Healthy Sugar Levels For Diabetics

How Is Gestational Diabetes Diagnosed

Gestational diabetes is regularly diagnosed by measuring blood glucose levels. There are different ways to test for diabetes. Your healthcare provider can identify which test is best for you.

Did You Know?

Gestational diabetes develops during pregnancy, affecting four per cent of all pregnant women.You can help manage gestational diabetes by eating well and exercising regularly.

Glycemic Index And Glycemic Load

When it comes to assessing foods based on how they increase your blood sugar, there is a tool for that called the glycemic index. The glycemic index assigns a number value to foods based on how quickly and how high they raise your blood sugar. Foods with a high glycemic index increase blood sugar quickly.

Glycemic load accounts for both the glycemic index and the quantity of carbohydrates in a serving. While it is generally best to eat low-glycemic foods to manage blood sugar, glycemic load might be a better indicator when making food choices. For example, while watermelon is considered a high-glycemic food, it is low on glycemic load.

Are There Different Recommendations For Blood Sugar Levels In Other Countries

The recommended blood sugar level ranges in countries around the world are very similar. However, there are two different units of measurement that are used when referring to blood sugars, depending on where you live: millimoles per litre and milligrams per decilitre .

The mmol/L measurement is used here in Canada, as well as England, Australia and China, while mg/dL is used in such countries as the United States, France, Japan, Israel and India.

To convert mmol/L to mg/dl, simply multiply by 18. For example, a blood sugar level of 5.0 mmol/L would mean a level of 90 mg/dL .

Here are blood sugar recommendations from some countries other than Canada:

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What Is The Normal Blood Sugar Level For Adults

As we age, our bodies become less able to regulate blood sugar levels as well as they used to. That’s why the ADA recommends that older adults aim for a fasting blood sugar level of less than 100 mg/dL. After eating, it’s ideal that your blood sugar level is below 180 mg/dL.

The ADA recommends that most adults with diabetes aim for the following blood sugar goals:

• Fasting: Less than 100 mg/dL
• Preprandial : 70-130 mg/dL
• Postprandial : Less than 180 mg/dL
• Bedtime: 100-140 mg/dL

If you experience high blood sugar levels or low blood glucose levels compared to this range you should speak to your doctor.

Who Is Most At Risk For Developing Diabetes

The following categories of people are considered “high-risk” candidates for developing diabetes:

• Individuals who are overweight or obese
• Individuals who are 45 years of age or older
• Individuals with first-degree relatives with diabetes
• Individuals who are African-American, Alaska Native, American Indian, Asia American, Hispanic/Latino, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders,
• Women who developed diabetes while they were pregnant or gave birth to large babies
• Individuals with high blood pressure
• Individuals with high-density lipoprotein below 25 mg/dl or triglyceride levels at or above 250 mg/dl
• Individuals who have impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance
• Individuals who are physically inactive engaging in exercise less than three times a week
• Individuals who have polycystic ovary syndrome, also called PCOS
• Individuals who have acanthosis nigricans — dark, thick and velvety skin around your neck or armpits

In addition to testing the above individuals at high risk, the American Diabetes Association also recommends screening all individuals age 45 and older.

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Normal Blood Sugar Ranges In Healthy Non

For a person without any type of diabetes, blood sugar levels are generally between 70 to 130 mg/dL depending on the time of day and the last time they ate a meal. Newer theories about non-diabetic blood sugar levels have included post-meal blood sugar levels as high as 140 mg/dL.

Here are the normal blood sugar ranges for a person without diabetes according to the American Diabetes Association:

• Fasting blood sugar : under 100 mg/dL
• 1 hour after a meal: 90 to 130 mg/dL
• 2 hours after a meal: 90 to 110 mg/dL
• 5 or more hours after eating: 70 to 90 mg/dL

How Can One Tell If I Have Diabetes By Examining My Blood

Your body converts sugar, also called glucose, into energy so your body can function. The sugar comes from the foods you eat and is released from storage from your bodys own tissues.

Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas. Its job is to move glucose from the bloodstream into the cells of tissues. After you eat, the level of glucose in the blood rises sharply. The pancreas responds by releasing enough insulin to handle the increased level of glucose moving the glucose out of the blood and into cells. This helps return the blood glucose level to its former, lower level.

