What Do You Know About Diabetes

This week begins diabetes week so we thought we’d focus on what it is and how it can be managed.

At the heart of the matter is insulin, a much needed hormone for your body. Insulin comes from your pancreas and is responsible for managing the glucose (sugar) in your body.

Too little sugar is a problem.  Sugar that comes and goes is also not good.  This brings us to the two types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2.

Getting a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes means your body does not make insulin.

Type 2 diabetes means that your body isn’t using the insulin created properly.

According to the CDC, in 2021, estimates for Americans living with diabetes was 38.4 million people or 11% of the US population.

Your diagnosis of diabetes increases by 29% if you are over the age of 65 and you are in the majority if you have Type 2 diabetes.

You must take insulin with a diagnosis of  Type 1 diabetes. Lifestyle changes can help too.

Your Type 2 diabetes diagnosis can mean insulin medication but it is also possible to manage it with lifestyle changes.  

Lifestyle changes:  Diet and Exercise

• Your diet should consist of lots of lean proteins, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates like whole grains, beans and lentils and fruits.

• You should avoid refined grains, white rice, white flour, and snack foods made with refined flour.  In addition, food with added sugars, sweets and beverages like soda are off the list for you.

• You need to add exercise to your day.  Walking is great exercise.  Weight bearing strength training is important for your muscle strength.

Private Home Health Care knows that there is ongoing research to learn more about this disease.  We are hopeful for great outcomes for our county and our world.

Photo by Artem Podrez

Best Friends

Tomorrow is National Best Friends Day.  Believe it or not, the U.S. Congress actually started this day back in 1935.  It is meant to be lighthearted and a day to celebrate or remember your best friend or friends.

You may have a best friend who comes to your mind.  It would be someone that you connect with on many levels.  They most likely have helped you through happy and difficult moments.  

Your best friend might have been there for your happiness when you got married.  Perhaps they helped you with a new baby.  They might also have provided listening ears during a difficult time in your marriage or with a child or even a death.

Happy or sad times, a best friend is someone who is there to share those experiences.  As you age it could be that it’s shared over the phone or via social media but that doesn’t change the connection.  Near or far the friendship connection continues on.

There are many different terms for a best friend.  Do you use any of them?

A bestie, BFF, brother from another mother, homie, mate, sidekick or confidant.

Whatever you call them, try to contact them tomorrow to say how much you appreciate them.  If you live close enough and are able to get out see if you can get together for coffee, breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Tomorrow is a great day to celebrate your friendship that has meant a lot to you.  Young or old it makes no difference.  We can all share this day together with our best friends. 

If you have lost a best friend, remember the good times and look at any pictures you have together.  Memories can be very powerful.

Private Home Health Care values our close friendships and we hope to take the time to reach out to our besties tomorrow on National Best Friends Day.

#nationalbestfriendsday

Ways to Help Aging Skin

As you and I age, so does our skin.  

Many of the changes depend on diet, heredity and if you are a smoker. You also lose fatty tissue between your skin and muscle, and let’s not forget gravity.  

There’s not too much that can change gravity unfortunately.

You do have ways that you can care for your skin to try and keep all those changes to a minimum.

Your skin becomes drier with age so it’s recommended that you wash with a gentle cleanser, use warm, not hot water, and a soft cloth.  

Keep your shower short and apply a fragrance free moisturizer right after bathing.

You can use a humidifier in your room while you sleep.  That will add moisture to the air around you and give a little extra to hydrate your skin.

Gloves are good to wear when you are doing housework or gardening.

Protect your skin from the sun with hats, sunscreen and coverups.  You can never be too careful when it comes to the sun.

Finally, make sure you check your skin for skin cancer.  It’s a great idea to go to a dermatologist once a year for a thorough check.  

Private Home Health Care is aging like everyone and we are trying some of these tips to minimize the changes to our skin.

Eggs

How do you like your eggs?  Sunny-side up, scrambled, fried, hard- boiled, soft-boiled or poached perhaps?

