Diabetic? As your doctor will tell you, diabetes requires careful management. This month, HealthConnect offers tips on four basic ways diabetics can help to manage their condition.
- Get your support team together: Managing diabetes is a team effort, not something you should go at alone. Building a team — comprised of your doctor, other healthcare professionals, your family and your friends — can provide support and encouragement with everything from diet and exercise, to glucose monitoring and medication, all of which are important aspects of your diabetes management plan.
Get control of your diet: Eating healthy is a critical part of managing diabetes. With your doctor’s help, build a menu appropriate for your condition, and with your support team’s help, stick to it.- Get moving: Help to manage your weight through exercise and, if necessary, weight loss. Have members of your support team to join you at the gym, and make that exercise a part of your daily routine.
- Get balance: While stress is indeed part of everyone’s life, it can have more serious effects on those with diabetes. Set aside time each day to find your balance, reducing your stress through a more harmonious, less stressful lifestyle.
Also, the JHMB has contracted with Healthways, a “condition-management” provider, to help those in the FUSD Employee Health Care Plan affected by diabetes to manage their conditions. Healthways accomplishes this through the involvement of health coaches, who help plan participants make the best decisions while providing educational support.
You may have seen their posters around school or received something in the mail. To get this support, call Healthways at 866-756-2047.