Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases in which the patient has high blood sugar, either because of inadequate insulin production, or because the body’s cells fail to respond properly to insulin, or maybe both. Symptoms of diabetes are polyuria (frequent urge to urinate), polydipsia (becoming increasingly thirsty) and polyphagia (becoming increasingly hungry).
How to control diabetes?
Diabetes is on a rise. It has become a common household medical condition. How to control diabetes? Healthy lifestyle changes can bring a big difference if you are trying to prevent or control diabetes. The most important factor is to lose weight. According to experts, losing 5% to 10% of your total weight can help you control diabetes considerably. Weight management and a healthy diet can rejuvenate your energy levels, and comfort you with a sense of wellbeing.
The bottom line of controlling diabetes is weight management and healthy diet.
Being overweight is the greatest risk factor for developing diabetes. Not all body fat has been created equally. You tend to face a higher risk if you are carrying your weight around your abdomen. If you store your weight around your middle, especially around abdominal organs and liver, the fat stored there is closely linked to diabetes and insulin resistance. You may develop diabetes if you are a woman with 35 inches or more waist circumference or a man with a 40 inches or more waist circumference.
Diabetes Weight Loss
Obesity and diabetes are interwoven. If you’re plump and have diabetes, dropping kilograms lowers your level of blood sugar and improves your health. But before starting a diabetes weight loss plan, it’s important to consult your doctor because while you are controlling diabetes with a diet, your insulin, blood sugar and medications need special care.
There is a risk of high or low blood sugar while you are on a diet for weight loss. Your body needs tight glucose control while you are controlling diabetes with diet and weight management.
A diet for weight loss should cut 500 calories per day. Your diabetes diet should cut calories from protein, fat and carbohydrates though a healthy ratio has to be maintained.
Diet for weight loss
A few strategic changes can help with diabetes weight management. Try these tips on diet to reduce weight:
Cut out drinks containing sugar. Eliminating sugary drinks like juice, soda, lemonade, sweet tea and sweets from your diet is the best way to weight management. It may prevent intake of almost 500 calories per day. It will improve blood sugar control and facilitate weight loss.
Eliminate white foods. Eliminating white sugar, white flour, white rice, white potatoes and white bread from your diet, will help you drop weight.
Don’t skip meals. Skipping meals are unhealthy for a diabetic patient and unproductive for weight loss. A diabetic diet should have two large meals a day which are more effective for weight loss. Cutting back on meals can affect the balance of blood sugar, insulin, and medication in your body. Thus, it is recommended to work with a dietician.
Measure your portions. Portion control is a major strategy for weight management for diabetes. A diabetic patient should use measuring cups and spoons to prevent overeating. It helps with diabetes weight loss.
Keep calorie intake the same every day. Regulating the amount of calorie intake on a day-to-day basis helps to regulate your blood sugar levels and helps in diabetes weight loss. Try to consume the equal amount of calories each day for proper weight management.
Diet for diabetic patient
Carbohydrates: The impact of carbohydrate on your blood sugar level is immense. Cutting them off from your diabetes diet is not the solution. You just need to choose the right types of carbohydrates to eat.
Eliminate refined carbohydrates like pasta, white bread and rice, as well as sugary drinks like candy, soda, snack foods, fast foods, sweets and packaged meals. A diet rich in high fibre complex carbohydrates is ideal as a diet for weight loss. Complex carbohydrates are also called slow-release carbohydrates. They help to maintain blood sugar levels and prevent your body from releasing too much insulin.
Sugar: A diabetes diet should not be completely sugar-free. Moderate sugar should be incorporated in the diet for diabetic patients. But sugar should be consumed with other precautions. Do not incorporate other carb-containing foods and deserts at the same meal. Reduce the intake of soft drinks, soda and juice you drink. Saturated fat should not be replaced with sugar. Check labels of your food and opt for low sugar products. Use fresh ingredients instead of canned foods.
Fats: People with diabetes are prone to heart diseases, so it is important to control fats in a diabetic diet. Some fats are harmful, and others are enormously beneficial. Trans fats which also called partially hydrogenated oils should be eliminated from the diet for diabetic patients. Avoid packaged snack foods, commercially-baked goods and fried food. Unsaturated fats, extracted from plant and fish sources (olive oil, nuts, and avocados) should be included in a diabetes diet. Also, focus on omega-3 fatty acids, which fight inflammation and support brain and heart health. Good sources include salmon, tuna, and flaxseeds. The naturally occurring high saturated fat found in whole milk dairy, coconut oil is healthy for a diabetes patient, but the saturated fat found in pizza, and processed meat products are unhealthy and have been associated with coronary heart diseases and cancer. Healthy saturated fat should be added to the diet to reduce weight.
How to control diabetes? We already know that. How to prevent it? You should work upon that. If you are overweight with a family history of diabetes, you start losing weight to avert or postpone the onset of diabetes. If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, it is recommended to consult your doctor for a weight management plan for your diabetes. Diabetes lives at the cost of your dessert, don’t let it snatch life’s sweetness from you.
All the treatments – medicines, injections and vaccines are for general information of the reader. Please consult a doctor and get a formal prescription before taking any medicines, supplements and injections.
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