Diabetes is a disease that currently has no cure and affects millions of people around the world. If the disease is not treated properly, they can cause blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, among other conditions.
Before diabetes is diagnosed, high blood sugar occurs, but it is not alarming enough for it to be diagnosed. This condition is known as prediabetes.
Unfortunately, many times due to ignorance of their health, 70% of people with prediabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes. However, if a person is diagnosed with prediabetes there are several solutions to avoid developing a major pathology.
Discover the best ways to prevent diabetes .
10 ways to avoid diabetes
1. Immediately remove sugars and refined carbohydrates from your diet
The human body, upon receiving these foods, breaks them down into thousands of molecular sugar particles, which can be absorbed very easily into the bloodstream. The increased blood sugar from these foods and drinks causes the pancreas to produce more insulin, a substance that helps transport sugar from the blood to the cells of the body. However, this process in people with prediabetes is different, as the body’s cells reject the action of insulin, so blood sugar levels do not drop.
To try to bring the blood to normal levels of sugar, the pancreas continues to produce insulin and even more and more, which leads to type 2 diabetes. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid this type of food.
2. Practice physical activity
Being physically active regularly is a great way to prevent diabetes. Exercise causes cells to increase their sensitivity to insulin, which causes it to act conventionally by bringing sugars to the blood, so if you exercise the cells will require less insulin to assimilate sugar.
Studies in people with prediabetes have shown that if a person performs moderate intensity exercise, their cells increase their sensitivity to insulin by 51%, while with high intensity exercise they saw an increase of 85%. However, this only happened during the days that people exercised.
3. Only drink water
It is better to drink a glass of water than drinks with certain additives and sugars that promise to quench thirst in a more effective and / or lasting way.
Sugary drinks have been closely linked to type 2 diabetes and autoimmune diabetes (LADA). This last type of diabetes is diagnosed as type 1 diabetes in childhood. It develops slowly and requires more care as it progresses.
One study looked at people with prediabetes and found that those with a habit of consuming more than two sugary drinks a day had a 99% chance of developing autoimmune diabetes and an additional 20% of developing type 2 diabetes.
4. Lose weight if you are overweight or obese
Although not all people with diabetes are overweight, most of them are. There are also a large number of people with prediabetes who are overweight located in their abdomen and in the organs that are in this area, such as the liver. This overweight around the organs is known as visceral fat. An excess of this type of fat makes insulin resistant to being absorbed by the cells, causing a greater risk of diabetes.
If you do days of physical exercise or lead a more active life, you can begin to lose this type of fat.
5. Quit tobacco
Smoking puts multiple areas of health at risk. People who smoke regularly are at higher risk for diabetes, lung cancer, hypertension, emphysema, breast cancer, digestive tract cancer, and type 2 diabetes, which are just a few diseases that smoking can cause .
Exposure to cigarette smoke has also been shown to be a risk factor for developing these diseases.
6. Follow a low carbohydrate diet
A low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diet, as it is often called, can go a long way toward avoiding diabetes . There are many ways in which a person can eat for this and in turn lose weight; however, those that act best on this last point are those that promote low carbohydrate intake.
Low carbohydrate intake increases insulin sensitivity , greatly reducing risk factors for diabetes.
7. Do not eat large portions of food
Even if you decide not to eat a low-carbohydrate diet, it is important not to eat large portions of food to avoid becoming more overweight.
Eating too much at one meal causes blood sugar and insulin levels to spike in people with prediabetes. On the other hand, the decrease in food portions can make the body respond in a better way to the sugars that are entering the body.
8. Lead a sedentary lifestyle
A person who is lying down or sitting most of the day leads a sedentary lifestyle. It is important to avoid this lifestyle at all costs if you have been diagnosed with diabetes risks.
For starters, walk for at least 30 minutes a day during work hours and try not to drive to places that you can walk to to exercise your body.
9. Eat high amounts of fiber
Fiber is a very beneficial food for the intestines and, in addition, it serves to control weight. Several studies in overweight and prediabetic people showed that a high fiber diet can lower blood sugar levels and insulin production.
There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. The soluble can be purchased in liquids, while the non-soluble comes in a solid state. Care must be taken with soluble fiber, as it can have an effect that slows the way in which nutrients are absorbed from food, causing an increase in blood sugar .
10. Improve your intake of vitamin D
Vitamin D is very important for blood sugar control. Studies have shown that people who do not get enough vitamin D in their diet may develop an increased risk of resembling diabetes.
It is advisable to have a minimum of 30ng / ml of this type of vitamin in the blood.
References
- Shraddha Rupavate. 10 tips to prevent diabetes. For Thehealthsite [Revised February 2017]
