Last week we wrote 5 tips to living well with diabetes. If you missed the article you can view it by clicking here:

We have met thousands of individuals living with diabetes over the years. We are always asked several questions from some, and receive some great feedback from others. Here are some of our favorite tips for living well with diabetes.

6. Maintain a Healthy Weight

In today’s fast food lifestyle, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy weight – and even harder to fight off the urge for a hamburger with large fries on the side. However, maintaining a healthy weight is an essential part of managing diabetes. Being overweight or obese can cause insulin sensitivity – making managing your blood sugars more difficult. It can also lead to increased blood pressure, higher risk of heart disease or stroke, and more susceptible to kidney disease. Losing weight, and maintaining a healthy weight will help to lower your risk of these health concerns and provide you with an abundance of health benefits, including more manageable blood sugars. If you plan to start losing weight, discuss with your healthcare professional and registered dietician on healthy ways to do it.

7. Sugar-Free Does Not Mean Carbohydrate and Calorie Free

One thing many people, especially newly diagnosed people with diabetes, misunderstand is that just because a label says “Sugar-Free”, it does not mean it is also free of carbohydrates and calories. A great example would be a serving of sugar-free pudding. One serving has 0 grams of sugar, however it still contains 6 grams of carbohydrates and 70 calories. This is most likely due to the milk used to make the pudding. Be sure to read all labels, paying close attention to the Total Carbohydrates and Total Calories listed on the nutritional facts label. If you aren’t sure how to read a label, talk with your healthcare professional or registered dietician. They will be able to help you become a master of reading food labels.

8. Exercise Often

Exercising plays an important role in maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. Walking for as little as 30 minutes per day can be enough to help keep blood sugar levels in check throughout the day. It is also shown to help ease any joint or muscle pain, offer weight loss or weight management success, and help make your body become more sensitive to insulin. Some people may be nervous to start a regular exercise regime, thinking it could cause low blood sugar levels more frequently, but in fact, this is a rare occasion. If you don’t like walking, there are several other exercise options you could try: bicycling, swimming, jogging, yoga, and weight lifting are among a few. If you decide to start an exercise regime, talk with your healthcare professional before starting to discuss possible changes to your normal insulin treatment plan and meal plans.

9. Take Care of your Eyes and Feet

Diabetes can affect every major part of your body, including your eyes and feet. Poorly controlled diabetes can cause serious eye conditions such as retinopathy – bleeding in the back of the eye leading to blurry vision, scarring of the retina, and blindness. People with diabetes are at a higher risk of developing cataracts and double vision, so a yearly eye exam is essential. Doctors specializing in diabetic eye conditions can detect eye problems early enough to start a treatment program. Taking care of your feet is just as important, too. People living with diabetes are at a higher risk of developing nerve damage, poor circulation, and infections. Check your feet, and check them often. Any small cut or scratch can quickly become infected. If you experience foot problems, or you find a cut or sore on your feet, be sure to make an appointment with your healthcare provider. Be sure to purchase comfortable, well-fitting shoes as well as wear comfortable socks or stockings to help cushion your foot inside your shoes. Wearing shoes that are uncomfortable or too small can lead to additional foot concerns.

10. Extra Monitoring During Pregnancy

Maintaining near normal blood sugar levels while pregnant can be a little tricky, but it is important to do your best to achieve this. Mothers with diabetes are at an increased risk of having a baby with a birth defect, or even a stillborn baby. Many of the problems that arise during pregnancy can be controlled or avoided by keeping a close eye on your blood sugar levels and maintaining a near normal blood sugar. Maintaining a healthy blood sugar range can also reduce the chances of your baby being abnormally large, which can cause additional hardships during delivery.

Do you have other tips that help you enjoy a healthy, save and balanced life with diabetes that you want to share?

Add a comment below.

We have met thousands of individuals living with diabetes over the years. We are always asked several questions from some, and receive some great feedback from others. Here are some of our favorite tips for living well with diabetes.

1. Find an Excellent Healthcare Team

Teamwork is a crucial part of living with diabetes. Finding the right healthcare team who not only understands your diabetes needs, but are also compassionate about your concerns and fears is an important part in maintaining good control of your diabetes. If you are unhappy with your healthcare team, don’t be afraid to ask for a second opinion. Actively search for a team of doctors, diabetes educators, and dieticians that can help and support you throughout your journey to great health.

