Because diabetes requires so many efforts from you every day, checking blood sugar and taking medications as needed, dealing with it can take over your life. But part of finding a path to overcome the disease is to not let it be the center of your life. As a diabetic, you may tend to turn your attention inward upon yourself, losing interest in the activities you used to enjoy. But you do not want to just be defined by your diabetes. Here are some tips for getting yourself out of this predicament.

Be diligent about following your doctor’s instructions about checking blood sugar and taking medications. Get the moderate exercise recommended. Take care of your feet. Do all of these things, but do not let them become and end in themselves nor your purpose in life. Aim higher.

Make taking care of your diabetes just a routine. Take up other efforts to make your life rich and meaningful. This could be joining a book club or becoming an expert chess player. It is true that having diabetes imposes some physical limitations on you, but there are so many rewarding activities not inhibited by diabetes. Just by turning outward and not letting diabetes take over your life, you increase the possibility of overcoming it.

Since type 2 diabetes is associated with being overweight, losing that weight can free you from the disease, if it has not done too much damage to your body already. Focus not on your present limitations, but on the things you will be able to do when you lose weight, improve your immune system, and your body recovers the abilities it had before you developed diabetes. Many people have actually done this. Discuss this as a positive possibility with your doctor. Ask him to help you devise a realistic plan to reverse the disease and recover normal functioning.

Beyond just weight loss, you need to tone and strengthen your muscles. Yoga and tai chi offer disciplines to regain control of your body. Study foods carefully. Much research has been done on how diet affects you, and how you can use foods to bring you out of diabetes. Eating a poor diet probably contributed to your development of the disease. Learn how to reduce the effects of a poor diet and instead to eat in a way that reduces the hold diabetes has over you. Research shows the exact glycemic effect of various foods, and this information is readily available.

Find a cuisine that appeals to you and adapt it to your efforts to combat diabetes. Food can be very tasty as well as healthy. A cuisine that can readily be adapted to your special needs is Chinese food, with its use of many fresh vegetables and brown rice, very little sugar, and with modest amounts of meat. Low fat dairy can also be a good way to go.

So follow these suggestions and do not let diabetes take over your life. Take the measures necessary to lessen the effect diabetes has on your body, and then you can engage in richer and more varied activities in life.