their patients.  Due to the average woman waiting to have their first child later in life and the increasing weight problems they face with age, pregnant women are at increased risk for developing sugar problems. (Get my free gift to evaluate your risk for gestational diabetes.)

How Does Gestational Diabetes Affect You and Your Baby?

At about 12 weeks gestation, your baby starts growing rapidly. This requires increasing amounts of energy, and insulin requirements increase accordingly. Around week 24, your body’s insulin production cannot keep up with your baby’s growth.

Typically, the fasting blood test for gestational diabetes happens between weeks 24-28. The ACOG is allowing your blood sugars to increase enough during the day so that your body can not recover through the night. At that time a random blood sugar test over 200 is a positive result for gestational diabetes.

Your baby continues to grow until about 36 weeks gestation. At delivery, the hormonal effects of the pregnancy disappear and the demand for insulin drops dramatically. Postpartum, your body’s requirement for insulin can go below normal. Many women are placed on IV insulin during labor and they need to be monitored carefully during postpartum.

After Gestational Diabetes Delivery

Because your baby has developed in a blood supply rich in sugar, your baby’s pancreas will also go through an adjustment after delivery. You will see the nursing staff taking blood samples from your baby. Don’t get excited. They will monitor your baby’s blood sugar as needed to keep them safe.

Since insulin requirements shift dramatically during pregnancy, true diabetics need to be monitored carefully for adjustments in their medications. Type 1 diabetics need to be under the care of an endocrinologist throughout their pregnancy. Type 2 diabetes should expect to be placed on insulin during pregnancy. They should also expect to have weekly insulin adjustments.

What to do Before You Get Pregnant

To have a successful pregnancy without complications, all diabetics need to have their blood sugars under good control for six months before conception. The success of their ability to control their blood sugar is often determined by an A1C test.

If you need support in controlling your blood sugars before pregnancy, consider my 1:1 phone consultation program. For a free evaluation please schedule a FREE call with me.

Wishing you a happy pregnancy and a healthy baby!

Julie

P.S. Remember to get my list to evaluate your risk for gestational diabetes.

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Cognitive Behavior Weight Loss

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Change your thinking and change your life. Your life is a result of your daily decisions. Perceptions can be changed with a single thought. You must believe that cognitive behavior weight loss is indeed possible. What does that mean? Keep reading…

What is your motivation?

What is your motivation to change your life? When you reach the point where your weight is unacceptable, you will make changes in your lifestyle.

To make sustainable lifestyle changes you must:

  1. Change your thinking
  2. Manage your environment
  3. Take a long-range view

As a diabetes care and support manager, I am trained in how to maintain sustainable changes in your life. What does sustainable mean? It means that you can continue it on an ongoing basis. Diabetes is directly related to excess weight. It is a chronic disease, so it is important to manage your weight gain over a lifetime, therefore, by sustainable means.

We have all tried to lose weight on diets. We can deny ourselves for a while, but we give up and go back to our old eating habits. Then we feel like failures.

We need to change our thinking by identifying your why and focusing on it every day. Have you taken the time to evaluate what motivates you? That is the first step.

Be realistic

Be realistic! When you go on a low carb diet, you are going to crave carbohydrates. Your body’s main fuel supply is carbohydrates. So when you reduce your carbs, you feel tired. But carbohydrates are not your enemy.

There are limits to our energy to deny what we crave. Don’t try to change all your bad eating habits at the same time. Make a list of your cravings and prioritize them.

Pick one to focus on. For example, potato chips. Look at the serving size and measure out one serving. Put the chip bag away. Enjoy your one serving of chips once a day. Celebrate your ability to control your cravings. When this is an automatic behavior, pick another one or two on your list. Don’t try to deny all your poor eating habits at the same time.

Manage your environment – Plan ahead.

Out of sight = Out of mind

Make it harder to do what is bad. You are going to get hungry. Set a bowl of fruit or nuts where you can see them and put away the bag of chips. When you are hungry, eat the fruit.

Another way is to not purchase the bag of chips, thereby controlling your environment.

In-sight = in mind

Plan for healthy snacks like yogurt or cheese sticks. Keep in mind sweet snacks are digested quickly leaving you hungry again. Snacks with high fiber like nuts and seeds or protein snacks protect against hunger longer. Plan ahead for your snacks and stick to it.

Plan ahead for non-food rewards

I encourage everyone to journal daily. Record your successes and reward yourself with non-food items. Consider a massage, a date night, maybe even a trip. There are a wide variety of ways to reward yourself with non-food items. Celebrate your victories!

