Do you ever find yourself feeling down, unhappy, or restless, and before you know it, you are eating something you hadn’t planned to? If so, you’re not alone. “Emotional eating” or “comfort eating” is really common, both for people with and without diabetes. As an attempt to feel better (temporarily at least) it’s okay to use food like this some of the time. However, when food starts to feel like it controls you, rather than you being in control of food, and particularly if you have weight to lose, it can be helpful to consider your eating behaviour from a different angle.

Something that I hear time and time again in my work with people with diabetes is, “I have no motivation”.

They know what they should be doing to care for their health, but they can’t seem to summon up the how.

So when I tell them, “You are one of the most motivated people I have ever seen” – they tend to stare at me in complete disbelief!

But then I explain.

They are motivated to do all sorts of things in life.

Everyone’s experience of hypoglycemia is unique. This article will address top five strategies for helping you to overcome your difficulties with hypoglycemia.

1. Tell your healthcare team.

If you frequently experience low blood glucose levels, the first thing that may be needed is a change to your diabetes regime — medication type, the dosage, or the timing of medication and/or food. Your doctor will be able to help with this.

Also, if you are experiencing less warning signs than previously, there are ways of recovering these, through avoiding all hypos for as little as a few weeks. This needs careful planning to avoid the opposite problem of overly high blood glucose levels, but is very possible with guidance.

Life with diabetes can be hard work. Diabetes has been likened to a job — not just any job, but one in which you have to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, with no holiday, no praise, and no pay. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t stay working in a role like that for very long! However, individuals with diabetes don’t have the option of walking out or giving up; they have to keep ‘working’, day in and day out, for the rest of their lives.