After understanding some major concepts and methods of healthy eating, you may be still wondering how to apply these diet rules with blood glucose monitoring. The best way to check out whether your meal plan works for your blood glucose management is to test your blood glucose before and 2 hours after the first bite of meal, a paired test. Here are some steps to guide you while adjusting your meal plan by using the self-monitoring blood glucose (SMBG) results:
- Test your blood glucose right before eating a meal
- Keep a record of foods you eat for this meal, including types and portion sizes of foods. The UnifiedCare app is great for helping you keep a food log-- just take a picture!
- Test your blood glucose 1.5-2 hours after the first bite of this meal.
- If your post-meal blood glucose is higher than the target goal.
- Try to take a small walk, move around, exercise at home (at least 10 minutes) after the meal.
- Try to identify high carbohydrate foods and their portion sizes.
- Try to avoid or reduce the portion sizes of foods that are the most likely culprits, and try to substitute them with more stable carbohydrates, like high fiber, whole grains.
- The Diabetes Educators through UnifiedCare can help you figure this out if you need help.
- Doing this paired test may help you understand which carbohydrates raise your glucose more, and how much of these foods is too much at a time.
Remember: Everyone with diabetes is sensitive to foods containing carbohydrates, but how your own body responds to these foods will differ. To understand your own body and how it works with Diabetes, it is important to check your glucose regularly.