Diabetes Food Journal: A Daily Log for Tracking Blood Sugar, Nutrition, and Activity

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Look at how exercise, illness and stress affect your blood glucose levels. Try to see how much these events affect your sugar levels and/or medication dosages.

With close to 200 studies conducted in humans and animals on the use of common levels of aspartame in food, the safety is considered to be established, and does not suggest any long-term adverse effects. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently conducted the most comprehensive review of available animal and human data, both published and unpublished and concluded that in current levels of exposure, no safety issues were noted leading to increased risk of cancer, gene or neurologic damage. ( 109) An adult weighing 60 kg (132 lb.) would have to consume over 12 cans of soda containing aspartame daily to reach the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of 40 mg/kg/day, lower than the ADI recommended by the FDA of 50 mg/kg/day. The American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute in the U.S. agree that no excessive link to increased cancer risk exists with use of aspartame in food products at current levels. ( 110) Some controversy has existed for many years around safety of the sweetener, but not from any major organizations. The most prudent advice to give to patients is to use non-nutritive sweeteners sparingly.If you regularly test your blood glucose levels , a blood glucose monitoring diary will help you to spot patterns and make sense of the numbers you are getting.

Stevia (Truvia®) derived from the plant stevia rebaudiana, is a non-caloric, natural sweetener. Stevia has been used as a sweetener and as a medicinal herb since ancient times and appears to be well-tolerated. It has an intensely sweet taste. Five randomized controlled trials showed minimal effects on blood glucose, insulin, blood pressure or weight.

According to the ADA, the person with T1D can follow a gluten free diet, but it may provide additional challenges. Some common CHO containing foods that do not contain gluten include: Your go-to resource for assembling healthy meals in just about any type of restaurant, from fast food to upscale dining and ethnic cuisines. Many diabetics sometimes go through small transition periods when eating right seems to go off the rails and so can Although CHO counting has been used seemingly effectively for many people with type 1 diabetes, very few clinical trials have been undertaken to report actual outcomes. The results of the first randomized clinical trial designed to test the effects of CHO counting in adults with type 1 diabetes treated with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) concluded that there was an improved Diabetes-Specific Quality-of-Life Scale score related to diet restrictions, and CHO counting was also associated with a modest, although significant, decrease in BMI and waist circumference. When PWD who did not continuously use CHO counting or CSII during the study were excluded from the analyses, CHO counting was also associated with a significant reduction in A1C without an increase in hypoglycemic events. ( 96) A more recent published meta-analysis on effects of advanced CHO counting revealed a trend toward reduction in AIC, but no significant evidence to definitively determine the effects on glycemic control, weight, psychosocial measures, or hypoglycemic events. ( 97) An "average" ICR can be 1 unit of insulin for every 10 to 15 grams of CHO for an adult or 1 unit for every 20 to 30 grams of carbohydrate for a school-age child, however careful monitoring of blood glucose and individual response should be evaluated to individualize the ratio.

A weekly monitoring diary with space to record meals and notes. This diary is for people whose medication is not subject to change on a daily basis.Many diabetes devices, from glucose meters to continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and insulin pumps, come with an integrated app that syncs the device to your phone. These will most likely work well with your devices, and your diabetes educator can show you how they work. Normal blood sugar levels are 70-100 mg/dL. Therefore, you have to do a test to find out normal blood sugar levels. This is also a preventive effort to reduce the risk due to deficiency or excess blood sugar. Driven by the explosive increase in the prevalence of obesity, the number of PWD with known diagnosis of type 2 diabetes has reached massive proportions in the U.S. and worldwide. The number of persons worldwide with diabetes has more than tripled since 1980. According to the 2017 National Diabetes Statistic report, diabetes affects 30.3 million people of all ages or 9.4% of the U.S. population. This includes 23.1 million diagnosed, and an undiagnosed population of 7.2 million people. 90 to 95% of these people have type 2 diabetes. Another estimated 84.1million people, that’s 1 out of every 4 Americans 18 years of age and older have prediabetes. ( 63) The use of the glycemic index (a scale that ranks carbohydrate rich foods by how much they raise blood glucose levels) has been developed to identify and classify over 600 foods and their blood glucose raising potential. It has been demonstrated that high fiber, low GI foods can help delay the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream, consequently helping to control blood glucose levels. As a rule, refined grain products and potatoes have a higher GI, legumes and whole grains have a moderate GI, and non-starchy fruits and vegetables have a low GI. Many factors can influence the GI of a food, such as methods of cooking, physical state of a food, and how much fat and protein are consumed in conjunction with that food. ( 50) The ADA states use of the glycemic index and glycemic load may provide a modest additional benefit for glycemic control over that observed when total carbohydrate is considered alone. The reasoning behind a less than robust recommendation is that the literature on GI and GL in individuals with diabetes is complex, and it is often difficult to separate the independent effect of fiber compared with that of the GI on glycemic control and other outcomes. Other organizations more highly advocate its use, including the Diabetes and Nutrition Study Group (DNSG) of the European Association and the Diabetes UK Nutrition Working Group. ( 7) It is important that persons with diabetes who want to use the GI to better manage their glucose control are taught how specific foods and meals affect their own blood glucose levels, rather than adhering only to the existing GI. For example, a person could compare a low GI food, such as oatmeal (GI = 50) with cornflakes (GI = 84) to determine the relative effect of each on their own blood glucose.