Numbered Publications: FCS3
FCS3-546: Carbohydrate Counting
Anna Cason, Heather Norman-Burgdolf, Ingrid Adams | Mar. 13, 2025 (Minor Revision)
Carbohydrate (carb) counting is one way to identify the amount of carbohydrates you get from the foods you eat. Carbohydrate counting can help you manage your blood-glucose levels in different ways, depending on what type of diabetes you have and your treatment plan.
FCS3-550: Diabetes and Foot Care
Anna Cason, Ingrid Adams | Mar. 13, 2025 (Minor Revision)
Taking good care of your feet is important for maintaining good health, especially for those who have diabetes. When blood-glucose levels stay high for a long time, it can cause problems for your feet in particular, by reducing sensitivity and limiting the blood flow that your body uses to heal itself.
FCS3-551: Monitoring Blood Glucose
Anna Cason, Ingrid Adams | Mar. 13, 2025 (Minor Revision)
Checking your blood glucose tells you what your blood sugar level is at the time of testing. Keeping your blood-glucose level within the target range set by you and your doctor reduces the risk of diabetes complications. It is important to check your blood glucose regularly so you can see how certain foods, activities, and medicine affect your blood-glucose level and address it if necessary.
FCS3-334: Home Freezing Basics
Annhall Norris, Sandra Bastin | Feb. 28, 2025 (Minor Revision)
Are you interested in saving time on meal preparation? Do you want to minimize food waste? Would you like to save money by extending the harvest from your garden, prolonging the use of leftovers, or stretching out the shelf life of sale items from the store? If the answer to any or all these questions is “yes,” consider preserving these foods by freezing. Freezing is one of the easiest, most convenient, and least time-consuming methods of preserving foods. Using your home freezer, basic containers, and research-based preparation techniques, you can extend the shelf life of most foods.
FCS3-541: Diabetes and Physical Activity
Anna Cason, Ingrid Adams | Feb. 26, 2025 (Minor Revision)
Physical activity plays an important part in health. This includes any movement that uses energy. Taking part in physical activity provides protection against heart disease and stroke and can help manage blood pressure.
FCS3-542: Diabetes and Hemoglobin A1C
Anna Cason, Ingrid Adams | Feb. 26, 2025 (Minor Revision)
Hemoglobin A1C is a measure of average blood-glucose levels over the past two to three months. Health-care providers sometimes reference hemoglobin A1C as “HbA1C” or “A1C.” These names all mean the same thing.
FCS3-543: Diabetes and High Blood Pressure
Anna Cason, Ingrid Adams | Feb. 26, 2025 (Minor Revision)
Diabetes increases the risk for developing high blood pressure, or hypertension. High blood pressure means your heart works harder to pump blood through your body. This increases the risk for heart disease and stroke. It also increases the risk of diabetes complications, including kidney disease, eye problems that may lead to blindness, and nerve problems.
FCS3-540: Managing Diabetes
Anna Cason, Ingrid Adams | Jan. 30, 2025 (Reviewed)
Diabetes is a condition in which the body cannot properly use glucose for energy. This causes glucose to build up in the blood. High levels of blood glucose can result in health conditions such as heart disease, kidney disease, nerve damage, and more. There are several known benefits of managing diabetes appropriately.
FCS3-539: Understanding Diabetes
Anna Cason, Ingrid Adams | Jan. 24, 2025 (Major Revision)
Diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects how your body changes food into energy. Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose, a simple sugar, which is released into our blood. The pancreas makes a hormone called insulin in response to rising blood-sugar levels to help glucose get into the cells of the body. Think of insulin as a key to cells: When insulin is around, the glucose can enter. These cells use this glucose as energy. With diabetes, the body either doesn’t make enough insulin or the cells can’t effectively use the insulin that is made. When there is insufficient insulin, glucose builds up in the blood rather than entering cells, which leads to high blood sugar. Chronically elevated levels of blood sugar have an impact on health. Medication and lifestyle changes are ways to manage blood-glucose levels.
FCS3-104: Lactose Intolerance
Sandra Bastin | Nov. 12, 2024 (Major Revision)
Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest lactose, the natural sugar found in most dairy products. Lactase, an enzyme our bodies produce, breaks down lactose into simpler units during digestion. Some people do not produce enough lactase or do not produce lactase at all. In this case, the lactose does not get broken down into smaller units. Instead, the lactose is fermented in the colon. This fermentation process often produces common symptoms of lactose intolerance, including bloating, abdominal gas or pain, diarrhea, and nausea.
