page11selfmanagement

Testing.
Testing is a MUST.
What is testing? It a simple finger stick. A poke of the side of the finger to obtain a drop of blood. This little drop of blood placed on a strip is read by a computerized hand held unit to tell you how much glucose is in your blood. Your blood tells on you. Its a lie detector to your doctor and to yourself. If you have cheated or eaten something that you didnt write down in your books, it will tell inyour elevated glucose levels. These glucose levels are what causes complications. Self testing is important, because it tells immediately how well your diet is doing. If your elevated, and you go for further education, you can learn to adjiust your diet and your medication to bring you back within normal parameters. Every diabetic tries to schieve normalcy. What is normal blood glucose levels. Look below to see. what they should be.
Whole Blood or Plasma?Different glucometers give different readings. Most whole blood units record saturation thru chemical reaction to give a color saturation change on the strip. Depending on the color the meter reads the glucose parts.
In Plasma, which is considered akin to a laboratory test, an electrical chemical reaction occurs. An electrical charge is sent thru two small diode ends on the strip and react to the glucose on the strip. The problem with this is often you will get higher readings because of electrically similar elements in the blood. such as iron, copper, magnesium etc. Most companies have tried to eleminate that possibility. But physics is physics. and often they are included in the reading. But thats why the Plasma charts are higher but balance out.
The only unit thats plasma that rules out these elemnts is the INCHARGE SYSTEM. It reads plasma thru chemical reaction, ruling out other elements and chemicals and medication false readings. It also provide a once a week Gluco-Protein test.

Exercise
Exercise is a major consideration in diabetic self management Why exercise you may ask? Well its two fold. Exercise does a few things to the body. It speeds up circulation. So your arteries and cardivascular system, which could be n danger is cleaned and ketpt in good shape. By exercising you also burn glucose from the body. The muscles need glucose as the energy source. So as you sweat and move, the body actualy converts the glucose to useable energy and burns it out. It also stimulates the organs to excrete energy converting enzymes. So the body burns more of hwta it has in excess. It tones muscles and tendons and builds bone growth as well. The rule 30 minutes 3 times a week.

Restaurant Eating and Diary Keeping.
Why have we put these two together. It simple. When you eat away from home, you need to write down exactly what you have eaten to get an accurate carbohydarte count. Foir every 15 grams of carbohydrate you will elevate between 30 and 45 points on your glucose monitor
So its a good idea to keep a small notebook handy. Even in everyday useage a food diary will show here you may misconstrue how much and what carbs you eaten. It's also a good way to see how the carbohydrates you eat affect you.
A diabetic should test before each meal, and in some cases they should test 2 hours after eating. But many do not even want to test three times a day. By keeping a food diary you can log on the page your glucose reading, and what you have eaten.
Restaurants :Restaurant eating is tricky. Many fast food places like McDonalds and Burger King have buns, and often these buns can be as high as 45 grams (3 carbohydrate choices). Some little items can be as high as 60. Like a small fry.
True restaurants like Cracker Barrel, Perkins, Shoneys, Ponderosa, use standarized measurings. Every measure of gravy, ladel of soup is a standard measure and falls in the RDA portion size. So that humongus plate of food before you in most sit down restaurants IS MEASURED AND ALLOWED!