Diabetes affects millions of people the world over. When it's left untreated, it leads to blindness, heart disease, and kidney failure.
Now there is a condition where you're your way to getting diabetes if you're not careful, this is called prediabetes.
Around 70% of prediabetic people get type 2 diabetes. It's not impossible to avoid diabetes when you're prediabetic.
There are many factors you can't do anything about though, like your genes, your age, and your past behaviors. There are many things you can do to lessen your chances of getting diabetes.
This article tells you of ways you can prevent yourself from getting diabetes.
When you eat foods that are loaded with sugar and carbs, you put yourself at a high risk for diabetes.
Your body will break these down into smaller molecules that are absorbed by your bloodstream.
The rise of your blood sugar will tell your pancreas to pump more insulin, a hormone that gets sugar out of your bloodstream into the cells of your body.
With prediabetic people, the body's cells don't respond properly to the action of insulin, so the amount of sugar in your blood remains high. In order to compensate, the pancreas will keep making insulin to bring your blood sugar to a healthy range.
If this happens at a chronic level, you develop type 2 diabetes. The constant eating of sugar and carbs is linked to risk of diabetes.
2. Exercise Regularly
When you do physical activity on the regular you lessen your risk of diabetes. Exercise will increase the sensitivity of your cells to insulin. Less insulin is needed to manage your blood sugar when you exercise.
A study found that prediabetic people who exercise increased their insulin sensitivity by 51% and doing high-intensity exercise increased it to 85%.
A lot of physical activity is proven to reduce insulin resistance and decrease blood sugar in fat and prediabetic people. Examples are aerobic exercise, HIIT training, and strength training.
Water is the best drink you can take for your body. If you hydrate with water, you're less likely to load up with sugary drinks like cola and fruit juices.
Studies have continually shown that fruit juices and sweetened beverages isn't good for preventing diabetes.
Water consumption is studied to lead to better insulin response and blood sugar control.
4. You Have To Lose Weight
Not everyone who has diabetes is overweight, but most people are.
Those who are obese are more likely to be prediabetic. Excess visceral fat means more inflammation and insulin resistance. Losing weight reduces your risk of diabetes.
They say that for every kilogram a person loses, they reduce their risk of diabetes by 16%.
You can lose weight by following low-carb diets, paleo diets, and vegetarian diets.
5. Stop Smoking
Smoking is said to lead to serious health conditions like heart disease, cancer, and emphysema.
Exposure to second-hand smoke is also as bad or worse. Smoking is studied to increase our risk of diabetes by 44%.
Many people gain weight after quitting, but they reduce their risk of diabetes more than if they continued to smoke.
Following a keto or low-carb diet will help you not get diabetes. It's crucial that you don't eat too much, especially if you're already overweight. Eating a lot at one time is said to cause high blood sugar and insulin levels.
Decreasing how much you eat will help prevent these bodily responses. A study found that people who reduced their portion sizes lowered their risk of diabetes compared to people who didn't make any changes in their lifestyle.
7. Avoid Being Sedentary
If you want to avoid diabetes, you have to move. If you sit the whole day or just lie on your bed the whole day, you're practicing a sedentary lifestyle.
Studies show a link between sedentary behavior and diabetes risk.
People who are sedentary are said to increase risk of diabetes by 91%.
8. Watch What You Eat
Make sure to go for foods with high fiber, especially insoluble fiber, which is said to reduce risk of diabetes. Choose foods that are high in vitamin D like fatty fish and cod. Increasing your sun exposure also increases your vitamin D levels.
Stop eating processed food. These are linked to heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. When you cut back on processed food like refined grains, you reduce your risk of diabetes.
Go for whole foods like nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Start drinking healthy coffee and tea. Drinking coffee on the daily is said to reduce risk of diabetes by as much as 54%.
Summary
You can choose to see a prediabetes diagnosis as a powerful source of motivation to change the way you live drastically. It all boils down to eating healthy foods and making behavioral changes that lead to normal blood sugar levels and a healthy weight.
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