Your Proactive Caregiver Advocate: Dr. Cynthia Speaks!
Topic: Spread the Love with Care on Valentine’s Day!
Valentine’s Day is one of the most notable days of the year to show your love for others. It has been associated with many gestures and acts of kindness showing appreciation. What Is Valentine’s Day, and why do we celebrate it? We celebrate it because of love. It is often aligned with those sweet treats those with diabetes should avoid for health’s sake.
When caring for our elderly loved ones with diabetes, a chronic and life-threatening condition, caution must be used when sharing those sweet treats. We never want to cause an exacerbation of diabetes in our quest to do good. There are ways to celebrate and enjoy Valentine’s Day while controlling diabetes.
Ways to Show Your Valentine’s Day Love
You may ask what some ways are there to share love without causing harm to our loved ones on Valentine’s Day that do not include those sweet treats. Let’s start with encouraging family to visit your loved one for movie night, fun activities, and storytelling. You can also have a craft day. The goal is to show love by encouraging family engagement to share some love.
It is not a sin to skip the box of chocolates and replace them with other fun gifts that your loved ones may enjoy. However, if you cannot avoid the sweet treats, splurge smartly using low-carbohydrate treats to reduce the impact on blood glucose levels. Many sugar-free candies can be given and can be enjoyed.
As Your Proactive Caregiver Advocate, while Valentine’s Day comes yearly, spreading love to our seniors should be an infinite goal. A warm hello, being present, and being proactive shows love, what we all need and is an essential part of life. But if sweet treats are important, reach for sugar-free, low-calorie, and low sugar. Be safe! Be well!
Dr. Cynthia J. Hickman is a retired registered nurse and case manager, CEO of Your Proactive Caregiver Advocate and author of From the Lens of Daughter, Nurse, and Caregiver: A Journey of Duty and Honor, and The Black Book of Important Information for Caregivers.
Website: www.cynthiajhickman.com
