ABSTRACT
Lifestyle modification is an integral part of diabetes management regardless of the type of diabetes a person has. While we have good evidence from controlled research settings supporting the need for education around lifestyle changes, there has been little success in our ability to establish inexpensive clinical or community-based interventions that produce long-term changes in people’s lifestyle choices. Furthermore, little if any education is given to providers on how to discuss lifestyle changes with patients, so that lifestyle management within a busy clinical setting often translates into the patient simply being told to ‘exercise more’ or ‘eat a healthy diet’. This chapter presents practical, effective ways to approach patient education.
Exercise in those with diabetes can be associated with risks and impact exercise participation. Recommendations for those on medications with increased risk of hypoglycaemia, and for those with significant diabetes complications (retinopathy, peripheral and autonomic neuropathy and microalbuminuria) are provided.
