Holiday meals bring candy, cookies and other sweets in bountiful amounts. Most of us will chow down with a promise to return to healthy eating tomorrow. But people with diabetes must closely monitor their intake of sugar and carbohydrates at every meal.

What is diabetes? 

Aminat Ogun, MD, is a family medicine physician at OSF HealthCare. She says diabetes is a disorder that affects how your body uses blood sugar. Type 1 diabetes is when an autoimmune reaction stops your body from making insulin. Type 2 is when the body can’t recognize insulin and use it well. Gestational diabetes occurs in pregnant women.

Dr. Ogun says a sedentary lifestyle can be a big risk factor for developing diabetes, so regular exercise is important. Treatment typically involves medication and lifestyle changes.

Moderation is key 

Dr. Ogun says there’s no magic number of cookies you can eat on Christmas and walk away with no diabetes complications. Your nutrition depends on your age, sex, height, weight and more. Plus, she says the brain needs some sugar to function.

Dr. Ogun recommends small portions. Put just a couple of cookies or chocolates on your plate after the holiday meal. Don’t keep going back for more.

Mix in healthier snacks, like fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes. Look for “whole grain” or “whole wheat” on the label. If you’re craving sugar, try yogurt with berries or an apple with peanut butter. Artificial sweeteners are another option to satisfy the sweet tooth, as Dr. Ogun says they do not raise your blood sugar level. For example, mix a sweetener powder into your water.

Dr. Ogun says if you rely on insulin, check your blood sugar level as often as your doctor advises.

“You would have discussed with your doctor the amount of carbohydrates you can take,” Dr. Ogun says. “Try to keep to that level.”

Dr. Ogun admits it may be more difficult for children not to gorge on holiday sweets. So, parents need to keep a close eye and provide motivation to eat healthy.

“If they eat a certain amount of vegetables of fruits in a day, maybe reward with a cookie or snack,” Dr. Ogun suggests.

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Symptoms of diabetes include increased urination, increased thirst and blurred vision. More serious cases could bring nausea, vomiting and eye, heart and kidney issues. Nerve damage leading to numbness and tingling in your hands and feet known as diabetic neuropathy is also possible.

“We lose sensation in those areas. People may step on a nail and might not feel it,” Dr. Ogun says. “The issue grows and grows and leads to an ulcer, which makes wound healing harder for diabetic patients.

“That’s when we have to consider amputation,” of a foot, for example, she adds.

Diabetes can also be fatal, Dr. Ogun says.

Read about diabetes care on the OSF HealthCare website. If you have questions about this disorder or have symptoms, talk to your primary care provider.

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Previous coverage

OSF HealthCare blog entries on diabetes

OSF HealthCare Newsroom stories on diabetes

In the 2023 State of the Union Address, President Joe Biden renewed a call to cap the price of insulin for people with diabetes.

Five days later, the condition got nationwide attention again when singer Nick Jonas, a type 1 diabetic, starred in a Super Bowl commercial promoting a product that monitors your glucose level.

And a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted a rapid rise in cases of diabetes in young people over the next few decades.

It’s a good thing that influencers and medical professionals continue to preach diabetes awareness, says Uche Allanah, MD, an internal medicine physician with OSF HealthCare. That’s because if undiagnosed or untreated, diabetes can be fatal.

“It’s alarming,” Dr. Allanah says, referring to the number of patients she sees with symptoms or precursors of diabetes.

Prediabetes vs. diabetes

Diabetes is a disorder that affects how your body uses blood sugar, from which our blood cells get energy. Type 1 diabetes is when an autoimmune reaction stops your body from making insulin. Without insulin, blood sugar cannot move out of your bloodstream and into cells. With Type 2, your body still produces insulin but doesn’t use it efficiently. Gestational diabetes occurs in pregnant women. Diabetes symptoms include increased urination, increased thirst, increased hunger and unexplained weight loss.

Dr. Allanah says prediabetes describes when you are at risk for diabetes because your blood sugar is higher than normal. She says a blood test is necessary to diagnose prediabetes because you don’t present with symptoms. In fact, the American Medical Association says of the one in three U.S. adults with prediabetes, more than 80% don’t know they have it.

“It’s important to identify prediabetes because you can stall the development of diabetes and actually prevent a patient from becoming diabetic,” Dr. Allanah says.

