The most important first step towards effective diabetes management is to educate yourself. Take the time to learn about the condition, its causes, symptoms, and potential complications. Knowledge empowers you to make informed decisions about your health and enables you to communicate effectively with your healthcare team.
Making changes to meet your diabetes management goals can have many long-term health benefits. Most people select one thing to work on at a time: weight loss, exercise, or smoking cessation are cited as 3 of the top ten. For people with diabetes, these changes to achieve a healthier lifestyle can pay big dividends in the long run. Better-managed diabetes can reduce the risk of stroke, heart attacks, kidney damage, nerve damage, blindness and foot problems. There is also evidence to suggest better brain health in those adopting a healthier lifestyle. As for immediate benefits, better energy level, improved mood and improved blood glucose levels may be felt within a few weeks of making the change.
What is the impact of weight loss on blood glucose levels?
If the change to achieve weight loss is to choose food choices low in carbohydrate more often, blood glucose levels will improve as a result.
Weight loss in the range of 5% of total body weight has been shown to improve blood glucose levels.
What is the impact of physical activities on blood glucose levels?
When the body engages in physical activity, it allows insulin to work more efficiently. This is what happens: glucose will leave the blood stream and enter the target cells, mainly muscle cells with greater ease to provide energy, and blood glucose levels will improve as a result.
In people with diabetes that are not on glucose-lowering medication, physical activity improves the action of insulin that the body makes, while in those who are taking glucose lowering medications, it makes the medications work better.
When blood glucose levels start to improve as a result of physical activities and/or healthy eating, it may be necessary to adjust the type/dose of diabetes medications to ensure hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) does not occur.
Making changes to meet your diabetes management goals safely
- Talk to the diabetes care team or your health care provider about the planned change. Ask for input to develop/assess the plan to make the changes.
- Get to know the glucose-lowering medications. Identify those that are associated with a higher risk of causing hypoglycemia e.g. insulin secretagogues and insulin.
- Continue taking your diabetes medications while making the changes
- Make use of available diabetes tools – such as a blood glucose meter or a continuous glucose monitor. Monitor blood glucose levels before making the changes. If using a blood glucose meter, select testing times to fit your schedule. The “baseline” blood glucose levels and the pattern can help identify areas that require improvement. Keep monitoring blood glucose levels once the changes have been started. Compare results to baseline to note improvements.
Living with diabetes requires a multifaceted approach to management, encompassing lifestyle adjustments, dietary changes, medication adherence and regular monitoring. Setting achievable goals is essential for long-term success in diabetes management. We are all creatures of habit, and changes to lifestyles require planning and perseverance. You may find that being slow and steady will increase one’s chance to win the race.
