Type 1 diabetics are forced into a more health conscious way of living, because the consequences of not doing so are dire. Our quality of life is directly impacted by our ability to control our bloods, which is made far easier or far more difficult by the lifestyle we choose to lead.

There are very simple and holistic steps that all type 1 diabetics should commit to long term in order to make controlling our glucose much more straightforward. Unfortunately on social media and online, there is so much conflicting information and it is easy to feel overwhelmed with the ever growing list of tasks, often leading to A. doing none of them or B. doing all of them and burning out very quickly. 

Simple and sustainable is the way forward with type 1 diabetes, because our reality is waking up, every single day, from the moment you are diagnosed, for the rest of your life, to an all consuming illness which you never get a break from. You must feel confident that the tools you utilise, you are able to do pretty damn consistently.

Inside our Elevate Membership, we often encourage members to focus on 80% consistency for 80% of the time. It is a standard in which you are able to minimise your risk of complications, improve your quality of life but at the same time not feel like a prisoner to your diabetes, scared to try new things and get out of your comfort zone.

We have constructed a list of habits which you should endeavour to engrain into your lifestyle and make them a non-negotiable part of who you are and your lifestyle. You do not need to complete all of these every single day, and some of them you may already be doing without realising, but we urge you to pick a handful of these and stick with them (long term), you need to trust the process and give it time to see the positive impact this will have on your life as a diabetic.

• Maintain hydration at all times, your bodyweight in KG / 0.024 tells you roughly how much the average person will need on a daily basis. Dehydration has a severe impact on insulin resistance. 

• Aim for more natural movement, taking the stairs, parking your car at the other end of the lot, hopping off the train / tube a stop early and walking the rest of the way, the more we move, the more sensitive we become to insulin.

• Set yourself a step target which is slightly above your natural range to ensure you are going out of your way to move more, try and time walks post-prandial.

• A consistent workout routine that you can commit to long term, strength training is brilliant for diabetics, 3 gym workouts a week with a focus on building muscle.

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• Maintain a lean body composition, the more muscle we have, the better.

• Include lots of soluble fibre in your diet, as well as a decent serving of protein per meal.

• Supplement magnesium, this is brilliant for sleep and insulin sensitivity. 

• Limit stress where possible, the less cortisol the better.

• Be mindful of a sensible sleep schedule.

• Try and focus as much as possible on digestion, understanding how your body digests foods you eat regularly and maintaining good gut health.

In addition to this, it is so important to not adopt an all or nothing mindset, living with this illness means no break, which means we will mess up and there will be times when our circumstances do not permit everything to be absolutely perfect.

Doing something will always be better than doing nothing, if you cannot commit to 7000 steps, get in what you can, if you only have time to complete 30 minutes of your one hour  workout, get the 30 minutes ticked off. The small habits that we complete, compound over time to have a monumental impact on our lives, in a much more productive and large scale, than doing huge monumental tasks perfectly, but then burning out and giving up after a couple of weeks.

Will supplementing magnesium for a few nights have a dramatic impact on your diabetes? No

Will picking a handful of the above steps and committing to them long term to the best of your ability, focusing on controlling the controllables have a dramatic impact on your diabetes? Absolutely.

We must delay gratification and think long term, life has become about quick fixes and easy ways out, but the quicker you gain something, often the quicker you lose it. To reiterate, diabetes is with us for life, our future must remain at the forefront of our minds and the decisions we make.

Give 100% of whatever you have got to give.

Now you can either choose to value this as an annoying concept that we “have” to do these things, or we can see it as a positive, these are things that the general population would hugely benefit from, not just type 1 diabetics. I think we are incredibly fortunate that we are forced to acknowledge this. 

In my experience, when I connect and meet other type 1 diabetics, they are often much healthier and look after themselves much more conscientiously than non-diabetics, which is one of the more positive outtakes we can take from being type one diabetic, it can very easily become your excuse or your reason.

Balancing all of these things can feel very overwhelming and a lot of additional steps, but these things will naturally make you feel more focused and less stressed about your glucose control, with time it will become a natural way of conducting yourself. Controlling your diabetes is hard, but not controlling your diabetes is much harder and has far less desirable outcomes.

If you'd like ongoing support, education and guidance from people living with Type 1 diabetes, explore our Elevate Membership.

You deserve to pour time and effort into your health and diabetes, in order to feel your best, look your best, perform your best and have the ability to thrive and reach your potential in life, all of these traits only have a positive carry over into all other aspects of your life.