According to the American Diabetes Association, almost 21,000,000 Americans suffer from Diabetes. They also say that 1/3 of people suffering from diabetes have not yet been diagnosed.

Type 2 Diabetes makes up about 90% of patients, also known as Adult-Onset Diabetes. The other 10% of diabetics suffer from Type 1 a.k.a. Juvenile Diabetes.

Here are some things that any diabetic person can do to lower blood sugars naturally and manage their blood sugar levels to make their diabetes easier to manage.

Exercise:

Regular exercise can help lower blood sugars with as little as 15 minutes per day. Find something you like to do. If you're into running, swimming or lifting weights, that's fine, but if you're someone who has never really done much exercise and has a very sedentary job, there are a lot of easy things you can do to get into the habit. Just take time to do something. If you walk around the block after work, or go for a swim, or take the dog to the park, or just walk up and down a set of stairs for 15 minutes, you'll burn all the calories you need to lower blood sugar levels naturally.

Diet:

Depending on what type of diabetes you have, your diet will vary, but a lot of diabetics find it easiest to manage their blood sugar levels if they eat every 2-3 hours. Eat small, balanced meals with healthy snacks in between. I find it best if I eat breakfast at around 7am, snack at 10am, eat lunch around 12pm, have a snack at 3pm then eat dinner around 6pm. I also test my blood sugar level before bed and try to eat some sort of protein to hold me over throughout the night.

Weight Loss / Muscle Building:

Typically people suffering from Type 2 diabetes are also overweight and can reverse the symptoms of diabetes simply by losing some body fat, exercising and eating right. If you are more than 20 pounds over weight, it is a very good idea to lose some extra body fat which will help you to lower blood sugar levels also.

Increasing muscle mass also can help a person suffering from diabetes to lower blood sugars naturally because 1 pound of muscle burns 3-4 times the number of calories (at rest) than a pound of fat does. Burning more calories will make it possible for your body to require less insulin, and can also increase insulin sensitivity.

Natural Cures for Diabetes:

You have to be careful because there are a lot of scams on the Internet claiming to "naturally cure diabetes for only 12 easy payments of $74.95" and similar scams like that. To date, there is no easy cure for diabetes except for living a healthy lifestyle and in some cases, reversing the symptoms of diabetes. There are however natural supplements for diabetes that can greatly reduce the symptoms and lower blood sugars naturally.

As far as controlling blood sugar levels go, you need to remember to eat a balanced diet, exercise at least 5 days per week, and many also find it beneficial to add a natural blood sugar control supplement to their diabetes management program.

It is important to test your blood sugar levels regularly, especially when starting an exercise program or blood sugar control supplements as these healthy things may also cause low blood sugars.

Diabetic Treat Days:

Some people with diabetes have a hard time controlling their blood sugar levels due to over-consumption of sugary foods and sweets. If this is a problem for you, instead of telling yourself that you'll never eat sweets again, schedule 1 day per week where you're allowed to eat sweets or have a "treat day". This will make staying away from sugar the rest of the week a lot easier. Instead of drinking regular coke, drink diet if you need a treat. It's sugar free!

We are seeing more and more that the rise of Obesity is effecting our bodies and making us more likely to have diabetes. Using Diet and Exercise you are able to control the symptoms of diabetes to the point that you do not know you even have the disease. It is important for all people to eat a well balanced diet of fruits and vegetables because it help to keep our bodies regular and in good health. If you combine a good diet with a regular exercise routine then you can really keep you body in a healthy state and reduce the chance that diabetes will have control over your life.

Basically with people who are overweight they can be more likely to develop diabetes and if you learn the rights things to eat and how to properly exercise you can greatly reduce the effects diabetes will have on your body. The most important thing to do if you have diabetes is to keep it under control and diet and exercise are the best ways to accomplish this.

You want to eliminate foods that are high in starch carbs and make sure that you get plenty of natural fruits and vegetables. items that you get form a can will contain high levels of additives and should be avoided.

Finding an exercise routine that you are comfortable with is also a must. You may like to walk and that is a great way to reduce your weight but make sure that you do it at least 3-5 times a week.

