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Live With Diabetes

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Part 1: Diabetes Will Change Your Life
(Maybe for the Better)

Finding out you have diabetes and beginning treatment will definitely affect your day-to-day life. Some of the many lifestyle changes you will likely have to make include:

Setting aside time each day for exercise
Changing the way you shop for and prepare food
Changing your eating behavior at home and elsewhere
Remembering to take any diabetes medications as prescribed
Remembering to monitor and record your blood glucose levels

A diagnosis of diabetes is certain to change your day-to-day life, but in large measure, it’s up to you whether that change is good or bad.
The sections that follow have tips to help keep you on track with diet and exercise when you are away from home. Think of them as examples and let them inspire you to come up with solutions for your own personal challenges.

When Meal Timing Is out of Your Control

How do you time your meals when attending social functions where food is a central feature? It’s not as difficult as you might think. For one thing, you can usually get a pretty clear idea ahead of time as to when food will be served. If it’s not spelled out in the invitation, call someone and ask.

If the time of food service coincides with one of your scheduled meals, you may be able to count it as a meal. If it falls at an odd time (midmorning or midafternoon), you may need to eat sparingly at the event (treat it as a snack) and have your regular meal at home before or after the event.

Eating Smart Away From Home

Sticking to your diabetes meal plan can be a challenge at home, especially if you live with others who don’t have diabetes and can eat what they want, when they want. But eating smart when you’re away from home—at a party, in restaurants, or when you travel—presents a whole new set of challenges.

Here are some tips to help you toe the line in different situations.

At a party:

Offer to bring a healthy party-appropriate dish that is consistent with your own diabetes meal plan
Eat healthy before you leave home so you don’t feel like you’re starving when you get there
Drink water or a diet beverage while you’re there; if you are allowed alcohol, alternate with glasses of water or diet soda
Before eating, survey all the foods available so you’ll know all your options
Make the smartest choices you can from what’s available; raw vegetables are standard party fare and a good choice for you, but watch out for the dip (often a hidden source of calories and carbohydrates)
Look for lean meats and try to resist cakes, cookies, and pastries
When you eat, sit down to eat, away from the buffet table, and eat with utensils so you feel like you’re really having a meal
Eat slowly—it takes 15 to 20 minutes for your brain to catch up with your mouth and stomach and tell you you’re full
When you finish the food on your plate, get up and move around; socialize and enjoy the company of other people at the party
Never leave home without your diabetes ID on your wrist or neck—the signs of low blood sugar are easily mistaken for drunkenness

At a restaurant:

Don’t be lured by the bread basket
Look for baked, broiled, grilled, or roasted poultry or seafood, and trim away any visible fat from other meats
Consider a non-meat alternative, like veggie lasagna, a grilled veggie sandwich, or a veggie burger
Avoid fatty condiments like mayonnaise, tartar sauce, and sour cream, or ask for low-fat alternatives
Ask that gravy and creamy or cheesy sauces be omitted or served on the side so you control how much goes on your food
Many fast-food restaurants now have brochures of nutritional facts for their menus; if you don’t see one, ask
Make healthy substitutions—for example, ask for a side salad instead of French fries
Ask your waiter about the ingredients in unfamiliar dishes
Eat slowly and remember—you don’t have to eat everything on your plate; ask for a take-home container early and put one-half of your meal in it immediately to remove temptation
If the restaurant is buffet style, use a small plate, and load up on vegetables and other healthy choices

Visit the American Diabetes Association’s Web site for more tips on dining out and eating healthier foods.

When traveling:
When it comes to maintaining your meal plan on the road, air travel may present the greatest challenge. Long delays are common in air travel today, and many flights no longer serve meals. You will need to take special care to keep your meal plan balanced.

Never get on a plane without taking some food with you. Consider a well-wrapped, air-tight package of crackers and cheese or peanut butter. Throw in some fruit, a bottle of juice, and hard candies or glucose tablets in case of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Also be sure to drink plenty of fluids.

Estimating Portion Sizes

To effectively control your intake of calories and carbohydrates, you need to know how to read a food label. But you’ll probably need to retrain yourself on standard portion or serving size. Food label values are calculated on the basis of standard serving size.

Below are some handy visual cues for estimating portion sizes. You should also review the nutrition section of the American Diabetes Association’s Web site.

View PDF: Derived from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.

Getting Your Exercise When Traveling Or On Vacation

If you’re concerned about maintaining your daily level of physical activity when you travel, there are several things you can do.

Make Sure You Get Enough Exercise
If you will be staying in a hotel or motel, there’s a pretty good chance it will have a small gym, work-out facility, and perhaps even a swimming pool. Call ahead or go online to confirm what facilities are available. Some hotels and motels have agreements with local spas and fitness clubs that offer temporary memberships.

Use your problem-solving skills to think of ways to maintain your normal therapeutic level of physical activity when you’re out of town on business or vacation:

If your hotel is in a city, you may be able to fulfill your daily walking requirement simply by strolling around downtown
Walk to nearby parks or museums
If you are visiting friends or family, walk around their neighborhood or take some laps inside a local shopping mall
Exercise in your hotel or motel room

Make Sure You Don’t Get Too Much Exercise
Whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, it’s a good idea to wear a pedometer. On vacations, especially, you may find that you are walking more in the course of a day and expending more energy than you normally do at home.

You don’t want to accidentally trigger an episode of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) by exercising more than you do at home and failing to compensate with an increased intake of carbohydrates.

Talk to a Member of Your Care Team Before You Leave
Depending on your general state of health and degree of diabetes control, there may be other travel-related issues for you to consider:

Will you be crossing time zones? If so, will that affect your medication schedule?
Do you manage your diabetes with injectable drugs? Are there any special considerations regarding airport security and what you can have in your carry-on luggage?
Do you have enough of your medications to tide you over in case of a long delay?
What happens if you lose your medications? Do you have a prescription that can be refilled in another state or town? Will you be traveling outside the country?

Consult your care team. Tell them where you’re going, what you’ll be doing, and how long you’ll be gone. Ask for their help in planning a diabetes-safe journey.

Next: Part 2: Be prepared for low blood sugar