Diabetes Awareness Month: Sustaining Optimal Health

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, a time for discussing diabetes management, encouraging people with diabetes (PWD) to obtain and maintain optimal health, and providing them and their loved ones with local and national resources. In addition, November means the year is coming to an end. Here are some important concepts to help you achieve and sustain optimal health with a diabetes diagnosis.

Becoming a student of your health puts you in the driver's seat. You increase your chances of adopting creative, flexible, and consistent positive health behaviors. In addition, when you become a student of your health:

1. You realize that you have a responsibility to yourself. So eating healthy, consistent physical activity, and a balance between activity and rest is what you aim for, even if you don't meet your goals every day.
2. You seek accurate, relevant, and timely information.
3. You ask questions and seek the answers you need.
4. You seek second opinions or the right team to help you achieve the desired health.
5. You provide detailed and timely information to your healthcare providers because you know the more they know, the better care you receive.
6. You seek like-minded individuals (classes, friends, and support groups) to support you throughout your journey with diabetes.
7. You seek to learn instead of blaming yourself or others. Like all experiences, diabetes self-management is a journey, so you forgive yourself when you don't meet your goals.

Glucose Meters for Diabetes Management

Your blood sugars change constantly. Knowing your blood sugars before doing activities, including eating, is important. Check your insurance coverage to find out what your out of pocket cost is for the equipment you need. Then see if Diathrive will cost you less. You can get as many test strips as you want without the limits that insurance companies normally place on how many test strips they will cover.

If getting the equipment you need through your insurance plan costs less, make sure to have enough test strips on hand so you can find out what your blood sugar is doing anytime.

Even if you use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) it is important to keep a meter and some test strips on hand to calibrate, check your CGM accuracy, or in case your CGM randomly fails on you.

Healthy Mindset for Diabetes Management

How you feel about yourself is crucial to how you care about your body. It's important to identify perceived barriers getting in the way of you caring for yourself. Journaling helps you identify your emotions and feelings. Discussing your concerns with your healthcare provider may help you find the necessary resources.

Right Team for Diabetes Management

You must know that you deserve the best care. The right team will:

• Listen to you.
• Encourage you to perform healthy behaviors such as checking your blood sugar regularly.
• Communicate routinely (accurate, relevant, and timely information) with you and other team members.
• Provide resources to help you achieve optimal health.
• Order appropriate procedures and tests as needed.

Quality Resources for Diabetes Management

One can always obtain information, but ensuring accurate, timely, and relevant information is important. Here are some of the general resources I use and share with PWD.

• American Diabetes Association
• Healthline
• John Hopkins
• Mayo Clinic
• National Institutes of Health

Meal Planning for Diabetes Management

Meal planning has changed throughout the years. What may work for one doesn't always work for another. PWD have different desires, cultures, genetic makeups, religions, lifestyles, responsibilities, and other unique characteristics. This variety lets you put a creative spin on achieving optimal health with meal planning.

Here are some of my favorite resources to help PWD with meal planning.

• Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
• Mayo Clinic
• Centers for Disease and Control
• American Diabetes Association

Holiday seasons can serve as a challenging opportunity for many PWD. The key is remembering balance, moderation, and variety. Include fruit and vegetable side dishes or trays. Incorporate healthy ingredient substitutions such as Greek Plain Yogurt instead of Sour Cream and Extra Virgin Olive Oil in your salad, vegetables, or dip. Find some more healthy substitutions here.

Here are other resources to help you plan a creative and healthy Thanksgiving Meal this month.

• Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
• Diabetes Food Hub

To your best health!