Take Control of Your Diabetes with These 7 Tips

The right lifestyle choices and technology can empower people with diabetes to make informed and accurate decisions about their disease.

Diabetes is a disease that requires dedicated self-management. One of the biggest challenges faced by someone living with diabetes is accurately monitoring their blood glucose. Luckily, there are lifestyle approaches and highly accurate tools that can help make managing diabetes much easier.

Leverage the right technology

Over the past few years there have been great strides in technology designed to make it easier for people with diabetes to monitor blood glucose. One example is the CONTOUR®NEXT ONE smart meter and app by Ascensia Diabetes Care. The CONTOUR®NEXT ONE blood glucose meter provides you with a remarkably accurate¹ and easy-to-use tool that gives you more control over how you live with diabetes.

Embrace exercise

According to Diabetes Canada, stress can cause an increase in blood sugar and one of the ways to combat stress is with exercise.² Being active also makes it easier to sleep, and a good night’s rest is another important component of a healthier, more stress-free life.³

Ensure your blood glucose monitor is accurate

It’s crucial to get reliable readings from a blood glucose meter. CONTOUR®NEXT ONE is Ascensia’s most accurate meter to date.^{*†‡ 1} To help ensure you get an accurate reading from your blood glucose meter, CONTOUR®NEXT ONE also has a proprietary Second-Chance® sampling feature that will prompt you to reapply blood within 60 seconds if the first sample is insufficient for an accurate reading.^{+ 4} This could help you avoid a second lancing and wasting strips.⁵ There are also alerts that tell you when your blood sugar readings are critically high or critically low.

See your health care provider regularly

Regular consultations with your doctor ensure that you play an active and informed role in your own health care. With the CONTOUR®DIABETES app, you can quickly and easily send your doctor or other healthcare professional a colour-coded report of your blood sugar results to aid in your discussions.

Look for technology that easily integrates into your everyday life

The CONTOUR®NEXT ONE meter is designed to integrate your blood glucose meter with an app so you can simplify how you manage your diabetes. There’s no more need for you to diligently log your levels manually in a journal because CONTOUR®NEXT ONE does it for you on a device you use every day — your smartphone. Your blood glucose results are captured throughout the day and can be automatically synced and logged on your smartphone via the CONTOUR®DIABETES app. Over time, your results could provide meaningful insights for both you and your health care professionals into how your activities affect your blood glucose levels, which can help empower you to make more informed decisions about your diabetes.

Eat a healthy diet

A heathy diet is a cornerstone of good diabetes management. Diabetes Canada recommends that people with diabetes avoid foods and drinks that have a high glycemic index (GI) of 70 or more, like processed foods, which can increase blood glucose higher and faster. Choose foods like mixed grain bread, sweet potato, apple, skim milk, and baked beans.

Choose intuitive technology

Don’t make managing your diabetes harder than it has to be by using complicated technology. The CONTOUR®NEXT ONE comes with an incredibly intuitive, useful smartLIGHT feature that uses a coloured light to instantly show you when blood glucose levels are on target (green), below target (red), or above target (yellow).

Don’t wait any longer to get better control over how you manage your diabetes. Get the accurate and intuitive technology you need. Download this coupon (PDF, 507 KB) for your FREE^** meter.

Consult your healthcare provider prior to making any changes to treatment regime.

®/TM see ascensiadiabetes.ca/tm-mc (PDF, 235 KB)

References

* Current regulation based on Health Canada recognized ISO 15197:2013 standard requires results within ±15% range, specifically: ≥95% of results must fall within ±0.83 mmol/L for blood glucose concentrations <5.55 mmol/L and within ±15% for blood glucose concentrations ≥5.55 mmol/L.

† CONTOUR®NEXT ONE meter meets ±10% accuracy vs. laboratory method, specifically: 97.4% of results within ±10% for blood glucose concentrations ≥5.55 mmol/L, and 100% of results within ±0.56 mmol/L accuracy vs. laboratory method for blood glucose concentrations <5.55 mmol/L.

‡ In a clinical study, conducted in accordance with the requirements of ISO 15197:2013, the CONTOUR®NEXT ONE not only met and exceeded the minimum requirements of the standard but an ad hoc analysis determined where 95% of results fell during the study, which was within ±0.47 mmol/L or ±8.4% of the laboratory reference value for glucose concentrations <5.55 mmol/L or ≥5.55 mmol/L, respectively, when tested via subject obtained capillary fingertip results (patients with diabetes).

** FREE with purchase of CONTOUR®NEXT Test Strips.

+The CONTOUR®NEXT ONE system has demonstrated accuracy – even after applying more blood to the same strip⁴

Sources

Christiansen, M. et al. A New, Wireless-enabled Blood Glucose Monitoring System That Links to a Smart Mobile Device: Accuracy and User Performance Evaluation. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. 2017, Vol. 11(3) 567-573.
Diabetes Canada. Taming the blood sugar roller coaster.
Diabetes Canada. Gestational diabetes diet.
Wu H-P et al. (2012) Performance of a New Algorithm for Sample Re-Application During Blood Glucose Test Strip Underfill Conditions. Poster presented at the 15th Annual Canadian Diabetes Association, October 10-13, 2012, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Ascensia Diabetes Care, Market Research. Hall & Partners, conducted online April/May 2015.² **Average strip wastage estimated by healthcare professionals. Data and quotes collected through online survey of 400 HCPs and patient with Diabetes in US, CAN, DE and UK.