Dinner is almost ready and it's that time again. You unzip your black pouch to unveil a glucose meter. As you pull back the lever of the lancet, you think, "Gosh, I hope my blood sugar isn’t high again.”

Blood glucose testing is vital for people managing diabetes.  Monitoring levels with a blood glucose monitor sheds light  on the effects certain foods and activities have on their condition. If you live with diabetes, this information  helps you and your care team gauge whether your treatment routine and medications are controlling your disease. For people who take insulin, self-testing guides more accurate dosing.

Despite all the good tools to live well with diabetes, dealing with the disease every day can take a toll. Use these steps as inspiration to help make it easier.

Shun the Guilt and Shame

Blood glucose levels can fluctuate. A high reading is likely to happen from time to time.  When it does, some individuals believe they’re to blame. They may feel guilty or ashamed about an abnormal reading. These negative thoughts can derail your motivation to test. Being positive is important because it allows you to brush off setbacks, stay on track and enjoy better results. 

Curiosity Helps Improve Your Health

Understanding your body and how to take good care of it is one of the best ways to keep your diabetes under control. Be curious. Read. Talk with your care provider and others who are living with the disease. Information is power. It fuels better self-care decisions. It also helps you overcome many of the barriers that can make blood sugar testing difficult.

Can you relate to some of these barriers?

1. I don’t understand the purpose.
2. I am afraid that my blood glucose levels will be used as evidence of “cheating.”
3. It's too much trouble, too expensive, too uncomfortable.
4. I don’t know what to do with the results.
5. I don’t want to know the results because that might mean I need to change my diet.

Take Charge of Your Diabetes

Tap into your inner strength. Arm yourself with these mantras. Together, they will help you stay motivated when it comes to controlling your blood sugar.

Belief: I am going to make time to test. I understand what my  numbers mean and this information empowers me.

Feeling: I feel good knowing I made testing a priority in my diabetes self-care. Now I have a better understanding about the relationship between the food I eat and my blood sugar.

Thought: I’m curious and want to know the way a particular food affects my blood sugar two hours after eating. Writing down what I eat and testing my blood tells me know how a meal impacts my blood sugar. 

Action: I test my blood sugar to learn how my body responds to certain foods and how much I eat. I share this information with my diabetes team so we can make good care decisions.

Discovery: Testing my blood sugar two hours after lunch, I learned my body can tolerate only 60 grams of carbohydrates. When I consumed 75 grams of carbohydrates, my blood sugar reading was too high.  Now I know why I feel tired and unproductive when I have a bigger lunch.

When you test your blood sugar, you can base your self-care decisions on facts. Knowledge leads to better A1C levels and better management of your diabetes. better levels and better management of your diabetes.

Sources: The Big Picture: Checking Your Blood Sugar,  American Diabetes Association, 2021; Six Ways to Stay Motivated to Manage Your Diabetes Well,  diatribe Learn, 2022; Is Blood Sugar Monitoring Without Diabetes Worth While?  Harvard Health Publishing, 2021.

Originally published 10/14/2016; Revised 2019, 2022