Ensure Good Blood Sugar Control - Ten Pitfalls to Avoid
What can we learn from those who have managed to maintain normal blood glucose levels for years, simply by choosing good habits in diet, exercise, and stress management?
Here are 10 considerations that could help you get and maintain a normal blood sugar level.
1. Know what situations trigger glucose spikes; e.g. on "sick days".
2. Lack of proper monitoring can lead to difficulty in blood sugar control.
3. Having a poor diet or not following your diet plan. Eating the wrong types of foods, such as low fiber, sugary foods, or drinking caffeinated drinks, or drinking fruit juice instead of eating the fruit.
4. Not eating at the right times; i.e. having variable eating patterns.
5. Not getting proper rest or sleep, or not managing stress properly can thwart your efforts at controlling diabetes.
7. Drug interaction can offset blood sugar control. This can happen especially in situations where the patient is taking multiple medicines for several conditions at the same time.
8. Lack of regular exercise makes diabetes control very difficult because inactive muscles don't need energy and therefore do not demand glucose supply from the blood.
10. Carb counting and carbohydrate rationing. It is easy to get "number bound" and forget that it is the quality of the carbohydrate that really matters.
What are some of the pitfalls they are careful to avoid that enable them to live "drug-free"?
1. Know what situations trigger glucose spikes; e.g. on "sick days".
When you are sick the body releases more glucose apparently as a defensive measure. This makes it more difficult to maintain normal glucose levels.
2. Lack of proper monitoring can lead to difficulty in blood sugar control.
It is much easier to monitor your blood glucose level nowadays with more modern meters. You can even measure your A1c by yourself - at home!
3. Having a poor diet or not following your diet plan. Eating the wrong types of foods, such as low fiber, sugary foods, or drinking caffeinated drinks, or drinking fruit juice instead of eating the fruit.
Foods lacking sufficient fiber or foods that are high in saturated fat only make glucose control worse and cause other health problems at the same time.
4. Not eating at the right times; i.e. having variable eating patterns.
This sends mixed signals to the brain and does not help the process. Blood sugar control benefits from regularity in your eating and rest patterns.
5. Not getting proper rest or sleep, or not managing stress properly can thwart your efforts at controlling diabetes.
6. Snacking can increase the difficulty of maintaining normal blood sugars because it can cause delayed gastric emptying, a situation in which the stomach takes too long to empty its contents, thus leading to indigestion and other problems.
7. Drug interaction can offset blood sugar control. This can happen especially in situations where the patient is taking multiple medicines for several conditions at the same time.
8. Lack of regular exercise makes diabetes control very difficult because inactive muscles don't need energy and therefore do not demand glucose supply from the blood.
9. Information overload and misinformation can lead to confusion and indecision on the part of the diabetic.
The drug companies are always "telling" people to ask their doctor to prescribe something else.
There is always a new treatment promising more and more, and patience wears thin on the part of the patient in not sticking to one diabetes care plan.
10. Carb counting and carbohydrate rationing. It is easy to get "number bound" and forget that it is the quality of the carbohydrate that really matters.
Lowering your carbohydrate intake does not take care of the difficulty of assimilating glucose; "training" your system to properly handle glucose (again) does.
>>Find out more information on how to maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
>>Find out more information on how to maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
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