Top 10 Most Helpful Tips for Diabetes Patients

1. Pay Attention to a Scientific Diet

A suitable diet helps patients control blood sugar levels, manage weight, and avoid the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and high cholesterol. When the body consumes too many calories, especially carbohydrates and fats, blood sugar levels increase, potentially damaging nerves, kidneys, and the heart. Therefore, doctors always advise diabetes patients to maintain stable blood sugar levels by establishing a proper diet, choosing healthy foods, and monitoring daily eating habits.

Diabetes patients need to have a scientific and reasonable diet to limit high blood sugar levels and prevent complications caused by this condition. Patients need to follow a diet, eat foods high in fiber such as oatmeal, noodles, and vermicelli to stabilize blood sugar levels. They should eat plenty of green vegetables, have multiple meals a day, avoid overeating in one meal, and avoid hunger. Patients should limit their salt intake. Minimize eating fast food, greasy foods, and processed foods. When cooking, food should be thoroughly cooked, and alcohol and sugary drinks should be limited. It's especially important to eat plenty of fresh fruits like guava and grapefruit, which are very beneficial for patients.

2. Maintain Personal Hygiene

People with diabetes are at higher risk of mouth problems, such as gum disease, fungal infections, and dry mouth. That's why oral care is crucial. When caring for diabetic patients, remind them to brush their teeth with a soft-bristled brush after each main meal and use dental floss at least once a day. Diabetic patients are prone to losing sensation in their feet, so they may not recognize pain or swelling. If toenails are not regularly trimmed, it can lead to inflammation and other issues.

In addition, diabetic patients should not go barefoot even indoors. Provide them with soft fabric shoes/slippers with good cushioned soles. The footwear should cover all toes. If wearing socks, they should not be too tight to avoid restricting blood flow to the feet. Daily care for diabetic patients requires patience, regular observation, reminders, and sensitivity to recognize when they need assistance. However, adhering to these principles regularly enough to form habits will make you and your loved ones no longer feel this is burdensome. Let's aim to help loved ones achieve good blood sugar control with HbA1c < 7% and enjoy a good quality of life like normal people.

3. Prepare Mentally to Face the Illness

Diabetes mellitus, also known as diabetes, is a heterogeneous metabolic disorder characterized by increased blood sugar levels in the body. The cause is often unstable insulin levels in the body (which can be deficient or even excessive). If you can control your blood sugar levels and monitor them regularly when you have diabetes, then your blood sugar levels are certainly within a safe range, almost like a normal person's.

You must understand that diabetes is a chronic and extremely dangerous disease. Therefore, when there are signs of the disease or you have already contracted it, you need to pay attention to it, not neglect or ignore it. This disease requires patients to mentally prepare to live with it, to change previous habits such as eating too much sweets, drinking too much alcohol, and not eating too much at once. You must prepare mentally well to live with the disease; if you are complacent, this disease can take your life at any time.

4. Regularly Monitor Blood Sugar Levels

Regularly checking blood sugar levels has a significant impact on patients with this condition. Monitoring blood sugar levels helps patients know if the medications they are taking are effective, if the foods they eat are suitable for the condition, if their blood sugar levels are rising, and if their physical activity is appropriate. Monitoring blood sugar levels frequently is one of the key factors in successfully managing diabetes. Clinical signs of elevated blood sugar levels are often few or vague, especially in patients with type 2 diabetes, so frequent monitoring of blood glucose levels is the only way to detect times of elevated blood sugar.

Likewise, lowering blood sugar levels is similar. In long-term diabetic patients, warning signs are also faint, and only frequent monitoring of blood glucose levels helps detect early signs of low blood sugar. Additionally, diabetic patients should strive to maintain blood sugar levels as close to normal as possible, and without monitoring blood sugar levels, this goal cannot be achieved. Regular blood sugar monitoring, daily, and immediate adjustment of diet and medication if blood sugar results are abnormal, before patients show clinical signs, is the optimal approach to success.

5. Engage in Regular Physical Exercise

Regular exercise helps reduce blood sugar levels and improve the body's ability to use glucose. It enhances insulin action, reduces the necessary insulin dosage, decreases the risk of heart disease by lowering bad cholesterol (LDL) and increasing good cholesterol (HDL). It improves blood pressure when high blood pressure is mild to moderate, enhances the efficiency of the heart, lungs, and circulatory system both at rest and during activity. It enhances oxygen transport, increases body flexibility and endurance, maintains and enhances joint flexibility, helping you stay flexible and maintain good balance. It helps control body weight by burning excess energy (stored in fat cells), thereby aiding in weight loss or maintaining body weight.

