If you are one the millions that suffer from the various types of diabetes, it makes a great deal of sense, and is highly recommended by your nutritionist and health care professional, to keep a diabetic journal. This journal can be an invaluable tool in finding out how your body really works.

It is an excellent way to help your doctor see your progress and easily view if any changes in your medication or diet might have to be implemented.

What should be in the diabetic journal?

This journal should include all information from blood sugar levels, the meals that you eat, the exercises that you might be doing and how you are feeling overall, this includes your moods from your highs to your lows.

When you start your diabetic journal, be yourself, keep accurate records and write how you like to write, possibly as if you are writing to your best friend in another country! You should include in your journal: what you have eaten, quantity of food, carbohydrate and calorie count per food item.

After each meal you should jot down how you are feeling, whether they be highs or lows. Most importantly when you are taking your medications you should include in the medication section of your journal, the name of the medication, the dosage, time taken and if any ill effects.

Do not forget to have accurate notes on the time you take your blood sugar (before and after meals) and the numbers; this is an excellent gauge to see what food will keep your glucose levels even and what food will spike it.

Diabetes is a manageable disease and the keeping of the diabetic journal will only facilitate how you control your disease. This journal can also help you with any weight plan that you are trying to follow.

Another advantage of keeping a diabetic journal is that it will help in keeping your doctor’s appoints or whatever other appointments that you might have. A diabetic journal can be an important tool for you and your doctor to see if there are any potentially harmful patterns that might be developing.

Whether it is a certain food that you are eating, or the time of day that you are medicating yourself and how it is effecting your general state of mind, this important tool can help your doctor properly change your diet, the amount of insulin you are to take and also what time of day that is the best for you.

It might seem funny, as if you are keeping a diary as you did as a child, how things went at a party, who you met, what food was there, as you can see these simple things that you wrote as a child are now an important tool in your physical and mental well-being.

A diabetic journal might be a throw back to your old notebook diary from high school, but know it is something that will be used as a tool for your continued health.