Type 1 diabetes requires daily attention to diet, exercise, and insulin. You may have times when this job feels overwhelming, but taking good care of yourself will help you will feel better, have a better quality of life, and prevent or delay complications from diabetes.

Eat well and count carbohydrate grams

Follow one of these meal-planning methods to help you eat a healthful diet and spread carbohydrate through the day. This will help prevent high blood sugar levels after meals. For more information, see:

Food guide for diabetes

Carbohydrate counting

Focusing on the type of carbohydrate as well as the amount might help you maintain your target blood sugar level. Foods with a low glycemic index (GI) may have a small but helpful role in preventing spikes in blood sugar; it is not yet known if they have a role in preventing complications.¹³ Low glycemic foods do not raise blood sugar as quickly as high glycemic foods. Foods with a low GI include high-fiber whole grains, lentils, and beans. High GI foods include potatoes and white bread.

Using fat replacers-nonfat substances that act like fat in a food-may seem like a good idea, but talk with a registered dietitian before you do. Some people may eat more food, and therefore more calories, if they know a food contains a fat replacer.

Take insulin

Make sure you know how to give yourself insulin.

Preparing and giving an insulin injection

If you are using an insulin pump or an insulin pen, make sure you know how to use them properly.

Should I get an insulin pump?

Living with an insulin pump

Get physical exercise

Try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day on most days of the week. Be sure to exercise safely. It may help to keep track of your exercise on an activity log(What is a PDF document?).

Monitor your blood sugar

Checking your blood sugar level is a major part of controlling your blood sugar level and keeping it in a target range you set with your health professional. For more information, see:

Home blood sugar monitoring

Handle high and low blood sugar levels

Be sure you:

• Recognize and treat high and low blood sugar levels. For more information, see:

  Dealing with low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) emergencies

  Preventing high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) emergencies

• Always wear medical identification to let medical personnel know that you have diabetes.
• Take precautions when you are driving and do not drive if your blood sugar is below 70 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL).

Control your blood pressure and cholesterol

• Blood pressure in people who have diabetes should be less than 130/80 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Moderate exercise, such as 30 minutes of brisk walking most days of the week, can help lower blood pressure. But you may need to take one or more medicines, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) to achieve your goal.⁷
• A low-fat diet, exercise, and weight loss can lower your cholesterol. Your body needs insulin to process fats, as it does with carbohydrate. If your diabetes is poorly controlled, the fats in your blood (especially triglycerides) can rise a lot. You should strive for a goal of less than 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) for low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad," cholesterol. HDL, or "good," cholesterol should be more than 40 mg/dL for men and more than 50 mg/dL for women. Triglycerides should be less than 150 mg/dL. You may need to take lipid-lowering medicines, such as statins, to reach your goals.⁸

Limit alcohol