Life with diabetes is pretty basic—you take your medications, try to eat healthy and stay physically active. That is all there is to it, right? Not really. Doing all these things day after day is not easy. They can be time-consuming and difficult. And there is the emotional side of having diabetes to deal with as well. Habits develop because people tend to repeat things that feel good. This would not be so bad if everything that felt good was healthy. But too often, this is not the case. For instance, sitting on the couch with a bowl of chips and a soda watching hours of television is not going to help you lose weight. The challenge for someone with diabetes is not only to change unhealthy behaviors, but to manage his or her new healthy behaviors long enough to make them long-term natural habits.
It is easy to become frustrated when you know what you are supposed to do and why you are supposed to do it, but you just cannot seem to make it happen. While fear can be a motivating factor to make a change, it usually does not help sustain that change. The result could be negative feelings about having diabetes, which get in the way of efforts to improve your health habits. So how can you make lifestyle changes that will stick?
Steps to changing habits.
- Change must not only make sense, it must be worth the effort. To begin, take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Think of one habit you would like to change, then make a list of the reasons it would be good for you to change in one column. In the other column, make a list of the reasons why you do not want to make the change. Then compare the two columns. Identify which parts of the new behavior might replace the old behavior. For example, if lying on the couch and watching TV is relaxing now, maybe a new behavior of walking around the block will have the same effect. The goal here is to find new healthy ways of meeting your needs. Keep working on your lists until you have more reasons to change than reasons to stay the same. Another way to get ideas is to talk with others who have made changes themselves. Support groups, behavior change groups or health care providers can help with ideas and the motivation you may need to stay on track.
- Develop a simple plan. Your plan will help you know exactly what you will be doing, when and with whom you will be doing it. Do not overlook this step. It is very important to have a clear idea of what your next step is and how you will accomplish it.
- Start the process of change. Most people try to make changes without doing the preliminary work of making a plan and getting support from others. The result often is frustration and giving up on the new behaviors you have started. After you have your plan in place, set a start date, ask your family and friends for support, and maintain a positive attitude. Keep in mind that after you start making changes, you will want to have a plan to keep it up, which brings us to the last step in the process.
- Keeping it up. Try to stay focused; engage a friend or a support group to help you along. In times of change, it is not unusual to go back to old habits. This is the time when having a plan to stay strong is critical. Everyone struggles with maintaining new habits, so if you take three steps forward only to slide back one or two, understand it is not failure; it is just a bump in the road to making lasting changes. The key is not to give up and to try again when you are ready.
How to make and maintain change:
- Make a list of good things about change, and add to it as you think of additional reasons.
- Make a list of why it is hard to give up the old behavior, and try to find a solution.
- Attend a support group or get some professional help from a diabetes educator or mental health professional to see the positive aspects of change.
- Make a clear, simple plan to follow, and do not try to change too much at once.
- Set a start date and stick to it.
- Have a plan to deal with the temptation to go back to your old habits.
- Celebrate success, throw yourself a party or reward yourself with a non-food item when you achieve a goal.
- Realize that if you return to old behaviors, you are human and have not failed.
- Do not give up. Try again!
GIVE UP THE GUILT
Does the way you take care of your diabetes sometimes cause you to feel guilty? If so, you are not alone, even though you might feel like you are. Taking care of diabetes every day requires you to do a lot and, perhaps, change many behaviors. Do not let anyone tell you this is easy. Living with diabetes is difficult, especially when you know you need to do it for the rest of your life.
In diabetes care, even if you do everything right, your blood glucose levels will not be perfect all the time. While the treatments available today are better than ever, they will not keep your blood glucose in the normal range at all times. Yet perfect control is not necessary to prevent diabetes complications. The goal of diabetes control is to manage your diabetes well enough to keep your blood glucose in your target ranges as much as possible. Do not expect perfection from yourself, and do not beat yourself up if you veer off course. Accept that this will happen and know that the quicker you can get back on track, the better off you will be.
Think of how you care for your diabetes as your choice; it is not up to your health care provider, dietitian, educator or family members. You are the one who is helped or harmed by the decisions you make. Instead of calling it cheating, call your actions choices. You have both the right and responsibility to make those choices. However, you also have to take responsibility for the consequences. Feeling guilty is not helpful. It usually just makes you feel bad, which can make it harder to take care of yourself.
The next time you feel guilty about your actions ask yourself these questions:
- Why did I make the decision I did?
- Did I do what I really wanted to do?
- Would I make the same choice again? If not, what might I do differently next time to avoid the situation or handle it in another way?
You may decide that you made the right choice for you, even though others might not agree. You may decide that the outcome of your choice was not really worth the cost and decide to do things differently next time. Remember, any time you learn something about yourself, it is a positive experience. And you can use that experience to make better decisions in the future.
