subject: Tips And Strategies To Help Control Your Blood Sugar Level [print this page] When you are diabetic, part of the responsibility bestowed upon you is that of understanding your blood sugar levels. Diabetes only manifests itself when you don't take part in controlling your blood sugar levels. So in essence, controlling your blood sugar levels is more about making lifestyle changes than anything else. Let's establish at this point that there are pills that can be taken to control your blood sugar levels. But that is not what is highlighted here. Rather, the tips and strategies that you could use to control your blood sugar levels are discussed.
The first and most vital thing is take part in more physical activities. Diabetes complications tend to surface when you lower your physical activity to near zero. Staying on your PC or watching movies all day doesn't help. You need to get your heart racing, so that glucose, which is really energy, can be expended. Enroll into a gym and develop the habit of exercising. Weights training is a highly recommended form of physical exercise, however depending on your preference, you can choose to do simple aerobics or cardio activities as long as you can sweat adequately. If you are overweight, joining a gym should become primal as you need to lose the extra weight to regain control of your blood sugar.
The second strategy to follow in controlling your blood glucose levels is by changing your eating habit, meaning what you eat and how often you eat. A good start would be to change the number of meals you take from 3 to about 6 in the day, keeping the three main meals smaller and healthy snacks in between. Skipping a meal is highly advised against, and so is taking processed foods.
Understand your body's calories needs so that you know what to eat and how many servings you need. This will tell whether a high carb or low carb diet is suitable for you. Avoid a lot of carbohydrates in the morning as consuming them would increase insulin resistance, and that's undesired. Rather, spread this to your other mealtimes, and try to keep them starchy and complex all the time. If your diet consists of high carbohydrates, ensure that you increase your fiber intake so that you can balance it out. Proteins are also needed, and so are fruits and vegetables in abundance as well. Continue to take healthy fats such as nuts and eggs and avoid saturated fats as far as possible.
Good blood sugar management also involves keeping a positive outlook in life. Having too much stress in your life tends to affect your blood sugar level. In most cases, when you are agitated, or distressed, your blood glucose is also high. Ensure you stay hydrated as well. There are no beverages in the marketplace that is better than water. No sodas, or other sweetened beverages are good if you are diabetic, but water always is.
In order to effectively control your blood glucose level, you have to be educated first. Get a glucose meter and a blood glucose chart where you can tabulate readings from different times. A physician can help you understand what times to measure your blood sugar, and what ranges to expect at a given time of the day.
