Happy Valentine's Day- Two Reasons for Diabetes Awareness

Happy Valentine's Day. It's a day we think about our "significant other", so here are a couple of gift ideas.For you, Valentine's Day could represent how important a focus on heart health has to be when diabetes is in our life. We say it again and again- diabetes raises our risk for heart attack or stoke by at least double, and that's even if blood sugar is well controlled. Remember, the "ABC's" of diabetes management are A1C, Blood pressure and Cholesterol- two of these are in the heart health basket. And, a new study suggests that many of us don't realize there are diabetes management "targets" for blood pressure, LDL ("bad") cholesterol and HDL ("good") cholesterol. A heart healthy diet and physical activity can be a Valentine's gift for yourself.And for your significant others? Ditto! What could be a better gift than to do all you can to make sure you are alive and healthy for many more years. On average diabetes can rob us of a decade of life, and can make more time than that miserable. We all tend to avoid thinking about the negative, but there are two very different ways to put those thoughts to rest. One is to just refuse to acknowledge how our lifestyle can impact our life and the future of those who care for us. The other is to make a commitment to do everything we can to reduce the risk. Guess which way is better?There are many significant times of the year we could choose to make a commitment to health, but when you think about the gift of life it seems Valentine's Day is perfect.Happy Valentine's Day. It's a day we think about our "significant other", so here are a couple of gift ideas.For you, Valentine's Day could represent how important a focus on heart health has to be when diabetes is in our life. We say it again and again- diabetes raises our risk for heart attack or stoke by at least double, and that's even if blood sugar is well controlled. Remember, the "ABC's" of diabetes management are A1C, Blood pressure and Cholesterol- two of these are in the heart health basket. And, a new study suggests that many of us don't realize there are diabetes management "targets" for blood pressure, LDL ("bad") cholesterol and HDL ("good") cholesterol. A heart healthy diet and physical activity can be a Valentine's gift for yourself.And for your significant others? Ditto! What could be a better gift than to do all you can to make sure you are alive and healthy for many more years. On average diabetes can rob us of a decade of life, and can make more time than that miserable. We all tend to avoid thinking about the negative, but there are two very different ways to put those thoughts to rest. One is to just refuse to acknowledge how our lifestyle can impact our life and the future of those who care for us. The other is to make a commitment to do everything we can to reduce the risk. Guess which way is better?There are many significant times of the year we could choose to make a commitment to health, but when you think about the gift of life it seems Valentine's Day is perfect.