Write about your failures. You will have failures. It is important to take time to evaluate what went wrong. Learn from your failures.

Take a long-range view – expect setbacks

Record in your journal your feelings. Many people do not have good coping skills. If you have a bad day, know that tomorrow is a new opportunity. Forgive yourself and learn from your setbacks. Research healthy ways to cope with stress. Practice what works best for you. Promise yourself to try harder tomorrow.

Focus on the times when things went right. Celebrate your victories. Each evening (maybe when you are watching television) review your day and journal your successes. Feel good about your progress. Having a written record is important to remember your growth. Your journal will help you realize how much you have grown.

Cognitive behavior weight loss

My 30-day program emphasizes cognitive-behavioral dieting. There are many tricks to making sustainable changes. Previously I suggested journaling while watching television. This is called stacking habits.

Stacking habits is setting up cues for remembering healthy habits. My 30-day program supports you in making sustainable lifestyle changes. Check it out under my programs tab, or click the link below for more info and to join.

Click here for more info about my 30-day program and to join!

If you know of anyone who could benefit from cognitive behavioral dieting, be a good friend and share this blog post with them! If you have questions that aren’t answered here, you can email me at Julie@kidsatriskfordiabetes.com.

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Childhood Obesity: 3rd in a Series

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Parents have the responsibility to provide a healthy environment for their children.

But what is involved in a healthy environment?

  • A clean house with a safe sleeping arrangement
  • Providing for good hygiene
  • Emotional support and teaching coping skills
  • A sense of family connections
  • Add your own, this list can be very long!

Our health is holistic in nature. Without good sleep, you will not cope well with the anxieties of life. Without good food, you will not grow and develop properly. One part affects another, which will affect their health today and into the future.

Little changes make a big impact over time

Little changes you make have a ripple effect over time. If you switch from whole milk to 1% milk, you save 45 calories per glass OR 135 calories in 3 glasses each day. This is 945 calories per week, which equals 14 pounds in a year.

One hundred calories saved each day equals 10 pounds lost in a year. When you buy reduced fat milk, you change your environment at home. Small changes like buying lower fat foods can make a big difference over time. Your children are dependent on what you provide, so it’s up to you to make these little changes.

  • When you buy healthier breakfast cereal, they will eat it
  • Or switch to whole grain toast
  • When you buy cookies with less sugar, they will eat them
  • When you buy low-fat chips, they will eat them
  • If you buy apples, with a little prep, they will eat them too!

Cut out 100 calories and reduce sugar

Remember, 100 extra calories each day will cause you to gain 10 pounds each year. Considering how small the 100 calorie snack packs are, you can see how it is easy to eat too many calories each day. That’s why most Americans are gaining weight every year.

It is easier to avoid the temptations in the grocery store than it is to resist eating it every day once you bring it home. This should be a whole family affair. Don’t buy something for your mate and expect your children to resist eating it. It is unrealistic to expect your children to resist eating something you have in the house.

Changing to a lower sugar diet may be challenging to the whole family. But to provide a healthy future, it is important for you to control the amount of sugar in your children’s daily diet. Work with your children to find acceptable solutions. Help them make good decisions about the foods you provide in your home.

Incorporate exercise

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently changed its recommendations for daily exercise.  Never before have they recommended 2-year-olds get added activities. The CDC realizes that parents need to encourage children at a young age to “move their way”. Dancing is a good example. Put music on and it is natural for kids to dance. Find things your children like to do.

Included in the CDC’s recommendations is a limit on screen time based on age. Screen time includes television and computer games. Parents need to be aware of what their children are doing. Encourage them to get involved in activities.

Be the architect of your home

Children depend on parents to provide a good home environment. By keeping focused on their future, you will be motivated to do the right things.

For more information about the holistic nature of children’s health, download my free ebook. 👉 But before you download that, please make sure you’ve signed up for my email list! Anytime I put out a freebie, you’ll get a copy just for being on my list!

For more information about raising healthy children, please see my program, Kids at Risk for Diabetes.

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Childhood Obesity: 2nd in a Series

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Part 2: Develop healthy lifestyles in children

Parents know in their heart when their child has a weight problem. They rationalize it by saying ‘it’s our family genetics’ or ‘they are perfect for playing football’. The truth is: if parents wait until their child is diagnosed, it is too late to reverse many chronic health conditions.

