Overview
Fight with diabetes cannot be completed without awareness. The person should know how and when blood sugar should be controlled in routine life
The main target should be to maintain the blood sugar level suggested by the doctor. It can be done by making changes in the lifestyle, such as eating habits and exercises. By doing changing in both, the blood sugar levels can be controlled.
The factors affecting the blood sugar level is as below:
Eating Habits
The eating habits should be healthy in the routine life but if there is any possibility of diabetes, the check on the type of food is required. The check should be on quality of food, variety and the amount of food taken.
Low Carbohydrate Intake: Carbohydrates are the mainly responsible for the disturbances in blood sugar levels. So the proportion of carbohydrate should be monitored to have a balanced diet. The food taken by diabetic patient should be measured in proportions including every meal. The measuring cups or other parameter can be used to monitor the proper portion size and an accurate carbohydrate count.
Balanced Meals: The balance in the diet is compulsory for the diabetic patients. There should be a good mix of starches, fruits, vegetables, proteins and fats. The most important thing to be kept in the mind is types of carbohydrates in the diet. There are many carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables and whole grains, which are important in the routine diet. The diet chart made by expert practitioner can be followed to get best results.
Balance Between the Meals and Medications: If a person is not balancing his diet with the medications can lead to the severe complications, such as if a person takes less food in proportion to its medications like insulin, can lead to the dangerously low blood sugar and vice versa. So the schedules of meals should be made in a way that there should be balance between diet and medication.
Avoid Sugary Beverages: The use of sugary beverages including the high fructose corn syrup or sucrose, leads to the high calories and increase in the blood sugar. These provide less nutrition and more calories, which is harmful to the diabetic patients, as they increase blood sugar quickly. But if the person is experiencing a low blood sugar level, then these sugary sweetened beverages like soda, juice and soft drinks, can prove to be effective treatment to increase blood sugar that is too low.
Physical workout or Exercise
Diabetes can be controlled by doing lots of physical activity. There are many positive changes comes into the body if exercising can be done daily, some are detoxification of body, fat reduction, lowering of cholesterol and reduces the danger of heart problems. During exercising, muscles use the sugar/ glucose for energy, so more exercising more will be the glucose utilization. Which will lower the blood glucose. This will leads to the proper utilization of insulin in the body.
Make a Routine Exercise Plan: By the help of some expert practitioner the exercise plan should be made. The timing and the type of exercises designed should be according to the age and activity. Also there should be the proper schedule about the best time of day for exercise so that meal and medication schedules will not hinder with the workout routine is coordinated.
Knowledge About Sugar Level: The person should know about his/ her sugar level before exercising, for this the person should talk to the doctor about appropriate blood sugar levels to start the exercise schedule.
Monitoring of blood sugar level: The check should be maintained on the blood sugar level before, during and after exercising. If the person is taking insulin or medications that lower blood sugar, the monitoring becomes compulsory. This is because the exercising can reduce blood sugar levels even in a day, mainly if the person has just started this activity. It is also compulsory if a person is doing excessive exercises. The person should be aware of the symptoms of low/ high blood sugar. The symptoms can be such as feeling dizzy, weak, hungry, tired, irritable and anxious. The person with blood sugar level is below 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) or 5.6 millimoles per liter (mmol/L) and using insulin, should a small meal before starting exercise so that the condition of low blood sugar level can be prevented.
Take Lots of Liquid: During exercising there is heavy water loss in the form of sweat. So it is recommended for diabetes patients to drink plenty of water or can take other fluids during exercising because dehydration can show adverse effects on blood sugar levels.
