Stay healthy and learn these 3 tips for managing diabetes
The one constant in the diabetic condition is that it must be managed. Broken down, the tips for managing diabetes includes myriad steps and lifestyle changes from monitoring glucose levels and medication to managing diabetes with diet and exercise. While these various recommendations are all important parts of the whole, they fall under the umbrella of three simple tips for diabetes management. These are basic but core components that guide living confidently with this disease.
Diabetes is a multifaceted condition that affect every area of a person’s life. As such, a commitment to managing the disease is the first step in implementing any successful diabetes management plan.
Basic Tips for Diabetes Management
- Learn about diabetes. Educating yourself about your particular diabetic condition builds a level of comprehensive, knowledge and confidence that can make the difference in long term health. People who take the time to understand what diabetes is, the type of diabetes they have, the cause, symptoms, personal and universal risk factors are better able to prevent the debilitating and life-threatening complications of a diabetic condition. Learning about diabetes can begin with talking to your doctor and other members of your medical care team but should also include:
- Reading books, articles and research materials.
- Getting comfortable with understanding medical terminology relevant to the diabetic condition.
- Staying current by attending seminars and exploring new findings about contributors and changes in treatment options that may mitigate the damaging effects of diabetes.
- Joining a diabetes support group. Sharing concerns, tips and information can help to alleviate some of the emotional impact of the disease that is often not addressed in publications.
- Exploring technological advancements in diabetes care that provide cutting-edge tools to help monitor and manage blood glucose levels.
- Taking a look at diabetes organizations such as the National Diabetes Education Program, American Diabetes Association and international diabetes base companies to get a rounded knowledge base of the disease.
- Get connected to an effective team of diabetes medical professionals that include a primary care physician, nutritionist, optometrists and dentist. Your doctor will be able to provide referrals to other specialists such as a dermatologist or podiatrist to quickly address any skin or foot problems if necessary.
Having the right medical team will ensure that you are also keeping up with blood sugar tests and your A1C goals. Since managing diabetes with diet and exercise is important, a nutritionist on your team will help you to develop a sustainable diet plan that is based on your food preferences and dietary needs. Your health care team can also play a key role in helping you to identify and engage in activities that are appropriate based on your overall health, age and weight.
- Developing and habituating diabetic care routines such as…
- regular blood glucose checks,
- a moderate exercise routine,
- a skin and foot care routine,
- daily habits that ensure sufficient sleep,
- scheduled annual and bi-annual check-ups with relevant care professionals.
- Being consistent with taking medications to prevent missed doses.
- Food preparation and shopping routine that makes eating diabetic friendly foods occur on a consistent and regular basis.
A critical component of living a healthy lifestyle with diabetes is transforming your knowledge, dietary plan, exercise goals and other diabetes care plans into habits. The benefit of developing and habituating diabetic care routines help to prevent diabetic management burnout by establishing a diabetic friendly foundation for your life, helping you to reach and maintain your health care goals and eliminate waste. The most important reason for diabetes care routines is that they make diabetic care effortless and strengthen your commitment to staying healthy.