Whether you have diabetes or not, consider assessing your lifestyle habits to increase your awareness about how your future health might look in five to ten years.
Are you facing pre-diabetes or have type 2 diabetes? The idea of dealing with this chronic disease is daunting. But you have choices. You can reverse your risk, but it takes effort, commitment, and setting realistic goals.
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), one in three Americans over the age of 18 years have pre-diabetes and one in 11 have type 2 diabetes. That’s a lot of us. Developing type 2 diabetes is a slow process and often develops without symptoms.
Diabetes could be considered a disease driven by not-so-good lifestyle habits. Good news: changing those habits can improve your health. The hard part is gathering the determination to make changes in how you eat, exercise (or don’t exercise), sleep, and manage stress. All four are tangled together. Any one of them missing or out of control can set up less than ideal health.
Now we have a “pill”, really a weekly injection, that can correct weight, improve blood glucose levels, and check your interest in eating. These are the GLP-1’s that are helping people manage weight and consequently reduce health risks. The question is: are you solely relying on medication or is there motivation to reset your lifestyle?
Allow yourself to realize that changing habits will take a while. Change small habits first. Practice new habits until they become automatic. Are you positively committed? Understand your reward of better health is distant and not immediate. Persistence is key. Don’t let go of your vision.
(1) Plan Your Food
- Proactively plan healthy meals and snacks to gain control over what you eat rather than react to hunger and appetite with poor choices. First assess what is in your pantry and refrigerator and get rid of unhealthy food. Make a healthy grocery list that limits ultra-processed foods containing sugar, fat, and salt, but is plant-based, low fat, and lean protein. Read labels. If you don’t take it home, you can’t eat it.
- Plan to have three meals a day with each meal containing protein and foods with fiber like starchy and non-starchy vegetables, whole grains, and fruit. Nutrition information is available on apps for unlabeled food. The American College of Lifestyle Medicine shows that a diet focused on plant-based foods results in weight loss and better diabetes control with improved blood glucose levels.
- Your new plan should include more food prepping to limit sugar, fat, and salt. Organizing your kitchen makes cooking easier and enjoyable. Check websites and cookbooks for recipes. Variety is important to keep you interested. Think of your food as good medicine. Health is your reward.
- Get your family on board with positive changes. There’s a good chance everyone will benefit from healthier eating habits. Kids and teens like to cook. Involve them in planning meals and cooking. This is a great opportunity to build healthy habits for everyone.
(2) Use Numbers to Motivate
- Use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to check your blood sugar. Especially if you have diabetes, knowing the effect of food, exercise, and medications can help you make healthy decisions. Check with your insurance company about coverage and request a prescription for a CGM from your doctor. The FDA will soon approve CGMs for over-the-counter purchase.
- To weigh or not to weigh? Some people find that weighing every morning helps them assess their weight loss progress and help them plan what to eat for the day. Others prefer a weekly weigh-in to avoid the emotional roller coaster that daily weighing can bring. Both ways work. It’s important to slowly lose weight. Rapid weight loss may cause muscle loss which is losing metabolically active tissue. Muscle tissue is hard to replace. If you regain weight, it more likely to be fat.
- Understand your lab results. These numbers are a measure of your health. Your healthcare provider can explain the ones you don’t understand.
(3) Getting Moving
- Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends at least 150 minutes of moderately intense physical activity per week. You want a combination of aerobic effort that increases your heart rate, strength training, and stretching. Dancing, yard work, exercise classes, walking are great options, but be sure you pick an exercise you like. The key is to plan your day to include exercise and make doing it a priority,
- Exercise relieves stress. Stress and anxiety affect motivation and can raise blood glucose. Recognize if stress causes you to eat uncontrollably. Emotional eating is tough to conquer. A few simple steps might include not buying the food you eat when stressed or finding a pleasurable activity to relieve your thoughts. Seek counseling if things feel overwhelming.
- Use it or lose it! If you have been a physically active person throughout your life, chances are that exercise has helped your cardiovascular system, kept your weight manageable, and prevented diabetes. It’s never too late to become more active even if you are physically limited with pain, weight, or are older.
- Try this simple first step. Move for at least 15 minutes after you eat. Don’t sit down. Activity helps use some of the glucose from your meal. This is especially important after dinner when the television calls or if you have a sedentary job.
(4) Focus on Better Sleep
- Good sleep helps manage your worries. Poor sleep increases stress which can lead to extra eating. Set aside eight hours for sleep. Limit daytime naps unless you absolutely need one. Don’t go to bed hungry or stuffed with late night snacks. Avoid taking your devices to bed.
- If you are overweight, you may have sleep apnea which prevents restful sleep and increases the risk of stroke. Request a sleep study to evaluate your sleep patterns.
Finally, seek the support of a Registered Dietitian-Nutritionist, a medical specialist, trained to coach and support you through the process of improving your lifestyle to treat and prevent diabetes.
Written by: Mimi Cunningham, MA, RDN, CDCES
Mimi is a registered dietitian-nutritionist and diabetes care specialist helping people learn to manage their diabetes and achieve good health. She believes food definitely is good culinary medicine.
Discover More…
- Unlock the secret to a happier, healthier lifestyle by delving into additional captivating articles on our website at: Smart Strategies for Successful Living.
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- For more great insights on healthy eating: CLICK HERE.
Reference Links:
- American College of Lifestyle Medicine
- Stress-Induce Diabetes: A Review
- American Heart Association Recommendations for Physical Activity in Adults and Kids.