If a person has diabetes, two situations may cause the blood sugar to increase:

• The pancreas does not make enough insulin
• The insulin does not work properly

As a result of either of these situations, the blood sugar level remains high, a condition called hyperglycemia or diabetes mellitus. If left undiagnosed and untreated, the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, blood vessels and other organs can be damaged. Measuring your blood glucose levels allows you and your doctor to know if you have, or are at risk for, developing diabetes.

Much less commonly, the opposite can happen too. Too low a level of blood sugar, a condition called hypoglycemia, can be caused by the presence of too much insulin or by other hormone disorders or liver disease.

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What Are Blood Sugar Levels

Your blood sugar levels, also known as blood glucose levels, are a measurement that show how much glucose you have in your blood. Glucose is a sugar that you get from food and drink. Your blood sugar levels go up and down throughout the day and for people living with diabetes these changes are larger and happen more often than in people who don’t have diabetes.

What Number Should My Blood Glucose Be

Blood glucose is measured in mg/dl. The normal range for blood glucose for people without diabetes is 70 to 120 mg/dl.

The Diabetes Center has guidelines for blood glucose readings. This is called a target range. There may be times when your healthcare provider gives you a different target range, like for bedtime, with exercise, or after eating.

Nationwide Childrens Hospital Diabetes Center Target Blood Glucose Ranges

The goal is to keep the blood glucose within the target range most of the time.

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What Is Blood Glucose

Blood glucose is the main sugar content in your blood. It comes from the food you eat, and it’s your body’s main source of energy. Blood glucose levels are a measure of how much sugar is in your blood. Blood sugar levels can fluctuate during the day and night because of various reasons. What we eat, how active we are, and even stress can all affect our blood sugar levels.

Signs & Symptoms Of Low Blood Sugar

Keeping blood glucose levels in a healthy range can be challenging.

When the amount of sugar in your blood has dropped below your target range , it is called low blood sugar .

If your blood sugar has dropped, you may feel:

• shaky, light-headed, nauseated
• an increase in heart rate
• sweaty, headachy
• weak, drowsy
• numbness or tingling on your tongue or lips

Symptoms of very low blood sugar are more severe and can make you:

• confused and disoriented
• lose consciousness
• have a seizure

Make sure you always wear your MedicAlert® identification and talk to your doctor or diabetes educator about prevention and emergency treatment for severe low blood sugar.

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Blood Sugar Levels: What’s Normal What’s Not And How To Measure

What do blood glucose levels mean and what range is healthy? Here’s what you need to know.

Sugar can lead to high blood sugar and contributes to the development of diabetes.

We all want to keep track of our health in every way we can — you may weigh yourself, keep track of your blood pressure or monitor your resting heart rate. But how close of an eye do you keep on your blood sugar?

People with diabetes are all too familiar with their blood sugar levels, but the rest of us might not even think about it much. However, consistently high blood sugar levels can coexist with Type 2 diabetes and cause serious health conditions like kidney disease, nerve problems or stroke.

While that’s no reason to panic, when it comes to our health, it’s important to know exactly what’s going on inside of our bodies. Without further ado, let’s get into what blood sugar means, how to measure it and everything else you need to know.

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Levels After Youve Eaten

Many foods have types of carbohydrates called starches and sugars. When you eat foods with these types of carbohydrates, your body breaks them down into glucose, which is a type of simple sugar, and releases the glucose into your bloodstream. Aside from glucose produced by your liver, food is the main source of plasma glucose.

Two hours after eating, your blood sugar levels rise. They rise more when you eat more carbohydrates, when you do not eat fiber, fat, or protein with your carbs, and when you eat certain types of carbohydrates, such as refined sugars and starches.

These are target values from The Joslin Diabetes Center, which include levels for people with diabetes:

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Why Your Blood Sugar Level May Be Low

If blood sugar drops below 70 mg/dL, it is below normal levels. This can be caused by a variety of factors, such as:

• Not eating enough or missing a meal or snack
• Reducing the amount of carbohydrates you normally eat
• Alcohol consumption especially if youre drinking on an empty stomach
• Taking too much insulin or oral diabetes medication based on carbohydrates or activity levels
• Increased physical activity
• Side effects from medications

If you have diabetes, keep your blood glucose meter and sources of fast-acting glucose close by in case your blood sugar drops. This is especially important for people with hypoglycemia unawareness, which is a condition that causes symptoms of low blood sugar to go unnoticed.

Eating balanced meals and snacks at regular times throughout the day is a big part of maintaining normal blood glucose levels. Check out our article on meal planning for diabetes to better understand the three macronutrients where calories come from and which have the biggest effect on blood sugar.

