
photo credit: Mel B.
This is a guest post from Cherie Burbach – author of 21 Simple Things You Can Do To Help Someone With Diabetes. Since I’ve shared before about my family’s history of diabetes I wanted to share this post here.
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My latest book, 21 Simple Things You Can Do to Help Someone With Diabetes is all about understanding things from a diabetic perspective. It’s like part guide, part etiquette book. It is my hope that non-diabetic folks will learn how to help their diabetic friend or family member. But the book is also great for diabetics in a number of ways. Following are a few things diabetics can learn from my book.
Opening Up a Dialog About Diabetes
Perhaps first and foremost, diabetics may feel that they have a disease no one in their household truly understands. One reason I wrote this book was to help with that. The book is short by design, so it’s easy to read and non-technical. It talks about the personal side of the disease, which is often overlooked. Diabetics can use this book as a way to help talk to their loved ones about some of the things they have experienced.
Diabetics Should Continue Their Diabetes Education
When someone is first diagnosed with the disease, they often take a class with their family to find out more. But as the years go on, their diabetes education may get stalled. Life gets in the way, and people get busy. Diabetics owe it to themselves to find out the latest research. You might even be surprised at some of the changes in insulin routines and meal planning.
Having Diabetes is No Fun, But it Isn’t the End of the World Either
When you are a diabetic, sometimes all you hear is about the negative aspects of the disease: the amputations, blindness, strokes. But here’s the other thing – there has never been a better time in history to have the disease. The knowledge that the medical and scientific worlds have today is so much greater than even twenty years ago. Diabetes may not have a cure yet, but we’ve got the most advanced ways to treat the disease than we have ever had before. Take it seriously, get information, and get as healthy as you can.
Reach Out to Your Loved Ones
Many diabetics go about their daily routine with hardly a word of complaint. That doesn’t mean, however, that they aren’t frustrated at times. Being frustrated doesn’t mean that you’re weak or not in control of the disease. It means you’re human! Ask your family to learn about the disease, so on a day when you’ve got a higher blood sugar, or your blood sugar dips quickly, you have their emotional support. Let them be your cheerleaders rather than your “food police.”
Encourage Others to Get Healthy
Some people take good health for granted. There are diabetics today who are actually healthier than many other people without the disease. Encourage the people in your life to join you in your healthy attitude. Quit smoking. Exercise. Eat right. It isn’t just about “not eating sugar” but a whole lifestyle filled with healthy traits. Getting everyone involved will help you with your diabetes and help your friends and family get healthier too.
Cheers, Cherie
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Cherie Burbach is an author, blogger, poet, crocheter, and geek. She loves football and is obsessed with anything having to do with the Green Bay Packers or Tudor history.
A passionate diabetes advocate, Cherie has written the book, 21 Simple Things You Can Do To Help Someone With Diabetes.
Cherie used her experience with meeting her husband online to pen At the Coffee Shop, a humorous look at the world of Internet dating. Cherie went on over 60 coffee dates in just six months. She met lots of great people and one of those turned out to be the guy she would marry just one year later. Cherie’s new dating book, Internet Dating is Not Like Ordering a Pizza is available now.
She has penned her first novel, For Those Who Knew Zach, told in connected short stories about of a philandering charmer’s collision with fate.
She is a staff writer for b5media, and also the author of three poetry books, including A New Dish and The Difference Now. Her latest, Father’s Eyes, has received the 2008 Editor’s Choice Award by Allbooks Review.
Readers have resonated with Cherie’s honest and inspirational ”This I Believe” essay, which is the second-most popular out of over 40,000 entries on the NPR website. For more information, please visit Cherie’s website, www.cherieburbach.com, her personal blogs, or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/brrbach.