Diabetes Management

Strategy #1: Check the Kitchen

The foods you have can have a big impact on your ability to control your diabetes. Check your kitchen to be sure that you have diabetes-friendly meals available. This might include:

• Providing sugar-free dessert options
• Providing fewer simple carbs, like bread and pasta, at the average dinner. This can be as simple as making sure there’s not a bread basket on the table or as complicated as checking the dishes that are offered at each meal.
• Offering healthy snacks at convenient times. The best snacks include protein, rather than simple carbs, and will help keep blood sugar levels consistent.
• Including healthy fats, like nuts, seeds, and avocados, as part of your diet plan.

Note that people with diabetes may be able to enjoy sweets in moderation, and they shouldn’t erase carbohydrates from their diet entirely. Pay attention to an overall healthy eating plan to help improve quality of life and diabetes management.

Strategy #2: Stay Active

What opportunities for regular physical activity do you have? Exercise can help manage blood sugar, and there are different types of exercise available for every age. Try some of these ideas:

• Go for walks along outside trails
• Do you have a swimming pool? Swimming is a great aerobic exercise that’s easy on the joints.
• Take part in exercise classes. Pick up some videos to add to your library or use an instructor. This can include aerobics, yoga, and more.
• Take advantage of strength training opportunities, including both light weights and body weight exercises.

Staying active is a critical part of maintaining your health and enjoying a great quality of life as they age. Building strength and endurance can also help maintain blood glucose levels.

Strategy #3: Set Reminders for Medications and Glucose Checks

Are you responsible for taking care of your own glucose monitoring? What about medications? It’s important that individuals with diabetes have regular blood sugar monitoring and that they remember to take their medications on time. Make sure use reminders to help make it easier to take care of this critical responsibility. If nurses are in charge of administering medications or checking blood glucose levels, make sure that they do so at the same time every day. If medication is forgotten or their blood sugar creeps too high, the results could be catastrophic.

Strategy #4: Vaccinate

For adults with diabetes, flu and pneumonia vaccines are critical to maintaining health. Due to the high potential for complications from these illnesses, it’s vital to ensure that they are avoided if at all possible. Vaccination can help keep adults with diabetes safer and prevent them from developing the flu or pneumonia — and if they catch it anyway, they might have a less severe case that will help reduce potential complications.

Strategy #5: Create a Schedule

Medications and glucose checks aren’t the only things that need to happen on a schedule! Keeping to a schedule makes it easier to remember when things are supposed to happen and ensures that those things get taken care of on time. From making exercise a part of the daily schedule to putting snacks on the schedule to make sure that blood sugar levels are maintained throughout the day, keeping to a schedule will prevent you from forgetting those important health management tactics.

Strategy #6: Conduct Health Screenings

Diabetes is trouble enough. Unfortunately, it brings with it a wide range of potential health complications. Make sure you have your feet examined on a regular basis to check for poor circulation and signs of infection that could prove dangerous. Take advantage of dental visits at least twice a year to prevent widespread dental problems. Blood pressure and cholesterol should also be checked on a regular basis. Regular health screenings will benefit everyone, but for patients with diabetes, early detection of potential health problems is critical.