Beating Diabetes - Break free from diabetes
- josephplatt1979
- Jul 10, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: Dec 23, 2022
Beating Diabetes
Diabetes is a health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy. The food you eat is broken down into sugar, which is also known as also glucose and released into your bloodstream. When blood sugar is elevated, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your body’s cells for use as energy.
The problem for people with diabetes is the body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use the insulin it makes as well as it should. When there isn’t insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. This can cause health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease. There are certain things we can do and certain foods we can eat to help with beating diabetes.
Types of Diabetes
Type 1 Diabetes - If you have type 1 diabetes, your pancreas doesn't make insulin or makes very little insulin. If you have type 1 diabetes, you’ll need to take insulin every day to survive. Type 1 diabetes usually appears during childhood or adolescence, but it can develop in adults. signs and symptoms can appear relatively suddenly and may include, increased thirst, frequent urination, bed-wetting in children, extreme hunger, weight loss, mood changes, blurring vision, tingling hands and feet, fatigue and weakness
Type 2 Diabetes - Your body doesn’t use insulin well and can’t keep blood sugar at normal levels. This means your blood glucose (sugar) levels keep rising. Type 2 develops over many years and is usually diagnosed in adults. People with type 2 diabetes can eventually tire the pancreas out, meaning their body makes less and less insulin. This will lead to even higher blood sugar levels and mean you are at risk of hyperglycaemia. Symptoms of type 2 are similar to type 1
People get confused between type 1 and type 2, but the main difference between the type 1 and type 2 diabetes is that type 1 diabetes is a genetic condition that often shows up early in life, and type 2 is mainly lifestyle-related and develops over time. With type 1 diabetes, your immune system is attacking and destroying the insulin-producing cells in your pancreas.
Gestational Diabetes – This is what develops in pregnant women and is diagnosed for the first-time during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes causes high blood sugar that can affect a baby and put it at risk for health problems. Gestational diabetes usually goes away after a baby is born but increases your risk for type 2 diabetes later in life. A baby is more likely to have obesity as a child or teen, and more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life too. Gestational diabetes can be controlled by eating healthy foods, exercising and, if necessary, taking medication.
Fighting Diabetes
The problem for our body’s is that too much insulin is toxic and currently there's no actual cure for diabetes, but changing your lifestyle could be a big step towards beating diabetes and it's possible for some people to reverse type 2 diabetes. Through Healthy nutrition and weight loss, then you may be able to reach and hold normal blood sugar levels without medication. Making a few changes in your lifestyle now may help you avoid the serious health complications of diabetes in the future, such as nerve, kidney and heart damage. There are some things you can try and they include:
EXERCISE -Excess weight or being overweight increases the chances of developing type 2 diabetes seven-fold. Being obese makes you 20 to 40 times more likely to develop diabetes than someone with a healthy weight. Losing weight can help if your weight is above the healthy-weight range. Exercising not only burns fat and builds muscle, it also provides many benefits when you have diabetes.
Examples of how exercise help include:
Body use insulin better by increasing insulin sensitivity
Lower your blood pressure, because high blood pressure means you’re more at risk of diabetes complications
Improve cholesterol to help protect against problems like heart disease
help you lose weight and keep the weight off after you’ve lost it
Better sleep
Better joints and flexibility
Exercise releases endorphins, which you could think of as happy hormones.
Being active is proven to reduce stress levels and improve low mood.
Try things like jogging, swimming, bike riding, walking and even resistance training for beating diabetes. If you have any other health conditions in addition to type 2 diabetes, talk to your doctor before starting a new fitness routine.
FASTING - Going without food and drink calories for a set amount of time can help diabetes. Your body enters into a fasting state eight or so hours after the last meal. Your body will initially use stored sources of glucose and then later in the fast it will break down body fat to use as the next source of energy. Several studies have found that intermittent fasting reduced glucose levels, weight, and post-meal blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. If you do choose to fast, then you must consult your doctor to make sure that you are able to look after yourself properly.
NUTRITION- Changing eating habits is a step that may help reverse diabetes. Your nutrition and what you put on your plate will be a huge factor with diabetes health.
Healthy eating can help you manage your blood glucose (sugar), blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Healthy nutrition choices will help you manage your weight and reduce the risk of diabetes complications, such as heart problems and strokes, and other health conditions including certain types of cancers. Your nutrition should include healthy macronutrients of protein, carbohydrates and fats.
