Living With Type 2 Diabetes: 5 Essential Tips
No matter your age and circumstances, being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is a difficult experience. It’s easy to become overwhelmed and feel as though your every action is now dictated by the diagnosis.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with feeling grief, but it’s important to remind yourself that you don’t have to allow diabetes to control your life. Living with type 2 diabetes is an additional challenge in your life, but absolutely doable.
With a few positive steps in your lifestyle, you might even find that you feel better than ever! To learn how to enhance your diabetes treatment so you can continue to lead a healthy, fulfilling life, just keep reading.
1. Improve Your Diet
The first, and perhaps most important, step in coping with diabetes is to make improvements to your diet. Everything you eat has an effect on your blood sugar – through your diet, you can either lessen or worsen your diabetes symptoms.
You don’t have to swear off treats and snacks altogether, but be mindful of what you’re using to fuel your body.
Only eat as much as your body needs, and keep foods high in sugar and fat to a minimum. Remember: carbohydrates turn into sugar in your body, so your carb intake should be monitored as well.
2. Get More Exercise
In addition to eating a nutritious diet, getting your recommended 150 minutes of exercise every week will do wonders for your overall health and diabetes symptoms. The key to getting enough exercise is to choose activities that don’t feel like exercise.
Hate going to the gym? Don’t go! You can go for a walk, ride your bike, take a dip in the pool, even play active video games! As long as your body is moving and your heart rate is elevated, you’re good to go.
If you find exercise difficult due to poor circulation, orthopedic shoes for men and women are easy to find and can correct many foot-related issues that come with diabetes.
3. Prioritize Mental Health
In today’s fast-paced world, it’s all too easy to allow our mental health to fall to the wayside. But managing your stress levels and overall mental health is more important to your physical health than you might think.
As stress levels rise, so does your blood sugar. Not to mention, anxiety and depression make even the simplest tasks feel like a monumental burden, let alone leave you with enough energy to build healthy habits. If you need help with your mental health, don’t hesitate to reach out to a professional.
4. Get Rid of Bad Habits
This one couldn’t be more cut and dry: if you smoke, it’s time to quit. For good.
Smoking wreaks havoc on your body, causing heart disease, cancer, and nerve damage, just to name a few of the disastrous side effects. And when you pair smoking with diabetes, the chances of developing one of these conditions is even higher.
It’s a good idea to watch your alcohol intake as well. There’s nothing wrong with having a drink with friends now and then; however, alcohol causes fluctuations in your blood sugar, making heavy drinking dangerous for those coping with diabetes.
5. Don’t Skip Your Checkups
No one looks forward to going to the doctor, but if you’re serious about diabetes care and maintaining good health, bi-yearly checkups are a must. Diabetes raises your risk of a variety of life-threatening conditions, including heart disease.
By seeing your doctor twice a year, you’re far more likely to catch any encroaching diseases in their early stages, making reversal easier.
Make Living With Type 2 Diabetes Easier With These Tips
Life is tough, and when you’re living with type 2 diabetes, it can be even tougher. But by building healthy habits, you can limit the effect the condition has on your life.
That said, always consult your doctor before making any major lifestyle changes to ensure you do so in a way that doesn’t do more harm than good.
Talk to your doctor about your plans and goals and they’ll help you build a system that works for you! And to learn more about living a healthy, happy life, take a look at our blog! We have health tips and ideas for every lifestyle.
