How to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes: 11 Steps (with Pictures)

2024 Author: Jason Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-19 22:11

In the last 30 years, the number of people with Type 2 Diabetes has skyrocketed to such an extent that it is now seen as an epidemic in the western world. Diabetes mellitus was originally a fairly mild and rare disease suffered by older people, but has now turned into a chronic disease. Diabetes mellitus affects people of all ages, races and backgrounds, and is now a leading cause of premature death in many countries. Everyone dies every 10 seconds worldwide from Type 2 Diabetes. This article focuses on ways to prevent Type 2 Diabetes, by paying attention to risk behavior changes.

Step

Step 1. Diabetes has different types

Diabetes affects the way blood sugar (glucose) is processed in the body. Glucose as an important source of energy is in the bloodstream after digesting food. Insulin, which is normally produced by the pancreas, helps glucose out of the blood and distributes it to liver, muscle, and fat cells, where it turns into usable energy for the body. There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2. About 10 percent of people with diabetes have type 1, while type 2 is more common. Briefly, the background of the type of diabetes is explained as follows:

• Type 1 diabetes: This condition involves the destruction of more than 90 percent of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, causing the pancreas to either stop making insulin or make it in very small amounts. Type 1 diabetes tends to occur before age 30 and can involve environmental and genetic factors.
• Type 2 diabetes: While the pancreas continues to produce insulin or higher insulin levels, the body develops a resistance to insulin, causing a shortage of insulin for the body but blood sugar levels remaining too high. This type of diabetes can occur in children and adolescents, usually starting in people over the age of 30 and becoming more common in older people. The disease tends to be inherited and about 15 percent of people over the age of 70 have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 is asymptomatic for years or even decades before being diagnosed, and when left untreated it can become severe. Pay attention to the following signs.
• Gestational diabetes develops during pregnancy. If undiagnosed and/or untreated, serious side effects can injure the mother and affect the fetus. Gestational diabetes, which resolves after delivery, can increase the risk for developing type 2 diabetes in the future, and gestational diabetes may recur in subsequent pregnancies. After 15 to 20 years, the chances of developing cardiovascular disease will also increase from 1.5 to 7.8 times!
• Diabetes due to surgery, medications, malnutrition, infections and other diseases, as well as hereditary disorders that can lead to diabetes (such as cystic fibrosis), can account for 1 to 2 percent of diagnosed cases of diabetes. Diabetes insipidus is not related to blood sugar levels. This is a relatively rare disease and is not covered in this article.

Step 2. Beware

Type 2 diabetes can change your life, so knowing the dangers is an important part of motivating you to avoid bad eating habits. Often diabetes complications occur quickly in diabetes, while others develop slowly. Types of diabetes complications include:

• Decreased blood supply to the skin and nerves
• Fatty substances and blood clots clog blood vessels (called atherosclerosis)
• Causes of heart failure and stroke
• Leg cramps when walking
• Permanently blurred vision
• Renal (kidney) failure
• Nerve damage (numbness, pain and loss of function)
• Inflammation, infection and skin damage
• Angina (heart pain), etc

Step 3. Pay special attention to any possible diabetes risk factors

There are several major risk factors that increase your risk of developing diabetes, some you can't control (such as age and heredity), and others (such as diet and exercise). Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include:

• Obesity - based on body mass index, a BMI above 29 increases the risk of diabetes by one in four.
• More than 45 years old. Note that premenopausal women are helped by estrogen levels which help in clearing the fatty acids that cause insulin resistance, and help insulin absorb glucose more quickly.
• Have parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc., who have or have had type 2 diabetes.
• Diagnosed with heart disease or high cholesterol. Cardiovascular risks include high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol, and high LDL cholesterol. A study shows that one in four people in Europe who suffer from these risk factors are also prediabetes.
• Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, Asians, or Pacific Islanders are almost twice as likely to be white Americans.
• Up to 40 percent of women with gestational diabetes are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
• Low birth weight increased the risk of developing diabetes by 23 percent for babies weighing 2.5 kg and 76 percent for babies under 2 kg.
• A diet high in sugar, cholesterol, and processed foods.
• Irregular or no exercise - less than 3 times per week.

Step 4. Prevent early

High blood sugar can be corrected before permanent damage occurs. If you have risk factors associated with diabetes, you should have regular screening tests - namely simple urine and blood tests - and control lifestyle factors. If tests show that you have "prediabetes" (metabolic syndrome), you run the risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the future. While being diagnosed can be daunting, it is also your chance to restore health and to slow, reverse or avoid type 2 diabetes through lifestyle changes.

