How to better manage type 2 diabetes and take back control of your health

Learn how to manage diabetes better

Here is the excellent news: plenty of information and support to help you live a healthy, active life despite your type 2 diabetes diagnosis. The bottom line in managing this condition is to keep your blood sugar levels in the normal range. Possibly one of the better ways to keep organized is to create your game plan to manage this disease better. Let us look at how you can do this.

Home blood monitoring

Take charge of your condition. You will need to monitor how well your new diet, medications, and exercise work. Blood testing with a home blood glucose monitor is essential for your life.

Monitoring your blood sugar could potentially save your life in the right circumstance, so take blood sugar testing very seriously and make sure you test regularly and often. For example, if you are operating a vehicle, or your occupation frequently could potentially put you in the line of danger, it is essential.

Become a fat-burning machine

Diet is the cornerstone of your diabetes control. Without a healthy eating plan, your medications, if prescribed, will not work correctly, and you will not have the energy to build muscle through exercising regularly or continuing to lose weight.

Breakfast is undoubtedly one of the most critical meals, especially when dealing with diabetes. However, choosing what to eat is equally essential. Fiber is one key to success and several small meals throughout the day are typically better than three big meals. Larger meals can cause blood sugar to surge, and smaller meals help control sugar.

Try to make several minor changes and don’t get overloaded with attempting too much change too quickly. This should help motivate you and help with not getting overly stressed out by having unreasonable expectations. Try to find other people with like-minded goals and surround yourself with others who can support your journey.

Keep active, and you will, in turn, lose weight.

Almost every study shows that following a regular exercise program is helpful for people with type 2 diabetes. It also attacks the visceral fat around your abdominal area and helps reduce your blood lipid levels. This visceral fit is the most dangerous fat to have, especially with type 2 diabetes. Therefore, you can better manage your symptoms by working diligently with a good fitness plan to reduce abdominal fat.

Related: Complete type 2 diabetes fitness guide click here now

Also, dieting without exercise, especially in mature people, causes a loss of muscle mass. Your exercise program does not need to be ambitious, but it does require commitment. So keep dedicated and don’t overextend yourself, but stay consistent with diabetes. Slow and steady can win the race. Many experts may suggest that you do sit-ups and directly target abdominal fat, but this is mostly false. It doesn’t matter what you target. The point is to do whatever exercise you are most comfortable doing each day consistently.

Change – There’s no better time than now

Lifestyle change is a critical step for control of your type 2 diabetes. Lifestyle changes have been proven, over and over, to be one of the best ways to reduce both your weight and blood sugar levels. In addition, an improved lifestyle will help you control the genetic roadblock and risks you were born with.

Related: Type 2 diabetes dieting plan that gives real, tested and true results 

It can also be the most difficult part… even small changes will help and lead to larger ones. Trying to do too much at one time will defeat your whole effort. So focus on those small changes and continue little by little to reach your goals and increase your quality of life with type 2 diabetes.

So far, there is no patent remedy for the correct type of exercise or sport for diabetes. However, it may already be enough if you move more in everyday life. If you want to exercise, it is recommended that you train your strength and endurance several times a week.

Training with diabetes

Changing your lifestyle is often complicated and requires special knowledge and specific skills. Special training and treatment programs are designed to help you independently manage your everyday life with the disease. Among other things, you will learn what a diabetes-friendly diet looks like and which types of exercise are suitable. Further information: “Diabetes and training.”

How do I eat healthily?

In general, the same recommendations for a wholesome diet apply today for people with type 2 diabetes as for people without diabetes. In short, you can eat almost anything if you follow the rules for a balanced diet and know which foods, in particular, affect blood sugar.

Enjoy healthy foods and eat a varied diet. Choose quantities that will help you maintain or reach your desired body weight.

The following foods contain sugar in their pure form: instant products, sweetened juices, lemonade, sweets, and cakes. They quickly “spike” blood sugar levels. Try to avoid these foods or eat them only in moderation.

The sugar in vegetables, legumes, whole grain products, or milk must first be broken down and therefore less affects blood sugar. These foods should therefore be part of the diet for type 2 diabetes.

You should avoid fatty foods in large quantities, such as fatty meat and sausage, decadent baked goods, rich convenience foods, fast food, cream, chips, and chocolate.

I prefer vegetable oils and fats, for example, canola and olive oil, nuts and seeds.

You do not need unique diabetic products or diet foods.

Involve your loved ones, too, as they are often involved in shopping and cooking.

A diet too high in protein can put a strain on the kidneys. If you have kidney disease, get advice on what protein intake is recommended.

