Tuesday, November 18, 2014

New Ways to Beat Diabetes

More than 29 million Americans suffer from diabetes.   If you are getting older or putting on weight, your risk for diabetes goes up.  The promising news:  lifestyle changes can prevent and, in some cases, reverse the disease.  Many  people are not aware that you can improve your body’s response to insulin and reset your natural ability to metabolize the glucose in your blood.  Here are a few suggestions that you might not have even considered:


Cut the fat, up the fiber
The ideal diabetes prevention diet should consist of 15% fat, 15% protein and  70% carbohydrates  with the majority of those carbs coming from fruits, vegetables and whole grains.  High fiber is the key because it makes you fell full more quickly and helps you absorb calories more slowly.

Don’t rely on supplements
New research finds that whole foods (mainly fruits and vegetables) contain enzymes that help activate the nutrients your body needs for weight and blood sugar control.

Get 6 to 8 hours of sleep nightly
People who slept less than five or six hours a night were 28% more likely to develop diabetes than those who slept six to eight hours.  Even though we’ve been told you can’t catch up on sleep on the weekend, sleeping for 10 hours a night on the weekend will greatly improve insulin sensitivity.

Calm yourself
When you’re stressed, your levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, go way up and inflammatory chemicals called cytokines increase.  Both of these cause insulin resistance which can lead to diabetes.  The ways in which people combat stress – by consuming high-fat and high-sugar foods – only compound the problem.  Stress reduction programs can help; they improve blood sugar control, too.

Stop being a weekend warrior
To keep diabetes at bay, you should be exercising 150 minutes a week.  Just don’t do it all at once!  Exercise helps the body become more sensitive to insulin but the effects of this insulin sensitivity last just 36 hours.  Ideally, you should be exercising every day or every other day – not once on the weekend for several hours.  

Exercise in a cold gym
When the temperature is at most 62 to 65 degrees, you have an even greater chance of generating and activating so-called brown fat, which keeps your organs warm and promotes lean muscle tissue and calorie burning.  Preliminary research shows that brown fat may also reduce insulin resistance and improve glucose control.

Ask about new meds
The latest class of diabetes medications blocks the kidneys from reabsorbing glucose.  So diabetes patients who take these drugs end up getting rid of excess glucose through their urine.  It is the glucose that does the most harm. So making this step a priority really aids in the fight. 

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