What you eat, when you eat it, and how much you eat, all affect your blood glucose - whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Blood glucose is the main sugar found in the blood, and is the body's main source of energy.
If you have diabetes, and you eat too much, or if you don't take the right amount of diabetes medicine, your blood glucose can go too high. When this happens, you can get sick.
If your blood glucose stays high for too long (hyperglycemia), you can get heart, eye, foot, kidney, or other problems. Blood glucose that gets too low (hypoglycemia) - which can also be caused by not taking the right amount of diabetes medicine - can also cause diabetes-related problems.
Keeping your blood glucose at a healthy level will prevent or slow down diabetes problems. Your health care provider can tell you what a healthy blood glucose level is for you, and how often you should check your blood glucose. The results from these checks will tell you if your diabetes care plan is working. Also ask your provider for an A1C test at least twice a year. This test tells you your average blood glucose for the past three months and is considered even more reliable than regular blood glucose testing.
To keep your blood glucose at a healthy level, try to do things at the same time every day. Eat about the same amount of food each day, and eat your meals and snacks at about the same times each day. Do not skip meals or snacks. Also, take your medicines at the same times each day, and exercise at about the same times. The reason you should eat about the same amount at the same times each day is that your blood glucose goes up after you eat. So if you eat a big lunch one day and a small lunch the next day, your blood glucose levels will change too much.
You can also help keep your blood glucose at a healthy level by eating about the same amount of carbohydrate foods at about the same times each day. Carbohydrate foods, also called carbs, provide glucose for energy. Starches, fruits, milk, starchy vegetables such as corn, and sweets are all carbohydrate foods. Talk with your health care provider about how many meals and snacks to eat each day.
