Tips For Managing Diabetes During Festive Periods

Kajal Hansda, Senior Dietitian and Diabetes educator, DAY(Diabetes Awareness and you) shares tips for managing blood sugar levels during festival periods.

Festive days with their abundance of rich sweets and savouries can usually be a tough time for persons with diabetes. How should one's diet be managed during this phase?

Indian festivals are celebrated by heavy servings of sweets and savoury items. But Persons with Diabetes can still enjoy these festivals.

Few simple measures should be followed to keep the blood glucose level within the normal range:

1. Ensure that your pre-festival blood glucose is well controlled
2. Limit portion size of sweets and other carbohydrate rich snacks
3. Ensure your exercise routine does not take a back seat
4. SMBG (Self-Monitoring Blood Glucose) plays the key role to managing blood glucose during the festival period
5. Those who are on insulin should titrate their insulin dose with calculation of their carbohydrate intake, to manage the blood glucose within the normal range

How should one control one's intake of sweets and unhealthy indulgences?

1. Break your meals into smaller portions about five times every day, it can help your blood glucose more stable
2. You could replace traditional sweets with healthy snacking options such as nuts, fresh fruits etc.
3. Avoid sugary drinks and replace them with water or with tender coconut water.
4. Avoid high glycemic index and glycemic load food. You can customize your snacks and sweets to make little low GI food: like samosa can be made using whole wheat flour instead of white flour, and potato stuffing can be replaced with vegetable stuffing. This way you can decrease the calorie intake. Sweet dishes can be made by healthy artificial sweetener like Stevia.
5. Share the sweets with others and minimise your portion size.

Could you give us 3 tips to keep one's blood sugar in check and celebrate the festivities?

1. Monitor blood glucose levels (through SMBG) during festival.
   Before meal blood glucose monitoring is very important for person who are on insulin. Blood glucose monitoring can also help avoid hypoglycaemia.
2. Control the portion size of your food.
3. Be physically active -- find time for activities like walking after meals, going for a quick run, even swimming or dancing, etc., These activities will help manage your blood glucose levels

Read more: Can I have alcohol if I have diabetes? 

How do persons with diabetes handle festive periods - Click here

See a short video here.