Three Easy Steps to Managing Diabetes through Family Fitness
Get ready! Get set! Go! There is no time better than the present to start talking to your family about being more active. Start exploring some fun things to do together that will get your blood pumping and on an exciting path to managing your diabetes. Diabetes presents families with plenty of challenges, but can it actually help families get healthier? This World Diabetes Day, we’re exploring the different opportunities diabetes offers the whole family to take control of their health as a group. Exercise is one of the key pillars of managing diabetes well. Getting in shape helps you manage your blood sugar levels...
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Tips for Making Testing Easier
Whether you check your blood glucose level once a week, once a day, or 6 times a day, learning how to make testing easy and less painful may inspire you to test more often. For people with diabetes, the knowledge that you gain from testing is the key to staying in control of your health. It helps you make informed decisions about medicine, food, and exercise. It helps you cope with the day-to-day demands of living with diabetes, you’ll feel better each day, and you’ll lower your risk for future diabetes complications.1 Here are some tips for getting the best results possible. A guide: when to test...
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Ways to Increase Activity
Exercise is good for everyone, but for people with diabetes, it can make a big difference in keeping your blood sugar level under control. Not only that, but staying active allows your cells to process insulin more efficiently, improving your overall A1C levels. The many benefits to staying active Exercise is one of the cornerstones of managing your diabetes, because the list of benefits for people with diabetes is long. Exercise can:1 Improve insulin sensitivity for people with type 12 Decrease the glucose in your blood for people with type 2...
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Transitions: From Orals to Insulin
Insulin and type 2 diabetes: 5 facts you should know Has your healthcare provider talked to you about insulin? For many people, this can bring on mixed feelings and questions—often based on myths that simply are not true. Here are 5 facts to keep in mind. Diabetes is an insulin problem, not a sugar problem. After all, sugar doesn't cause diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes don't manufacture enough insulin, or their bodies can't use it properly, so they're unable to process the food they take in.1 Sometimes it takes insulin...
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Treating Low BG
You may recognize the feeling—feeling hungry, dizzy, sweaty or just a little bit "off." These signs of hypoglycaemia, or low blood glucose, mean it's time to take action. What causes low blood glucose? For most people, low blood glucose refers to anything below 72 mg/dl, although your number may be different.1 Low blood glucose can be caused by taking too much medication, not having enough to eat or exercising. In fact, hypoglycaemia can occur up to 12 hours after you've been physically active.1 Don't be too hard on yourself, though. Fifty percent of the time, there's no way of knowing...
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What is A1C?
Your A1C number Consider your A1C number (also known as HbA1c or glycated hemoglobin) as a snapshot of your blood glucose levels over several months. Over time, glucose naturally attaches itself to your blood cells. When this happens, the cell is considered “glycated.” The more glucose in your blood, the more glycated A1C cells you have. What’s an optimal A1C number? The recommended A1C target for a person with diabetes is 7% or lower—some people remember this figure as “lucky number 7.” However, while your A1C number gives you and your doctor an idea of how your diabetes is being managed over time, it...
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How to Turn a Bad Day Around
Everyone with diabetes has good and bad days, days with in-range blood sugar levels and days when things just don’t work out right. When the bad day seems to be taking over, here’s how to turn it around. Perspective is everything Change your mind, change your life. When you look at your diabetes as something you can effect, as an opportunity to learn about your own health, you’ve already taken the most important step to a better day and a healthier life. Don’t forget to laugh! Humor helps you see everyday things from a new perspective. That’s why it’s such a great stress-reliever; it pulls you out of...
Read More Tips for Making Testing Easier
Whether you check your blood glucose level once a week, once a day, or 6 times a day, learning how to make testing easy and less painful may inspire you to test more often. For people with diabetes, the knowledge that you gain from testing is the key to staying in control of your health. It helps you make informed decisions about medicine, food, and exercise. It helps you cope with the day-to-day demands of living with diabetes, you’ll feel better each day, and you’ll lower your risk for future diabetes complications.1 Here are some tips for getting the best results possible. A guide: when to test...
Read More Ways to Increase Activity
Exercise is good for everyone, but for people with diabetes, it can make a big difference in keeping your blood sugar level under control. Not only that, but staying active allows your cells to process insulin more efficiently, improving your overall A1C levels. The many benefits to staying active Exercise is one of the cornerstones of managing your diabetes, because the list of benefits for people with diabetes is long. Exercise can:1 Improve insulin sensitivity for people with type 12 Decrease the glucose in your blood for people with type 2...
Read More Transitions: From Orals to Insulin
Insulin and type 2 diabetes: 5 facts you should know Has your healthcare provider talked to you about insulin? For many people, this can bring on mixed feelings and questions—often based on myths that simply are not true. Here are 5 facts to keep in mind. Diabetes is an insulin problem, not a sugar problem. After all, sugar doesn't cause diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes don't manufacture enough insulin, or their bodies can't use it properly, so they're unable to process the food they take in.1 Sometimes it takes insulin...
Read More Treating Low BG
You may recognize the feeling—feeling hungry, dizzy, sweaty or just a little bit "off." These signs of hypoglycaemia, or low blood glucose, mean it's time to take action. What causes low blood glucose? For most people, low blood glucose refers to anything below 72 mg/dl, although your number may be different.1 Low blood glucose can be caused by taking too much medication, not having enough to eat or exercising. In fact, hypoglycaemia can occur up to 12 hours after you've been physically active.1 Don't be too hard on yourself, though. Fifty percent of the time, there's no way of knowing...
Read More What is A1C?
Your A1C number Consider your A1C number (also known as HbA1c or glycated hemoglobin) as a snapshot of your blood glucose levels over several months. Over time, glucose naturally attaches itself to your blood cells. When this happens, the cell is considered “glycated.” The more glucose in your blood, the more glycated A1C cells you have. What’s an optimal A1C number? The recommended A1C target for a person with diabetes is 7% or lower—some people remember this figure as “lucky number 7.” However, while your A1C number gives you and your doctor an idea of how your diabetes is being managed over time, it...
Read More How to Turn a Bad Day Around
Everyone with diabetes has good and bad days, days with in-range blood sugar levels and days when things just don’t work out right. When the bad day seems to be taking over, here’s how to turn it around. Perspective is everything Change your mind, change your life. When you look at your diabetes as something you can effect, as an opportunity to learn about your own health, you’ve already taken the most important step to a better day and a healthier life. Don’t forget to laugh! Humor helps you see everyday things from a new perspective. That’s why it’s such a great stress-reliever; it pulls you out of...
Read More