|
Diabetes care is more than showing up at the doctor for your
regular checkups and taking your medication. Diabetes is a serious
disease with severe complications and constant care must be taken to
avoid those complications. From the day you are diagnosed, the way
you take care of yourself has to change.
The first step is to change your diet and your eating habits.
Although it is not necessary to “go on a diet” it is time to start a
healthy eating plan that incorporates the foods suggested by the
diabetic food pyramid. A visit to a dietician or nutritionist will
get you started. Go through your cupboards and refrigerator and get
rid of everything that doesn’t comply. You can save a candy bar or
two, but save those for occasional treats, not daily snacks.
Now is when you will create your total eating plan makeover, not
just what you eat, but when you eat. Keeping to a schedule is the
part of the plan that keeps your blood sugar from dipping and
rising. Portion size is another factor in this new plan. Paying
attention to what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat all are
part of your diabetes care.
Adding exercise to your daily routine at 5 days a week is also
part of this diabetes care. Exercise helps reduce the body’s
resistance to insulin, strengthens muscles, especially important for
the cardiac system and also helps in losing weight if that is a part
of your plan.
There are other ways to start caring for yourself when you have
diabetes. Make regular appointments with an eye doctor to help
maintain your vision. Diabetic neuropathy, a complication of
diabetes that results in nerve damage is a very serious complication
of the disease and you should constantly watch for symptoms.
Scheduling annual trips to a podiatrist is one way to keep up with
this potential threat.
Daily monitoring of blood glucose is another aspect of your
diabetes care. Keep track of what foods cause your blood sugar to
rise and how exercise affects your glucose levels by testing after
meals and exercise sessions. All of this information keeps you in
charge of your diabetes and not the other way around.
|