The Habits That Help Home Diabetes Management

So much of diabetes management happens at home, with the choices we make. Talking about choices can sound a little judgmental, like it’s your fault if you don’t manage your blood sugar levels. We know it’s not easy to skip dessert when everyone around you is eating whatever they want. It’s not easy to prepare healthy meals and get exercise, especially if you’re working and taking care of a family while also living with a chronic illness. It can feel like a personal failure when you don’t manage your diabetes, but managing diabetes is not about willpower. It’s about forming new habits. To form new habits, you have to make doing the right thing easier than doing the wrong thing.

Visualize a Healthy Life

This part may sound silly, but it works. What does a healthy life look like to you? Think about the perfect day, from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. What activities and hobbies are you partaking in? When and what are you eating? What needs to change in order for you to get as close to the ideal day as possible, every day? Life gets in the way and no one will ever be perfectly healthy, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to be as healthy as we realistically can be. Being able to see yourself succeeding is the first step to achieving your goals.

Partner Up

This journey is much easier with support. Team up with a friend or family member also striving to manage their diabetes or some other health condition, or simply someone trying to change their habits. Be there for each other and hold each other accountable.

Make Healthy Eating Easy

We don’t eat unhealthy food because we’re lazy or because we’re bad people. We do it because we’re human beings, and it’s in our nature to seek the path of least resistance. It’s easier to grab a snack from a vending machine or a hot dog from a convenience store than it is to find a restaurant that serves healthy food (and then pay the bill!) or make your own meals. 

If you don’t have someone who loves to cook for you, meal prep is a good solution. Find a healthy meal you don’t mind eating every day and prep a big batch of it on the weekend, then store it in the fridge in single-serving containers that you can bring to work with you or heat up for dinner when you get home. 

For some, the kitchen is their happy place. For others, cooking is the most boring or stressful of chores. Maybe you’re worried about messing something up. Maybe you’re just too tired at the end of the day to spend an hour on your feet in the kitchen. Whatever the reason, do what you can to make the hard parts of cooking easier, whether that’s one-pot meals, simpler recipes, or meals with less prep time. The goal is to make preparing homemade, healthy meals easier than ordering a pizza.

Make Exercise Easy

Just like eating unhealthy food is easier than eating healthy food, not exercising is easier than exercising. Some people feel invigorated by a jog or 30 minutes on an exercise bike. Others can’t think of a more boring way to spend your time. But jogging and the gym aren’t the only ways to exercise. A healthy activity level looks different for everyone. You only need about 30 minutes of moderate exercise, 5 days a week. “Moderate” here is defined as exercise that raises your heart rate by about 50%, or enough to make you breathe harder and sweat.

You don’t have to pick a single routine and stick to it. You should include both aerobic exercise and weight training, but how you get that exercise can vary. Some people love the routine of getting up in the morning and doing 30 minutes of exercise; others will get bored after a week and quit. Know yourself well enough to know which type of person you are and keep your exercise varied and exciting if need be.

Focus on the Long Term

Building a healthy lifestyle is a long-term goal. Weight fluctuates day to day, week to week, so avoid obsessing over the number on the scale and focus more on how you’re feeling: fewer hypo/hyperglycemic episodes, better focus, better mood, more energy, more restful sleep. 

Write It All Down

All of this can be hard to remember and harder to follow through on. If you write it all down and keep it somewhere you won’t forget it, you’re more likely to build lasting habits. It could be as simple as some sticky notes or a whiteboard or bulletin board, or as involved as a spreadsheet or an app on your phone. The method doesn’t matter as long as it’s something that makes sense to you and is convenient for you. 

New Habits Are Hard—But We Can Do It Together

We’re all creatures of habit and routine. If we’re not being intentional about our habits, we tend to fall into doing whatever is easiest. Unfortunately, habits that worsen symptoms of diabetes are often easier than the ones that help manage diabetes. This article covers the basics of building healthy habits, but your care team at Alertive can give you a specific plan: the right portion sizes, the right amount of carbs, the right kind of exercise for your body’s unique needs. Call or contact us below to request an appointment.