As promised in my last blog post, I’m going to share how I kept my blood sugars (mostly) in range while I was on my trip to California a few weeks ago!

I’m not going to lie and say it was easy; in fact, I had a couple of not-so-fun nights where I was stacking insulin like crazy due to some post-dinner highs. But the vast majority of the time, I was really proud of my diabetes management when I was away. It can be tough to take good care of diabetes when in a new place and thrown off schedule, but it can be done, and these are the three biggest tips that I used that were most helpful to me:

1. Split meals with travel partner(s). I don’t know about you, but when I’m on vacation, any self-control as well as the idea of eating super healthy/clean goes out the window. I want to indulge when I’m in a new place! I want to try new foods and enjoy them rather than stress over how they might impact my blood sugar levels. So I was thrilled when my partner suggested we split any meals that we ate out at restaurants. We figured this was a smart strategy because most restaurants serve ridiculous portions of food anyways, and this also meant that I could order a carb-heavy item from the menu and automatically split the carb count in half because I was sharing the dish. This worked out so well and I got to eat foods that I normally don’t dare to touch, such as a fisherman’s platter (consisting of 3 different kinds of fried seafood) and garlic french fries (these were beyond incredible).
2. Stay as active as possible. This is kind of a no-brainer – most vacations that I’ve ever gone on have involved lots of walking in order to sightsee and get from point A to point B. But it’s worth mentioning that getting in any other types of activity in addition to walking can reap benefits on blood sugar. For example, I started off one morning with a 25-minute yoga practice soon after I ate a heavy breakfast and my blood sugar levels were stellar for hours. On the night of the wedding that we flew out there for, I balanced sampling every dessert at the reception with hitting the dance floor, which worked wonders for my blood sugars. And generally speaking, I found that sneaking in at least 15 minutes or so of extra exercise after meals was a great way to keep my blood sugars in check, even if it was just walking around the block for a bit.
3. Keep a consistent eating schedule. Traveling can make it difficult to maintain a regular meal schedule, but with a little extra effort it can be done. Within hours of landing in California, we made a trip to Target to stock up on a bunch of extra snacks and drinks so that we would always have something within reach, whether my blood sugar was going low or one of us just needed an extra energy boost. We also made sure to take advantage of complimentary breakfast provided by the hotel we stayed at for the first couple of nights – the fact that they stopped serving it at 10 A.M. automatically put us on some type of schedule. And on the day of our friends’ wedding, we ordered pizza and timed it so that we’d have it about an hour before we were due to leave for the ceremony…because as anyone who’s ever been to a wedding before knows, guests sometimes have to wait a looooong time before they’re served food. I didn’t want either of us to have an empty stomach for potentially hours on end, so ordering food before the wedding pulled double-duty as a late lunch and as something that would keep our bellies full until we were served dinner at the reception.

But what made it the easiest to take care of my diabetes while on vacation was the support from my partner, who always put me and my blood sugars first and checked in on me frequently (but without being overbearing). That alone goes a long way in making diabetes management a breeze when my normal routine is disrupted, but when combined with all the tips above, it’s practically like taking a vacation from diabetes itself.