HOLD THAT SUGAR DIABETES
HOLD THAT SUGAR
Do you do enough to manage your blood sugar?
Lifestyle modification is what will prevent and control the disease. It’s important to have a healthy diet and complement it with regular exercise and stress management.
EAT RIGHT
Having a healthy diet helps in achieving ideal body weight, normal sugar levels and desirable lipid levels, which in turn helps even prevent diabetes.
An ideal intake should be 500 Kcal/day of which, 55-60 percent should come from carbohydrate. Proteins should provide 10 to 15 percent of the calories and the rest can come from fat. Saturated fats should provide less than 7 percent of total daily calories and cholesterol intake should be less than 300 mg per day.
Eat high-fibre food, salads and fruits, though juices should be avoided. Alcohol if consumed should be in moderation. However, some foods are a total no no – simple sugars (all kinds of sweets), processed food and red meat.
For pregnant women, artificial sweeteners and tobacco in any form must be avoided.
A LITTLE WORKOUT PLAN
Like diets, exercise regimes are also individualized. The best is a stepwise incremental aerobic exercise. A 30-60 minute walk is recommended. Yoga can be useful if done under guidance. However, strenuous exercise must be avoided in patients with heart disease, retinopathy and autonomic neuropathy.
FOOTWEAR
Particularly important to diabetics, a patient should not walk bare foot; wear cotton socks and sneakers.
Toe webs should be kept clean and dry. Cracks in the heels are to be avoided. Toe-nails must be trimmed slightly away from the skin. For any minor foot injuries immediate medical attention is a requisite.
