Blood sugar fluctuates, remember these 12 words to help you keep it stable

The Spring Festival is the most important festival of the year for Chinese people.
During the Spring Festival, eating more and exercising less, staying up late, playing cards and chatting will inevitably cause the blood sugar of diabetic patients to fluctuate like a roller coaster, and sometimes even suffer from severe hypoglycemia.

If your blood sugar is not well controlled, remember these four points and become an expert in controlling blood sugar.

Keep your mouth shut

Eating is a very complicated matter. Everyone has different preferences and reactions to food. "One man's meat may be another man's poison." No one can give a recipe that is suitable for all "diabetics." Especially during the Chinese New Year, the dishes at the banquet are more abundant, and eating is not the same for everyone, but there are generally some principles to follow.

Diabetic patients should try to eat at regular times and in regular amounts, estimate their daily energy needs based on their weight, activity level, etc., and distribute this energy proportionally among the three meals a day.

Our bodies follow the circadian rhythm of nature, and glucose tolerance also has a circadian rhythm. Most people consume more energy in the morning than in the afternoon and evening, so it is better for metabolic health to consume more energy in the morning and less energy in the evening. You can consider distributing your daily energy into 50%, 30%, and 20%.

Eating on time and receiving treatment on time will help control blood sugar more smoothly and facilitate the adjustment of treatment plans.

In terms of the order of meals, it is recommended to drink soup first, then eat vegetarian dishes, meat dishes, and finally eat staple food. This way of eating is conducive to lowering postprandial blood sugar.

Cooking methods include steaming, boiling, stewing, blanching, and mixing, and avoid frying, deep-frying, and braising. This can reduce fat intake.

The choice of food should be diversified, balanced in nutrition, and a combination of meat and vegetables. The recommended daily carbohydrate energy supply ratio is 45% to 60%, and try to choose foods rich in dietary fiber (the more finely processed the food, the less dietary fiber it contains).

When eating the same amount of food, choosing foods with low energy and low glycemic index will help control blood sugar.

Step forward

Combining eating and moving can help better control blood sugar. Sitting for a long time is harmful, and diabetics should develop the habit of regular exercise.

Research has found that standing up from long periods of sitting can benefit you, and you should stand up and move around every 30 minutes. Among them, brisk walking has the strongest ability to lower blood sugar.

In addition, simple resistance exercise can bring similar benefits as slow walking. For elderly obese patients, resistance exercise combined with aerobic exercise is more effective in improving insulin resistance.

It is recommended that patients with diabetes participate in at least 150 minutes of moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise per week, or at least 75 minutes of high intensity aerobic exercise per week, and perform 2 to 3 sets of resistance exercise per week. The intensity of exercise varies from person to person and should be gradual. It is recommended that the heart rate and breathing speed up but not be rapid during exercise, or that you can talk but not sing during exercise. It is recommended to exercise 1 hour after a meal, which can help control blood sugar and prevent unsafe events such as hypoglycemia.

Blood sugar test

Regular self-blood sugar monitoring and recording can help diabetics detect abnormal blood sugar levels in a timely manner and provide useful information for adjusting treatment plans.

There are many differences between the Chinese New Year period and normal life, such as higher energy intake and irregular work and rest schedules, which can lead to fluctuations in blood sugar. Therefore, diabetic patients are advised to pay attention to blood sugar monitoring.

The time points for blood glucose monitoring include random blood glucose before meals, 2 hours after meals, before bedtime, midnight, and other time points (especially when there are symptoms of hypoglycemia).

Patients with different conditions can flexibly choose the time and frequency of blood sugar monitoring according to their own conditions: patients with good blood sugar control can measure fasting blood sugar and 2 hours after meals 1 to 2 days a week; patients with poor blood sugar control are best to monitor blood sugar throughout the day 4 to 7 days a week, 4 to 7 times a day; patients with high risk of hypoglycemia should pay attention to midnight blood sugar, pre-meal blood sugar and immediate blood sugar when there are symptoms of hypoglycemia.

Use the right medicine

The treatment of diabetes is a comprehensive treatment. On the basis of diet control and regular exercise, the correct and regular use of hypoglycemic drugs can achieve better treatment results. It should be noted that diabetes is still an incurable disease so far, so there is no treatment method that can cure diabetes. Therefore, do not blindly pursue the so-called "family secret recipe" or "foreign advanced technology". Diabetic patients must go to regular hospitals for examination and treatment, so as to control blood sugar safely and effectively.

If your blood sugar fluctuates greatly during the holidays, you can go to the outpatient clinic to adjust your treatment plan, or you can consult a professional doctor online through the Internet to avoid adjusting your blood sugar-lowering medication on your own.

Author: Pei Lina, Department of Endocrinology, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University

Review | Experts from the National Health Science Expert Database

Liu Cong, professor and chief physician of the Department of Endocrinology, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University

Planning｜Tan Jia

Editor: Liu Yang