Doc Told Me I’m Diabetic – Bummer – Now What?

By Lauran Stevenin

Exercise burns fat. Excess weight causes a cycling effect. You become more fatigued with more weight and less apt to exercise or do other things that will help maintain a lower weight. Even eating moderately without exercise will result in increased weight. It doesn’t have to be a 3-hour stint at the gym to become healthier. You can lose weight without that huge block of time at the gym. Gradually increase the exercise and you’ll find yourself breaking that negative cycle.

Balanced meals are the key. Plan your meals to provide a balanced diet and plan your daily exercise habits to use more calories than you take in. I used to be a meat and potatoes man, myself. With a little fear factor (the idea of being diabetic), I started using a smaller plate and figuring half the portion on the plate should be vegetables. Eating 1200 calories daily and expending 1400 calories will lead to gradual weight loss. The same theory goes for eating 2400 calories and expending 2700 calories. The gradual weight loss is the important factor for healthy weight loss.

Cooked vs raw vegetables – which is better? Microwaving versus baking or boiling is not a good alternative because the cooking process, itself, is actually killing those enzymes. Include raw fruits and vegetables in your diet to provide many of the enzymes your body needs. Vegetables are good for you because they contain fewer calories yet a lot of fiber. Eating lettuce or carrots help you feel full so you have a tendency to feel like youve eaten a lot without having taken a lot of calories into your body.

Don’t feel like a “health nut” if you consider squeezing your own juice. That’s a stereotype given to people who generally put health above all else in life. Well, let’s face it. If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, you SHOULD be taking better care of your health and squeezing your own juice is one way to do that. Using a blender and avoiding adding extra sugar will give you juices that have a lot of good enzymes, lower sugar content and are better for you. You might even try guava or red grapes. They make a tasty juice as well as controlling your blood sugar level.

Doctors say we are an obese society. (My wife types doctors’ notes. I remember when she was typing a report the doctor noted a person being obese and she said, “He better NOT say that about me when I go in!”). Well, it’s true. Fast food restaurants pour on the fat and the sugar and then want to know if we want to “super-size” it. YOUR objective is to balance the things you eat.

Foods rich in fiber help clean fat and blood glucose from your system. Naturally, this lowers the blood sugar levels. We talk about foods high in fiber being vegetables and a lot of those are found in salads. Naturally, we consider salads good for you to keep your body clean. The next thing to consider are the salad dressings. Take care here because things like mayonnaise and extra sugars are used to enhance the dressing’s flavor. If you pour on the dressing, you’re defeating the benefit of eating the salads in the first place. Moderation is the key to using dressings. Another option is to use low-calorie / low-fat dressings.

The pancreas produces enzymes to digest food in addition to insulin to regulate the sugar level of the blood. Over a period of time, the pancreas starts to lose its ability to produce both in most people. This simply means a good diet becomes more important as people get older. Many doctors end up suggesting patients add a dose of acidophilus to their diet to ease the stress placed on the pancreas by adding bacteria into the system that assists with the digestive function.

Four of the fat-fighting compounds you can always count on are calcium, fiber, omega-3s and vitamin D. Calcium is found in dairy products. When considering dairy keep in mind it’s best to use fat-free or soy milk products. Whole grains, fruits and vegetables are high in fiber. Walnuts, flax seed and fish contain a lot of omega-3s while vitamin D is found not only in dairy products, but also in eggs and fish like tuna, salmon and sardines.

Lauran Stevenin is an author and health coach. Diabetes runs in his family so the need to balance diet, control weight and the love of cooking have been instrumental in his life. Get the Low-Glycemic, Gluten-Free Cookbook or sign up for the Heal Diabetes Monthly Newsletter.

*

Article kindly provided by UberArticles.com

Topics: Diabetes | Comments Off

Tags: Diabetes

Reprint Rights

Comments are closed.