Got diabetes? I'll share my best tips for staying on top of the condition. Learn what to eat – and when – plus smart workouts to burn off extra pounds. Plus, how much do you know about diabetes? Test your knowledge with our quiz...
When you have diabetes, you know the choices you make each day will affect how you feel. They also play a significant role in whether you come down with common complications, like eye damage and heart disease.
But figuring out the right lifestyle changes to make can be confusing. Here are 7 natural tactics to make managing your condition easier.
1. Follow these dietary do’s and don’ts.
Eating right is a key part of promoting healthy blood sugar levels. But adjusting your habits doesn’t have to be hard. Use these simple tips to stay on track.
Do:
Eat plenty of vegetables and legumes (beans, peanuts, peas).
Eat lean protein, such as fish, poultry or tofu.
Eat healthful fats, which are found in coldwater fish, raw nuts and seeds, and extra-virgin olive oil.
Eat modest amounts of fruit (1-2 servings per day).
Don’t:
Eat too many processed foods.
Eat a lot of red meat (limit to 1 serving per week).
Eat carbohydrate-dense, starchy foods, such as pasta, cereals and other grain-based foods.
Use sugar or artificial sweeteners to enhance the flavor of food or consume products containing these ingredients.
2. Watch your portions.
Quantity is just as important as quality. Overeating often leads to weight gain, and excess pounds are a known factor in insulin resistance.
Here are some general rules about serving sizes to help you choose a healthy amount of food at every meal.
Protein
Fish, chicken or meat: 3-4 ounces, about the size of a standard deck of playing cards
Egg whites: 4-6 (or about 1/2 cup liquid egg whites from a carton)
Cheese: 1 ounce, about the size of a domino
Cooked pasta, rice and beans
1/2 cup, or the size of half a baseball
Vegetables
Raw: 1 cup, or the size of a baseball
Cooked: 1/2 cup
Fruit
A medium-size piece, about the size of a tennis ball
After meals, I recommend taking a brisk 10-minute walk. This helps clear glucose out of your bloodstream and keeps blood sugar at a healthy level.
3. Know your glycemic guidelines.
In addition to the amount of food you eat, your blood sugar levels are affected by how quickly your body breaks that food down into glucose.
One way to evaluate foods is with the glycemic index (GI). Foods with a high GI, such as refined carbohydrates and sugars, are rapidly turned into glucose, driving up blood sugar levels.
On the other hand, vegetables, legumes and most fruits cause a slow, sustained release of glucose into the bloodstream. They’ll keep your insulin from spiking, provide a steady source of energy and satisfy your hunger over the long haul.
It’s also helpful to look at a food’s glycemic load (GL), which takes into account a food’s quality and quantity. It’s determined by the GI plus the amount of available carbohydrates in a standard serving.
Which is better? I give the nod to GL, and here’s why: Some foods with a high GI actually have minimal effects on blood sugar levels when eaten in normal quantities. (Others with a low GI are potentially problematic.)
For example, a large carrot and a cup of spaghetti have similar GIs, yet the spaghetti contains a far higher GL. A carrot contains only 5 g of available carbs while the spaghetti contains 38 g, giving them GLs of 2 and 16, respectively.
That means, they have dramatically different effects on your blood sugar.
Carrots, watermelon, pineapple and other fruits with a high GI were once thought to be inappropriate for diabetics but are actually acceptable. While the GL confirms the need to cut out pasta, bagels and other starchy, carbohydrate-dense foods.
To quickly lighten your glycemic load, eat lots of salads, green vegetables and legumes.
Another secret: Eat a modest amount of healthy fats and moderate portions of lean protein with each meal to help “cancel out” high-glycemic foods, even in a single dish.
One of my favorite meals is a hearty salad with salmon on top. It’s an easy way to get a tasty serving of healthy fats, plenty of protein and lots of low-GL carbs.
4. Use natural sugar substitutes.
Having diabetes doesn’t mean you need to live in a sour world, as long as you choose smart sweeteners.
Stevia, which is extracted from a plant native to South America, is calorie-free and doesn’t affect blood sugar levels. Also, it’s much sweeter than sugar, so you can use it sparingly.
