Five Things that Can Affect Your Diabetes (Other Than Food)

When you think of diabetes and high blood sugar, what comes to mind? Food like breads, pasta, sodas. You may think of stress or illness, but what about the lesser know or thought about causes? Things we think are safe, such as diet soda? I have been a diabetic for the past 14 years and have just learned about these 5 things that can cause a rise in blood sugar or affect diabetes in a different way...

Caffeine: Yes, even the caffeine in diet sodas . According to the Mayo Clinic people who drink the equivalent of 5 cups of plain coffee (or 500 milligrams of caffeine) will notice a rise in blood sugar. This is because caffeine effects two hormones, glucagon and adrenaline. Once you start to drink, these two hormones release sugars stored in the liver. A lot of diet supplements have caffeine in them as well, so watch out for those too!

Medications: Anti-inflammatory drugs such as prednisone used to treat arthritis will cause a spike in sugar. Anti-depressants like Prozac and Abilify will reflect a rise in blood sugar. Thyroid medication like Levothyroxine... Be sure your doctor knows about your diabetes and if you numbers are controlled or not... S/he may change their mind and decide to put you on another drug. You can find a more detailed list of medications at:
www.dlife.com/m/drugs__that_can_affect_blood_glucose_levels.html

No Sugar Added: I used to get tripped up on this one a lot. No sugar added. It doesn't mean sugar free, just that the manufacturer didn't add any additional sugar in the processing. I've noticed it mostly in the frozen food isles with the ice creams, dessert bars and flavored ice pops.

Smoking: While smoking doesn't directly affect your blood sugars, it does affect your blood pressure, bad cholesterol, the amount of oxygen that gets to your organs, your heart and lungs, all of which increase the risk of stroke or heart attack.

Eggs: Again, eggs won't directly affect your numbers, but 7 or more with the fat and bad cholesterol can affect your heart... 7 eggs sound like a lot, but if you have 2 eggs for breakfast - you can only do that a few times a week. Or at our house, we frequently have popovers, for which I use 6 eggs. Yikes!

So, unfortunately us diabetics have more to think about than just a few things when it comes to our blood sugar numbers, but we can do it!

If you need addition support, you can find it at www.healthcentral.com. They have a state by state list of support groups in your area.