Management and self-care

Management and self-care

There are seven key areas of self-care behaviours that help manage diabetes.

Healthy eating

Learn more about the different tools used by people with diabetes.Eating healthy food is part of living a wholesome life. However, having diabetes does't exclude you from eating your favourite foods or going to your favourite restaurants. But you need to know that different foods affect your blood sugar differently. 

Physical activity

Activity has many health benefits in addition to losing weight. Physical activity lowers cholesterol, improves blood pressure, lowers stress and anxiety, and improves your mood. Being active can also keep your blood glucose levels in check and your diabetes under control. 

Monitoring 

Regular monitoring of your blood sugar levels gives you the information you need to make decisions. Testing your blood sugar lets you know when your levels are on target and it informs your decisions on activity and food so that you can live life to the fullest.

Taking medication

Taking the right medications will help you have greater control over your diabetes and help you feel better. Insulin, pills that lower your blood sugar, aspirin, blood pressure medication, cholesterol-lowering medication are a few of the medicines used to reduce your risk of complications. 

Problem solving

Encountering struggles with your diabetes control will happen. You can't plan for every situation you may face. However, learning from struggles and developing plans for dealing with problems in the future will help you be successful.

Reducing risks

Having diabetes puts you are a higher risk for developing other health problems. Understanding the risks is the first step towards reducing your chances of diabetes-related complications.  

Healthy coping

Diabetes can not only affect you physically, but emotionally as well. Diabetes and diabetes management can leave you experiencing emotional highs and lows, but the important thing is to realize these emotions are normal and take the steps to reduce the negative impact they can have on your self-care.