I have been using insulin for five years and it has become a part of my long life. Before that, I had been taking anti-diabetic drugs for three years, and I had been suffering from diabetes for eight years. In the past eight years, I have basically figured out a sugar control plan that suits me. Now, except for the occasional high blood sugar after meals, my fasting blood sugar is basically controlled at normal levels, usually below 6 and 7 to 8 after meals.
Of course, I cannot deny the role of medicine, but at the beginning, even if I took medicine, my blood sugar could not be controlled well. Later, I got a pattern and finally controlled my blood sugar. My younger brother died of diabetes. In the past few years, my syndrome has also begun to appear. The first is coronary heart disease, which can only be controlled by taking medicine. I have some neuropathy, but it is still within the controllable range. My toes are damaged. I am also recovering recently. In addition, my stomach is not in good condition. I started taking quadruple medicine to treat gastritis. Sometimes I think that I should still work hard to live. Looking at some of my old classmates, they used to be in good health, but now they are suffering from cancer. I should be content.
Today I am here to talk to my diabetic friends about some of my experience in controlling sugar. Although I am not a person who has particularly good control over my sugar, over time, I have become more aware of my living habits and medication use. I have developed a method that suits me and share it with everyone. I hope it will be of some help to you.
After years of review, I can basically understand my blood sugar patterns, so I rarely measure my blood sugar. Unless you go out to eat, irregular injections and medication must be detected, and then remedies can be made based on blood sugar levels. Normally, I usually test my blood sugar before going to bed. When it comes to blood sugar patterns, everyone should understand their own situation. For example, how much food per ton can maintain blood sugar balance, and how much insulin can be used to achieve what blood sugar level.
My daily life is relatively regular. I mainly cook and eat by myself after retirement, avoiding the high-sugar and high-fat state of eating canteen food at work. I also go to square dance for an hour after breakfast. At noon, vegetables are the main meal, with multigrain rice as the supplement, and some meat, eggs, fish, etc., and rest for half an hour after the meal. Do some housework and buy some groceries in the afternoon, and take a walk for an hour after dinner in the evening.
Because I premix insulin twice in the morning and evening, it becomes increasingly difficult to control blood sugar after meals at noon. After a long period of exploration, I found that it is okay to exercise at noon or after eating, or simply eat, as long as I am not hungry and my blood sugar is not high.
I will eat more fruits at noon, mainly in terms of variety. I will eat a little bit of all kinds of fruits that I can’t usually eat at noon, which not only satisfies my appetite, but also prevents my body from lacking nutrients. Although I don’t know if this is the right thing to do, my blood sugar is indeed under control. If I feel that my blood sugar is high, I will go out for a walk. After walking around twice, I will come back and my blood sugar will no longer be high.
I saw someone asking about the problem of eating sweet potatoes and pumpkins to raise blood sugar. If you exchange them with staple foods in equal amounts, sweet potatoes and pumpkins should raise blood sugar more slowly, but you must not exceed the amount. If you eat fruit at night, your blood sugar will be high before going to bed. I don’t recommend eating it at night.
Many friends exercise so much to lower their blood sugar that it’s scary. Is the greater the amount of exercise, the better? I don't think so. Excessive exercise can lead to hypoglycemia, especially outdoor exercise. Hypoglycemia can be very dangerous. I have experienced it a few times. My blood sugar was less than 3, and my legs were so weak that I couldn't walk immediately. I knew it was not good, and I felt uncomfortable. Fortunately, I was home, and I was scared just thinking about it.
As the time of illness prolongs, the sensitivity to blood sugar levels becomes less and less. Therefore, proper exercise, regular exercise, and regular eating habits are particularly important. As a sugar person, exercise after meals is a must. If you exercise after three meals, your blood sugar will not be high.
My experience is that walking for half an hour after a meal can metabolize the high calories in each meal. In fact, walking 10,000 steps a day, divided into three or four times, can basically achieve the goal of lowering blood sugar. People with diabetes may wish to find out an exercise routine that suits them based on their own circumstances.
Many patients often suffer from hypoglycemia, which is very bad. Doctors say that they are not afraid of high blood sugar, but afraid of low blood sugar.
So how to prevent hypoglycemia? Let me talk about some of my experiences. Once I went home from a square dance and my legs felt very heavy, but I forgot to bring food and there were no shops nearby. I finally took a taxi back home and my blood sugar was only 3!
Later, I concluded that before a meal is the time when hypoglycemia is high, it is best not to go outside during that time, or to be more vigilant and bring some foods with high sugar content, such as bananas and other fruits. Preventing hypoglycemia mainly depends on diet and exercise. Try to eat a certain amount of staple food and don't exercise too much.
What is the right amount of exercise? It just needs to consume the concentrated burst of heat from the food eaten as a meal without generating shock waves. My conclusion is that half an hour of walking is enough. If you eat a lot of high-protein foods and a large amount of staple food in the evening, take a walk for an hour. Any more and my legs will become weak and I will start to suffer from hypoglycemia.
Strenuous exercise is strongly prohibited. The amount of food you eat cannot be too much or too little, and the same goes for the amount of exercise. If you understand the blood sugar status of each food and the impact of exercise on your blood sugar, you can achieve a balanced diet and exercise every day, so you don't need to measure your blood sugar every day.
Finally, I would like to share some of my daily experiences:
1. Because of the degradation of pancreatic islet function, it is impossible to eat like normal people. Some people say that after taking insulin, one can be like a normal person. That is a dream and simply impossible.
2. Some people say that I ran naked. My past experience tells me that it is okay in the pre-sugar stage. Insulin will be high even after sugar injection, so it is impossible to do it by running naked and exercising. I ate out several times without taking insulin, and walked for more than an hour. My blood sugar was still high when I got home. It was after 11 o'clock, but it didn't have much effect.
3. After discovering that you are addicted to sugar, you must first change your lifestyle, such as going for a walk after a meal and not sleeping immediately. The next step is to reduce the original food intake, not to mention reducing it by half, at least the body weight must reach the standard weight.
4. Only by changing the original diet composition to a vegetarian diet can you control blood sugar. I found that it is particularly difficult to control my blood sugar after eating meat dishes or those with a lot of oil in them.
5. The higher the blood sugar, the more bottomless your stomach will be, and you will always starve to death. So the more you feel like you're not full, that's when your blood sugar is out of control. The solution is to eat regularly and rationed meals. When you have eaten enough, leave the table and do other things that have nothing to do with eating.
6. To control blood sugar, you must also control blood pressure and blood lipids. Otherwise, blood sugar will not be well controlled and complications will occur.
7. Blood circulation is very important. A ten-minute hot bath every day can accelerate blood circulation and keep blood vessels open. You can also take medicine to increase blood supply to prevent blood clots caused by high blood lipids.
8. Regular physical examinations, monitoring the heart and nerves to prevent complications and facilitate timely adjustment of exercise and diet plans.