How to Prevent Diabetes
Diabetes is a syndrome characterized by abnormally high levels of sugar in the bloodstream, usually caused by environmental, genetic factors or a combination of both. This syndrome arises from a diminished or lessened production of insulin, or a development of the body’s resistance to insulin. Diabetes can cause blurred vision, lethargy, and drastic changes in metabolism. Its complications can lead to a double risk of cardiovascular disease, blindness, and poor wound healing, among others.
Pre-diabetes is a condition where your blood sugar is considered high but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. People who have pre-diabetes are urged to do measures to prevent their condition from progressing to full diabetes. Here are some tips:
Watch What You Eat
Integrate vegetables and fruits, include them in all of your meals and have fruits for snacks. Try to stick to “colorful” fruits. Choose non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, carrots and beans over the starchy ones like potatoes or yam. Whole wheat and dried beans are also preferable over their alternatives.
Include fish-preferably grilled, stewed or steamed in your meals at least twice a week.
Avoid fat in your meat and choose lean meat. You should also go non-fat in your dairy options such as skim milk, non-fat cheese and non-fat yoghurt.
Choose clear drinks over processed colored drinks. Drink unsweetened tea or water and cut out sodas and other sugary drinks. Minimize your intake of coffee, especially sweet coffee.
Remove junk food from your diet completely. Chips, ice cream and other high-fat, low-nutrition food are a no-no.
When choosing cooking oil, take the liquid oil over the solid lard. Solid oils are rich in trans fats, which are bad for your body.
Avoid fast food, processed food and fried food.
Control your portions when you eat. You can either have three fixed meals in a day or six small meals distributed throughout the day.
Limit your sugar intake.
Exercise
Exercise has a direct result on your blood glucose, also known as your blood sugar. There is no question that exercise is an important step in preventing diabetes. For the average person, 30 minutes of moderate activity five times a day is enough to help prevent diabetes. There are three kinds of exercises that you should do: Aerobics (or cardio), strength exercises and stretching.
For aerobics, you can take a 30 minute brisk walk around your neighborhood or on a treadmill. You can also buy a low-impact aerobics workout video, take dance classes, swim or use a stationary bike. Keep in mind that if you are a beginner, you should acquaint your body with low-impact exercises first before progressing to high-impact exercises, especially if you are taking medication for preventive measures. Low glucose levels can cause dizziness following a high-impact exercise routine, so take things slow while keeping it consistent.
Strength exercises are basically lifting weights. Like aerobics, take it slow at first, starting with five pound weights until you can progress to heavier weights. Resistance training such as aerobic ball workouts also help build your strength.
Stretching simply means flexing your muscles. Yoga, pilates and tai chi are three popular exercise routines that you can take for stretching exercises.
Clean Living
Avoiding or giving up the alcohol, smoking and prohibited drugs are all steps to a healthier lifestyle. Making sure that the rest of your body is strong and functioning perfectly helps prevent diseases like diabetes. If you ever do get diabetes, stopping smoking early on means that you will lower your risk of cardiovascular diseases, which smoking aggravates.
Drink moderately, and that means no more than two drinks for men a day and one drink a day for women. Choose light wines and dry beers, those that have a low alcohol and sugar content. If you are already taking diabetic pills, try to get rid of the drinking habit altogether: Your blood sugar can drop dangerously low, leading to hypoglycemia.
Diabetic Pills or Insulin
If you have been diagnosed as a pre-diabetic, your doctor will likely prescribe medication to lower your blood sugar levels. These medications will be accompanied with strict orders on what you can or cannot do, which you must follow carefully.
Generally speaking, there is no surefire way to prevent diabetes, especially if you have a family history of diabetics. However, taking away the risk factors gradually will be a big help in preventing diabetes from showing up at all.