Susan Sorensen

Dealing with the challenges of diabetes is a daily adventure. This month I am going to share some of the common questions that people ask with an explanation of the answer.

Q: My doctor checks my blood glucose every three months (HgA1c) so why should I check my blood glucose at home?

 

A: Testing your blood glucose at home gives you facts that complement the information from the three-month test. You can evaluate the impact of various foods and exercise on your glucose readings. A food that increases your blood glucose may not have the same impact for someone else, so that can be very frustrating!

 

Most monitors can give you an average of all of your tests so that you can see if your glucose readings are going down or up and eliminate the element of surprise at your next appointment. According to the American Diabetes Association, the goal for fasting glucose is a reading of 70-130 and two hours after eating is less than 180. Think of it as a road map; you want to make sure that you gradually are heading in the correct direction rather than finding out in three months that you are in another country!

Q: There is no way that I can exercise for 45 minutes a day. What should I do?

 

A: Any exercise is better than none at all. Try for 10 minutes once a day, then increase it to twice a day and continue to increase the frequency. Whether gardening, housework, walking, biking or swimming, any kind of activity counts as exercise. Select something that you enjoy so that you look forward to it.

 

Exercising in the water can be helpful if you have discomfort in your lower extremities or back. Being in water at waist level takes half of your body weight off of your feet, chest high water takes off 75 percent and exercising in water up to your neck takes off 90 percent of your weight. There are many theories about what is the best time to exercise, morning vs. evening, before vs. after meals, etc., but I have found that the key is just to do it. Whatever works best for your schedule is the best time to exercise!

Q: I can’t afford to eat the special food that is required for diabetes. What do I do?

A: Diabetes does not require any special food. The goal is to eat a wide variety of foods in the proper portion. Fill half of your plate with vegetables, one-quarter with starch and one-quarter with a card-deck-size portion of protein. Save money by not buying convenience foods and instead buying whole grains, beans and whatever is in season.

 

Focus on food that is unchanged from when Mother Nature made it and let your body process it instead of a factory. Fresh fruit is naturally sweet because of fructose but that is not a reason to eliminate these nutrition-rich jewels from your meals. Eat fruit at the end of the meal so that the digestion of the fruit will be slowed to prevent glucose spikes.

 

You can live a long and healthy life with diabetes by taking these challenges one at a time. I will talk to you next month.

 

Susan Sorensen is a registered nurse who does diabetes education in the community and can be reached at www.starladydiabetes.com.