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Everyone will respond differently to certain factors, which is why its important to have individualized target glucose levels. To help you reach your target blood glucose goals, work with your healthcare provider to discuss modifications to your diet, physical activity, or medications, and alert them of other factors like a recent illness or stressful event.

What Are Blood Sugar Targets

A blood sugar target is the range you try to reach as much as possible. These are typical targets:

• Before a meal: 80 to 130 mg/dL.
• Two hours after the start of a meal: Less than 180 mg/dL.

Your blood sugar targets may be different depending on your age, any additional health problems you have, and other factors. Be sure to talk to your health care team about which targets are best for you.

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Make Physical Activity Part Of Your Daily Routine

Set a goal to be more physically active. Try to work up to 30 minutes or more of physical activity on most days of the week.

Brisk walking and swimming are good ways to move more. If you are not active now, ask your health care team about the types and amounts of physical activity that are right for you. Learn more about being physically active with diabetes.

Following your meal plan and being more active can help you stay at or get to a healthy weight. If you are overweight or obese, work with your health care team to create a weight-loss plan that is right for you.

Fasting Plasma Glucose Test

A fasting plasma glucose test is taken after at least eight hours of fasting and is therefore usually taken in the morning.

The NICE guidelines regard a fasting plasma glucose result of 5.5 to 6.9 mmol/l as putting someone at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, particularly when accompanied by other risk factors for type 2 diabetes.

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Normal And Diabetic Blood Sugar Ranges

For the majority of healthy individuals, normal blood sugar levels are as follows:

• Between 4.0 to 5.4 mmol/L when fasting
• Up to 7.8 mmol/L 2 hours after eating

For people with diabetes, blood sugar level targets are as follows:

• Before meals : 4 to 7 mmol/L for people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes
• After meals : under 9 mmol/L for people with type 1 diabetes and under 8.5mmol/L for people with type 2 diabetes

What Is A Normal Blood Sugar Level For Diabetics

A normal blood sugar level for diabetics is more difficult to define because it can vary greatly from person to person and is measured differently per age.

What’s important is that you work with your doctor to set goals that are achievable for you and that you maintain good blood sugar control as much as possible.

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Hba1c Test For Diabetes Diagnosis

An HbA1c test does not directly measure the level of blood glucose, however, the result of the test is influenced by how high or low your blood glucose levels have tended to be over a period of 2 to 3 months.

Indications of diabetes or prediabetes are given under the following conditions:

• Normal: Below 42 mmol/mol
• Prediabetes: 42 to 47 mmol/mol
• Diabetes: 48 mmol/mol

There are two types of blood sugar levels that may be measured. The first is the blood glucose level we get from doing finger prick blood glucose tests. These give us a reading of how high our levels are at that very point in time.

The second is the HbA1c reading, which gives a good idea of our average control over a period of 2 to 3 months. The target blood glucose levels vary a little bit depending on your type of diabetes and between adults and children.

Where possible, try to achieve levels of between 4 and 7 mmol/L before meals and under 8.5 mmol/L after meals. The target level for HbA1c is under 48 mmol/mol .

Research has shown that high blood glucose levels over time can lead to organ and circulation damage.

Keeping blood glucose above 4 mmol/l for people on insulin or certain medications for type 2 diabetes is important to prevent hypos occurring, which can be dangerous.

Your doctor may give you different targets. Children, older people and those at particular risk of hypoglycemia may be given wider targets.

FREE blood glucose level chart

Low Blood Sugar Chart And Action Plan

Low blood sugar is also called hypoglycemia. The numbers below represent values in the hypoglycemic range and require action to bring blood sugar levels up into a normal range.

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Manage Your Carb Intake

Your carb intake strongly influences your blood sugar levels .

Your body breaks carbs down into sugars, mainly glucose. Then, insulin helps your body use and store it for energy.

When you eat too many carbs or have insulin-function problems, this process fails, and blood glucose levels can rise.

Thats why the American Diabetes Association recommends that people with diabetes manage their carb intake by counting carbs and being aware of how many they need .

Some studies find that this can help you plan your meals appropriately, further improving blood sugar management (

Foods that are high in fiber include:

• vegetables
• legumes
• whole grains

The recommended daily intake of fiber is about 25 grams for women and 35 grams for men. Thats about 14 grams for every 1,000 calories .

Summary

Eating plenty of fiber can aid blood sugar management. Soluble dietary fiber appears to be more effective than insoluble fiber for this purpose.