Risk factors for prediabetes include obesity, sleep apnea and polycystic ovary syndrome in women. Providers also look at a person’s family history of the disease, and Dr. Allanah says certain groups -- African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, Asian Americans and American Indians -- are at higher risk.

Dr. Allanah advises everyone to have regular checkups with their primary care provider to keep an eye on the risk factors you can control. Also, practice healthy habits from a young age.

“Eat right. Avoid processed food,” Dr. Allanah advises. “Exercise. A lot of people are sedentary, especially due to the pandemic. People who went to the gym no longer workout. Even now that the stay-at-home orders have been lifted, some people are just not back into their previous lifestyle.”

Dr. Allanah also says a prediabetes or diabetes diagnosis is a lot to handle. Some people may have to learn to safely give themselves shots. Others may have to constantly watch for low blood sugar to avoid fainting. Providers realize this and will be there to answer questions. But Dr. Allanah says it’s not uncommon for someone to see a mental health provider to talk about the emotional toll of the diagnosis.

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Learn more about diabetes care on the OSF HealthCare website.

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There is a lot for women to digest during a pregnancy. One thing that can often be overlooked, however, is the possibility of gestational diabetes.

Kelly Osbourne knows this all too well.  The reality star is expecting her first child, but was recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes. In a recent interview, Osbourne revealed that she was suffering from “terrible heartburn,” acid reflux and was quickly gaining weight. After consulting with doctors, Osbourne learned of her diagnosis in her third trimester.

“Gestational diabetes is just like diabetes of any other sort," says Dr. Jamie Plett, an OB/GYN with OSF HealthCare. "It's where your body doesn't produce the correct amounts of insulin to deal with the amount of glucose or sugar that's in your blood. The difference with gestational diabetes is that it happens only during pregnancy and tends to resolve after the pregnancy is over.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every year, between 2% and 10% of pregnancies in the country are impacted by gestational diabetes. In her practice, Dr. Plett says she often treats as many as three or four patients with gestational diabetes a day.

The causes of gestational diabetes really aren’t known. Doctors will rely on your medical history and testing to know for sure if you have gestational diabetes. Dr. Plett says if a patient had gestational diabetes during a prior pregnancy, or has multiple family members with diabetes, she will order an early glucose test. Every patient will get tested at 28 weeks if they have not been previously diagnosed.

“There are controllable risk factors and then risk factors that are really not under your control," says Dr. Plett. "So genetics plays a large part in whether development of gestational diabetes will occur or not, but also things like exercise, how much weight you gained during the pregnancy, and also what types of foods you eat during the pregnancy can lead to higher risk for gestational diabetes.”

If managed properly, Dr. Plett says the risk factors associated with gestational diabetes are not any different than with any pregnancy. However, if it’s not well-controlled, it can lead to a number of potential issues for the baby including pre-term birth, having low blood sugar and developing type 2 diabetes later in life. There are possible problems for the mother, too.

“Sometimes it leads to an increase in baby's weight which can lead to things like high risk for C-section," says Dr. Plett. "But with the mother, again, if it's well controlled, it doesn't really change things long term except for the fact that they're at higher risk to develop diabetes later in life. But during the pregnancy, obviously it is going to depend a lot on their changing their dietary habits. Moms also have to check their sugars to see if they're within range to know what dietary habits need to be changed or what exercise can help control that.”

Typically after the mother has delivered the baby, she will return to her physician’s office eight to 12 weeks later to retest and make sure the gestational diabetes is gone. If they are at a risk for developing diabetes later in life, Dr. Plett says they will follow up with their primary care physician.

As for treatment, Dr. Plett says the easiest fix is to make small dietary changes, avoid certain foods, and incorporate more exercise into your daily routine. A simple walk following dinner can make a big difference.

“I think the biggest thing that comes away from a diagnosis of gestational diabetes is that women are frustrated that it's happened to them because a lot of times it's things that are out of their control," she adds. "Also that it's very easily treatable and manageable. Most people realize that it's not as big of a deal as they think it's going to be. Some women do end up on medication, but a lot of it is a few small dietary changes, and so it's not as cumbersome as they thought it would be to treat and take care of themselves during pregnancy.”

For more information about gestational diabetes, visit OSF HealthCare.

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