• Prediabetes is a condition when blood glucose is higher than normal. It is a leading indicator of metabolic breakdown, which causes type 2 diabetes.
• Prediabetes is reversible. If ignored, the American Diabetes Association warns that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes within a decade is nearly 100 percent.
• The CDC recommends that those 45 years of age or older should be tested for diabetes if they are overweight.

Step 5. Change your eating habits

Eating high-sugar and high-cholesterol foods will increase the risk of prediabetes and the development of type 2 diabetes. To increase the chances of reversing high-normal blood sugar (prediabetes) and restoring full health to the body, there are several diet solutions that can be implemented starting today. The following dietary suggestions focus on the do's and don'ts of eating.

• Increase the daily portion of fruits and vegetables. Increase to seven to nine daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables can be fresh, frozen, or dried, but it's best to eat as much fresh produce as possible. Reduce the intake of canned vegetables, because they have a high salt content.

  

  • Eat dark green vegetables (eg broccoli, spinach, Brussels sprouts).
  • Orange vegetables (eg carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, winter squash).
  • Beans and legumes (e.g. black beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, split peas, lentils).

• Eat good carbohydrates. Skip cakes, French fries, and other refined carbohydrates. Replace carbohydrates with healthier ones - fruit, vegetables, cereals and whole grain breads. Look for products with good fiber content; Fiber has been shown to lower blood sugar and act as a "cleanser" that slows down the digestive process and the speed at which glucose enters the bloodstream.

  

  • Eat whole grains, whole grain rice, 100 percent whole grain breakfast cereals, whole grain pasta, etc..
  • Eat whole wheat bread, bagels, pita bread, and tortillas.

• Stop drinking sugar. Quench your thirst with water. If you are concerned about water quality, buy a water filter. Soda, soft drinks, fruit juices, juices, fruit drinks, syrups, energy drinks, etc., these are all invisible sources of sugar that the body does not need. Leave these drinks and rely on drinking water, dairy products, unsweetened soy, oats, nuts, milk, etc. Sugar-free sparkling water and sparkling mineral water; a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon or orange juice are enough to give the drink flavor. Coffee and tea can also be drunk, without sugar. Just stick with it, because your body will initially want sugary drinks until you get used to it.

  

• Give up sugary snacks -- and 'refined carbohydrates' (like white flour products) that turn to sugar almost instantly. Sugar is in many snacks, from cakes, candy, chocolate, to fruit biscuits and sweet yogurt. Sugar is cheap, satisfies hunger, tastes great after lunch, and can be eaten non-stop for a quick energy boost. Do you like to eat cakes or sweet snacks while coffee? Your sugar will rise quickly. Don't pile on the sweet sugar and don't take it when you want. Take fruit, cut vegetables, nuts, and other healthy products instead. A few nuts are a great substitute for chips and the like -- and a good source of fiber, essential oils and protein.

  

  Avoid all sugary foods, especially breakfast cereals. Choose a cereal with less sugar and one that is 100 percent whole grain. Or replace it with oatmeal, spinach, or another whole grain product. You can make your own muesli (a kind of oat dish). Do your research and read the ingredient lists on all the products you are going to buy. If there's an ingredient you don't know what it means, look it up! Always be careful what you eat

• Eat healthy fats. Avoid false "healthy fats" labels, such as olive oil which is often rancid when purchased. Instead, use coconut oil for cooking, which has many nutritional benefits and will retain its nutritional value once heated (it doesn't spoil when heated). Avocado is a food that is high in healthy fats. Avoid refined, hydrogenated, partially saturated fats and vegetable oils (canola, corn, etc.).
• Sweets are only allowed on special occasions. The availability of sweet products and fatty foods is equivalent to a feast. Many of us cannot stop ourselves from sweet and fatty foods, and consume them in our daily diet. In the past, humans only enjoyed sweet treats on special occasions such as parties and celebrations. The lingering flavor enhances the sweetness and delicacy of the food; But nowadays sweets are almost there when you're feeling down - "They say I suck at my job! I need chocolate!!". Even if you can't change your work and life situation, you can maintain your health by not using food as a stress reliever, and only eating sweets on special occasions.

Step 6. If you change your eating habits to become healthier as a lifestyle choice, you can lose weight much more easily than continuing to focus on "diet."

Eating healthy and exercising properly makes weight loss on its own. Keep in mind that the goal of health is to live longer, and the fact that even very overweight people reduce their risk of diabetes by 70 percent just by losing 5 percent of their body weight.

• Do it slowly. "Diets" tend to fail because they are short-term and have an "ultimate" goal. Lifestyle changes to eating are for good, and gradually reduce foods that increase health risks, while increasing healthy foods. As it gradually, the body becomes more in tune with healthy foods and you will begin to enjoy eating without added flavours, processing, sugar, fat, and salt.