Regular exercise for people with diabetes helps alleviate daily stress. Through exercise, you'll have more energy, feel more relaxed, and experience less fatigue. Recent studies have also shown that regular exercise plays a significant role in treating and preventing diabetes complications. Additionally, physical activity contributes significantly to the prevention of type 2 diabetes. According to the Diabetes Prevention Program in the United States, combining a healthy diet and moderate physical activity to reduce body weight by 5-7% can delay the onset and prevent type 2 diabetes.

Doctors understand the issues that diabetes patients face and help limit the dangers of the disease you're dealing with. When you're ill, it's important to see a doctor to check your condition, take medication as prescribed by the doctor, and pay attention to regular check-ups to know your current status. Especially with medication, you need to strictly adhere to the doctor's instructions. When using a certain type of medication, consult your doctor before using it because some diabetes medications are not suitable for use.

A common mistake that many diabetes patients make today is believing that Western medicine cannot treat the root cause of the disease and has many side effects. Therefore, they tend to abandon Western medicine and switch to alternative methods such as herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, or even unverified oral remedies. This worsens the condition, leading to dangerous complications such as eye, kidney, cardiovascular complications, foot complications, and many other extremely dangerous complications, even death.

It's not just Western intervention that has an effect on diabetes patients; applying some folk remedies also helps reduce and stabilize blood sugar levels. The issue for patients is to research thoroughly before applying; not everything works for everyone, so it's important to consider carefully, try a few times, if it works, apply it, if not, stop. Folk remedies or experiences help limit blood sugar levels, such as drinking bear bile leaf water daily, applying remedies from banana trees, or from home-raised roosters soaked in vinegar for 3 - 4 days before eating, which can be very effective. The combination of Eastern and Western medicine in disease treatment will bring unexpected results for you.

In addition, controlling diet is one of the top priorities in treating diabetes without medication. When you visit the doctor, they will advise you on a healthy eating plan to help you control your blood sugar levels, manage weight, and minimize cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol. When you consume calorie-rich foods, blood sugar levels can skyrocket, leading to loss of control. If this condition persists, it can damage nerves, heart, and kidneys. This requires you to have a healthy diet and eating habits.

Diabetic individuals need to supplement food into their bodies, ensuring blood levels are as close to normal as possible. Limit harmful fats for heart health, monitor blood pressure and heart health. Track weight to maintain a reasonable body weight. Foods can prevent and slow down disease complications. Having a balanced diet, an optimistic spirit, healthy. However, depending on differences in gender, weight, and level of activity, the diet of diabetic patients will also vary. Only diabetic milk is a common product for this group.

Diabetics need to be provided with milk for the body, according to nutritionists, milk is one of the six essential nutrients needed daily for patients with diabetes. However, not all types of milk can be used by these patients, but they need to choose the appropriate milk. Carbohydrate content, fat content, and blood sugar index are the components you need to pay attention to when buying milk for diabetic patients. Choose milk with low blood sugar index, low carbohydrate, and must be the least fatty milk. You can choose soy milk because the nutritional content in soy milk is high, rich in protein, rich in calcium, and especially cholesterol-free.

For diabetic patients, protecting the feet from external injuries is a major concern. Complications from nerve damage and circulation difficulties can make healing ulcers and wounds difficult. Moreover, foot infections in diabetic individuals resulting from very small wounds are common. If the patient's condition is severe, they may need to use a wheelchair to relieve pressure on their feet. Also, due to nerve damage, diabetic individuals may not immediately recognize issues with their feet, leading to the unnoticed development and worsening of wounds. There have been many cases of amputation as a result.

Many diabetic patients often forget or have no sensation in their feet. Therefore, regularly check them, touch, and look for any unusual signs from your feet. Use a mirror to observe hidden areas, pay attention to scratches, redness, swelling, warmth, pain, blisters, cracks, and calluses. Many diabetic patients have foot wounds due to the contact of the two feet when toenails are too long. Small wounds are often overlooked and easily infected. Regularly cutting and filing toenails is the best way to protect your feet. Note: Always cut toenails horizontally.

Diabetes often increases the body's urine output as blood sugar levels rise, so most diabetic patients do not maintain adequate hydration levels in hot weather. Humidity also causes the body to sweat. Excessive sweating can lead to dehydration. Prolonged dehydration can cause dry mouth, reduced sweating, and decreased urine output. If patients do not drink enough water, it will reduce the water content in the blood and produce ketones, leading to bad breath and potentially worsening dehydration.

The American Diabetes Association recommends that diabetic patients drink water that is free of or low in carbohydrates and calories to prevent sudden increases in blood sugar levels. Therefore, filtered water is the best candidate because it does not contain these two. In addition to drinking plenty of water, supplement your body with other nutritious drinks. You can choose tea as a supplement, but remember not to add sugar. Green tea can be considered the best choice for diabetic patients.