Living with diabetes involves being proactively aware of the patterns of your blood sugar levels and consequently taking corrective measures with respect to your diet and lifestyle. Fluctuations in normal sugar levels, mostly when readings rise to a higher limit, is a concern which needs to be addressed diligently by diabetics.
Management of diabetes essentially involves maintaining balanced blood sugar levels by making changes in your diet and lifestyle. Constantly having high blood sugar levels leads to numerous unwanted health complications related to heart, kidney and liver functioning.
However, with a little care and guided planning from your diabetes educator, you can easily maintain healthy blood sugar readings. Let us take a look at how you can lead a healthy and joyous life with diabetes:
- Eat More Berries: Grapes and berries coloured bright red and blue can give you an instant anti-oxidant boost and have been studied to improve blood glucose control. In fact, one serving of berries or grapes can have the same impact on your blood sugar as a one-point reduction in your body mass index.
- Avoid Skipping Breakfast: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day as it sets the course of your hectic day ahead and prepares your body by providing optimum nutrition. Frequently missing a morning meal is linked to more likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes. Having a nutritious breakfast carrying a mix of proteins, complex carbs, and fats – like yogurt mixed with fruits, berries, nuts etc.
- Exercise: Maintaining normal sugar levels becomes easier if you are exercising daily as post every workout session your muscles take more glucose from the bloodstream and as you enhance your fitness over time, cells become more sensitive to insulin.
- Give Away Sedentary Lifestyle: Stay active and avoid getting hooked to your phone or computer or television. Get up at regular intervals and move around to avoid spikes in your blood glucose levels.
- Monitor Regularly Without Fail: Keeping a track of your blood glucose levels is essential in order to analyse the effects of medications and lifestyle and diet changes being made. Diabetes management on your own is made simpler with a smartphone based glucometerthat allows you to keep track of your blood sugar readings and share the same with your doctor and family members from the comfort of your home.
- Take Enough Rest: It is important to take rest and get a good night’s sleep as diabetes drains your energy faster due to glucose level fluctuations. Getting less than seven to nine hours of sleep will back fire on your management of diabetes. Lack of sleep also raises stress and appetite, making it difficult to follow the prescribed diet.
Blood glucose level management is all about being a little aware and proactive with your compliance to the medical treatment as well as the daily lifestyle and diet changes.
