Regular monitoring of your blood glucose levels is important in managing your diabetes. When deciding what to eat at a meal, knowing your current blood sugar level can help you to make good choices; like eating lower carb foods when your blood sugar is too high.

You should check your blood sugar at least four times per day:

• First thing in the morning. Your fasting blood sugar is the most important reading of the day as it gives you your starting point for the day as well as some indication about your ongoing progress.
• Before lunch. Use this reading to help determine what you can eat at lunch.
• Before dinner. Use this reading to help determine what you can eat at dinner.
• Before bedtime. If you are on medication and have a good reading before going to bed, 120 or lower, you should consider skipping that night time pill to avoid possibly driving your blood sugar too low.

When I am testing the effects of eating certain foods, I will test more often, usually 30 minutes, one hour, and two hours after eating whatever food it is that I am testing. That's a good way to learn how particular foods affect your blood sugar levels.

Just remember, test strips are expensive so test with care. By the way, a lot of medical insurance plans cover the cost of test strips; you just need a written order from your doctor. Be sure that your doctor authorizes enough test strips for you to test 4-6 times per day.