  

Step 7. The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) shows that those who lose 5 to 7 percent of their body weight and exercise for half an hour every day for 5 days a week reduce their risk of developing it by 58 percent; this contrasts with a 31 percent reduced risk for those who rely solely on drugs

Whatever your weight, exercise is an important part of staying healthy. Excess body fat will inhibit the breakdown and use of glucose which is important for energy. Just 30 minutes of exercise per day that increases your heart rate, is one important way to help avoid diabetes and maintain a healthy weight.

• Take a walk during your lunch break. If you can walk half an hour every lunch for 5 days a week, you will stay fit and healthy.

  

• Avoid rush hour by exercising near work after it's time to go home. Come home a little late, exercise, then the stress will be gone because the traffic has been smooth.

  

• Have a dog or walk the dog - dogs make exercising easier, and it's your responsibility to take the dog out.

  

• Walk to the store instead of taking the car. Unless you have to carry something, walk. You can walk with friends or family members while chatting. Conversing while walking will make the trip seem shorter.

  

• Change songs on your iPod or MP3 player. Give yourself a reason to walk or run while listening to your choice of music.

Step 8. Do the test again

After 6 months to a year of changing your eating and exercise habits, come back for a test to see changes in your blood sugar levels.

• Always monitor with your doctor. Follow your doctor's advice.

  

• If you need help, talk to a registered dietitian who can help develop a meal plan.

  

Step 9. Consider seeing a psychologist if you have underlying emotional problems that are causing you to overeat or eat unhealthy

Step 10. Ask your doctor how to lower your blood sugar and insulin requirements during sleep (day or night):

don't eat anything other than a light protein meal before bed, especially non-essential nutrients 2 or 3 hours before bedtime, drink only water (not alcohol, caffeine or other stimulants), and say to yourself: "That food will still be there tomorrow!"

• If you are taking insulin or other diabetes medications and feel that you "have to have a snack" before bed to prevent low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) at night - how do you "prevent" excess insulin? Talk to your doctor about how to adjust the dose of the drug so that "no need late night snack".

  

• When you're hungry after dinner -- these "free" foods contain few, if any, carbohydrates and calories, so "one" won't cause weight gain or blood sugar spikes. Choose "free" food, as:

  

  • Celery leaves
  • Baby carrots
  • Bell's green chili slices
  • A handful of cranberries
  • Four almonds (or similar nuts),
  • Passion fruit

• Give the nerves, liver and digestive system time to finish the work, to rest and for general recovery, from the sugars produced by digestion [continuously] after falling asleep; so that less sugar will be absorbed in the blood, and to stop fat or sugar being processed throughout the night in the liver (so that internal digestion is also clean), etc..

  

Step 11. Sleep (on an almost empty stomach

) -- Get 6 or 7 more hours of sleep for nerve recovery time so all the other systems can settle down and rest. This will lower diabetes problems, such as blood sugar levels [and increase blood pressure].

• If you need sleep aid, (1) a drowsiness-causing antihistamine does not cause high blood pressure (HBP), it is also inexpensive (eg brand 'Chlortabs'): namely chlorpheniramine maleate - also sold as 'Chlortrimeton' or 'Corcidin-HBP'. (Don't take sweet antihistamine syrups.) (2) Take Valerian as a very relaxing herb - it aids sleep and is well known for reducing body aches and pains. If you wake up too early, drink water and take the second dose, if four hours or more have passed since the first dose. (3) Consuming calcium with magnesium and vitamin D3 and the B vitamins, omega3, omega3-6-9 all work together and create many enhanced relaxation and other healthy benefits! (4) Sleep-aid "small portions of protein food" -- such as turkey or plain chicken, and eat almonds (rich in fiber!), walnuts, pecans, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, pistachios, kidney beans with skins (also types of seeds and nuts). nuts that contain essential oils!).

  

Tips

• Schedule regular visits to the doctor to monitor your urine and blood, if you are at risk for diabetes. Set automatic reminders on your phone or online calendar to ensure appointments.
• "Diabetes mellitus" means "sweet honey diabetes", referring to the high level of sugar in the patient's urine.
• A study in the Netherlands showed that men who ate lots of potatoes, fish, vegetables and beans had a lower risk of diabetes. Although potatoes are often considered bad, when cooked and eaten without added fat, they are healthy because they are high in complex carbohydrates, so they are broken down into simple sugars before they can be absorbed into the bloodstream. This is a factor that keeps blood sugar levels stable.
• It has been noted that breastfed infants are less at risk of developing type 1 diabetes than bottle-fed infants.