Managing Diabetes: How to Get Started

• Blood glucose: the sugar in your blood, which comes mostly from food
• Diabetes: a chronic health condition that occurs when your blood glucose is too high over time because your body doesn’t make enough insulin or doesn’t use insulin well
• Insulin: a hormone that helps glucose enter your body’s cells to be used for energy
• Hyperglycemia: high blood sugar levels, with symptoms such as feeling more thirsty than usual, needing to pee more often, increased hunger, tiredness, blurred vision, slow-healing sores, dry mouth, weakness, and/or confusion
• Hypoglycemia: low blood sugar levels, with symptoms such as feeling shaky, anxious, irritable, confused, weak or lightheaded, sweating, going pale, blurred vision, racing heart, hunger, and/or nausea

Understand Your Target Blood Glucose Level

Your healthcare provider will set target blood glucose levels for you depending on your personal health. You can check your blood glucose levels using a blood glucose monitor.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) generally recommends the following target blood glucose readings for nonpregnant adults with diabetes:

• Before meals: Between 80 and 130 mg/dL
• 1–2 hours after the beginning of a meal: Less than 180 mg/dL

Talk to your provider about the right target for you and what lifestyle and medication factors can help you stay in a healthy range.

Test Your Blood Glucose Levels

Self-monitoring your blood glucose levels can be an important part of managing your diabetes. Meeting your target range goals can help reduce your chance of developing complications from diabetes.

By monitoring, you can identify when the levels are too high or too low. You can learn how different factors affect your blood sugar levels, too. These can include:

• Foods you eat
• Exercise
• Illness
• Stress and other mood factors
• Diabetes medications

This information can help you keep your blood glucose levels in your target range and also help you make adjustments when they’re out of range.

Most importantly, you’ll better understand your diabetes. Especially early in your diagnosis, monitoring can give you a picture of how, when, and why your blood sugar levels change. As you stabilize your condition, you can work with your provider to discuss how often and how long you should continue to monitor.

Set Diabetes-Friendly Habits

Because food and exercise influence blood sugar levels, eating a healthy diet and following an active lifestyle are especially important for people living with diabetes.

There’s no single diet that works for everyone with diabetes. But in general, a healthy diabetes diet is made up of:

• Non-starchy vegetables
• Whole fruit
• Lean protein
• Healthy fats from nuts, olive oil, fish, and avocados
• Plenty of water

There’s also not one single recommendation when it comes to exercise or physical activity for people with diabetes. For most adults, experts recommend getting 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of moderate-intensity exercise per week.

It’s a good idea to partner with your doctor to build an exercise or activity plan that suits you and your health. In general, walking is an excellent choice for most people.

Involve Others in Your Success

For many people, managing diabetes requires big changes in their day-to-day life. If you’re changing your habits, you’ll need motivation, support, and persistence.

Tell your family, friends, and healthcare team that you’re about to do something important, and get them on board to support you.

Sources:

• American Diabetes Association. Fitness: Get Started Safely (Accessed July 23, 2024)
• American Diabetes Association. The Big Picture: Checking Your Blood Glucose (Accessed July 23, 2024)
• American Diabetes Association. Tips for Eating Well: Eat Good to Feel Good (Accessed July 23, 2024)
• American Diabetes Association. Understanding and Managing Low Blood Glucose (Hypoglycemia) (Accessed July 23, 2024)
• American Heart Association. (2024) American Heart Association Recommendations for Physical Activity in Adults and Kids