You learn something new in dealing with Diabetes every day.

Part 1

Here are a few things I have learnt while I have been away from this blog:

• Exercise is good for a Diabetic or anyone really we could spend so much time doing close to nothing physical every day. 

• Exercising is not always easy for a Diabetic , a Non Diabetic can just decide I am going to exercise , get into exercise gear and go work out. Us as Diabetics need to calculate, plan, calculate again and still sometimes we do not get it right.Here are some scenarios : Decide it is time to do a workout , get dressed into top selling workout gear , find any other equipment you might need (this all seems very regular) time now to test your blood sugar before the workout that you are now fully prepared to take. Here then can come your first curve ball Scenario # 1 too high over 13.9 /250 and they recommend NOT to exercise due to the possibility you might have ketones and then are at risk of Ketoacidosis. Workout on hold. Scenario # 2 Under 5.6/100 and they recommend you need to now go and eat a fast acting 15g carb snack (But I am trying to loose weight here ???) Another step to take before you can start that workout. That is just a few immediate hiccups.

• I love a good formula but be careful this is just a guideline, no two Diabetics are the same so  the formula does not always apply and a lot of tweaking needs to be done to get YOUR formula. These are 2 exercised related formulas I love and am now in the process of tweaking.    

The first one is perhaps your better option it is always better to reduce the insulin rather than to feed the insulin. I have this printed out and stuck to the the cover of my iPad along with my carb ratio for the different meals of the day.

• I have also found that it helps a lot to log your readings and other Diabetes related information, but to find a good App is next to impossible that was of course until recently. In the US they have just bought out a product called One Drop this is a subscription service for a meter and unlimited test strips. How does this help me in South Africa? They have also bought out an App that is so amazingly cute and functional all in one. There was some issues with Android (I believe the dev. team is working on it.)but I loved it so much that I now carry my iPad around for logging stuff . So do yourself a favor and load the One Drop App this valentines day you can set your goals and it even has some nice hearts that show your progress. I have a bit of a fear of failure issue but as my dear husband pointed out to me this app can easily be a case of "Bull S**t In Bull S**t out" so in other words log every reading good or bad this can help in so many ways - You see a trend of highs and you start analyzing am I stressed , could I be getting sick, am I eating badly. Someone said recently that there are studies that show people that log their readings even if they aren't really doing anything with the info they subconsciously start making some form of change to achieve better readings.  

       

  There is tons more I have learnt recently so I will make this a 2 part post so don't forget to stay linked.

In closing it will soon be Valentines day and I want to share a link to a Diabetes Daily article called 5 great Valentines Day Gifts for people with Diabetes. I really like the 4th idea. This costs no money but would be a great and supporting way of showing your love for your PWD.

5 Great Valentines Day Gifts for people with Diabetes.

Have a Love filled February.

Kim