4 everyday habits to start today for steady blood sugars
I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say this: Blood sugar spikes and dips can feel TOTALLY random. You may wake up one morning, not eat a bit of food, and find your blood sugar spikes for no reason at all.
My method for diabetes management focuses on building habits into my client’s every-day routine. This allows them to maintain steady blood sugars consistently.
In this post you’ll discover four every-day habits that keep blood sugars steady all day. The best part? They’re super easy and painless to put in place.
I know you know that pre-boluses are important. To review, a pre-bolus is the act of taking your insulin X minutes before your meal. This gives the insulin time to hit the blood stream at the same time the sugar does.
A 2017 study found that people that pre-bolused had lower A1c’s than those who did not (by at least half a point). They were also much less likely to forget boluses all together.
So now that you know why it’s important to pre-bolus, how can we add it into our routine?
Try to find established habits you do before meals already and see how you can add pre-bolusing to them. For example, try pre-bolusing for breakfast while you’re getting ready each morning. Or inject for lunch as you are clocking out to go microwave your lunch.
Piggy backing off of this pre-bolusing, a side salad can help too. Eating one before a meal gives your insulin time to kick in (especially if you have a less routine schedule and find it difficulty to pre-bolus).
Side salads also add extra bulk and fiber to your meal. You’ll eat less, feel fuller, AND get more nutrients. This all contributes to keeping steady blood sugars after-meals and throughout the day.
Personally, I use a big Tupperware to put together my salad at the beginning of the week. Throughout the day, I can plop some salad in a to-go container to take to work or in a bowl when I sit down for dinner at home.
We all know we should exercise and stay active, but do you know why it’s important for those with type 1 diabetes? A sedentary lifestyle causes the body to become more resistant to insulin. This in turn makes diabetes management more difficult. The participants in this 2021 study had a lower 24 hour mean glucose levels and a greater time in range on exercise days compared with sedentary days.
If you have not started an exercise program, see if you can try to add a bit more movement to your day. Set a timer at work to go off every 30 minutes. When the alarm goes off, take a walk around your workspace or up and down some stairs.
I know this can feel difficult because you want to sit down after work and chill out. Making the effort to eat dinner earlier in the evening, though, can make a HUGE difference in steady BGs. You want to be able to get most of your food digested while you’re awake. This way, you can respond with extra insulin or carbohydrates in that moment.
Post prandial spikes at night can significantly decrease your time in range. See if you can prep some ingredients ahead of time so that making dinner after work is less of a chore. Try your best to avoid high-fat meals (like pizza) for dinner. These take a LONG time to digest and can result in late-night blood sugar spikes.
See if you can choose one of these habits to start adding into your day. A certified diabetes care and education specialist can help you create sustainable habits and routines that make diabetes management easier and automated. Learn more about some of my other favorite tips here
Datye KA, Boyle CT, Simmons J, Moore DJ, Jaser SS, Sheanon N, Kittelsrud JM, Woerner SE, Miller KM; T1D Exchange. Timing of Meal Insulin and Its Relation to Adherence to Therapy in Type 1 Diabetes. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2018 Mar;12(2):349–355. doi: 10.1177/1932296817728525. Epub 2017 Sep 12. PMID: 28895431; PMCID: PMC5851213.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28895431
Riddell MC, Li Z, Beck RW, Gal RL, Jacobs PG, Castle JR, Gillingham MB, Clements M, Patton SR, Dassau E, Doyle Iii FJ, Martin CK, Calhoun P, Rickels MR. More Time in Glucose Range During Exercise Days than Sedentary Days in Adults Living with Type 1 Diabetes. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2021 May;23(5):376–383. doi: https://doi.org/10.1089/dia.2020.0495. PMID: 33259257; PMCID: PMC8080930.
Originally published at http://www.gmsscoach.com.