2. Learn the Symptoms of a Low Blood Sugar

Sometimes low blood sugars can be even more concerning than high blood sugars. Learn what symptoms are specific to you when you have a low blood sugar. Just as the symptoms of high blood sugar varies from person to person, low blood sugar does the same. There are, however, several common symptoms many people with diabetes experience. They include:

• Feeling sluggish or have a lack of energy
• Increased hunger
• Feeling “shaky”
• Changes in vision

These are just a few examples of low blood sugar symptoms. You may experience some of these, all of these, or even different symptoms than those listed above. The important thing to remember is to know your body, learn what it is trying to tell you, and treat appropriately. Low blood sugar levels can lead to a variety of short term issues including seizures and even death – so it is important to learn the symptoms and test your blood sugar often.

3. Learn the Symptoms of High Blood Sugar

Everyone’s symptoms are different, however there are several symptoms of high blood glucose that many people with diabetes experience. Pay close attention to how you feel throughout the day, and especially when your blood sugar has tested high, and make a mental note of these symptoms – or better yet, write them down so others know as well. Knowing your symptoms is the first step to gaining more control over your diabetes, and can help you make adjustments to your daily insulin regime, activity level, and meal planning steps. Here are a few key symptoms most people generally feel when they are experiencing hyperglycemia:

• Increased thirst
• Increased or decreased appetite
• Frequent urination
• Feeling tired or lethargic
• Changes in your vision

Some people, especially parents of children with diabetes, say they can even look at the child and know their blood sugars aren’t within normal range. We have heard statements that the child’s eyes have a “glassy” appearance, their cheeks are flushed/red, and their behavior changes as well, such as becoming more irritable or cranky. It is very important that you know your symptoms of high blood sugar because over time, if left untreated, high blood sugar levels can lead to diabetes complications. Learn what your body is trying to tell you, test your blood sugar often, and take control over your diabetes for a healthier you!

4. Party Reasonably

As a person with diabetes, we all want to do things everyone else does, like enjoying a glass of wine. However, alcohol can significantly impact your blood sugar levels. Too much alcohol and not enough food with it can cause a life-threatening low blood sugar. Overall, if you eat a meal and have a small amount of alcohol, it may not be enough to significantly impact your blood sugar. However, if you consume a large amount of alcohol, be sure to balance the intake with food and check your blood sugar frequently to be able to catch and treat a low blood sugar as early as possible. You can also speak with your healthcare provider or registered dietician to discuss options for adjusting insulin and/or dietary changes when you intend to consume alcohol.

5. Keep Healthy Snacks Within Reach

Always We all have days where we are running late and miss or delay a meal. Be sure to keep a healthy snack with you at all times to prevent low blood sugar incidents from happening. Keeping some cheese and cracker packages in the glove box of your car, or peanut butter crackers in your bag can help you ward off potential mid-afternoon low blood sugars when you miss lunch, or any other main meal. Here are a few healthy snack options you can choose when you’re on the go with no time to eat:

• Low-fat yogurt
• Low-fat cheese sticks
• Peanuts
• Peanut butter crackers
• Apple slices with peanut butter
• Whole Grain crackers
• Pretzels

Hope these tips help you with your diabetes. Tips 5-10 to come next week, stay tuned…

While you are waiting for the next tips see how Timesulin can help you make better decisions about your diabetes

Many thanks to Josh Trupp for providing us with this article. The original can be found on Josh’s own site where he blogs about life and life with diabetes.

I have been diagnosed with diabetes since 12-26-2008. For awhile I was just oral controlled with glipizide, januvia and good old metformin, but after seeing a new dr they decided to stop all but the metformin. On 9-8-11 my Dr started me on lantus thinking this would help me get better blood sugar control. I was only doing the injection once a day and could manage the time that i was injecting. At this time it was easy to remember that when I would take my sleep medication that I would inject.

This went on for a couple months and for me was not working. I was not getting the blood sugar control that I should of had and that my Dr wanted. So 10-21-11 my Dr decided to also start me on a sliding scale with novolog along with splitting my lantus. This means i was injecting 2 insulin’s 5 times a day. One of the biggest hurdles for me was being able to remember to take the insulin and then remembering if I took the insulin. I did some searching back in the day and came across people putting stopwatches and timers in there insulin case. Believe it or not I did try this but found it ineffective.

For my Lantus I eventually ended up painting the caps red and green. Red was for AM insulin, and then when i would take my PM insulin i would change it to the green cap. That seemed to work. (still does) but there still is a better solution to get this. About a year after this whole thing started I started to research other methods. One method at the time was still being developed was Timesulin. It is a cap that has a built in timer that when the cap is removed the timer starts all over. This concept is not available in the USA just yet.

This concept would work great for me since I would be able to see the last time I removed the cap therefore I would be able to tell when i last injected. I did have the chance to ask questions to the CEO of the company about the product and from what I understand is it will be available in the USA eventually (FDA clearance) so I will just have to wait. As for my mealtime insulin goes I wrote an app for IOS and Android that allows me to put the time on my Exchange calendar in my email.

For now this will have to do.