Importance of Diabetes Education

• Diabetes education is the cornerstone of diabetes management because diabetes requires day-to-day knowledge of nutrition, exercise, monitoring, and medication.
• Diabetes education makes you more aware of diabetes, what it takes to treat it, and gives you the power to control it.
• Diabetes education allows you to better incorporate education into your life and make the necessary changes to improve your lifestyle.

Best Practices for Diabetes Education

It's a good idea to have individual diabetes education as well as group education. In a group, you may feel more comfortable because people have the same concerns and you can share your experiences and frustrations.
It's very important that you create an individual plan after the group visit, because everyone's lifestyle is different.
Your diabetes self-management goals should not only be individualized, but also measurable and achievable.
You should create very specific short-term goals as well as long-term goals. An example of a short-term goal might be saying you'll lose one to two pounds per week, while a long-term goal would be to lose 50 pounds.
Diabetes education is an ongoing process that should be repeated every one to two years, either with a diabetes nurse educator or a nutritionist. This allows patients to stay up-to-date.
Diabetes education gives you the power to control your diabetes, so it doesn't end up controlling you.