“Person who can properly manage the diabetes is the person who lives with it day by day, month by month, year by year. It is the role of the healthcare professional to equip the patient (and often their family) with the tools to do this”- Professor Alberti.
The level of glucose in blood changes after meals and after activity, therefore insulin must be taken multiple times a day to match the blood glucose and carbohydrate count in the diet (multiple daily injection-MDI). One of the biggest challenge facing people with diabetes is learning how to live with and manage their condition on daily basis which requires Diabetes self-management education(DSME).
Dr. Santosh Gupta MD, a pediatric endocrinologist and Clinical Associate Professor at Washington University in Saint Louis, USA has a long interest in diabetes education. She embedded herself with the local population in Northern India, studied their diet, social, cultural and economic aspects. She considered their education and learning style and paid special attention to the poorly literate marginalized population. She developed a culturally sensitive diabetes self-management education (DSME) that worked well with the local population as evidenced by her successful results.
She has written a book (second edition), “Living the Sweet Life with Diabetes”- The Art of balancing insulin, diet and exercise. It is written in a simple language, in a question answer form with cartoons, is a practical guide on how to learn and teach DSME, particularly in an Indian context. It has a list of carbohydrate count of common Indian foods. It also has a Hindi translation.