CARBS - Your body needs carbohydrates so choose wisely. Best Choices will be whole grains, such as brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, sweet potato. Choose Items made with whole grains and no added sugar. Fruit give you carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fibre. Most are naturally low in fat and sodium. But they tend to have more carbs than vegetables do. Eat fresh fruit or plain frozen fruit or fruit canned without added sugar. Load up on vegetable for micronutrients, vitamins and fibre. Go for fresh veggies or greens such as kale, spinach, and broccoli
PROTEIN - Protein can come from lots of choices, including beef, chicken, fish, turkey, beans, cheese, eggs, nuts, supplements. Try to include some plant-based protein from beans, nuts, even if you're not a vegetarian or vegan. You’ll get nutrients and fibre that aren’t in animal products.
FATS- Fats are so important for our diet, hormones and help manage your diabetes. Best choices for healthy fats include flaxseed, nuts, seeds, or avocados and foods that give you omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, tuna, or mackerel
EAT LESS SALT- Eating lots of salt can increase your risk of high blood pressure, which in turn increases risk of heart diseases and stroke. When you have diabetes, you’re already more at risk of all of these conditions. Lots of pre-packaged foods already contain salt so remember to check food labels and choose those with less salt. Cooking from scratch will help you keep an eye on how much salt you’re eating. You can also get creative and swap out salt for different types of herbs and spices to add that extra flavour.
LIMIT ALCOHOL- If you have diabetes then drinking alcohol may cause your blood sugar to either rise or fall, also alcohol has a lot of calories. Alcohol gets broken down by your liver and the liver is also in charge of making sugar when your blood sugar levels are low, by converting stored glycogen into glucose, and releasing that glucose into your bloodstream. When you drink your liver is busy processing the alcohol and has a hard time producing glucose. Try and limit your drinks and keep the amount sensible to allow your body to deal with the insulin levels, this will help towards beating diabetes.
SMART SNACKING - If you want a snack, choose yoghurts, unsalted nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables instead of crisps, chips, biscuits and chocolates. But watch your portions still – it’ll help you keep an eye on your weight and know your not gonna overdo it on the carbs
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MORE FRUIT AND VEG - We know eating fruit and veg is good for you. It’s always a good thing aim to eat more at meal times and have them as snacks if you’re hungry. This can help you get the vitamins, minerals and fibre your body needs every day to help keep you healthy. Fruits do contain sugar, but it’s natural sugar.
This is different to the added sugar (also known as free sugars) that are in things like chocolate, biscuits and cakes. Products like fruit juices also count as added sugar, so go for whole fruit instead.
REDUCE STRESS - Stress causes the body to release hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which may contribute to insulin resistance and ongoing stress may lead to high blood sugar levels. When you're stressed, you feel anxious and when you're anxious, you may not manage your diabetes well. You may forget to exercise, eat right, or take your medicines.
Find ways to relieve stress through deep breathing, yoga, or hobbies that relax you.
Making time for rest and relaxation can help a person better manage their stress levels.
learn more about stress and the the condition through educational materials or a support group.
HYDRATION- Drinking plenty of water will help control blood sugar levels, drinking water will lower chance of developing high blood sugar than those who drank less water. Drinking water helps pump up your blood volume, and therefore lowers the concentration of glucose in the bloodstream, helping lower blood glucose values. Regularly drinking water helps lower your blood sugar levels and keep them within a more normal range. Aim to drink around 2 litres per day and even more on days you do exercise.
DONT SMOKE - Add type 2 diabetes to the long list of health problems linked with smoking. Smokers are roughly 50% more likely to develop diabetes than non smokers, and heavy smokers have an even higher risk. Regulating insulin levels more difficult because high levels of nicotine can lessen the effectiveness of insulin, causing smokers to need more insulin to regulate blood sugar levels.
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BOTTOM LINE
Making all the above changes will help you with beating diabetes and may even reverse it giving you a healthy mind and body. Making a few small changes to our daily habits is all we need to do to help turn the tide on diabetes. If you feel you could do with some help making lifestyle changes, see a qualified nutritionist or dietitian, who can work with you to develop a realistic eating plan that’s best suited to your needs and goals. To help get into an exercise plan, try your local gym.
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