Keeping up with the latest news, tips and tactics dealing with diabetes is a great way to stay out in front of the disease and to ensure that you’re doing whatever is necessary to fight against the affliction. Read the tips in the article below if you need to know what you can do to improve your life if you have diabetes.

If you’re craving french fries but are watching your weight due to Diabetes, try sweet potato fries! Slice up a sweet potato and sprinkle salt, pepper, and other spices on it (Cajun spice mix also works well.) Bake it at 425 for about 30 minutes and you’ll have sweet, scrumptious fries to eat!

Keep track of your blood sugar levels in a log book, so you know where you’ve been and how you’re doing currently. If you can’t afford enough test strips to check multiple times a day, check at a variety of different times, so that you can get an idea of how your sugar is going throughout a typical day.

Eating fresh, non-processed foods is an easy way for a diabetic to keep his or her weight in check and blood sugar stable. By shopping only the outside aisles of the grocery store you will find you’re not exposed to the processed sugary or carbohydrate-laden treats, that can lead to temptation.

When you’re planning to go to a doctor’s visit, write down any concerns you have. It doesn’t matter how outlandish they may seem, it’s much easier to read them off a page (or PDA or tablet, whatever works for you) than trying to remember them. Every bit of information you gain will help you keep your health in check!

It is important that you eat a lot of fiber in order to prevent diabetes. Fiber helps to prevent diabetes by stabilizing your blood glucose levels. You can get fiber from certain foods such as whole grains, nuts, beans, seeds, fruits and vegetables. You can also take a fiber supplement.

To allow yourself to still enjoy your favorite foods, make simple substitutions. Collard greens can be made with turkey broth instead of ham hock, and ground beef can easily be replaced by ground turkey. Try purchasing a diabetes cookbook. You may find that you can keep on eating many of your favorite meals.

Even if you are not feeling any symptoms, it is important that you check your blood sugar levels every few hours. People think that because they feel fine, their sugar levels are stabilized and this is not always true. It is the silent symptoms that could land you in the hospital.

To decrease your risk of developing diabetes, quit smoking. Smoking raises your blood-glucose levels, which significantly increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Quitting smoking can lead to weight gain, which also increases your diabetes risk, but diet and exercise is an easy way to tackle that issue. Anyone with a family history of diabetes should be sure not to smoke.

Eat a well-balanced diet. Since there is no official diabetes diet, it’s important that you handle your condition by eating a healthy diet that is high in fruits, vegetables and lean meats and low in fat, sugar and simple carbohydrates. If you eat everything in moderation and are controlling your diabetes through medication, you should have fairly stable blood glucose levels.

Don’t blame yourself for being inflicted with gestational diabetes. It happens often and is generally out of your hands. Minimize your stress and focus on the good things about your kid and you.

Get enough sleep! It is important to get a sufficient amount of sleep if you suffer from Diabetes. Lack of sleep can disrupt your hormones, which in turn could raise your blood sugar. If you find that you have tried everything to get more sleep, but nothing works, talk to your doctor for further options.

Most diabetics are significantly overweight, and this is injurious to your efforts at controlling the effects of diabetes. It is very important to try and have a consistently healthy eating plan in order to lose weight and maintain proper nutrition. Losing weight doubled with exercise can in some cases completely control the symptoms of diabetes. If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, you simply must start dieting and exercising regularly.

Since people who have diabetes usually have a high incident rate for heart disease also, diabetics should choose fats wisely. In our diets, fats can either be harmful or helpful. Saturated fats, which are primarily found in animals products, are unhealthy fats. Trans fats, which are hydrogenated fats, formed by instilling hydrogen into liquid vegetable oils, are also very bad for your health. Unsaturated fats are the healthy fats. These fats are derived from plants sources and include, olive oil and canola oil.

To avoid sugar but still sweeten your food, ask about neotame. Neotame is an FDA approved sweetener that has been confirmed safe for sufferers of diabetes. Neotame is extremely sweet, so only a small amount needs to be used. This will allow you to curb your sweet tooth without jeopardizing your health.

To help control your diabetes with your diet, eat more vegetables. A good diet for many diabetics involves high fiber, high nutrients, low fat, and moderate amounts of calories, and eating vegetables is part of this kind of diet. Replacing some refined carbohydrates and sugar-filled foods and drinks with vegetables can also help keep your body healthier and regulate your weight, which will help control your diabetes naturally.

Those who have been diagnosed with diabetes must take in all the information there is about their condition. By gathering as much information as possible, they ensure the best possible care for themselves. Knowledge is power and responsibility when it comes to diabetes.

Staying out in front of this disease and avoiding the potential complications is what it’s all about. Diabetes takes a lot of management, and thus it’s easy to allow your treatments to lapse. Use the tips you’ve learned in this article to increase your overall awareness and to ramp up the fight against the disease.