Tips On How To Prevent Diabetes
I must confess I developed Type-2 Diabetes several years ago, but fortunately it's under control. I plan to share with you how I did it in this and future posts. I must underscore that it is a serious disease and you need to be aware of it and how to either prevent it from happening to you or someone in your family. Or if someone does already have it, how you can manage it.
Diabetes Is Influenced By Genetics
Type-1 Diabetes is that version that people are born with. You probably know someone who has it.
must take insulin and monitor their blood sugar levels religiously every day to stay alive.Type-2 Diabetes is the type I have and usually people develop it later in life. Generally, you can treat it with drugs and lifestyle modification (diet and exercise). If you don't do so, it will progress into a Type-1 version and you'll need to take insulin. So it's best if you take measures early and modify your diet and exercise regularly to avoid this more serious stage.
If you have any relatives who have had diabetes, you need to be vigilant and have your blood sugar levels checked regularly. This is particularly true if you are middle-aged and are carrying too much weight. If your blood sugar level is over 100-125, you are borderline diabetic and should make some modifications in your diet and lifestyle.
Preventing Diabetes
How to prevent Diabetes has been a concern for many of us since we were kids. In my own family, my baby cousin was born with diabetes, so she had to have shots injected once a day by my aunt, who just happened to be a Registered Nurse. Of course, while this many years later we have sub-lingual solutions, we have different levels of Diabetes (those not requiring shots included), and we have self-administered daily blood sugar testing.These measures can enable one to prevent Diabetes from going full speed ahead into full blown stages. Besides my cousin on my mother’s side having the disease, on my biological father’s side, my grandfather had it. Is there a surefire solution for how to prevent Diabetes, though? Yes and no. Evidently, we can “delay” such forms of the illness as Type 2 Diabetes. According to such institutions and studies as NIDDK (National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases) and NIH (National Institute of Health), diet and exercise are found to help stave off the onset and symptoms. These findings are only reinforced by the additional smaller studies by organizations and institutes all over the world: from Finland to China, it has been found that at-risk people can slow the onset or fight the disease with aerobic exercise (with a goal of losing 2 to 7 percent body weight) and balanced, low sugar diets (with a goal of avoiding “trigger” foods). The sugars mentioned include, that is, sucrose, fructose, lactose, and other sugar forms found naturally and synthetically present in most foods. In addition, Diabetes Prevention programs set up a regimen that includes, besides diet and exercise, standard care and the drug metformin. According to CDC (Center for Disease Control), the studies applying such treatment/prevention measures found that participants who included a healthy diet, metformin, and moderate physical activity of 30 minutes a day/5 days a week, reduced their risk of getting Type 2 Diabetes by 58%!. Or they can control Diabetes if they already have it and even bring sugar levels into the normal range. I can attest to that personally.
Now the bad news. Besides cutting out sugar, you need to cut back on carbs, too. Carbohydrates convert into sugar in your body. But there are adjustments you can make to manage this. There are "good" carbs and "bad" carbs. You need to cut back on the "bad" carbs. These are mostly carbohydrates that are white--white bread,white potatoes,white rice, white pasta. Fortunately, you can substitute "brown" versions of most and not miss a beat. Whole grain bread. Brown rice, whole wheat pasta. Unfortunately, when it comes to potatoes, there is no brown version of a potato. A sweet potato is ok. Sounds strange, a "sweet" potato is ok, but it's true. Unfortunately, I don't like sweet potatoes so I haven't had many baked potatoes or french fries since I changed my eating habits. Don't get disheartened. I'll talk more about dieting on a later post.
The good news that when you know how to prevent Diabetes, you can either prevent or manage this disease and live a naturally long and high-quality life. It can be done, but it's up to you. The benefits of doing so are well worth it.
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Tags: blood sugar level, diabetes prevention, diabetes treatment, Diet, Exercise, Type 2 Diabetes
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