Today we are thinking about eggs, loaded with seven grams of protein and only about 75 calories!  Perfect if you are watching your weight.

You pick them up in the grocery store, checking to be sure none have any cracks.  You may take home a dozen a week or maybe two so what happens when you magnify egg consumption across the United States.

Did you know …

There were 92.6 billion eggs produced in 2022.

Those eggs were produced by 308 million laying hens.

Each laying hen on average produces 300 eggs per year.  (What a busy hen!)

Of these laying hens, 34% are cage free but the USDA is requiring that percentage go up to 66% by 2026.  

This translates into 261 million cases of eggs and more than half of these eggs are sold to you and I in retail stores.

Finally, I wonder if you are trying to guess how many eggs you eat on average in a year?  That number would be 281 per person!

Private Home Health Care loves to eat and cook with eggs and we don’t know where we would be without those laying hens!  We hope you enjoy an egg or two this week!

Smoking Tobacco, a Preventable Disease

Do you know that even with all the information available about the negative effects of smoking that there are still nearly 12 out of 100 adults in the United States still smoking cigarettes?  

This adds up to about 28.3 million people ages 18 and up in our country.  According to the CDC there are a little over 488,000 deaths per year caused by this habit.

It is a frustrating statistic because you and I are easily able to avoid this disease simply by not picking up the habit. 

There is good news because the number of smokers is declining.  That is hopeful.

The CDC has many, many statistics about smokers but they also have recommendations for ways to stop smoking if you have started.

Change your environment by removing any cigarettes, ashtrays, lighters from your home and work environments.  In addition, wash your clothes to remove the smoky small.

You should reach out for support to help you.  Avoid situations where you would normally smoke.  Tell people you are trying to quit to try and get them to stop smoking around you.  

Call a friend if you need help getting through a craving.  Talk to your medical professional too for suggestions or encouraging words.

You can try and distract yourself, avoid tempting situations and find safe substitutes for cigarettes.  Some suggestions are toothpicks, straws or cinnamon sticks, a squeeze ball or a pencil for doodling.

Once you start smoking it can be hard to stop but it’s not impossible.  Take it day by day and look for support when you need it.  Your lungs and body will be much healthier if you are able to kick this habit.

Private Home Health Care hopes that you can work on stopping smoking with some of these recommendations.  There are many more online if you can access a computer.  We wish you the best of luck!

World Multiple Sclerosis Day

Tomorrow is focusing on multiple sclerosis with the goal of raising awareness and research.

You may know someone living with multiple sclerosis (MS).  Multiple sclerosis affects your central nervous system.  That includes your brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.

It is a chronic disease.  Your central nervous system controls just about everything that you do.  The disease basically affects communication between your brain and the rest of your body.

This can be a slow disease and your symptoms can vary.  Some common symptoms include:

• Fatigue
• Memory issues
• Mood
• Mobility
• Numbness
• Pain
• Tingling
• Vision impairment 

There are approximately  2.9 million sufferers of the disease worldwide.  Onset often occurs between the ages of 20 and 40.  

Unfortunately there is little known about the origins of multiple sclerosis and it can be hard to diagnose. If you have symptoms, your health professional will use many strategies to come to a diagnosis.

You may feel discouraged by all this news but there are some new treatments. The medicines won’t cure it but can help with symptoms and reduce relapses.

You should speak with your medical provider but some names of medicines are Fingolimod (Gilenya), Diroximel fumarate (Vumerity), Ozanimod (Zeposia), Ofatumumab, Novartis (Kesimpta), Ponesimod (Ponvory).  These are all newly approved by the FDA.

Private Home Health Care knows that multiple sclerosis is a difficult disease.  We remain hopeful that with current medicines and ongoing research the world can provide help for those who live with it.

Happy Memorial Day!

Private Home Health Care honors the courage and dedication of those protecting our freedom over the years.

We are grateful for the service and sacrifice made by brave men and women of our country.

On this day, let us take a moment to pay our respect to those heroes.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day.  May our flag fly forever free.

#memorialday 

Did You Ever Make a Paper Airplane?