Some people find stevia’s slight aftertaste a bit unpleasant, but this varies by manufacturer. So don’t give up on it before trying several brands.
Xylitol is a sugar alcohol (in the same category as sorbitol and mannitol) and can be used in baking.
Although not calorie-free, it’s metabolized much more slowly than regular sugar and has an extremely low glycemic index, making moderate amounts safe for people with diabetes.
It also has 40% fewer calories than sugar. The only reported side effect is gastrointestinal (GI) distress when large amounts are ingested.
While stevia and xylitol are my two favorite sweeteners, there’s a third one you may want to consider: erythritol.
Like xylitol, erythritol is a sugar alcohol that’s naturally present in many fruits and vegetables.
While most sugar alcohols are notorious for their laxative effects, erythritol has far less potential for causing GI distress when consumed in moderation.
Similar to xylitol, erythritol looks, tastes, cooks and bakes like sugar. But unlike sugar’s 16 calories and 4 grams of carbohydrates per teaspoon, it has zero calories, no carbs and doesn’t affect glucose levels, which makes it perfect for diabetics and those watching their weight.
5. Try vinegar for better blood sugar.
Mixing a little vinegar with water can improve both your blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity.
In a study published in the journal Diabetes Care, researchers examined the effects of vinegar on people with diabetes.
They found that 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar mixed with water and a noncaloric sweetener reduced glucose and insulin response when taken just before a high-carbohydrate meal (a bagel and orange juice).
The vinegar worked just as well as diabetes drugs, cutting the usual blood sugar surge in diabetics and those with insulin resistance by 25% and 50%, respectively. It improved insulin sensitivity 19% and 34%.
A follow-up study by the same group of researchers found that taking vinegar alone before meals can facilitate weight loss. This time, volunteers took 2 tablespoons of vinegar before two of their daily meals for four weeks. During that time, they lost an average of 2 pounds, and some lost up to 4 pounds. (Weight didn’t budge in the control group.)
The study’s lead researcher speculates that vinegar may interfere with enzymes that break down carbohydrates, allowing them to pass through the gastrointestinal tract without being absorbed.
Based on these findings, I recommend that anyone with blood sugar concerns give apple cider vinegar a try. Aside from its pungent taste, vinegar has no adverse effects and costs considerably less than drugs and other conventional diabetes treatments.
It’s highly acidic, so dilute it with lots of water and rinse your mouth out thoroughly afterwards (or sip it through a straw) to keep from harming your tooth enamel.
6. Boost your magnesium.
When a diabetic has high blood sugar, it triggers increased urination. This results in losses of virtually all water-soluble nutrients, including magnesium.
Low magnesium levels not only make controlling blood sugar more difficult, but also increase risk of diabetic complications. For example, studies show that individuals with the lowest levels of magnesium are the most likely to have severe diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage).
Shoring up on magnesium is critical for people with diabetes, prediabetes or metabolic syndrome (a group of conditions that occur together, like obesity, hypertension and insulin resistance). Foods such as fish, nuts, beans and green vegetables have some, but many people need a supplement. Make sure you get 500-1,000 mg daily.
7. Lose more weight with interval training.
Interval training simply means alternating between short periods of high-intensity exercise and longer periods of low-intensity training. It burns more fat and calories than trekking along at a constant pace.
Researchers from the University of New South Wales in Australia found that when study participants added intermittent sprints to their 20-minute jogs for 15 weeks, they burned three times more fat from their backsides and legs than their counterparts who jogged steadily for 40 minutes.
Other research shows that exercising like this also improves endurance, strengthens the heart and has positive effects on metabolism.
Interval training can be done at all fitness levels. If you’re a walker, power-walk for a minute or two every five minutes during your routine. If you jog, bike or swim, bump up the intensity every few minutes and sustain that pace for at least 60 seconds.
For more information, visit our Diabetes Health Center.
Myth vs. Fact: How Much Do You Know About Diabetes?
In the United States alone, 23.6 million people have diabetes. And 5.6 million of them don’t even know it. Unfortunately, misinformation about diabetes is rampant – and mixing up the facts about this disease can have dire consequences.
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