Living Well With Diabetes – Tips For New Diabetics
Living well with diabetes is essential so that you can avoid the complications that are associated with this terrible disease, there are a number of tips for new diabetics that should be implemented to achieve good health.
When you are first diagnosed with diabetes there are many emotions you will encounter, please understand that these are normal and that you are not alone. Following are some of these emotions:
Denial – when you are first diagnosed you will feel denial; this is normal and is a way that your body copes with the diagnosis. You need to realise that if your denial goes on for a long period of time it can become serious, so you need to talk to your family and friends so that you can get through this feeling of denial
Anxiety – Finding out you have diabetes will make you very anxious which will cause you sleepless nights and this is not good for diabetics, sleep is one of the main aspects of managing diabetes. Try to take time out and relax as much as you can so that you can avoid being anxious
Grief – this feeling is normal as you feel a sense of loss, the loss of a healthy life, knowing that your life has now changed is not easy, make sure that you have support around you
Shock – This is when you will be asking yourself “how can this be happening to me?” They must have got the results wrong. These feelings can last a few hours or days, but you need to realise that these feelings can show up later on down the track as well, please keep an eye on this
Fear – The fear of having a disease that you know nothing about can be very scary
Depression – this is the feeling of sadness and a feeling of being helpless. Depression can be treated and should not be ignored as it can lead to serious outcomes
Living well with diabetes is something that you should aim for and following are some tips for new diabetics that can be helpful:
The most important part of your management plan is to implement a healthy well balanced diet and regular exercise
Make sure that you eat at the same time each day at regular intervals
Drink plenty of water each day
Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables each day
Always choose lean meats
Always choose the low fat variety of all food products
Try to limit your salt intake
Try to limit your alcohol intake
Avoid processed foods at all times
Avoid foods that are high in saturated fats, and
Include the right amount of carbohydrate, proteins and fats in your diet
Living well with diabetes can be achieved when you implement the above tips for new diabetics so that you can achieve optimal health once more.
