To prevent eye disease, keep your blood glucose levels as close to the normal range as possible. Tight control is best achieved with close consultation with members of your diabetes care team, careful attention to diet (especially portion control), regular exercise, medicine if necessary, and blood glucose monitoring on a regular basis.

You should inspect your hands and feet daily to check for the presence of cuts or scrapes, since these parts of the body may have decreased sensation due to neuropathy, and wounds may therefore go unnoticed.

A large part of keeping your skin healthy involves maintaining practices that are good for your whole body, such as eating a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water, managing stress and controlling your blood glucose level. It is additionally important to keep skin well moisturized. The best way to moisturize is to apply lotion or cream right after showering and patting the skin dry.

To meet your calcium needs, try to eat at least 2 to 3 servings of low-fat dairy products or other calcium-rich foods each day.

Exercise, particularly weight-bearing activities where your body is working against gravity, can help keep bones strong. Weight-bearing activities include walking, dancing, climbing stairs and weight training.

Many nutrients, including calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin K, are necessary to build healthy bones. The most important of these are calcium and vitamin D.

If you have diabetes, quitting smoking is arguably the single best thing you can do for your eyes, heart, lungs, kidneys, dental health, etc.

Get immediate attention and treatment for foot ulcers. Treatment may include oral or intravenous antibiotics to control the infection, as well as dressings and salves with lubricating, protective, antibiotic, or cleansing properties.

To help prevent athlete’s foot, it is always a good idea to wear slippers or shoes of some sort in public areas such as locker rooms or showers.

People meeting their diabetes treatment goals should have an HbA1c test at least twice a year, and those whose therapy has changed or who are not meeting their goals should be tested four times a year.

To lower triglyceride levels, reduce your intake of refined or processed carbohydrates, such as candy, table sugar, white flour and baked goods made with white flour. Substituting fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids (found in fatty fish such as salmon, sardines and tuna) may also lower triglycerides.

Once you get the OK to exercise from your health-care provider, try 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity on most, if not all, days of the week — even if you are not overweight.

If you are at a healthy weight, work with your physician to prevent weight gain. Develop strategies for weight maintenance and anticipate high-risk occasions for possible weight gain (for example, times of significant stress).

Start with a weight-loss goal of 10% through dietary change, portion control and daily physical activity.

Replace saturated fat and trans fats in your diet with monounsaturated fats (up to 20% of calories) and polyunsaturated fats (up to 10% of total calories). To further lower LDL cholesterol, try adding plant stanols or sterols to your diet.