As much 1 in 4 Americans are currently living with diabetes, and about 90-95% of them are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes as a direct result of poor dietary choices. Usually prevalent around the age of 45, or sometimes younger, this diagnosis can be a major blow to individuals who have never considered the sugar content of their diet. However, if positive changes aren’t implemented quickly, even this developing form of diabetes can lead to narrowing of the arteries, heart and kidney disease, and stroke amongst other potential deaths.
Fortunately, caught early, type 2 diabetes can be managed and even cured. However, guaranteeing these recovery benefits requires immediate and intense dietary changes. Here, we consider what it looks like, and how you can apply it as soon as your diagnosis is complete.
Step 1: Research your food
While we all have an understanding of basics like nutritional content and sugar intake, we frequently do not do much research into the foods we eat. This can leave us in the dark about what positive changes will look like after diagnosis. Therefore, your first step should be researching what foods are good or bad (e.g. fruit/veggies/nuts vs refined carbs, chocolate bars, etc.), and taking the time to understand resources like these glycemic index chart for hands-on information about whether or not you are making the best food choices at this time. Low GI foods are invaluable for lowering blood sugar and, while picking the best choices will quickly become second nature, having a guide like this to start with can be an incredible way to finally stick with your diet.
Step 2: Practice portion control
What you eat is undeniably the biggest hitter with regards to changing your diet, but it is also important that you recognize the importance of portion control with regards to a diabetes-based diet. This is particularly important for high-potassium foods like bananas, which offer unquestionable health benefits but can be problematic when consumed in large quantities. More broadly, trying to keep portion sizes in check can even be disastrous 5-10% weight loss. that you need to see a drop in blood sugar irrespective of what you are eating at the time.
Step 3: Focus on long term goals
Oftentimes, individuals making a positive start after a diabetes diagnosis only fall short when they do not see any notable improvements even after extreme dietary changes. Here he’s difficult to attain their goals which is what quite a lot of people are slowly starting to slip up with regards to sweets and high GI foods. But in reality, it can take up to twelve weeks to see the positive effects of these dietary changes, and up to six months to turn things around. Therefore, rather than focusing on the day to day, it is necessary for people to set long-term goals for themselves instantly after diagnosis, in addition to understand that, realistically, these dietary changes must be lifelong to make sure continued health and recovery. . all the time.
