Very few doctors will admit that normal blood sugar levels are possible for the type 1 diabetic. With a relatively small amount of effort, you too can achieve normal blood sugars! Treatment for Type 1 Diabetes has become increasingly controversial as the complications continue to effect millions of individuals. I feel it's time to take control of your own future by testing yourself and finding out what really works for YOU!

What are normal blood sugar levels? Fasting (blood sugar level after not eating for 8 hours) blood sugar should be between 70 milligrams per deciliter to 100 mg/dL. Your blood sugar should not be above 100 at any given time; If it is, this suggests a pre-diabetes condition. A level of 100 - 199 suggests prediabetes. A level over 200 suggests that you have either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. Click here for other symptom of diabetes.

There are several steps in lowering your blood sugar. Try the following if you are interested in more normal blood sugar levels.

A. Begin slowly lowering your carbohydrate intake. If you want to get very specific on which foods you can and cannot eat, I recommend the diet as per Dr. Richard Bernstein. He has done all the testing for us and eliminated all foods that had a make up that could not be tracked. After all, if you can't track it, you can't manage it. Also, check out our diabetic recipes page for some delicious low carb meals. If you stick to a pre-calculated amount of carbohydrates per meal, your insulin amounts should be the same every day.

B. Test your blood sugar more frequently. We test from 5 - 10 times per day. If your fingers can take it, the blood sugar readings are imperative to helping understand if the insulin amounts are correct or not. Know your A1C. This test is very revealing as to how you are doing with blood sugar levels and should be under 6.0%.

C. Pay attention to how and when your type of insulin works. For example, before meals, Isobel gets about 2 units of Regular Humalin insulin. This particular insulin is given about 40 minutes before a meal because it takes that long to begin working. If we did not wait the proper amount of time to allow the insulin to work, her blood sugar level would rise significantly before the insulin could react. This simple knowledge can make a HUGE difference in managing blood sugar levels. Humalog on the other hand is a more fast acting insulin and if given for meals, should only be given about 5 minutes before eating. Check with your doctor or do your own research on your insulin to make sure you are giving it enough time to start working before you eat.

D. Stop snacking and limit yourself to three meals per day. Snacking is habitual and can easily be broken.

The level of blood sugar control predicts the onset and severity of diabetes-related complications for both types of diabetes. This means that if you have diabetes, if you can keep your blood sugar levels as close as possible to normal, you can live a normal life span with few or even no complications at all. A non-diabetic's normal blood sugar range is from 70 - 100. I see no reason why a diabetic can't strive for the same levels. We do!

Dr. Bernstein and his philosophy helped us immensely. I highly recommend you at least read his book - of which he just published a 2nd edition. You can purchase his book and other products by clicking here.