User Guide
First, let’s discuss some general concepts about using MiYDiabetes (MiY). As you know, Type 2 diabetes presents serious on-going challenges mostly caused by less than healthy habits. It is critically important to focus on building and sustaining healthier habits in all of your daily routines. This includes exercise, diet, sleep, medications and avoiding the consumption of harmful substances such as tobacco, alcohol and all addictive drugs such as opioids.
To successfully use MiY, you must be:
- Serious about improving your daily habits
- Willing to measure your daily progress
- Willing to share your progress with a trusted team
The following steps will give you a guide to get started with MiY and help you organize your daily activities. These steps should help you to achieve healthier, enduring habits and avoid the ravages of diabetes and other chronic diseases.
MiY does not tell you how to improve your daily habits. Instead, through a series of objective and subjective questioning, it helps you measure your progress in achieving a healthier and hopefully happier lifestyle. How you go about your daily routines and the activities you employ are up to you.
The value of MiY is the constant feedback you receive on your progress and the reminders on when it is time to act. MiY provides a set of adaptable rules designed to keep you focused on your goals. In addition, MiY shares your progress with your own network of Helpers to provide ongoing encouragement and support.
There are several considerations to keep in mind regarding MiY. MiY is very flexible and you can use it in many different ways. However, to optimize your usage and improve your chances of halting or even reversing the effects of diabetes MiY offers the following guidance.
Unlike most smart phone apps, MiY is designed to minimize the time you spend using the app. On an on-going basis, it should require only 5 minutes a day to enter the 12 daily values and quickly review your trends. It is recommended that you enter all of your daily inputs near the end of the day and to enter them in sequence.
To begin with, you may find it helpful to focus on small incremental improvements to each of your habits. It has likely taken you many years to establish your current habits and it will take considerable time to achieve healthier ones. Fad diets and exercise devices are often not sustainable so it is important to start with small, but measurable techniques that can aid in long-term success.
Step 1 – Initial Values
The initial values are important in establishing a base for measuring your on-going progress.
For example, we ask you to enter your current weight. This establishes a base value to measure your overall progress. Although your actual weight is recorded, all displays reflect loss or gain from initial weight.
Step 2 – Default Values
As part of the system, you receive a set of rules with default values that you should review and change, as desired.
For example, at a fixed time each day, such as 9:00 pm, if you have not yet entered your daily data, the system will send you a text message reminding you to enter your daily data. This time is adjustable but recommended to be in the evening after most of your daily activities have been completed.
Step 3 – Helper Team
The next step is to set up your support team called Helpers. Since managing diabetes is an on-going, complex process, establishing your support group helps you sustain your on-going action plan.
Although your team can be any size, MiY recommends an ideal team of 3 consisting of a family member, a trusted friend and someone from your medical team; such as your doctor or a nurse. You may either invite someone to become your Helper or someone can request to become your Helper. In either case, the individual must be a registered Helper user of MiY. All Helper access is free.
Step 4 – Short Term Goals
You should select one or more 90 day goals to help measure your progress. Each quarter your goals can be changed or adjusted. A goal line is displayed on the graph of a parameter when a goal is specified.
After you complete these first four steps, you will end up on the main screen called “My Journal”. From here you have access to all functionality within the system. At first, there will be little information on this screen. As you begin to enter your daily data, this screen will start to fill in and, by the end of the first week, you will start to see graphs and trends for each of the daily questions.
Step 5 – Daily Input – Exercise
Measurements are the key to your long term success in self-managing your diabetes. Increasing your level of exercise is absolutely critical if you are to achieve success in slowing or reversing the onset of diabetes.
The number of steps you take each day is an easy indicator and a positive trend easily displays your progress.
A second question, regarding the subjective level of your exercise, provides a constant reminder that increasing your level of effort is critical.
Step 6 – Daily Inputs - Diet
Since measurements are key to success, it is very important to develop your own techniques on how to make and record the quantity and quality of your diet. Since you are sharing your trends with your team, it is important to be as accurate as possible.
This is especially true with measuring all the quantity of your daily caloric intake. Everything consumed should be accounted for, especially snacks and drinks which are easily forgotten. Establishing a good habit in measuring calories will be your biggest challenge but also the most successful way to achieving a much healthier lifestyle.
A second question, regarding the quality of your diet, also provides a constant reminder that improving your diet and eating healthier foods is critical. It also will help you see the accumulative effect of drinking less healthy sodas and other drinks rather than pure water. Smaller portion sizes is often a simple first step.
Step 7 – Daily Inputs - Sleep
Getting sufficient sleep is also critical to establishing a healthier lifestyle. Although it may be very challenging, you need to create a habit of 8 hours of rest each night.
Recording the quantity and quality of your sleep can help guide the building of a healthy sleep habit. Often turning off the TV or smart phone is a good first step.
Step 8 – Daily Inputs – Medications
Many of us encounter chronic medical problems that further impact our ability to maintain healthy lifestyle habits.
Following our doctor’s advice in managing these chronic conditions is needed and capturing data on how well we follow orders is necessary.
Taking all prescribed drugs, and at the appropriate time, is very important and the number of doses and their timeliness needs to be recorded.
Step 9 – Daily Inputs - Harmful Substances
Many of us encounter chronic medical problems that further impact our ability to maintain healthy lifestyle habits.
Following our doctor’s advice in managing these chronic conditions is needed and capturing data on how well we follow orders is necessary.
Taking all prescribed drugs, and at the appropriate time, is very important and the number of doses and their timeliness needs to be recorded.
Step 10 – Daily Inputs – Overall
The final two questions are aimed at measuring your overall physical and mental progress. Your current weight is used to measure overall physical progress. To keep values in relative terms, Note that weight displays are converted to amount gained or lost from your initial weight value.
Your attitude regarding your ability to adhere to your overall action plan is an important overall measure of your daily success.
Step 11 – On-demand Inputs
Step 12 – Weekly Inputs
