Don’t let yourself become part of the statistic. Here are a few natural ways to prevent diabetes and improve your health:
- Eat only 3 meals per day with 1 optional snack. This goes against contrary beliefs that we need to eat least 6 meals per day, I get it. But, how does that make sense when you look at it from an insulin’s point of view? Every time you eat a carbohydrate/sugar, insulin increases and your body goes into a “fat storage” mode. So do you want to do that 4 times per day or 6 times? I’ll let you be the judge!
- Do not eat past 7 PM. I mean who hasn’t heard this? This will help improve your sleep too.
- Eat your carbohydrates earlier in the day.
- Exercise – Studies show that even if you do not lose weight, exercising will still improve insulin resistance. The longer you exercise, the more sensitive your insulin becomes at a moderate-to-vigorous pace. Work up to this if you are just beginning an exercise program. (2)
- Limit or avoid processed foods – this includes chips, candy, crackers, pasta, baked goods, bread, and even processed meats. Opt for foods like brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, steel-cut oats, free range chickens, grass-fed beef, and more and more veggies.
- Sleep at least 7 hours per night – even just 1 night of sleep deprivation causes insulin resistance! (3)
- Manage your stress – if we can’t avoid stress, then we need to learn how to deal with stress. This means developing healthy coping mechanisms. Make it a habit by practicing when you are not feeling stressed. Create a list of 10 things you can do – reading, going for a walk, taking a bath, mediation, grabbing coffee with a friend, writing, painting, reflect on what you are grateful for, stop to breathe and refocus for 5 minutes, yoga, exercise. What is on your list?
- https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/statsreport14/national-diabetes-report-web.pdf
- http://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-10-10
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20371664
