10 Tips to Lower Blood Sugar by Heidi McGlown, (Nurse Heidi), RN
1. Test. To master your blood sugar, you have to know where it is. That means checking 2 hours or more after meals, or schedule to have a fasting glucose check done with your nurse. Once you know, you can address it. 2. Eat your way through the rainbow. By choosing fruits and veggies from a wide range of colors, this will add more variety in your foods and nutritional value. Living with diabetes doesn’t have to mean feeling de- prived. Visit diabetes.org for some free meal ideas and recipes! 3. The “E”word- EXERCISE! Look for every opportunity to move your body during the day. Take the stairs, park further from the door, do some leg or arm exercises during TV commercials. Start taking walks with your family, take a fitness class, or join the Walking Club. The most important thing is that you find something that you enjoy so that you stick with it! 4. Get a buddy. Most of us have a hard time with self-motivation. Having support helps! Get a friend to join a fitness class with you. Get your partner on board with trying new healthier recipes. Start taking your dog on daily walks! Whatever it takes to stick with it! 5. Lose it! Lose a pound. Or 4! By lowering your weight, you’ll also lower your blood sugar and reduce after meal spikes. Even by eating a few bites less per meal, you could start the losing process! Remember: 3500 calo- ries = 1 lb. So if you want to lose a pound per week, you need to either eat 500 calories less per day, or burn 500 more per day. 6. Pretend you are at a fancy restaurant. Many restaurants start your meal out with a salad. Salads are generally low in both calories and carbs. If you fill up with salad, you may be less hungry when you eat the rest of your meal. This will help with number 5! 7. Start drinking...WATER! Stick with water and drink lots of it. It’s good for you and can help keep hunger away. Although diet sodas don’t have any calories, for some unknown reason, people who drink a lot of diet sodas have a harder time losing weight. 8. Look in the medicine cabinet. Sometimes medications taken for other ailments can raise your blood sugar. Discuss all your meds with your physician and see if there may be alternatives to control your conditions without affecting your blood sugar. 9. Chill out. We don’t need to worry about being chased by a tiger in our corner of the world! (This would cause our body to dump extra sugar into our blood for extra energy in order to run away!) But our bodies do dump some extra sugar with every day stresses such as overdue bills, being frustrated in traffic, etc. We need to make time to relax! This may mean taking a bath, reading a book, getting a massage, or finding a fun hobby. 10. Get some sleep. Not getting enough sleep can raise your blood sugar. Think of 8 hours of sleep as an- other med to help manage your diabetes. One way to help is to get all of the electronic gadgets out of your bedroom. Don’t Let This Be You! If you don’t want a ticket for an expired license plate sticker, here is an IMPORTANT REMINDER! The State of Illinois has suspended the mailing of vehichle registration reminder notices. You may register on line for a reminder to be emailed to you by going to: www.cyber driveilloinois.com. You will need the registration form from your vehicles in order to supply the proper information for registration. Be aware of your vehicle’s expiration date so you are not ticketed for being non-compliant!
April, May & June 2016 Crest Ink 25
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker