3 Tips To Help Manage Diabetes

1. Eat a low carbohydrate, low glycemic diet. The idea is to eat a diet that will keep your blood sugars from spiking. When you eat a diet rich in sugars or simple carbohydrates, your sugars quickly climb. If you are not able to produce adequate insulin, or if your cells are becoming insulin resistant, then your blood sugars are going to rise to an unsafe level, you will likely gain weight, and you will put a stress on your cardiovascular system.

Eating a diet low in sugar and rich in fiber will help to keep your sugars stable. You will likely find that you will require less insulin if you have to take it at all. High fiber diets also support healthy weight levels and keep you from snacking as they make you feel full throughout the day.

2. A proper amount of exercise is critical to controlling blood glucose levels. This includes aerobic, strength training, and flexibility exercises. Adequate exercise helps the body to burn up glucose. Aerobic exercise is also very important to keep a healthy heart and cardiovascular system which is damaged by prolonged periods of high blood sugar levels. Weight training is great for burning up sugars too. Weight training also keeps sugars burning for hours after finishing the work out. Flexibility exercises like yoga or even stretches help to burn sugar and to manage stress as stress is a factor in high blood sugars.

3. Diabetics need to sleep for 7 and a half to 9 hours of sleep a night. Too little or too much sleep causes stress, and stress is a cause of high blood sugar levels. One study that was done on diabetics showed that those who got less sleep or interrupted sleep tended to have worse blood sugar levels compared to their well rested diabetic peers. Hemoglobin A1c levels were also much worse among those who got too little or poor quality sleep. Another reason to get adequate levels of sleep is to regulate hormone levels. Many hormones are produced overnight while sleeping and remember, insulin is a hormone.