Alcohol has a lot of energy and can lead to hypoglycemia, especially if blood sugar-lowering medication is also being taken. Therefore, experts recommend that people with type 2 diabetes drink only a little alcohol.

If you are overweight: Every kilo you lose has a beneficial effect on your diabetes, blood pressure, and blood lipids. Whether and how you try to reduce your weight is a very personal decision, in which you should consider well-being and enjoyment of life.

Why is exercise important?

For example, regular exercise lowers blood sugar, blood pressure, and body weight. It also strengthens muscles and improves physical fitness. Please find a type of sport or exercise that you enjoy. However, don’t feel guilty or guilty if you don’t manage to exercise regularly. It’s not always easy to balance work, family, and exercise. Ultimately, it is up to you to decide whether, how, and to what extent you exercise or do sports.

However, it is crucial to have a medical examination and advice on which movements you can and cannot perform.

It is essential to set goals for your training that you can achieve. Start slowly with a low load and gradually increase.

It may be enough to make your daily life more physically active. For example, you can use stairs instead of elevators and walk or bike shorter distances. You can also keep moving by gardening. Go for regular walks.

If you want to exercise, a mix of endurance and strength training is recommended. Make time for this several times a week. Suitable sports include Nordic walking, jogging, swimming, and cycling. Ball games, dancing, or gymnastics will also keep you fit.

People with physical limitations can also be active: For people with joint problems or foot problems, for example, there is a so-called stool training, in which the exercises are performed in a sitting position.

Keep in mind that physical activity can lower your blood sugar. In addition, if you take blood-sugar-lowering medications, hypoglycemia may occur during or after exercise. Therefore, you should always have glucose handy.

Medications: Are they always needed?

Insulin therapy is not always recommended for type 2 diabetes: doctors should weigh up the benefits of treatment. Alternatives may include a change in diet, exercise, and medication.

Insulin is a hormone produced naturally in the body, and its administration can lead to undesirable side effects such as weight gain. In addition, the body can become accustomed to insulin, so an increasingly higher dose is required. Possible consequences are obesity, and the risk of heart attack and stroke may increase. For this reason, insulin therapy should only be used in type 2 diabetes if alternative forms of treatment are not sufficient. In type 1 diabetes, however, permanent treatment with the hormone is unavoidable.

Diabetes type 1 and type 2 – the differences

Insulin enables muscles and organs to absorb and utilize sugar from the blood, and blood sugar levels drop. As a result, the body stores unneeded sugar as a fat reserve.

In type 1 diabetes mellitus, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, so it has to be supplied in injections under the skin.
In diabetes mellitus type 2, the body’s cells become resistant to insulin. As a result, the pancreas has to produce more and more of the hormone to maintain sugar metabolism and lower blood glucose levels – until, at some point, it can no longer do so.

Diabetes therapy: medication instead of insulin

In most cases, type 2 diabetes can be controlled without insulin. However, if a change in diet and increased exercise are not enough to lower blood glucose levels in the long term, medication can help. They have been shown in many studies to be superior to insulin therapy:

GLP-1 analogs (gliptins) stimulate the pancreas to release more insulin. As a result, they reduce appetite, lower obesity, and risk heart attack and stroke.

SGLT-2 inhibitors (Gliflozine) act via the kidneys and ensure that more sugar is excreted from the blood via the urine. This also reduces body weight and the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Therapy with medication aims to push type 2 diabetes back to a milder stage and significantly reduce body weight. This saves sufferers from undergoing insulin therapy, with many possible consequential damages.

False financial incentives for insulin therapy

Despite their disadvantages, many physicians prescribe insulin therapy for type 2 diabetes. Even though early and primary insulin therapy is not even envisaged in the scientific guidelines.

The new diabetes drugs, on the other hand, are used relatively rarely. There are two main reasons for this:

The active ingredients are more expensive than insulin – if they are used too frequently, physicians must fear financial restrictions.
The statutory health insurance funds benefit from large compensation payments from the risk structure compensation fund if the insured injects insulin.

Is it possible for you to control your type 2 diabetes and avoid any more weight gain? Yes, but you will need to stay focused. The state of your type 2 diabetes is really in your hands.

Discuss all your health issues with your healthcare provider, they may suggest there are benefits for you to take a specific anti-diabetic medication in the initial period, plus you may need treatment for high blood pressure. Type 2 diabetes is a lifelong condition that requires constant vigilance and commitment to manage appropriately.

If you would like to download a copy of a popular Ebook for managing diabetes, click here now: Answers to Your Questions… it’s based on questions diabetics have asked me over recent months.