Diabetes

Diabetes self-care helps you find out what works for you to feel your best. With a healthy lifestyle, you can enjoy a long and enjoyable life with diabetes!

Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. When you have type 2 diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin or use the insulin it makes well. It’s different from type 1 diabetes, which is an autoimmune reaction (your body attacks itself by mistake) that stops your body from making insulin.

Think of insulin as the key that unlocks your cells, allowing sugar in so your body can do things like walk and talk. If sugar can’t get in, it stays in your blood, which causes problems. But there are ways you can stay on track.

Eating well, being active, checking your blood sugar, and taking medication can help you feel your best and prevent complications.

Learn more about diabetes

Lowering your blood sugar
can help give you benefits

  • Have more energy
  • Feel less thirsty
  • Go to the bathroom less often
  • Feel less tired
  • Heal better
  • Have fewer infections

6 ways to manage diabetes

Eat healthy

Eat healthy

Move more

Move more

Quit tobacco

Quit tobacco

Check your blood sugar

Check your
blood sugar

Take your medications

Take your
medications

Follow up on lab results

Follow up
on lab results

Our Programs

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Living Well with Diabetes

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Wellness Coaching by Phone

Wellness Tools

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Understand depression

Diabetes can take a toll on your physical and emotional health and lead to depression.
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Living Well with Diabetes: Workshop Guide

In this series of two 2-hour interactive workshops, you’ll gain the skills and tools you need to take control of your diabetes.
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Help With Your Medicine
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Sick-Day Care – Staying Healthy with Type 2 Diabetes series

When you’re coughing, sneezing, or feeling nauseous, the last thing you probably want to do is worry about your diabetes.

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Mental Health – Staying Healthy with Type 2 Diabetes series

Over time, managing diabetes (checking blood sugar, taking medication, watching what you eat, and fitting in exercise) may become stressful, especially on top of everything else in your daily life.
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Kidney – Staying Healthy with Type 2 Diabetes series

Kidney disease happens to some people with diabetes. It means that your kidneys are not doing their job as well as they once did to remove waste from your body.

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Feet – Staying Healthy with Type 2 Diabetes series

Diabetes can damage your nerves and slow blood flow to your feet, making it hard to know if you have a cut or sore (which can turn into something worse).

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Nerves – Staying Healthy with Type 2 Diabetes series

Nerve damage can happen over time with diabetes, lowering your ability to feel pain.
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Heart and Brain – Staying Healthy with Type 2 Diabetes series

Diabetes increases your risk for heart disease and stroke. Over time, high blood sugar can damage the blood vessels and nerves that control your heart.
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Eyes – Staying Healthy with Type 2 Diabetes series

High blood sugar can put pressure on your eyes and damage the tiny blood vessels, which can lead to retinopathy, cataracts, or glaucoma if it’s not under control.

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Workshop

Living Well with Diabetes

Even when you know that eating well, being active, checking your blood sugar, and taking medications can help you feel your best and prevent diabetes complications, it’s not always easy to do. If you need some support to form these healthy habits and improve your lab test numbers, this workshop is for you!
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Diabetes – Type 2

When it comes to how diabetes affects your health and your life, you’re the one in control. Learn more about the basics of diabetes, checking blood sugar, preventing complications, and the simple things you can do to stay healthy for life.
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Diabetes – Nutrition and Healthy Eating

Eating healthy is one of the best ways to manage your type 2 diabetes. Learn more about diabetes and food choices, nutrition basics, a healthy meal plan, and setting goals to get started.
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Diabetes – Checking Your Blood Sugar

If you have type 2 diabetes, it’s very important to check your blood sugar as often as your doctor recommends. Learn more about checking your blood sugar, including when to check, how to check, and what tools to use.
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Video

How to Inject Insulin

Even though injecting insulin can be upsetting at first for some, in time it becomes like any other routine.
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Website

Living Healthier with Diabetes

Diabetes is a rapidly growing health problem. Currently, more than 21 million people in the United States have diabetes. Without care, diabetes can lead to complications that include kidney failure, eye problems, nerve damage, heart disease and high blood pressure, stroke, and more.
1 in every 2 Hispanic men and women are expected to develop diabetes during their lifetimes

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Diabetes in the Hispanic Community

This Hispanic Heritage Month, take a healthy approach to your heritage by learning about your health risks and finding ways to prevent them.
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Video

Three Things to Improve Your Diabetes

Nearly 30 million Americans have diabetes and many of them have poorly controlled blood sugar. This can lead to complications including kidney disease, retinal damage, heart disease, hospitalization, and in severe cases death. A new study of nearly 20,000 people with diabetes, revealed three factors associated with better blood sugar control—find out what they are in this video.
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How Mike Learned to Manage Illness and Stress with Diabetes

Kaiser Permanente member Mike Prescott talks about how stress and illness affected his blood sugar and how, with the support of his care manager, Valentina, and wife, Cheryl, he’s able to control his diabetes.
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Healthy Eating with Type 2 Diabetes

Learn how to eat with type 2 diabetes to control blood sugar levels and decrease risk of complications.
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Living Well with Diabetes: Serving Size Guide

Keep your serving sizes in check! Use the healthy plate method to balance your plate.
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Sample Healthy Shopping List

Print out this list to help you plan your trip to the market.
Chicken tikka masala

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Using the Healthy Plate for Any Cuisine

Use the examples in this booklet to see how you can enjoy the cuisines you love with portions that keep you satisfied but not stuffed.
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Mental Health (Diabetes)

Over time, managing diabetes (checking blood sugar, taking medication, watching what you eat, and fitting in exercise) may become stressful, especially on top of everything else in your daily life. You’re not alone if you feel frustrated, overwhelmed, or burned out.
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Diabetes Diary

Make healthy food choices, be physically active, manage stress, get enough sleep, and take medication as prescribed for good blood sugar control.
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Living With Diabetes: Step by Step

You may have just found out that you have diabetes. We recognize that this may be an emotional time for you. At Kaiser Permanente, we’re here to help.
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What to Do to Manage Your Type 2 Diabetes

When it comes to how type 2 diabetes affects your health and your life, you’re the one in control. This booklet will make sure you know where to start, what you need to do, when to do it, and why it’s important.
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Website

Social Health

When you think about health, you might think of doctor visits and medicine. But what about access to healthy food? Or a safe place to live? Good health requires more than just health care. You need to be supported in mind, body, and spirit.
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Website

Total Health Assessment

Make good health a part of your daily habits with our healthy lifestyle programs. These personalized, online programs can help you create an action plan to reach your health goals. Based on your Total Health Assessment results, you’ll find advice, encouragement, and tools that can help you make healthier lifestyle choices.
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