One of the most essential steps to avoid complications from diabetes is managing your diet. This means knowing both what to eat and what not to eat. It also means avoiding bad eating habits that raise your diabetes risk. This will help to keep your weight optimal.
Making the Right Food Choices
- Skip the sugary drinks Sweet tea and regular sodas are essentially empty calories. These drinks are have no nutritional value and won’t satisfy your hunger pangs. Think wisely: When you’re thirsty opt for water. If you have diabetes, drink alcohol in moderation.
- Don’t forget about breakfast. Yes, it’s the most important meal of the day, and when it comes to diabetes prevention, that’s especially true. Forgoing breakfast will backfire on you: not only will you be starving by midmorning, but this bad habit can lead to type 2 diabetes because you set off a chain reaction that disrupts insulin levels and blood sugar control.
- Do pile on the vegetables. Lots of vegetables in your diet help with blood sugar control and weight loss, especially if you eat the non-starchy ones like spinach, squash, tomatoes, and broccoli. According to the American Diabetes Association, you should try to fill one-half of your plate with vegetables. Vegetables give you the fiber you need to feel full and keep your blood glucose balanced.
- Avoid too many carbohydrates. limit the starchy carbohydrates in your diet to one-quarter of your plate. Switch from white bread to whole-grain bread for better blood sugar balance, diabetes control, and weight loss.
- Head for the fish. Salmon, tuna, mackerel, and sardines are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These cut your risk for heart disease and high blood pressure. They are also good for preventing diabetes according to the American Heart Association.
When and Why You Eat
- Don’t eat late at night. If you’re indulging in nighttime noshing on a regular basis, you should try to stop. Eating late at night causes blood sugar spikes and disrupts insulin secretion. If you do need to eat at night, try something beneficial like hummus and carrots.
- Eating to escape your emotions? Feeling sad, hopeless, or even worthless can lead to eating too much and weight gain. In addition, people who are depressed are also less likely to take the right steps to manage their blood sugar and diabetes.
British researchers found that losing just 10% of your body weight during the first five years that you have the disease can lead to remission of type 2 diabetes. That weight loss would be 18 pounds for someone who weighs 180 pounds. It’s not an impossible goal for the New Year.