Improving your eating habits offers an easy way to boost your immune system and decrease your risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions and diseases. The family practice physicians at Argyle Family Practice in Argyle, TX, Drs. Christopher Hughes and William Musgrave, can help you embrace healthy eating, lose weight and manage chronic conditions.

Have you tried these healthy eating habits?

Healthy eating doesn't have to involve drastic or expensive changes to your diet. In fact, trying a few of these tips will help you improve the way you eat:

• Follow Healthy Eating Plate Recommendations: The Healthy Eating Plate is an easy-to-understand system that helps you make smart food choices. Every time you eat, fill half of your plate with vegetables and fruit; 1/4 with proteins like fish, chicken or beans; and the remaining 1/4 with whole grains, like barley, quinoa, brown rice and whole-wheat pasta.
• Make Water Your Beverage of Choice: Sugary beverages add extra calories that may increase your weight and raise your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cavities. Water is a much healthier beverage than fruit juice, soda and other drinks high in sugar.
• Choose Healthy Snacks: Swap cookies, candy and potato chips for carrot sticks, celery, apples, oranges and other fruits and vegetables.
• Stay Away from Fried and Processed Foods: Bake chicken, steak, potatoes and other favorite foods instead of frying them. Avoid or limit processed foods too, as they may contain high amounts of salt, sugar and fat. Processed foods include packaged bread and baked goods, ice cream, hot dogs, bacon, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, canned soup, crackers and potato chips.
• Save Sugary and High-Carbohydrate Foods for Special Occasions: Turning down a piece of birthday cake requires almost super-human willpower. Fortunately, you can still eat healthily and have occasional treats. Limit cakes, cookies, white pasta and other foods to special occasions, like birthdays, holidays or special restaurant meals.
• Cook with Healthy Fats: Substitute olive, peanut or coconut oils for butter, margarine, shortening and lard.

Boost your health with better eating habits and visits to Drs. Christopher Hughes and William Musgrave of Argyle Family Practice. Call their Argyle, TX, office at (940) 226-4850 to schedule an appointment.

In 2018, more than 30 million people of all ages suffered from diabetes in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Diabetes, a disease in which blood sugar levels are too high, varies in severity from one person to another but is ultimately categorized into two types. At Argyle Family Practice in Argyle, TX, Drs. Christopher Hughes and William Musgrave, help patients manage diabetes.

Types of Diabetes

Glucose is a simple sugar we get from the foods we eat. Insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas, enables glucose to enter your cells to give them energy.

In Type I Diabetes, the pancreas does not make insulin. This means there's too much glucose in the blood. People may be prediabetic, which means there's higher than normal sugar in the blood, but not enough to call it diabetes.

In Type II Diabetes, the more common type, your body does not produce or use insulin well. Without insulin, again, there's too much glucose in your blood, and with time, people may suffer from several issues in your heart, eyes, kidneys, nerves, and gums and teeth.

How Can Your Argyle Doctor Help You Manage Diabetes

The first step in preventative care is to test for diabetes. Your doctor determines if you are diabetic or prediabetic and if you suffer from Type I or Type II Diabetes using blood tests. And other tests, such as the A1C, even check on how you are managing your diabetes.

There are other lifestyle choices that can help you better manage your diabetes: Make sure you exercise for at least 30 minutes/day to control weight. And better than any medicine, although that may be prescribed by your doctor, a healthy meal plan can go a long way in controlling your blood glucose level.

Stick to a healthier lifestyle and:

• insulin will work better
• blood sugar levels will decrease
• increased energy and endurance
• weight loss
• increased muscle tone
• a healthier heart
• lower blood pressure
• better sleep at night and stronger bones

Do you need a consultation?

If you'd like to ask Dr. Christopher Hughes or Dr. William Musgrave about diabetes, you can contact their office, Argyle Family Practice, in Argyle, TX, by calling (940) 226-4850 today.

High blood pressure, if left untreated, can lead to a number of heart-related medical complications. Complications such as heart failure, heart attack, and stroke, among others. The problem with high blood pressure is that you may not know you have it, and the symptoms associated with it only exhibit themselves once the condition is severe. It's important to treat it early, and to do so it must be diagnosed just as early. Your doctor can test for it, it's why physicals are a key part of monitoring and maintaining your health. So get in contact with Dr. Christopher Hughes and Dr. William Musgrave of Argyle Family Practice in Argyle, TX, to find out more.

Risk Factors

Several factors put you at risk for high blood pressure, and although some are out of your control, like age, sex, and ethnicity, many of them are not.

Harmful health habits like tobacco and consuming too much alcohol have already their own damaging side effects, but they also contribute to your risk of developing high blood pressure. Alcohol and nicotine can raise it, smoking can damage your blood vessels and heart, and carbon monoxide impacts the oxygen levels in your blood.

An otherwise unhealthy lifestyle can similarly impact your high blood pressure risk. An unhealthy diet of processed foods is often too high in sodium, which raises blood pressure, and may also lead to other problems like obesity. Which can over-stress your heart by forcing it to work harder as your body contends with the extra weight.

High Blood Pressure Treatment in Argyle, TX

If you want to prevent it, or already have high blood pressure, you have a similar course of action. The important difference is that if you have it, you will likely need to diligently work to keep it under control for the rest of your life. The good news is, you will not have to do it alone, and with your doctor's help, it's not impossible to manage.

Lifestyle changes lie at the core of treatment and prevention. Steps like abandoning harmful habits, becoming more active, and improving your diet.

Your doctor can prescribe medication to work in tandem with all these changes and keep your blood pressure within your goal. So don't delay in making an appointment, give Dr. Hughes and Dr. Musgrave of Argyle Family Practice in Argyle, TX, a call by dialing (940) 226-4850.