Managing diabetes comes down to keeping your blood sugar in a healthy range, and nearly everything you do each day affects that number. The general target for most adults is between 70 and 180 mg/dL throughout the day, with an A1C (a three-month average of blood sugar) below 7% for most people with type 2 diabetes. That sounds like a lot to track, but it breaks down into a handful of daily habits and a schedule of checkups that become routine over time.
Build Your Meals Around Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates raise blood sugar more than protein or fat, so learning to estimate how many carbs you eat at each meal is the single most useful food skill you can develop. One standard “carb choice” equals about 15 grams of carbohydrate. To put that in real-food terms: one-third cup of cooked rice or pasta, half a cup of mashed potatoes, 17 small grapes, or one extra-small banana (about four inches long) each count as one carb choice.
Non-starchy vegetables are your freest option. A full cup of raw broccoli, peppers, spinach, or tomatoes contains only about 5 grams of carbohydrate, and salad greens like romaine and arugula are essentially “free foods” with negligible carbs. Building half your plate around these vegetables, then adding a palm-sized portion of protein and a controlled portion of starch, is a straightforward way to keep meals balanced without weighing everything.
Starchy foods aren’t off-limits, but portions matter more than you might expect. Half a cup of beans or lentils is one carb choice. A quarter cup of granola is one carb choice. A glazed doughnut counts as two. When you start reading labels and measuring a few times, you develop an eye for portions that keeps blood sugar steadier after meals.
Understand Your Medication
Most people with type 2 diabetes start with a medication that works in two ways: it reduces the amount of sugar your liver releases into your bloodstream, and it helps your body use its own insulin more effectively. This is typically the first prescription your doctor writes, and many people stay on it long-term because it works well with few side effects.
If that first medication isn’t enough on its own, your doctor may add a second type that works through your kidneys. These drugs block sugar from being reabsorbed back into your blood after the kidneys filter it, so the excess leaves your body through urine. Beyond lowering blood sugar, they also appear to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in people who are already at higher cardiovascular risk. Understanding what your medications actually do makes it easier to take them consistently and to notice when something feels off.
Track Your Blood Sugar
You have two main options for monitoring: traditional fingerstick meters and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). A fingerstick gives you a single snapshot each time you test. A CGM is a small wearable device that attaches to your arm or stomach and reads your glucose level automatically every few minutes, day and night, without any finger pricks. It displays a moving line so you can see how your blood sugar responds in real time to meals, exercise, stress, and sleep.
The biggest advantage of a CGM is pattern recognition. Instead of seeing isolated numbers, you see trends. Many devices also send alerts if your blood sugar is rising or falling quickly, giving you time to act before things go too far in either direction. Your care team can access the same data remotely, which helps them fine-tune your medications more precisely. Even if you use a CGM, it’s worth doing an occasional fingerstick to confirm accuracy.
A useful metric to know is “time in range,” or TIR. This is the percentage of a 24-hour day your blood sugar stays within your target zone. For most adults with diabetes, the goal is above 70%, which works out to roughly 17 hours a day within range.
Move Your Body Regularly
Physical activity lowers blood sugar directly by helping your muscles absorb glucose without needing as much insulin. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week, which breaks down to about 30 minutes on five days. Walking, cycling, swimming, and dancing all count. Strength training two or three times a week adds further benefit because muscle tissue uses more glucose at rest than fat tissue does, improving your blood sugar control even on days you don’t exercise.
If you take insulin or medications that can cause low blood sugar, check your levels before and after exercise. Physical activity can sometimes drop blood sugar faster than expected, especially if you’re new to a routine.
Handle Low Blood Sugar Quickly
Low blood sugar (below 70 mg/dL) can cause shakiness, confusion, sweating, and dizziness. The standard treatment is called the 15-15 rule: eat or drink 15 grams of fast-acting carbohydrate, wait 15 minutes, then recheck. If you’re still below 70, repeat. Good options for those 15 grams include four ounces of juice or regular soda, one tablespoon of honey or sugar, or three to four glucose tablets.
Once your blood sugar is back in range, follow up with a balanced snack that includes protein and carbohydrate, like crackers with cheese or a small sandwich, to keep it stable.
If blood sugar drops below 55 mg/dL, the situation is more serious. At that level, you may not be able to treat yourself. Injectable glucagon is the most effective rescue treatment, and anyone you live with or spend time with should know where you keep it and how to use it. A person who passes out from severely low blood sugar will usually wake up within 15 minutes of a glucagon injection. If they don’t, a second dose can be given. Emergency medical care should follow any glucagon injection.
Know What to Do When You’re Sick
Common illnesses like the flu, a stomach bug, or even a bad cold can send blood sugar swinging unpredictably. Even if you can’t eat much, your liver may dump extra glucose into your bloodstream as part of your body’s stress response, pushing numbers higher than usual.
When you’re sick, check your blood sugar every four hours and keep a written log. Continue taking your insulin and diabetes medications as usual unless your doctor tells you otherwise. Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration. Try to eat as normally as you can, and weigh yourself daily because unexplained weight loss during illness is a sign that blood sugar is running high. Check your temperature morning and evening since a fever can signal an infection that needs treatment.
You can buy over-the-counter urine test strips to check for ketones, which are acids your body produces when it burns fat instead of glucose for energy. Ketones in your urine are a warning sign that requires immediate medical attention.
When to Go to the ER
- Breathing difficulty
- Ketones detected in your urine
- Unable to keep liquids down for more than 4 hours, or food down for more than 24 hours
- Blood sugar below 60 mg/dL
- Weight loss of 5 pounds or more during the illness
- Vomiting or severe diarrhea lasting more than 6 hours
- Fever above 101°F for 24 hours
Check Your Feet Every Day
Diabetes can gradually damage nerves in your feet, which means you might not feel a small cut, blister, or sore until it becomes a serious problem. Every day, look over the tops, bottoms, and between your toes for cuts, redness, swelling, sores, blisters, corns, or calluses. Use a mirror or ask someone for help if you can’t see the bottoms of your feet easily. Catching small issues early is the most effective way to prevent ulcers and infections that can become difficult to treat.
Keep Up With Annual Screenings
Diabetes can affect your eyes, kidneys, and feet over time, often without obvious symptoms in the early stages. A dilated eye exam once a year checks for damage to the small blood vessels in your retina. If your eye doctor finds diabetes-related changes, you may need exams more frequently. Kidney function tests, usually a simple blood draw and urine sample, should also happen annually because early kidney changes are treatable but easy to miss without testing. A complete foot exam by your care team rounds out the yearly schedule, though people who have had previous foot problems should be checked more often.
These screenings aren’t optional extras. They catch complications at the stage where intervention makes the biggest difference, often years before you’d notice symptoms on your own.