Health Tips to Manage Blood Sugar for Diabetes Patients

Introduction

Have you ever come across someone who is really struggling with diabetes? The constant fluctuations in their blood sugar levels, severe side effects, and so much pain. It scares you, right? Well, diabetes is a dangerous condition and it is also a physically, mentally and financially debilitating condition.

No one would wish for their enemy also to undergo such a condition.

According to the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology (IJO), India is deemed as the world’s capital of diabetes, even though China has the highest number of people (116 million) suffering from the disease. It is also estimated that India will witness an increase in the number of diabetes patients by up to 266% and this is highly disconcerting.

You might be thinking that this sounds like an exaggeration, so let us first understand about the condition called diabetes before looking at the insurance covers.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is also called Diabetes Mellitus. We eat food to receive energy. The abundance of our food is broken down into sugar that is also called glucose. The glucose is then released into your bloodstream. Consumption of certain food items like rice, bread, sugar, and few other constituents, leads to an increase in the blood sugar level. At such a stage, a signal is sent to the pancreas that indicates the need for insulin in the body. Insulin is a by-product produced by the pancreas (located behind the stomach). With the help of insulin, the process of converting blood sugar into energy gets simpler.

 If one is suffering from diabetes then the body fails to produce insulin or is unable to make utmost use of the available by-product. If the insulin level decreases or the cells do not respond to the liquid, it leads to an increase in the blood sugar existent in your bloodstream. The side effect that one may face due to excess blood sugar result in serious health problems such as heart disease, kidney disease, and vision loss.

 According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people suffering from this situation worldwide sums up to 422 million. The death number amounts to 1.5 million.

 The facts just got real, and it terrifies you and me. Diabetes is a highly damaging disease and ideally one must not suffer from such a condition or at least maintain normal levels by taking necessary precautions from time to time. Let us go through some health tips that will help you.

Types of Diabetes

Diabetes in itself is a dreadful disease, and the segregation of the same into two types makes it scarier. For understanding the remission, precautions, symptoms, and so on, one needs to know the type of diabetes they are suffering from. The two types are explained below:

• Type 1 –

Under type 1, the insulin created by the pancreas starts attacking the beta cells mistakenly. Beta cells are those that create insulin. Damaging the beta-cells leads to lesser or no insulin production and flow in the bloodstream thereby leading to an increase in blood sugar levels. The damage made is permanent. Type 1 diabetes is also considered an autoimmune condition.

• Type 2 –

Under type 2, the insulin produced by the pancreas is unable to be used efficiently. In such a case, one may think that to solve the situation excess insulin needs to be produced but humanly it is not possible to keep up with the demand. As lesser insulin is used up effectively, the remaining glucose in the bloodstream causes an increase in blood sugar levels.

Health Tips to manage Blood sugar levels

As food intake and processing of glucose is the beginning of the disease, most of the health tips are related to food intake. Below are some tips with respect to food and extracurricular activities and that play a vital role in managing the blood sugar levels of a diabetes patient.

• Carb count – If you are suffering from Type 1 diabetes, it is important to manage the carb intake by making a carb count in comparison to the required proportion. Eating too much carbs leads to an increase in blood glucose levels. A low-carb diet helps maintain or reduce blood sugar levels and prevents any blood sugar spikes.

• Fibre Intake – High-fibre diets help manage type 1 diabetes. It improvises your body’s ability to reduce blood sugar levels and thereby retain the condition effectively. A high-fibre diet can include components such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and more.

• Portion control – If you are suffering from type 2 diabetes, and are overweight or do not have a healthy diet then it is important to introduce portion control in your routine. Reducing your weight or having a health intake in proper proportions helps reduce blood sugar levels and maintains them.

• Glycaemic Index – Foods consist of the glycaemic index which, means the exposure to such a constituent makes the blood sugar level rise. You should have food with a less to moderate glycaemic index. Food constituents such as yogurts, oats, beans, wheat pasta, and more.

Having less sugar and salt is vital for maintaining the sugar levels of diabetes patients.

Apart from tips relating to food items, some other points that a diabetic patient shall keep in mind are:

• Move around – Doing physical activities is very important. Being active helps in lowering your blood sugar level, blood pressure, body weight. It helps you improve your blood flow, and helps you sleep better. Having a good quality sleep is very important.

• Exercises like strength training, muscle building, stretching, aerobics help in enlightening yourself. In case of any physical challenge, one can also do yoga it helps soothe one’s mind.

• Feet – Diabetic patients need to take utmost care of their feet. It is because in some cases, the blood flows poorly in that area, and may cause some nerve damage. It can also then lead to high blood sugar levels, and thus one shall be careful.  

As we are aware of various food tips and extracurricular tips, it is equally important to be financially stable to face the disease. The only way to be financially secure against a diabetic condition is to have adequate diabetes insurance so that steep costs are taken care of.

• Insurance – Diabetic patients not only need to have health insurance but shall also have a dedicated diabetic policy. A diabetes health insurance helps the insured and their family to cope up with the condition and opt for quality treatment without worrying overly about the expenses involved. Health insurance provides coverage for diabetes but with a limited amount out of the entire sum insured. Curing diabetes is not entirely possible but maintaining a stable level helps an individual to stay at normal levels. Instead of cured the term remission is used which means that the disease is temporarily over but can relapse in case of change in diet and not taking necessary precautions. The ball is in your court to maintain your diabetes at reasonable levels.

Conclusion

You need to protect and prevent yourself and your loved ones from diabetes. Taking the above-mentioned precautions helps to maintain normal blood sugar levels in diabetic patients thereby, maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In the end, Health is wealth and the best you can do is to protect your wealth with dedicated insurance.