6 Ways to Help Control Blood Sugar

We have a hard time with diabetes and blood sugar control in our family. We are dealing with Type 2 diabetes, so the best news is that it's controllable through diet and exercise. I've done some research and have learned through experimenting, reading and observations, six effective ways to help control blood sugar. As always, check any diet change with your family physician.

• Lemon juice mixed with water daily helps to control blood sugar. We learned this though the fabulous book The Fat Flush Plan by Gittleman. Squeeze half a fresh lemon for its juice and mix with hot water, according to Gittleman. 
•  Honestly, I prefer it in cold water since we live in the swelter belt of Kihei, Hi.  I can't say if the temperature affects it because my diabetic husband was drinking it hot, like he was supposed to, and we noticed a significant drop in his blood sugar on the days he kept to his routine of lemon water.
• The diet itself is wonderful, but it takes more discipline than we have apparently, because we've stopped and started it about three times now, in ten years
• Unsweetened cranberry juice mixed with water (Again, thanks to Gittleman) is a favorite drink which appears to help as well.
• Potatoes, pasta, rice and white bread are evil. Drop them completely. I know. I'm sad.
• Exercise is essential. Blood sugar points drop considerably, even after a simple walk around the block after dinner
• You don't need a gym membership to get that needed exercise. Lawn moving and gardening are forms of exercise. My husband's blood sugar is better and and our landscape is looking marvelous!
• Eating dinner earlier rather than later is important. For example, if my husband eats about 5:30pm, then has very little else in the evening, say, except an apple or hot tea, his blood sugar doesn't explode the next morning after sleeping off a banquet. Unfortunately, we don't hit the 5:30pm as often as we would like, because we are frequently rolling into the house about that time. Yet we still try.
• Six small meals a day is better than three meals a day. It looks something like this: 7am, 10am snack, 11:30am snack, 1pm, 4pm snack, 5:30pm. 

We find that eating any carb snack is better with some type of protein. Fruit and cheese; crackers and yogurt, etc. are some examples of snacks.

Diabetes is not an easy situation but it can be managed with a little planning and healthier eating.