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Circles of support help people with diabetes

When people living with diabetes have an extensive support system, they can manage their condition more successfully.

October 27, 2023

Circles of support help people with diabetes

Testing blood sugar levels, managing medications, counting carbs and sticking to an exercise routine — there are no “days off” when you’re living with diabetes. To help keep the condition in check, people living with diabetes need to maintain a daily regimen to ward off serious complications, including kidney and heart disease.

Support can come from different places for individuals to help manage their condition — imagine three concentric circles and a person with diabetes in the middle.

Circle 1: Family and friends

People living with diabetes need encouragement, assistance, and accountability. Because family and friends are many times physically and emotionally close, they’re the best people for the job. What does that look like? It’s different for everyone, but it could mean being a workout buddy, helping keep track of blood sugar testing schedules, sharing in healthy meal prep, or just offering a shoulder to lean on during the toughest days.  

Circle 2: Care team

Having a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, nurses and dietitians to work with gives people living with diabetes the medical and educational support they need to move from diagnosis through treatment and onto daily management. Dietitians are a crucial part of any diabetes care team. They can help patients with:

  • Confirming correct medication use
  • Ensuring nutritional needs are being met
  • Encouraging regular medical check-ups and HbA1c testing
  • Reinforcing compliance with lifestyle changes

Circle 3: Community programs

With more than 37 million Americans living with diabetes, there are many support services available to them: from educational programs and tool kits to support groups. Some of the most popular programs are meal delivery services that ship diabetes-friendly meals right to the home, making it easy for people living with diabetes to get the right nutrition.

Government plans offer home-delivered meals
Many health plans and Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plans now include home-delivered meals as a benefit to help members with chronic diseases including diabetes.

These programs are not only popular, but they’re also effective. One regional health plan partnered with Mom’s Meals® to conduct a 30-day pilot study to provide home-delivered, nutritious, fully prepared, refrigerated meals to select members with diabetes. The results were excellent:

  • 0.25 point drop in A1c
  • 3.9-pound average weight loss
  • 84% fewer inpatient visits
  • 41% fewer ER visits
  • 66% fewer readmissions

When they’re surrounded with the right support and have a clear understanding of their condition, people living with diabetes can manage their symptoms effectively and live a fulfilling life.

Mom's Meals can help

Diabetes-friendly meals

For individuals with prediabetes and diabetes, Mom’s Meals offers convenient diabetes-friendly menu choices that are based on standards from the American Diabetes Association and are designed to help take the guesswork out of getting proper nutrition.

In the balance: Managing Diabetes Through NutritionFree brochure

Find out how maintaining a nutritious diet has been shown to help prevent, manage and even reverse the progression of diabetes, as well as other chronic conditions that can affect an individual’s health.

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