9 EXCELLENT WAYS TO CONTROL YOUR BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS

9 Best Ways to Control Blood Sugar Levels for a Healthy Lifestyle

High blood sugar level is linked with diabetes, a serious and progressive disease. Follow our list of 9 simple tips to control blood sugar levels.

High blood sugar levels or hyperglycemia happens when your body fails to either make sufficient insulin (a hormone that helps regulate blood glucose) or use it (insulin) efficiently. It is, therefore, important to control blood sugar levels from rising and keeping sugar in the normal range. High sugar symptoms can lead to serious health issues, including vision loss and kidney and heart-related diseases.

If you have diabetes, or your goal is to maintain sugar in the normal range, here is a simple list of 9 tips you must start following right away to control blood sugar levels. 

1. Start exercising and stick to it

If you do not exercise or perform physical activity, start now! Apart from keeping your weight in check, exercising increases insulin sensitivity, enabling the cells to use the sugar present in your bloodstream more efficiently. This leads to reaching a normal blood sugar level and controlling blood sugar levels simultaneously. To exercise, you do not have to join a gym. You can start with brisk walking, jogging, running, biking, swimming, or simply dancing. Whatever you choose, plan and set a goal for yourself to achieve a normal sugar level. Remember to switch activities from time to time, so you don't get bored.

2. Watch what you eat

You can enjoy a host of healthy foods and still beat diabetes! All you need to do is eat balanced meals to maintain a normal sugar level. You must eat more broccoli, cucumber, tomato, carrot, beans, citrus fruits, berries, nuts, sweet potatoes, tofu, and whole grains (brown rice, millet, quinoa, whole wheat, and oatmeal). If you love eating non-vegetarian foods, switch to lean meat and eat more poultry or fish. The general idea is to consume less processed food to control blood sugar levels.

3. Cut down on your carb intake

Carbohydrates are one of the main culprits that cause normal blood sugar levels to fluctuate. The human body breaks down carbohydrates into sugar and glucose, and insulin stores them for energy. When you consume more carbs later, this process fails, leading to a massive increase in blood glucose levels. Therefore, limiting your carb intake is one of the important steps in controlling your blood sugar levels.

According to CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (a United States federal agency), a diabetic person must limit his or her carb intake to 200 to 225 grams per day to beat high sugar symptoms. 

Lastly, you must note that carbs are not only found in foods such as potato, pasta, or bread but also certain fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. Therefore, exercise a lot of caution while planning your meals to effectively control blood sugar levels.

4. Control portions, eat in moderation

While portion control helps check calorie intake, it also ensures a normal sugar range which further aids in achieving a moderate weight. Weight management is important for a diabetic patient and an important aspect of controlled blood sugar levels.

Try these hacks to manage portion sizes:

- Use smaller dishes (plates) to eat

- Maintain a food journal

- Weigh your food portions

- Read food labels and follow serving sizes

- Eat slowly, chew your food well

 5. Beat stress

Beware! If you are trying to control blood sugar levels, stress can spike your blood glucose level and hamper your insulin hormones by making you less sensitive to insulin. Stress also makes your body secrete hormones such as glucagon and cortisol that raise blood sugar levels. Moreover, stressful situations force you into the ‘fight or flight' response, causing you to consume more fat and sugar to feel energised.

To reduce stress, you must adopt activities such as exercise, meditation, or yoga. You can also seek help from support groups or opt for therapy or counselling.

6. Keep a tab on your blood sugar levels

Sugar test machines, like a glucometer or continuous glucose monitor (CGM), have made monitoring blood glucose levels easy.

While all these devices work pretty much alike, you must follow the instructions mentioned in the booklet that comes with a blood sugar metre. However, in general, you need to follow these steps to check your blood glucose levels using sugar test machines: 

- Wash your hands thoroughly and dry them well.

- Insert a test strip into the metre.

- Gently prick your fingertip with the lancet (needle).

- Once a drop of blood oozes out, let it touch the test strip and hold it for a few seconds.

- The testing machine will soon display the blood glucose level on the screen.

These machines and handy devices help track both low sugar symptoms and high sugar symptoms and allow you to adjust meals or medications as required when controlling blood sugar levels. All this is highly beneficial to control blood sugar levels. One must use these sugar test machines at regular intervals and record the reports or numbers in a notebook. 

7. Stay hydrated

The simplest thing you can do to maintain a normal blood sugar level and control blood sugar levels is drinking a lot of water. The point is that while water will prevent dehydration, it will also flush out excess glucose or sugar from the body (through urine). While good water intake lowers the sugar level in the body, it also helps rehydrate the blood.
An important point here is you must steer away from caloric beverages to stay hydrated. Fizzy drinks will result in your blood glucose levels shooting and put you at risk for diabetes!

8. Quit smoking and drinking 

Get rid of smoking and drinking if you want to keep high sugar symptoms at bay and control your blood sugar level. These vices are known to cause serious health hazards and increase complications from diabetes. Smoking alone can lead to:

•  Heart and kidney-related diseases
• Retinopathy (an eye condition that can cause blindness)
• Severe nerve damage

On the other hand, if you take oral medicine for diabetes or are on insulin, drinking alcohol can drop your normal blood sugar level to dangerous levels. Drunkenness can further cause disorientation, dizziness, and overeating.

Therefore, it is imperative to cut back on smoking and consuming hard drinks to maintain a normal blood sugar level or simply control blood sugar levels.

9. Get adequate sleep

Do you know that lack of sleep (both quality and quantity) puts you at risk of type 2 diabetes? Not getting adequate sleep and a lack of rest affects insulin sensitivity. Furthermore, sleep deprivation can disturb metabolic hormones, and the condition is linked with obesity, stroke, and other heart diseases.

If you have trouble sleeping well, follow these tips for good quality rest and to ensure better control of blood sugar levels: 

- Sleep in a dark and cool room.

- Do not consume alcohol, tea, or coffee before bedtime.

- Keep a fixed time of going to bed and waking up each day.

- Shut all your devices (TV, cell phone, tablets, computers) at least half an hour before sleeping.

Now that you have a list of 9 easily doable steps to control your blood sugar level, ensure that you talk to your doctor before making any significant lifestyle changes.

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