Take Charge of Your Diabetes
Controlling Your Diabetes
- Keeping a Balance
- A Few Things About Food
- A Few Things About Physical Activity
- A Few Things About Diabetes Medicine
There’s good news for people with diabetes. Studies show that keeping your
blood glucose (also called blood sugar) close to normal helps prevent or delay
some diabetes problems.
Through careful control, at least half of the expected eye disease, kidney
disease, and nerve damage can be prevented or slowed. People who were in the
study had Type 1 diabetes, but many doctors believe that people who have Type 2
diabetes can also benefit by keeping their blood glucose levels closer to
You can learn more about diabetes and ways to help you control your blood
sugar by calling National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) at 1-800-438-5383.
You may find that your community supports your efforts to control
As the turtle makes steady progress, so too must those with diabetes continue
to maintain healthy lifestyles and stick to daily routines that involve regular
exercise, good nutrition, glucose monitoring, and regular visits to health care
To keep your glucose at a healthy level, you need to keep a balance between
three important things:
- What you eat and drink.
- How much physical activity you do.
- What diabetes medicine you take (if your doctor has prescribed diabetes
pills or insulin).
This book gives you only some of the facts you need. Your health care team
can give you more.
Here are some tips for making healthy eating choices:
- Eat regular meals. Ask your health care team to help you choose a meal
plan. Your dietitian may suggest you eat three meals and a snack or two every
day at about the same times. Eating every 4 to 5 hours can help control blood
- Eat a variety of foods. Choose a variety of foods to eat so that your
body gets the nutrition it needs. Ask your dietitian for help.
- Eat less fat. Avoid fried foods. Foods that are baked, broiled,
grilled, boiled, or steamed are more healthy to eat. Eat meats that have little
fat. When you eat dairy products (cheese, milk, yogurt, and others), choose
those that have little or no fat or cream.
- Eat less sugar. You may find that eating less sugar helps you control
your blood glucose level. Here are some things you can do to eat less
- Eat more high-fiber foods, like vegetables, dried beans, fruit, and oatmeal.
- Drink water and other drinks that have no added sugar.
Choose to eat a variety of healthy foods, such as fruit and
Ask your market to carry more hearthealthy foods.
- Eat fewer foods that have extra sugar, such as cookies, cakes, pastries,
candy, brownies, and sugared breakfast cereals.
- Talk with your health care team about ways to sweeten food and drinks
without using sugar:
Eat less salt. Eating less salt may help control your blood pressure.
Here are some ways to eat less salt:
- Use less salt when you prepare foods.
- Cut down on processed foods, such as foods you buy in cans and jars, pickled
foods, lunch meats (“cold cuts”), and snack foods, such as chips.
- Taste your food first before adding salt. You may not need to add any.
- Use herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor your food.
- A word about drinking alcohol: Alcohol can cause health problems,
especially for people with diabetes. It adds calories and doesn’t give your body
any nutrition. Drinking alcohol may cause dangerous reactions with medicines you
take. Your blood glucose can go down too low if you drink beer, wine, or liquor
on an empty stomach. If you want to include a drink in your food plan once in a
while, ask your health care team how to do so safely.
- It’s important to be active. Physical activity has many benefits. It
can help you control your blood glucose and your weight. Physical activity can
help prevent heart and blood flow problems. Many people say they feel better
when they get regular exercise.
- Start with a little. If you haven’t been doing any physical activity,
talk to your health care team before you begin. Walking, working in the yard,
and dancing are good ways to start. As you become stronger, you can add a few
extra minutes to your physical activity. If you feel pain, slow down or stop and
wait until it goes away. If the pain comes back, talk with your health care team
- Do some physical activity every day. It’s better to walk 10 or 20
minutes each day than one hour once a week.
- Choose an activity you enjoy. Do an activity you really like. The
more fun it is, the more likely you will do it each day. It’s also good to
exercise with a family member or friend.
If you’re already active now, but want to become more active, talk to your
health care team about a safe exercise plan.
If you take diabetes pills or insulin injections to control your diabetes,
ask your health care provider to explain how these work. It’s important to know
how and when to take diabetes medicine. If you take other medicines that are
sold with or without a prescription, ask your doctor how these can affect your
diabetes control. When you take insulin injections or diabetes pills, your blood
glucose levels can get too low. If you inject insulin, your health care team
should be able to tell you
- How to give yourself injections.
- When you need to change your insulin dose.
- How to safely dispose of needles.