Great job in January! Now that you have established some good practices for diabetics—essential no matter what dietary lifestyle or approach to diabetes management you take—let’s refine it even more by practicing portion control, also an essential for all diabetics, regardless of what else you do or don’t do for your diabetic health. And you need to learn what it means to “eat to your meter,” rather than just taking pills or insulin to “cover” what you eat. But first let’s check your progress.
February 1 – Check Your Progress
Goal: To measure and evaluate your progress.
- Check and record your
- Weight and body measurements
- Clothes sizes (shirt/top, dress, skirt, pants, shoes, underwear)
- Blood pressure and heart rate
- Average daily blood glucose
- Compare to January 1
Now, move ahead to the February challenge!
Portion Control
Get serious about portion control!
This is the only challenge for the month of February. First, February is a short month. Second, you need time to focus, undistracted, on detailed food journaling. You won’t have to do this every day for the rest of your life, but you will need to do this long enough to get a fairly accurate picture of what you are eating and how specific foods are affecting your (a) blood sugar, (b) weight, and (c) other physical/health factors (such as food allergies or intolerances which you may discover through this process). You also need to learn how to “eat to your meter.”
Goal: To replace the “everything in moderation” mindset with an exact understanding of what portion control means.
Read (or re-read) Law of Health #5, “Temperance”
Re-read blog post, “Start with Portion Control”
- Start/maintain a detailed food journal
- Calories
- Carbohydrates
- Fat
- Protein
- Fiber
- Eat to your meter (click link for detailed description)
- Eliminate what you determine is not good for your diabetes
- Explore new recipes/brands of acceptable foods
- Create a written menu plan customized just for you
https://www.honeywerehome.com/2016/09/how-to-use-my-fitness-pal-for-beginners.html
My Fitness Pal is available for computer or phone.
Reference: Food Databases, Journals, & Glucose Trackers
Adventist Vegetarian Diabetics 