Managing Diabetes as a Family
By: Davis Wazome
Tags: Disease Prevention, Diabetes, Health

If one or more members of your family have diabetes it is important to know how to manage diabetes as a family and not just individually. Making your kitchen a safe place for family members with diabetes is an important aspect to maintaining healthy blood glucose levels. Educating the whole family about diabetes symptoms and issues is also extremely important; this can include signs of low blood sugar, daily eating habits, and parameters for when to ask for help. Working together as a family can make diabetes a much more manageable medical condition.

Diabetes Friendly Kitchen

Whether you have a toddler, teen or adult in the house with diabetes, a kitchen filled with safe foods is essential for managing diabetes. Eating the right combination of fats, proteins and carbohydrates is such an important aspect of a healthy diabetic diet. Families can make their kitchen diabetes friendly by keeping lots of healthy fruits and vegetables around. Take the time to cut up veggies and put in small containers in the fridge and this will make them more appealing to kids on the go.

Keep the sugary junk food out of the kitchen. No one really needs to have a Twinkie or donut, whether you have diabetes or not. Just don’t even purchase this kind of junk food for your kitchen, it is extremely appealing to someone suffering from diabetes and it is extremely unsafe for them also. Instead of junk food like that, make healthy pumpkin bars or trail mix and keep it in snack size baggies that are pre-portioned out.

Symptoms of Low Blood Sugar and What to Do

Low blood sugar or hypoglycemia is a dangerous side effect from having too much glucose in the body. Any family member who uses glucose on a daily basis is at risk for having an insulin reaction that results in hypoglycemia. This is very dangerous and as a family every member should be aware of the warning signs and the best way to treat low blood sugar.

Symptoms of low blood sugar include sweating, shakiness, fast heartbeat, dizziness and sleepiness. It is important to keep small amounts of simple carbohydrates available that can be used during a hypoglycemic incident. Miniature regular sodas, orange juice in small child size containers, honey and glucose tablets are all commonly used to bring glucose levels up during a hypoglycemic incident.

Eating Habits

Small regular meals are an important aspect of managing diabetes. This might mean avoiding large dinners which can be difficult for families to understand unless they work together to plan meals that are more diabetic friendly. Instead of eating a large dinner plan to have a salad earlier in the evening, and protein with vegetables a few hours later. This way you still get all the meal but it is spread out over a period of time to help manage blood sugar spikes.

Asking for Help

As a family it is important to work together in planning your home and lifestyle to manage diabetes. Remember to ask your family for help if there is a particular area you are struggling with. If you need more help in the morning planning healthy breakfast, or during the day while at work, take the time to work as a family and help each other make life as good as it can be.

Living with diabetes takes some energy and adjustments. But if you work together you can mange diabetes as a family. Make meal planning and preparation fun and work to find foods that are healthy and diabetic friendly. If you still need more support, check out your local hospital or health center, many have diabetes groups where you can meet other families going through the same issues and concerns as you are.