Know your blood sugar numbers!

Checking your blood sugar is the best way to know how well you are managing your diabetes.  Regular blood sugar checks are vital to making decisions on how to treat diabetes.

Blood sugars can be tested throughout the day.  Testing your blood sugars before a meal can help you decide how much and what type of food to choose.  If blood sugars are low, you may choose to eat more food.  Likewise, if your blood sugars are high, it may be beneficial to eat less food.

Testing blood sugars after a meal provides instant feedback regarding food choices.  High blood sugar may result from too large of a meal, excessive carbohydrate, or a meal comprised only of carbohydrate.  Low blood sugar may be due to not eating enough carbohydrate.  Learn from what you ate and plan your next meal accordingly.

Speak with your doctor or diabetes educator about how often and when to test blood sugars.  It may be necessary to test up to 4 times per day.  Upon control of blood sugars, testing may occur less often.   

Ask your diabetes educator about the procedure to test correctly. Testing blood sugar involves placing a drop of blood on a test strip of a glucometer.  Blood is usually drawn from a fingertip using a lancet.  The glucometer provides the blood sugar results.

Record date, time, and blood sugar levels in a log.  Discuss the log entries with your diabetes educator or doctor.

Work with your doctor or diabetes educator to set blood sugar level goals.  This is the best way to know how you are doing and what your numbers mean on a daily basis.