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Five Little Mistakes Everyone Makes

Managing diabetes is quite the juggling act. Between your treatments, your busy schedule and your blood glucose measurements, it’s normal to sometimes run out of time or forget a few details. So don’t beat yourself up if you make one of the small mistakes listed below. Of course, if you can avoid them, all the better!

1- Skipping breakfast. After a night of sleep, your blood sugar level is usually higher, and your body needs fuel. Plan quick and healthy meal options for chaotic mornings: oatmeal, fruits and whole grain cereals, for example.

2- Guessing the carbs. By now, you’re pretty much a master of counting carbs, right? Well, intuition is fine, but you’re always better off reading the labels and measuring your servings.

3- Not washing your hands before a blood glucose test. If, for example, you happen to have traces of fruit on your fingers, the blood glucose meter could produce far too high readings. Also, make sure you dry off your hands properly; excess water could dilute your sample and skew the results.

4- Automatically rewarding yourself with food. So you spent a lot of energy at the gym; it’s OK to spoil yourself afterwards, right? Sure! It’s absolutely fine once in a while. Don’t do it too often, though—you wouldn’t want to cancel out all your efforts.

5- Keeping quiet. You’re at the doctor and you still have questions, but you don’t ask them for fear of being annoying. Or you completely forget to ask. If this is something that happens to you, make a list of the things you want to discuss beforehand. Your health is the kind of thing that’s really important to discuss when you can, especially considering how difficult it can be to get a medical appointment.


The point is not to become a model of perfection, which is impossible anyway. Rather, it’s all about building better daily habits, and that’s a net win for you!

References:
American Diabetes Association, “10 Ways to Master Your Blood Glucose Meter”: https://www.diabetes.org/healthy-living. Accessed January 19, 2015.
American Diabetes Association, “Mistakes Happen”: https://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/parents-and-kids/family-communication/mistakes-happen.html. Accessed January 19, 2015.
Diabetic Living, “The Dangers of Skipping Meals When You Have Diabetes”: https://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/food-to-eat/nutrition/dangers-skipping-meals-when-you-have-diabetes. Accessed January 19, 2015.
Everyday Health, “Guide to Type 2 Diabetes and Insulin”: https://www.everydayhealth.com/hs/type-2-diabetes-treatment-diet-exercise/diabetes-breakfast-mistakes/. Accessed January 19, 2015.
Roche, “10 (Totally Forgivable) Mistakes Everyone Makes”: https://www.accu-chek.com/life-with-diabetes/diabetes-basics?utm_campaign=Diabetes_Link&utm_medium=Inactive_URL&utm_content=accu-chekdiabeteslink.com&utm_source=Inactive_URL. Accessed January 19, 2015.

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