5 Tips on Living with Diabetes
Are you living with diabetes? Do you know someone who is a diabetic? Here are 5 tips to help you or them live a long and happy life!
1. Consume a Healthy Diet
- A healthy diet is most important thing when it comes to managing diabetes. A healthy diet comprises of high nutrients and low calories. Nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables especially avocados, blueberries, bitter gourd, and cucumbers fall in this category.
- Mind your portion size. Always count calories.
- Take advice from your dietician to compose a meal plan that’s healthy yet tasty.
- Do not repeat a menu in the same week.
- Use healthy and tasty dressings such as Cinnamon powder that help you reduce your blood sugar level (BSL). These will help you stick to a healthy diet.
- Keep healthy snacks handy. This will stop you from grabbing unhealthy junk food when you are extremely hungry.
2. Lose Weight
Being overweight is one of the reasons for diabetes. Putting on weight also worsens diabetes.
Shedding some pounds and maintaining a normal weight, if possible, is extremely important when living with diabetes. By losing only 7% of your weight, your sugar levels improve greatly.
- Use smaller plates. They trick your brain into consuming less.
- Keep high calorie items to a bare minimum. A huge portion of your plate should be made of low calorie salads.
- Balance your calories with your activity levels. You should burn more calories than you consume, to lose weight. When you eat high fibre foods, they keep you full for longer hours and you will eat less often. This will definitely help you lose weight.
3. Stay active
A sedentary lifestyle is one of the main causes of diabetes. Stay physically active as much as possible to improve your diabetes.
At least 150 minutes of physical activity a week such as jogging or walking helps inordinately.
- Even simple things that you may enjoy - such as gardening - also improve your sugar levels.
- Do your household chores as a form of exercise.
- Join a marathon walk and go with friends.
- Play outdoor games with your kids.
4. Manage Stress
Stress worsens diabetes by secreting certain hormones.
- Plan your day in advance to avoid a last minute rush.
- Breathing exercises such as pranayama help you de-stress.
- Morning exercises such as walking and jogging freshen your mind. Sunlight also boosts your Vitamin D levels, which improves your diabetes.
5. Never Miss A Follow-Up
Follow up is most important to improve your diabetes.
Once you are diagnosed with diabetes, your doctor will ask you to meet him often. Your sugar levels need to be checked regularly to find out whether treatment is working for you. If not, it can be modified to suit your needs. This is needed to prevent your diabetes from getting worse. This will also prevent complications. Untreated and uncontrolled diabetes can cause permanent damage to your vital organs such as your heart and kidneys. Eye diseases are also very common in Diabetes.
Your doctor may refer you to concerned specialists to rule out diseases.
Sometimes diabetes improves to such an extent that you may not need medicines at all! Regular check ups can prevent you from taking unnecessary medicines.
