Diabetes Destroyer – Keep Blood Sugar Level Close To Normal
Diabetes is a disease where the blood sugar runs too high, usually due to not enough insulin. It can cause terrible long-term complications if it is not treated properly. The most common serious complications are blindness (“retinopathy”), kidney failure requiring dependence on a dialysis machine to stay alive (“nephropathy”), and foot and leg amputations. The good news is that these complications can almost always be prevented if you keep your blood sugar near the normal range.
The best way to keep blood sugar low is to eat a healthy diet and do regular exercise. Just 20 minutes of walking 4 or 5 times a week can do wonders for lowering blood sugar.
Eating a healthy diet is also very important. Do your best to limit the number of calories you eat each day. Put smaller portions of food on your plate and eat more slowly so that your body has a chance to let you know when it’s had enough to eat.
It is also very important to limit saturated fats in your diet. Read food labels carefully to see which foods are high in saturated fats. Particular foods to cut down on are: whole milk and 2% milk, cheese, ice cream, fast foods, butter, bacon, sausage, beef, chicken with the skin on (skinless chicken is fine), doughnuts, cookies, chocolate, and nuts.
Often, diet and exercise alone are not enough to control blood sugar. In this case, medicine is needed to bring the blood sugar down further. Often pills are enough, but sometimes insulin injections are needed. If medicines to lower blood sugar are started, it is still very important to keep doing regular exercise and eating a healthy diet.
Keeping Track of Blood SugaChecking blood sugar with a finger stick is an important part of controlling diabetes. It is useful for keeping track of when diabetes is under control and when it is not. It can also be helpful to find out if the blood sugar is too low. The most useful time of day to check your blood sugar is just before the three meals of the day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and just before going to bed. Write down the numbers in a log book or notebook so that trends over time can be seen. Always bring your log book with you to doctors’ appointments so that it can be reviewed.
