How to Avoid Type 2 Diabetes - Part1 Maintaining Healthy Eating Habits

How to Avoid Type 2 Diabetes

In the past 30 years, the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes has skyrocketed to such an extent that it is now viewed as an epidemic in the western world. From being a once fairly mild and rare ailment of the elderly to becoming a chronic disease, this type of diabetes affects people of every age, race, and background, and is now a major modern cause of premature death in many countries around the world. Someone dies from Type 2 Diabetes every 10 seconds worldwide.^[1] Happily, there is a great way to prevent Type 2 Diabetes: establish and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Part1 Maintaining Healthy Eating Habits

1 Understand the connection between diet and diabetes. Eating excessive sweets and fatty foods increases your risk for pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes development. You can reverse high-normal blood sugar (pre-diabetes) and reduce your risk for Type 2 Diabetes by reducing unhealthy foods, watching your portions, and eating a balanced diet.

2 Eat more fruits and vegetables. Aim for seven to nine daily servings of fruit and vegetables.^[2] Frozen and dried fruits and vegetables offer some health benefits, but fresh, in-season produce always packs the most nutritional power.^[3] Try to reduce your intake of canned vegetables because they have higher salt content.

3 Select fruits and vegetables in a variety of rich colors. Deeper colors often mean more nutrients, so it is best to eat a variety of different fruits and vegetables that offer an array of bright colors. Some produce to focus on includes:

• Dark green veggies like broccoli, spinach, kale, and Brussels sprouts
• Orange veggies like carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and winter squash
• Red fruits and vegetables like strawberries, raspberries, beets, and radishes
• Yellow foods such as squash, mango, and pineapple

4 Eat complex carbohydrates. Skip the pastries, cakes, fries, and other processed carbohydrates. Fill up instead on carbohydrates that are healthy, including fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals, and fresh breads. Look for choices with high fiber content; fiber has been shown to lower blood sugar by acting as a "mop" slowing down the digestive process and the speed with which glucose enters the bloodstream.^[2]

• Eat legumes such as black beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, split peas, lentils.
• Select whole grains, whole grain rice, breakfast cereals with 100 percent whole grain content, and whole grain pasta.
• Choose whole-wheat bread products such as bagels, pita bread, and tortillas.

5 Limit the sugar you’re drinking.^[4] One of the leading sources of empty calories and excess sugar is drinking sugar-laden beverages such as sodas and “juice drinks” with limited juice content. You should aim to quench your thirst with water most of the time. If you're worried about its quality, purchase a filter. If you are accustomed to drinking sugary drinks, your body will crave sweetened drinks initially until you wean yourself from the habit.

• Sodas, soft drinks, fruit juice, cordial, fruit drinks, flavored water, energy drinks, etc., are all sources of invisible sugar that your body does not need. Leave these drinks for treats only and rely on drinking water and milk.
• If you get tired of plain water, soda water and sparkling mineral water are free of sugar, and a few drops of freshly-squeezed lemon or orange juice can be sufficient to flavor these drinks pleasantly.
• Coffee and unsweetened tea can also be enjoyed in moderation.

6 Stop snacking on sugar and refined carbohydrates. Refined carbohydrates such as white flour products almost instantly turn to sugar when you eat them.^[5] Sugar resides in many snacks from the obvious cakes, pastries, candies, and chocolate, to the less obvious fruit bars and sweetened yogurts. Sugar is cheap and it satisfies cravings, provides a quick pick-me-up for after-lunch crashes, and is serves a never-ending need for fast energy fixes. Don't stock up on sugary treats and don't reach for them when you feel like a lift.

• Be aware that sugar can “hide” where you may not expect it, like in breakfast cereals. Opt for cereals with less sugar that are 100 percent wholegrain. You can also substitute sugary cereals with oatmeal, amaranth, or other grain-based options. Try making your own muesli. Read the ingredients list on all products that you're considering buying.

7 Stock up on healthy snacks. Replace sugary snacks with fruit, vegetable sticks,nuts, and other healthy items. Fresh, seasonal fruit can satisfy a craving for something sweet. Salted nuts can be a good substitute for salty snacks like chips, but they provide increased nutrients like of fiber, healthy fat, and protein.

8 Eat healthier fats. There is a common misconception that all fat is bad. It’s true that deep-fried fast food is an unhealthy source of fat. However, salmon and nuts have a high fat content that offer a variety of health benefits. Avocado is another food that's high in healthy fat. It’s more important to try avoid processed fats, hydrogenated, saturated or mostly saturated (especially avoid trans fats), and vegetable oils than to cut fat entirely out of your diet. Look for unsaturated, monounsaturated, or polyunsaturated fats instead.^[6]

9 Reserve treats for special occasions. It may seem like punishment to cut all sugar out of your life forever. However, you can still indulge in the foods you like from time to time without derailing all of your eating habits. You may even find that saving your favorite sweet treats for special occasions, rather than indulging in them daily, can make the experience of eating the treats even sweeter.

10 Do not think of your eating habits as a “diet.” “Diets” tend to fail because they're short term and have an "end" point. Thinking of your new way of eating as changing your eating habits rather than a temporary “diet” can help you maintain the new habits with less effort. You may also find that you will lose weight with less effort or stress.

• Keep in mind that the goal of being healthy is lifelong, and remember that even extremely overweight people have lowered their diabetes risk by 70 percent just by losing 5 percent of their total weight.^[2]

11 Cut down on nighttime eating. If you are pre-diabetic, you may need to avoid eating anything other than a light protein snack near bedtime. You should also limit your beverage consumption to water only, cutting out alcohol or drinks with sugar or caffeine.

• If you feel hungry after dinner, try eating a low calorie and carbohydrate food that will have less of an impact on your blood sugar. Some options include:^[7]

• Celery sticks
• Baby carrots
• Green bell pepper slices
• A handful of cranberries
• Four almonds (or similar nuts),
• A cup of light or air-popped popcorn

12 Avoid emotional eating. Try to differentiate eating as emotional response from eating due to actual physical hunger. Remember that physical hunger can be satisfied by almost any food, while emotional hunger often manifests as a craving for one specific food.^[8]

13 Eat slowly to avoid overeating. It takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to send a signal to your brain that you are full. In that lag, you may eat too much: far more than you need.

• Consider seeing a psychologist or a dietitian if you feel that you cannot control emotional eating on your own.

14 Consider talking to a Registered Dietitian and CDE. If you want to make changes to your diet to reduce your risk of developing diabetes, consider talking to a registered dietitian and CDE (Certified Diabetes Educator). These nutrition and diabetes experts will be able to guide you towards a more appropriate diet.