Healthy lifestyles start in infancy. We teach children to wash their hands, brush their teeth, take a bath and so many other important skills. Parents need to teach good lifestyle skills through puberty.

Have you ever had a two-year-old who was so excited (or hurt) that they could not speak clearly? Did you tell them to calm down but not tell them how? By telling them to take a deep breath, you are teaching them at a young age an effective coping skill. Taking several deep breaths can help reduce anxiety at any age.

Coping skills are not taught in school. When children are diagnosed with anxiety, they are often given medications. They can easily become dependent on these medications for the rest of their life. Parents need to teach a variety of coping skills to their children.

Do you teach your child how to slow down before going to sleep? Do you remove the video games, phones and other blue lights from their bedroom? Getting a good night’s sleep is important for good health.

Parents have many responsibilities

Parents have the responsibility to teach their children many good lifestyle skills. What are you teaching your children? What are you teaching by the examples in your life?

Parents can influence the future of their children in many ways. Through encouraging good study habits and rewarding good grades, we teach children the value of education. Encouraging our children to participate in sports, we teach children good sportsmanship and leadership skills. By doing things together we teach the value of family relationships. Parents provide environmental factors for successful young adults.

But did you know that the success of young adults is often influenced by their overall health? Eighty percent of overweight children continue to gain weight and are classified as obese in adulthood. Employers know obesity affects the overall health of the individual. Employers want to protect their bottom line limiting the number of employees with health problems. This will limit the opportunities that are available to them.

Take care of small problems before they become big problems

As adults, you know it is easier to lose 10 pounds than to lose 100 pounds. Weight problems slowly build up through poor choices. You are not suddenly 100 pounds overweight. Most people gain a little weight every year. That weight gain is normal in children. We want to believe kids will grow into their weight as they gain height. But it becomes really difficult for parents to know what is normal. That is why it is important to use the CDC’s growth charts.  https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/index.htm

Your children will understand better when they see the changes in the graphs. Talk to them about changes you can make together. Their future may depend on it.

For more information about small changes you can make and how to impact your children’s future, see blog post Part 3, which will talk about creating your family’s environment.

 

Remember to check out my 30-day course for the whole family. And please join my email list on the form below so you’ll be notified of new posts and get all of my freebies!

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Children need activity every day!

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Children need activity every day!

Being active for children means being active every day. Adult exercise goals are 150 minutes each week. But children need activity every day for at least 30 minutes.

Cut down on screen time!

Kids need to cut down on computer time and video games.  They need encouragement to disconnect. Put a timer on them and make a record of how much time they are spending. Be the parent, stand firm. Use screen time as a reward.

Every day children need to go for a walk, or play at their playground.

3-5 times a week they need a cardio workout that will develop a healthy heart and lungs. There are many different kinds of aerobic exercise. It is important to increase their heart rate into a cardiac range. That range should be determined by your doctor.

Aerobic exercise examples:
  • step exercises
  • cross country running
  • rowing
  • stair climbing
  • wind surfing
  • racquetball
  • tennis
  • squash, you get the idea.

There are many different kinds of aerobic exercise. It is important to increase their heart rate into a cardiac range. That range should be determined by your doctor. One of the easiest way to encourage this type of activity is to get them into an organized sport. Even golf can get them motivated.

In addition, children need muscle strengthening and stretching exercises at least 3 time a week.

Muscle strengthening exercise examples:
  • weights
  • resistance bands
  • calisthenics like push-ups, jumping jacks, or lunges.

It is easy to stretch before you do the muscle strengthening routine and afterwards as a
cool down.

Start slow with 30 minutes each day. Set a goal of 60 minutes per day. Keep a record of all your exercise.

Record your progress on a calendar and celebrate your success!

Remember, a little progress everyday will become a healthier lifestyle over time.

Find an activity that they enjoy doing!

Schedule a time and commit to doing it.

Make your family’s health a priority!

This really is a lifestyle change.  It is so important to help control your weight and exercise is a great way to improve your health. Get started, you’ll feel better.

PRECAUTION NOTE: Before beginning any exercise program consult your physician.

Complications from elevated blood sugars include hypertension, cholesterol problems, eye problems, heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, foot problems, kidney disease or gastroparesis. Adults may be requested to complete a graded exercise evaluation before starting any exercise program due to these complications.

Do you need encouragement to increase your daily activities?  That’s what a life coach does! Email me if you have questions, Julie@kidsatriskfordiabetes.com. Also check out my 30 day virtual course for your whole family! Or schedule a call with me to discuss your specific needs.

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