The 5 Diabetes Basics That You Might Be Overlooking

Back to Basics 

As a new physician assistant student, the first thing we want to do is treat the patient. In a matter of seconds we’re already running through the different medications and fancy procedures we want to use. It never fails that as soon as we blurt them out, our instructors remind us, “Check your ABCs first!” What they mean is check that your patient has a clear airway and is breathing—DUH, of course we need to check our ABCs before we can get to the fancy treatments. So as I was sitting in class one day, having just blurted out a treatment, I realized that I too always jump to what I am going to do to ‘fix’ my diabetes when I’m going through a rough patch. And just like that, it hit me— check your ABCs Taylor! Now while we don’t have a fancy acronym as a reminder for what were supposed to do, I took the liberty of putting together what I think are Diabetes basics—something to turn to every time we fall off the wagon or are recovering from a carb-full weekend. 

1. Pick up that meter and check your shoogs 

Simple I know, but something very easy to forget. A lot of the times, especially after a fun weekend, we just don’t want to see the number pop up on that screen, so what do we do? We just avoid testing altogether. Don’t get me wrong I’ve done it, you’ve done it, we’ve ALL done it. But rather than focusing on what we’ve done or beating ourselves up about it, we want to shift the focus back to checking regularly. And who knows, maybe we start with 1 check per day and work up to the goal we’ve set ourselves. Getting back to basics also means easing back into habits. Don’t worry about the past, don’t worry about how many times you used to check, just worry about getting to your new goal each day. Plus once you start to follow the other basics, you might be happily surprised with your results and more inclined to check. 

2. Check your plate 

Don’t worry, there will be plenty of nutrition blogs to come, so I won’t go into too much detail here. That being said, remembering our basics around our plates can be extremely helpful to get ourselves more in line with where we’d like to be. To start, put more veggies on that plate or in our snacks—most veggies are low carb anyways, plus as we all know, jammed pack full of vitamins and minerals. It’s like killing two birds with one stone, avoiding spikes in blood sugars while also replenishing our body and giving it what it needs. When it come to carbs, well we could spend hours on that subject alone, but remember to try to keep your grams of carbs consistent. For example, if you had 30g yesterday morning, try to match that on the following morning. (Please keep in mind everyone has their specific diet plans with their medical team, so please refer to that—that statement is not taken to mean that everyone should eat 30g of carbs).

Everyone should have their own regimen, and we are so fortunate to be in a time where diabetes management is thriving. Whether we have new technology that allows us to tailor our insulin:carb ratios or have mastered the art of MDIs, we can be more flexible in our carb spending—more so now than ever before. But as much as we can manipulate our regimens, I can’t stress enough how important it is to keep consistency. Your body will get used to those consistent amounts to help you achieve better control. Lastly, not all carbs are created equal — be sure to include whole grains on your plate. These provide a lot of fiber which helps to sloooooow down the digestion of your carbs, which prevents a huge spike in blood sugars. Some of those foods include oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat bread, waffles, and tortillas. YUM! 

3. Check your glass 

Now I know as diabetics we love every single new sugar free drink that comes out. From Coke Zero to Ice to La Croix drinks — we are so excited to be like everyone else and drink tasty sweet drinks. Unfortunately a lot of those products, often made with ‘fake sugars’, can actually trigger us to crave sweet foods even more than we already do. Which at first is no big deal, but if we continue to drink these, our body craves more and eventually wants even sweeter foods. I hate to state the obvious, but as diabetics, we just can’t take that risk. So while it is basic, water is essential not only to health, but especially for us as diabetics! Of course, every once in awhile treat yourself and have a delicious drink, but just because it's sugarless doesn’t always mean it's harmless. 

4. Keep it moving 

Did you know that exercise helps to achieve better blood sugars? Fun fact, the opening the glucose passes through to get into cells is expressed more once we start exercising. You can take that to your next trivia night! But all kidding aside exercise is really beneficial and not only for sugar and diabetes control, but for all the other great parts of your body too. I know exercise can be daunting, especially when starting out, but again we’re sticking to basics. Moderate intensity, aerobic exercise can be extremely effective for controlling blood sugars. Translation: walking at a medium pace so that your body is still using glucose for its main energy source is super helpful for people with diabetes. 

I know that sounds like a wikipedia search result, but the truth is walking is so beneficial for our sugars. Walking 45 minutes – 1 hour can drastically drop us and bring us into target range. That doesn’t mean go out and run a marathon or even go out and speed walk for 45 minutes. Start with 20 minutes and gradually increase the minutes each time you go out. It will seem slow, but I guarantee you if you go as hard as you can, by the first week you will be over it. With time you will learn new techniques and exercises to help reach your ultimate fitness goal. For now, keep it small and work up to it. 

5. Rely on your support system 

Sometimes we avoid talking about diabetes with the ones we love because we’re afraid they won’t understand or will make a generalized statement that really doesn’t apply to what we’re going through. But they are there to help you and be there for you, as long as you are vocal about what you need from them. A simple  “Hey, I need someone to walk with tonight, would you come with me?” Or “Hey let’s have a competition to see who can eat the most veggies in a week.” It seems silly but it’s takes a lot of the seriousness out of diabetes and allows your loved one to be there for you in the way you need. If that isn’t your style, never underestimate the support you have from the community—whether that’s diabetes influencers on IG or your real life diabestie. These are the best people to have because they actually know what life with diabetes is like. And if that really isn’t your style don’t forget about the various diabetes journals, podcasts, and health programs that are out there. There is an abundance of tools available to help you be successful in managing your diabetes and sometimes we really do have to try it all. 

So those are my 5 tips for grounding yourself and getting back on track with diabetes. It is totally exhausting but believe me, all the good things you do for your body really do pay off. Short term it may not feel like it, but long term it really does. Keep in mind, you don’t have to start by doing all of these, nor do you have to do them perfectly but they’re just to help get started. Above all keep grinding and remember it will get easier, we just have to get started. 

Let me know in the comments below what you do to help yourself get back to basics after a long slump with diabetes. I am always looking to learn new tricks and tips in this wonderful world we call diabetes.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy month!

—Taylor 

Taylor Gann is a first year physician assistant (PA) student in the first cohort with Cal State University Monterey Bay. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2010 and has been living healthy with diabetes for the last 9 years—she is a proud pumper. Taylor’s background is in Nutrition Science, where she earned her degree from Cal Poly Pomona in 2015. Before starting PA school, she worked as a health educator in the WIC department and in primary care offices. In 2016 she created the Pediatric Wellness Program for Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula (CHOMP) and Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital (SVMH), a nutrition and lifestyle program designed for young children at risk for developing type 2 diabetes throughout Monterey county. She looks forward to practicing preventative medicine in her community, especially educating about the importance of lifestyle habits related to disease management.