In order to keep his diabetes under control, a patient needs to maintain a healthy weight, eat a variety of nutritious foods, get some exercise, and -- if he has a nicotine habit -- quit smoking. Of course, that's the same stock advice that a healthcare provider would offer any person, whether or not he has diabetes.
But unlike someone who's diabetes-free, the stakes are higher for a person with diabetes if he doesn't follow these recommendations. Excess weight, poor diet, a sedentary lifestyle, and a cigarette addiction can all wreak havoc on a person's blood glucose and, in turn, lead to long-term complications such as heart attack and stroke, as well as eye, kidney, nerve, and blood vessel damage.
Of course, unhealthy habits may be long engrained and thus hard to break. But the good news is there are many ways you can help him make the necessary adjustments to living with diabetes.
Potential solutions:
- Partner with the patient. Offer to accompany him to a diabetes education class, if you can, or on visits to see his primary diabetes doctor, diabetes educator, or dietitian, who are all trained to help him make transitions toward diabetes-friendly lifestyle changes. Partnering with him is essential in helping him make healthier choices. You may also benefit from educating yourself about the disease by attending a class or talking with his healthcare team.
- Exercise together. Take a walk or play golf with him to increase his activity level, and look for other ways to help a patient exercise.
- Cook healthier food. Prepare meals that are wholesome and include a balance of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, and search for additional ideas on helping him make dietary changes.
- Provide a prompt. Remind him when it's time for him to test his blood glucose or take his diabetes pills.
- Cheer him on. Provide encouragement for the good choices he makes and the results that follow. Perhaps he loses weight by carefully watching what he eats. Or maybe he needs less diabetes medication as a result of his increased activity level. Tell him how well he's doing -- he needs to know you're in his corner.
