Diabetes management is very important owing to the complications that the disease brings along. Monitoring and maintaining healthy levels of blood glucose is a very important step for diabetes self- management. Hence, there are several tests conducted for ensuring that the levels of blood sugar in the body are within the limits. A diabetes patient also needs to adopt a host of measures in order to keep the blood level sugar under check.
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What is anA1c Level Test?
The A1C test is the test that is conducted which helps in determining the level of blood glucose in your body over a period of past two to three months. The test tells you the average level of blood glucose present in the red blood cells which have an average life of around four months.
Let us now look into some of the easy steps that can be taken to lower and stabilize the levels of A1C in your body
1. Test Your Blood Sugar
The first and foremost thing which you should do is to keep on regularly monitoring your blood glucose levels. You have to understand where you stand so that you can take adequate measures to keep the sugar level under control
2. Understand the Patterns
You need to read the patterns about the level of blood glucose in your body. You should check for the level of blood glucose in the morning and evening, while also looking for the fluctuations of the same before and after every meal and exercise.
3. Manage Your Diet
One of the most effective and sought-after ways of dealing with the increased levels of blood glucose is having an adequate meal plan in place. You should intake a balanced and healthy diet comprising of all the essential nutrients and green, leafy vegetables. You can include the following in the diet:
- Kale, spinach, chard, and other green leafy vegetables
- Fruits such as blueberries, avocado, amongst others should also be included
- Protein sources in moderate quantity
- Healthy sources of fats such as walnuts, olive oil, etc. should also be included in the daily diet
- You can also use various natural supplements and herbs such as cinnamon, tea leaves, sage, flaxseeds, apple cider vinegar, amongst others after proper recommendation and guidance of your medical expert or diabetes doctor
4. Cut Out on Food Which is Harmful:
Another and one of the most effective ways in which you can lower your A1C levels is to eliminate a few types of food that are indeed harmful to the management of your blood glucose levels. these food items include:
5. Get Physically Active
Regularly involve yourself in a lot of physical activities. The more you are active physically, the better it is for your blood glucose levels to stay in control. You can make it a point to exercise for at least 30 to 35 minutes every day for at least five days in a week.
6. Keep an Eye on Your Weight
If you are overweight, you will certainly have a lot of difficulty in controlling your blood glucose levels and ultimately your A1C levels. hence, you should try to keep your weight under control
7. Stress Management
Another important and easy way to stabilize your levels of blood glucose is the management of stress. Different types of mental, emotional, as well as physical stress, tend to release hormones that will further increase the levels of blood glucose in your body. Hence, managing your stress levels forms an important part of managing the blood glucose levels
8. Take Adequate Medications
Another reason why people have elevated levels of blood glucose is that they do not take their medicines adequately and as prescribes. Not only should you take your medicines as directed by your doctor, you should also try to adjust the same as per other factors as well
We hope that the above post has been helpful in educating you about the simple and extremely easy ways of reducing your A1C levels. maintaining healthy levels of the same form a very important and integral part of effective diabetes management!