Diabetes is quickly becoming one of the greatest health care concerns of modern times, and if you are a diabetic the best way to keep a handle on your diabetes is by keeping track of your blood sugar by using blood glucose charts. Diabetes, if not properly treated, can lead to heart problems, kidney failure, peripheral neuropathy, coma, and even death. The only way to keep these things from happening is to keep your blood sugar as close to normal as possible for as much of the time as possible and this can be done with blood glucose charts.
Understanding what is normal glucose level will give you a target to aim for when you are checking your blood sugar levels.
Depending on if you live in Canada or the United States, the Diabetes Associations in each country reports the blood sugar numbers slightly different because of the differences in imperial and metric measurement systems.
American and Canadian Diabetes Associations
Normal Glucose Levels Chart
Association
Fasting Glucose
2 Hours After Eating
A1C**
American Diabetes Association (mg/dl)
< 100
< 140
< 6%
Canadian Diabetes Association (mmol/L)
< 6.1
< 7.8
< 6%
**A1C is the major component that makes up your blood sugar and the A1C measurement is an average of your blood sugar levels over the past 120 days. Please also note that the numbers for pregnant women and children age 12 and under are different than those listed in the char.
A normal blood sugar level is anywhere between 80 mg/dl to 140mg/dl. The sugar amounts that diabetics have are often way above the normal 140 mg/dl. At this point damage is permanently suffered, so it is very important that steps are taken to regulate these levels through diet, exercise and medication.
Working with a Health Professional
The guides listed above on this page are just guides. In order to obtain a more precise Normal Gluclose Level range, you will need to work with a health care professional. There are several factors that can influence your normal range including:
Age
Medical Condition
Other Factors
By working with a professional you will get a better picture of what your normal glucose level will be, and then from there you can start to design your life around staying within that range.
While it may sound bad, what you’re more likely to find is that your improved lifestyle that focuses on keeping your blood sugar at bay will actually have a lot of hidden benefits. There’s no time like the present to take control of your life, and even thought you could look at getting diabetes as a negative situation, if you look on the bright side, this is a good wake up call to start living a more healthy, active life.
An Explanation of the Different
Glucose Level Measurements
what is normal glucose level
It’s important to understand what each of these different blood sugar measurements actually means and why they are important:
Fasting Glucose
2 Hours After Eating
A1C
The reason why this is important, especially if you are a new diabetic, is that during your fasting glucose test you may not show signs of diabetes.
The problem arises however when you measure your blood 2 hours after eating you may clearly see that you are out of the recommended range.
Fasting Glucose
The fasting glucose measurement is taken after you haven’t eaten or drank anything for 8 hours. This gives you a base measurement of how your body is handling the blood sugar when it is ‘at rest.’
Normal Range:
< 100 mg/dl – American Diabetes Association,
< 6.1 mmol/L – Canadian Diabetes Association
2 Hours After Eating
This test is important because it helps you to see how certain meals are affecting your blood sugar, so that you can deal with the situation accordingly. The two hour marker is also important because after 2 hours, the blood sugar of non-diabetics will have returned to its normal state.
Normal Range:
< 140 mg/dl – American Diabetes Association,
< 7.8 mmol/L – Canadian Diabetes Association
A1C
This test shows if your treatment is working over time, which is important to see how you are progressing and if any adjustments need to be made.
We hear all the time from our doctor’s to watch our weight, watch what we eat, but why? Doctor’s want us to watch everything we do because they want us to maintain the average glucose level in order to stay healthy.
The average glucose level plays an important role on our health, how we feel, the length of our life and many other important factors. There is a standard average glucose level that is used widely for almost everyone no matter of race, age, heredity or any other factors. The average blood glucose level is used to calculate many other numbers throughout our body such as the mean glucose level, range glucose level and what the normal glucose level should be for you according to what time of day it is.
Are you or someone you know a diabetic and use an Accucheck glucose meter? The AccuCheck glucose meter is a very reliable and dependable glucose meter that is found in almost every home, doctor’s office or ambulance across the country. AccuCheck glucose meter rates high on the charts for glucose meter reviews.
Are you a recently diagnosed diabetic and hate the thoughts of having to stick yourself multiple times a day in order to monitor your glucose levels? If you already find yourself cringing at the thoughts of needles and just don’t want to stomach the thoughts of pricking your arm or finger each and every day in order to monitor your blood glucose level then the AccuCheck glucose meter is at home meter for you!
Are you diabetic or know one and would love a place to get great recipes? The American Diabetes Association Recipes can be found in various places such as online, printed cookbooks, and at the local library.
There are many different kinds of diabetes recipes available to you such as gestational diabetes recipes that come in handy when someone is pregnant and needs to keep her calorie intake up because she is eating for two as well as is battling diabetes.
Diabetic recipes can be found wrote by people such as loved ones who has been there as a family member or loved one has battled diabetes or themselves has had diabetes. Diabetic recipes can also be found in cookbooks that can be purchased by the American Heart Association recipes.
