How can I eat healthy so i don't end up with diabetes?
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shadows2424
Posts: 179 Member
I know a good diet and exercise are the number one combatant of diabetes, but what type of diet would i have to follow in order for it to actually work? Diabetes runs in my family and i want to minimize my chances as much as possible. Thanks for any advice/help.
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Stop eating anything with added sugar, stop adding sugar to stuff and avoid processed foods. That's it0
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Manage your weight as well - strong correlation to being over weight.0
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Yup. Stay at a healthy weight. Eat most of your calories from whole nutritious foods, incorporating a wide variety (veg, fruit, lean meat, dairy, whole grain, nuts). Add in a few treats for emotional satisfaction. Try not to make it too complicated. There are no magic foods.0
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shadows2424 wrote: »
If canned soup has a lot of sugar yea. Fruits are usually fine, but for starters make a goal to never add sugar when you cook for example. It's quite easy. Natural sugars are good. It's not complicated. Another goal would be to eliminate procesed foods from your diet. Like procesed meats and junk food.0 -
shadows2424 wrote: »
Nothing wrong with either of those.0 -
- Keep your weight at a normal level
- Exercise
That is it. If you have not been diagnosed with pre-diabetes or insulin resistance, there is no reason to worry about eating carbs, etc. What you eat does not give you diabetes. You get it from a combination of at least 2 or more of the risk factors: genetics, being overweight, long term use of certain medications (esp. statins and antidepressants), and age (and a bunch more where there is a correlation but not proven causation).
If you have been diagnosed with either, you might want to follow your MD and/or RD's recommendations as to what dietary changes are needed.0 -
This is a concern for me as well. I have a family history of diabetes and I've also been diagnosed as prediabetic. Maintaining a healthy weight is key. Your diet doesn't have to be complicated. Eat a healthy balanced diet and avoid foods high in sugar. Start reading the labels when you shop. You also might consider purchasing an inexpensive glucose monitor and make a habit of checking your blood glucose.0
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Hi, shadows. Limit things with added sugar. Go for fruit rather than fruit juice. Eat lots of fresh or fresh-frozen vegetables (cooked or raw) and quality protein - fish, leaner meats. If you like grains, eat whole-grain products over excessively processed grain products.0
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Sugar does not give you diabetes and it does not affect you if you do have it (unless you are T1Dm and need to know your sugars in order to use the correct amount of insulin). The important number is your total carbs, not how they are divided into sugars and starches. The only difference between sugars and starches is how fast the glucose hits your bloodstream. Your body turns starches into sugars so both will hit your bloodstream as glucose.0
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You can reduce the risk most by staying at a normal weight and being physically active.
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shadows2424 wrote: »
If canned soup has a lot of sugar yea. Fruits are usually fine, but for starters make a goal to never add sugar when you cook for example. It's quite easy. Natural sugars are good. It's not complicated. Another goal would be to eliminate procesed foods from your diet. Like procesed meats and junk food.
You keep saying "easy," but what you're describing -- avoiding anything that has added sugars, never using processed foods, etc -- isn't realistically sustainable for a lot of people due to both financial cost and time cost. Telling a person to eliminate such wide swatches of food is unrealistic, and sets them up for failure.
OP, a "healthy" diet is one that is made mostly of foods that are good for your body. Processed food in moderate amounts is fine. Sugar in moderation is fine. But if you're controlling your diet for the sake of controlling your weight and keeping in contact with your doctor about this issue, you'll likely be fine.0 -
I agree that exercising and staying a normal weight will help keep blood glucose normal.... That will help most people. A normal weight and exercise was not enough for me to keep my blood glucose normal though. I also need to eat a low carb high fat diet, a very LCHF ketogenic diet in my case.
Eating low carb just makes sense to me. Unless one is eating excessive amounts of protein, blood glucose can't go high if you are not eating enough carbohydrates (grains, baked goods, foods with added sugars, starchy root vegetables, tropical fruits) to raise it.
I still eat carbs in the form of veggies, but the calories coming from carbs is vastly less than those I get from fats and protein.
Best wishes.
ETA eating to your (glucose) monitor will help. If you have any issues you can discover them early and correct it.0 -
- Stay at a healthy weight -or get to a healthy weight if you are overweight.
- Exercise regularly, including both cardio and strength training.
- Eat a well-balanced diet, including whole grains, fruits and vegetables, dairy, lean meats and seafood, minimal saturated and trans fats, and minimal added sugars (the WHO recommends less than 10% of total calories being from added sugars). If your health care provider finds that you are insulin resistant, lowering carbohydrates may be recommended (all carbohydrates require insulin, not just sugars. Glucose is the body's preferred energy source and converts most other carbs to it for energy).
- Discuss your concerns with your health care provider and see if they want to include more frequent diabetes screenings. The big thing is to catch type 2 diabetes early -it is often considered a "silent killer", because a diabetic can go years with elevated blood sugars without developing any symptoms (when those elevated BG levels can cause complications to develop).
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Sugar does not cause diabetesStop eating anything with added sugar, stop adding sugar to stuff and avoid processed foods. That's it
Bad advice ^^^- Keep your weight at a normal level
- Exercise
That is it. If you have not been diagnosed with pre-diabetes or insulin resistance, there is no reason to worry about eating carbs, etc. What you eat does not give you diabetes. You get it from a combination of at least 2 or more of the risk factors: genetics, being overweight, long term use of certain medications (esp. statins and antidepressants), and age (and a bunch more where there is a correlation but not proven causation).
If you have been diagnosed with either, you might want to follow your MD and/or RD's recommendations as to what dietary changes are needed.
Good advice ^^^
Know the difference0 -
Sugar does not cause diabetesStop eating anything with added sugar, stop adding sugar to stuff and avoid processed foods. That's it
Bad advice ^^^- Keep your weight at a normal level
- Exercise
That is it. If you have not been diagnosed with pre-diabetes or insulin resistance, there is no reason to worry about eating carbs, etc. What you eat does not give you diabetes. You get it from a combination of at least 2 or more of the risk factors: genetics, being overweight, long term use of certain medications (esp. statins and antidepressants), and age (and a bunch more where there is a correlation but not proven causation).
If you have been diagnosed with either, you might want to follow your MD and/or RD's recommendations as to what dietary changes are needed.
Good advice ^^^
Know the difference
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I thought there was nothing you could do to prevent TYPE I diabetes. The type that runs in families.0
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JanetYellen wrote: »I thought there was nothing you could do to prevent TYPE I diabetes. The type that runs in families.
The OP didn't specify which type.0 -
shadows2424 wrote: »I know a good diet and exercise are the number one combatant of diabetes, but what type of diet would i have to follow in order for it to actually work? Diabetes runs in my family and i want to minimize my chances as much as possible. Thanks for any advice/help.
Diabetes runs in mine also. Right after maintaining healthy weight I focus on filling my diet with protein and fat while minimizing carbs. There is a worldwide epidemic of diabetes and the scientific community still doesn't have a clue on what causes those of us prone to actually develop it, so IMHO minimizing the stress on my carb processing system is the best course of action.0 -
If you mean a tendency towards Type 2 and not Type 1, I would say the advice given to exercise and avoid a high carb diet may be the most important. I don't have diabetes, but elevated blood sugar runs in my family and I also have blood sugar that is too high. Everyone is different, but I think I'm finding out that in my case, carbs may even be more important than exercise or weight (I'm active and don't have any excess body fat, not even 5 lbs). There does seem to be a small portion of the population for which weight/body fat has little impact on blood sugar, although I'm not sure scientifically how this is the case.0
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