Holiday Gifts for People with Diabetes

It's almost that time again!

People with diabetes are bracing themselves to smile graciously as they unwrap boxes of diarrhea-producing, blood sugar-raising "Sugar Free" cookies and tuck into dinners filled with diet-ruining high carb/low fat items prepared with love by friends and relatives who don't understand diabetes.

There's still time to head off these kinds of disasters. If you are shopping for someone with diabetes, I hope this list of suggestions helps you choose an appropriate gift. If you are a person with diabetes, don't be shy about letting those who love you know what kinds gifts would be most appreciated--and what kinds of foods you can eat.

SUGGESTED GIFTS

1. A Pedometer. The "10,000 Steps" program might be a great way to start a gentle but effective exercise program and the pedometer is a fun way to motivate and measure improvement. Count how many steps you take each day, then set goals that gradually raise your daily step count to 10,000. This has been shown to make dramatic impacts on fitness.

2. A Heart Rate Monitor. The heart rate monitor makes it possible to fine-tune an aerobic regimen so that it strengthens the heart. This is only an appropriate gift for someone who already is involved in some form of aerobic exercise. Pair the monitor with a book that explains how to use the monitor to improve cardiac fitness.

3. A gym or pool membership. If you are looking for an expensive gift consider a gym membership, but consult the recipient as to which club they prefer before you buy the membership as it will be nonrefundable.

4. Three Bottles of Vitamin D. If you live in a wintry climate and can't afford to give the gym membership, give the gift of Sunlight. 1,000 IU of vitamin D are safe for any adult and supplementing Vitamin D improves mood and appears to have impressive health benefits. Go for the oil-based Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol).

5. Blood Sugar Test Strips. This can be a wonderful gift for someone who is working on improving their blood sugar control as strips are very expensive and many insurance plans limit the number of strips a person can get each month. Make sure you find out which brand of meter the person uses as strips only work with specific meters. Amazon has some very good deals on strips, but check the comments to make sure that the expiration dates are current.

Do NOT give a meter as a gift! The biggest expense in blood sugar testing is not the meter but the strips. A "nice" meter might require the giftee to spend more on strips than they can afford. Also, many insurance plans limit the brands of strips they will pay for or charge a much higher deductible for strips of certain brands.

Check beforehand to find out what meter your recipient uses and whether they would appreciate more strips. This gift may be especially useful for people on Medicare which limits the number of strips given out severely.

6. Pharmacy Gift Cards. Many insurance plans have very high copays. A pharmacy gift card could be very helpful to a person who needs to fill prescriptions every month.

7. Stick Me Design Meter/supplies fashion bag. These are a delightful treat for women who carry blood sugar testing supplies or injection supplies. I have one myself and love it.

8. Pumpwear. This company makes a range of fashion accessories for people who use insulin pumps including quite a few for children.

9. Low Carb Cookbooks. Lowering carbohydrate intake is the key to improving blood sugars, but it can be tough to know what to eat. Low carb cook books can help people with diabetes learn more about what foods will work best to improve blood sugar control.

10. Low carb cooking ingredients. Many people with diabetes would appreciate a gift of DaVinci Sugar Free Syrups. They are extremely useful for making low carb desserts. They contain Splenda, so don't give them to people who don't use this artificial sweetener.

Other low carb cooking ingredients that might be appreciated are Not Starch which is a extremely low carb thickener that can be used to replace flour in gravy.

Other useful low carb supplies include Almond Flourand Vanilla Whey Protein Powder

I welcome your gift suggestions in our comment section, but will be deleting comments which are obvious spam so please do not put in links to commercial web sites of dubious interest to people with diabetes.

UPDATE Nov 13, 3:14 PM: Be sure to read the comments. Visitors have posted some really great gift ideas!