Your diabetes logbook is an invaluable tool. The information you enter helps you and your health care provider know if your diabetes care plan is working. Logbooks also help your health care provider know when to make changes to your diabetes care plan to reduce the risk of complications. This information "paints a picture" of how food, exercise, medication, and/or insulin affect your blood sugar results.

By signing up for the free Diabetes Management Plan on this Web site, you can keep a logbook online. Your health care professional also can provide you with a printed logbook to keep track of your diabetes care.

Here are some ways a health care provider may use a logbook:

1. When a person is first diagnosed, knowing the blood sugar readings, grams of carbohydrates eaten, and the activity level helps the health care provider prescribe the best treatment.
2. A well-kept logbook will "capture" peak times when people take medication or insulin, which is important in developing a care plan.
3. Checking and recording blood sugar readings just before a meal can help the health care provider determine if a medication and/or insulin dosage is needed before that meal.
4. Recording carbohydrate grams eaten throughout the day reveals whether or not your meal plan is effective. This information helps people plan meals and snacks -- one important way to stay in control.
5. Tracking exercise in a logbook helps the health care provider understand if activity is being performed at the most optimal time of the day.

What to Enter in Your Daily Diabetes Logbook
Data:

1. Blood sugar reading
2. Medication name(s) and/or insulin dose taken
3. Carbohydrate grams eaten
4. Type and amount of exercise

Thoughts and impressions:

1. Feeling sick or having a fever
2. Stressful or emotional times
3. The cause of over- or under-eating, such as a party, stress, or a hectic day
4. Why you were more or less active