This Sunday marks National Paper Airplane Day.  Yes, it’s true.

This has us thinking back to our childhood and the paper airplanes we made.  Do you have memories of making those too?

Like us, you may have made them in grade school.  There seemed to be plenty of paper to fold simply, in half, then corners and wings.  You may have decorated the plane too.

For sure you had to try to see how they flew.  Did your plane fly far?  How long did it stay in the air?

Some of you may have made paper airplanes in high school as well.  Was it the love of making a good airplane or a way to antagonize a substitute teacher?

Believe it or not you don’t have to be a child to enjoy trying to create the best paper airplane that flies far and long.  There are plenty of grown ups who love to do this too.

You can tell people that you are doing “aerogami.”  It comes from the word origami and could make you sound very knowledgeable as you build your plane.

If you want to have some fun this weekend, you could start a paper airplane contest.  You don’t need a lot of supplies and you might have a few laughs.  

You can check out this website for tips on the contest too:  https://www.foldnfly.com/lounge/paper-airplane-contests.php

Private Home Health Care loves returning to our youth.  Paper airplanes can be fun so we may just take some time to try our hand at making some this weekend.

What Do You Do When Your Day Turns Crazy?

Have you ever had a day that did not go exactly as you had planned?

At any given time this can happen to you?  You start out your day just as you do every day.

You have breakfast, clean up and then head off to work.  

It could be that you volunteer somewhere or you go to help someone so not exactly work, but the next thing on your list for the day.

When you get to your next stop you could find out that there is a need for extra coverage.  Ok, that can be managed.  You are a team player after all.

Your morning is different because you are helping out someplace else but all goes well.  You head outside and suddenly someone goes off the rails.  You need assistance and you have to make sure that everyone else is feeling safe.

One situation managed, on to the next task.  Your schedule is broken up into little pieces and you work with people you are unfamiliar with for a couple of hours but again that goes well.

You return home, a bit depleted, but happy to have survived the day so far.  

Oops!  You remember you need to check on a friend’s cat and you have an appointment and then a dinner date.  Time for an iced coffee, an allergy pill for the cat visit so you aren’t all teary eyed for your dinner.

Your visit with the cat goes well.  Water changed, food refilled, litter box emptied, some play time.  Head home to change for your appointment and dinner.

After dinner you head home and go straight to bed.  How do you feel?

Do you feel overwhelmed by your day? Did you think about how flexible you were?  Do you say a prayer that you don’t have to be “flexible” tomorrow?   

Private Home Health Care has crazy days sometimes.  Our motto is to do our best and keep on smiling!  You can never know how life will be one day to the next but we are grateful for each day.

The Mighty Strawberry

In New England, the month of June starts the strawberry season.  It’s time to time to look at all of the goodness of these berries.  They are so great it’s almost  too hard to tell you all about them in one blog!

Strawberries are low in calories.  That’s a plus if you are watching your weight.  That’s not all though because they are also packed with nutrients and antioxidants.

If you eat one cup of strawberries you will get dietary fiber, potassium, magnesium, Vitamins A and C, folate and a small amount of protein, sodium and sugar.

The antioxidants in strawberries can help you with chronic inflammation.  They can also help to support healthy blood pressure and help you lower your risk for heart disease.

Do you want to help your cognition and help keep you mentally sharp?  Studies have shown that strawberries can help here too.

The fiber in strawberries can help regulate your digestive system.  Turn to strawberries if you ever have systems of constipation.

Additionally, the strawberry has a low glycemic index, slowing your blood sugar absorption.  This is a good fruit if you are fighting diabetes.

That’s a lot of goodness in one berry!

You do need to be careful however and give them a good washing to remove any pesticides before you eat them.  If you can find organic strawberries that’s even better..

Use these delicious berries in yogurt, on cereal, in smoothies, on a salad, in your water or simply eating them as they are.

One exception is if you have berry allergies.  You should contact your health professional before you add them to your diet if you have any allergies to berries just to be safe.

Private Home Health Care loves strawberries and we can’t wait for strawberry season to begin!