|
| | |
Meal Plan
Meal Plan A guide for controlling the amount of calories, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats a person eats. People with diabetes can use such plans as the Exchange Lists or the Point System to help them plan their meals so that they can keep their diabetes under control.|See also: Exchange lists; point system.
RELATED TERMS--------------------------------------
Carbohydrates
A type of food, usually derived from plants; one of three nutrients that supply calories to the body; includes simple carbohydrates (sugar, fruit) and complex carbohydrates (vegetables, starches).
Fats
One of the three main classes of food and a source of energy in the body. Bile dissolves fats, and enzymes break them down. This process moves fats into cells.
Diabetes
A condition in which blood glucose is not well controlled. Type I diabetics make no insulin, whereas type 2 diabetics are characterized by the overproduction of insulin, but the inability of the target cells to respond to the insulin.
SIMILAR TERMS--------------------------------------
PREVIOUS AND NEXT TERMS--------------------------------------
Macrovascular Disease
A disease of the large blood vessels that sometimes occurs when a person has had diabetes for a long time. Fat and blood clots build up in the large blood vessels and stick to the vessel walls. Three kinds of macrovascular disease are coronary disease, cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral vascular disease.
Macular Edema
A swelling (edema) in the macula, an area near the center of the retina of the eye that is responsible for fine or reading vision. Macular edema is a common complication associated with diabetic retinopathy.|See also: Diabetic retinopathy; retina.
Maturity-Onset Diabetes
Former term for Type 2 (noninsulin-dependent) diabetes.|See: Type 2 Diabetes.
Mauriac Syndrome
A condition that occurs as the result of chronic poor control of diabetes. It leads to an enlarged liver due to excessive glycogen deposition, short stature and delayed puberty. There is usually a history of repeated hospitalizations for ketoacidosis and hemoglobin A1c tests can be as high as twice the upper level of normal. Kidney function is usually not affected although it may be an additional complication of poor control. Eating disorders are sometimes an accompaniment.
MDI
Multiple daily injections (of insulin). One of several terms that are used to describe insulin programs that are designed to obtain tight control of blood sugar by giving several shots every day.
Meal Plan
Metabolic Syndrome
A combination of health conditions that place a person at high risk for heart disease. These conditions are type 2 diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), hyperlipidemia (high levels of fat in the blood), and obesity. According to theory, all of these conditions are associated with high blood insulin levels, and it is claimed that the underlying problem in patients with the Metabolic Syndrome is faulty insulin release from the beta cells of the pancreas.|Previously called Syndrome X.
Meter/Monitor, Blood Glucose
See Blood Glucose Meter.
Metformin
A drug used as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes; belongs to a class of drugs called biguanides.|See also: Oral hypoglycemic agents.
Mg/dl
The unit of measurement of how much of a substance (such as sugar) is in a specific amount of fluid (such as blood or urine). Primarily used in the United States; most of the world uses mmol/L as the unit of measurement.|(Note: To convert blood sugar to mg/dl from mmol/L, multiply by 18.)
Microalbumin
Small amounts of protein in the urine that cannot be detected by the usual "dipstick" test done for routine urinanalysis testing for other reasons. Specialized dipsticks, or urine collections over a period of 12-24 hours, are used to measure the amount of microalbumin. If there is persistent microalbumin over several repeated tests at different times, the risk of diabetic nephropathy and macrovascular disease are both higher.
We thank you for using the Health Dictionary to search for Meal Plan. If you have a better definition for Meal Plan than the one presented here, please let us know by making use of the suggest a term option. This definition of Meal Plan may be disputed by other professionals. Our attempt is to provide easy definitions on Meal Plan and any other medical topic for the public at large.This dictionary contains 25007 terms. |
|
|
