This Lecture by Dr. Dace Trence, MD, FACE explains how Self Monitoring for Blood Glucose(SMBG)can help in patients with diabetes. The lecture presents the history of SMBG, the barriers to its use, data supporting the effectiveness of SMBG in managing glucose levels, as well as the controversies surrounding the effectiveness of SMBG. Recommendations are given as to how to use data obtained from SMBG. Also reviewed are guidelines as to optimal frequency of SMBG in dfferent diabetes populations from different national endocrine organizations.