Despite the huge increase in the number of elder people with diabetes, there are few studies of proper nutrition specific to that age group -most recommendations are based on younger patients. But experts do know that a major concern with respect to nutrition in the elders is malnutrition, which results from inadequate amounts of calories and consuming too much of the wrong foods. The often limited resources of the elders cause them to choose between eating good foods, buying all their medications, and spending money on occasional pleasures like a book or a movie. This isn't a medical problem but rather a social and economic problem, and it's not easily fixed.

The following are some nutritional recommendations that are reasonable and doable for the elder patient with Diabetes:

-- Take a multivitamin and a mineral tablet daily to ensure that you're getting adequate quantities of essential nutrients.

-- Consume a diet in which the carbohydrate content makes up 40 to 50 percent of calories. This recommendation is reasonable based on successful control of blood glucose in other patients.

-- Keep the levels of saturated fats down and mono unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats up for a healthier diet; these fats should represent about 30 percent of your daily calories.

-- Stick to a level of protein that's 15 to 20 percent of daily calories. This amount strikes a balance between too much protein that may hurt the kidneys and too little protein resulting in loss of muscle.

-- Get at least 20 grams of fiber in your daily diet.

-- Avoid a low-sugar diet. It won't improve your glucose control and may cause weight loss because of the lack of taste in the food.

Apart from the above there are many other things like you should keep your teeth in good condition to make eating easier and to avoid infections that complicate Diabetes. Brush, floss, and visit the dentist twice a year.

In 1921, Dr. Fred Banting discovered insulin and developed the very first medicine to treat diabetes. After that discovery, insulin was injected once, twice or several times a day to control blood sugar. For those people with diabetes who need insulin to survive there are choices: insulin injections or the insulin pump. Diabetes, for people who make little or no insulin, is best controlled with a basal insulin that works nearly peakless throughout the day like Lantus or Levamir in addition to bolus injections that work for a short period of time after each meal like Novolog, Humulog or Apidra . If you are injecting yourself three to four times each day, you may want to consider the insulin pump.

The pump is a remarkable device that provides ultimate control for those people with Type 1 diabetes (who make little or no insulin) or those with Type 2 diabetes who now are taking many injections. With the insulin pump, you have a device that mimics your own pancreas' natural abilities with a steady flow of small amounts of insulin called the "basal". To improve blood sugar readings after a meal and to add flexibility to your food choices the pump allows you to deliver insulin as needed with a "bolus".

Just imagine, you wear a tiny, pager-sized device for 3-4 days that delivers insulin throughout the day like the pancreas would and it replaces 9- 16 injections in that time period. And when you eat meals or snacks, you program the device to deliver more insulin so your blood sugar won't spike. You can even use a "correction bolus" to lower blood sugar at any time of the day you find it to be higher than your target range. There are countless features to these pumps to help you avoid the many diabetes complications.

With the help of your diabetes healthcare team you will quickly learn more specifics. For example, there is an insulin to carbohydrate ratio that your healthcare team will set for you that allows you to bolus the amount of insulin you need for a particular meal or snack. Many people begin with a 1:15 ratio - this means that for every 15 grams of carbohydrates that you consume you need 1 unit of bolus insulin. If you eat 1 slice of bread worth 15 grams of carbohydrates then you would bolus 1 unit of insulin. But, if you decide you feel like 3 pieces of bread, you would bolus 3 units of insulin (1 unit for every 15 grams of carbohydrates eaten). It's easy and keeps you in the best blood sugar control imaginable. Fine tuning of this ratio can be done by your healthcare team by evaluating your blood sugar readings and food records.

Many options of pumps are available: Animas (IR-2020 and the IR-1000), (Accu-Check Spirit), Insulet (Omnipod - the only remote controlled pump without tubing), Medtronic (MiniMed Paradigm 522 and 722), Sooil Development (Diabecare II or the IIS) and Smiths Medical (Cozmo).

If you are taking multiple injections and are interested in achieving the best diabetes control with the most flexibility then you want to consider the insulin pump.