Get Your Blood Sugar Levels Back To Normal: Diet and Exercise for Preventing Type 2 Diabetes

Oct 5 by Joanna Verdan

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To enjoy a long and healthy life, and prevent diabetes, everyone should make lifestyle choices that include a healthy diet, regular physical activity, and maintaining normal weight. The combination of inactivity and eating the wrong foods is the second most common preventable cause of death in the United States (right after smoking cigarettes).

Diabetes Prevention Diet

The diet that is optimal for diabetes is optimal for overall health too. It introduces a way of eating that focuses on low-glycemix index foods and significant reduction, or even elimination of refined carbohydrates and processed foods.

It increases your intake of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and monounsaturated and omega-3 fats. You are allowed to eat a wide range of dishes based on fresh vegetables, salad greens, fruit, nuts, herbs, fish, yogurt with live cultures, and – for those of you who are not willing to eliminate the meat completely and go vegetarian – small amounts of meats.

Even though this diet is not designed to be a weight loss diet, you will start losing any excess weight gradually and effortlessly. This natural weight loss will happen because you are eating healthily and avoiding processed foods, refined carbohydrates, and fatty foods which contribute to being overweight.

For best results, alcohol should also be eliminated, however, it’s generally acceptable to drink a small, 5-ounce glass of red wine a couple of times a week.

Foods to avoid or eat less of for normal blood sugar levels

The foods that you should exclude from the menu are just as important as the ones that are included. You must strive to eliminate refined carbohydrates, such as cakes, sugary soda drinks, cookies, candy, white flour breads and pastas.

Processed foods, for example, canned meats, packaged soups.

Foods high in unhealthy fats, which include meat and dairy products, if eaten in large quantities. Reducing meat portions to smaller size, as well as replacing meat with legumes, or vegetable dishes 2-3 times a week, is recommended.

All these foods contribute to a raised blood sugar levels. Avoiding them will help you to maintain a more stable blood glucose level, especially after eating. You will also be consuming lower amounts of sodium, saturated fats, trans fats, and as well as avoiding foods high in cholesterol, which will benefit your blood pressure, and circulatory health tremendously.

Top Foods for Diabetics

I suggest when shopping for your groceries, you start with the top of this list and fill your cart with healthy items:

Fruits and Vegetables
Apples, appricots, bananas, blueberries, grapes, kiwi, mango, melon, raspberries, strawberries, etc. Fresh and raw fruits are best. Dried fruits are also acceptable.
Broccoli, bok choy, artichokes, eggplants, kale, green beans, carrots, radishes, okra, zucchini, tomatoes, celery, cucumber, daikon, mixed salad greens, peppers, lettuce, watercress, cauliflower, potatoes, squash, bean sprouts, etc.
Organic are best, however, don’t skip fruits and veggies, just because you cannot find organic.

Nuts and seeds
Almonds, walnuts, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds. Raw and unsalted are best.

Grains
Stick to whole grains as much as possible. Try to mix them up. Some people can be allergic to wheat without even knowing, so you may try to eliminate wheat completely and see how you feel.
Brown rice, wild rice, rolled oats/oatmeal, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, wholewheat breads, etc.

Legumes
Kidney beans, lentils, pinto beans, etc.

Drinks
Green, white, herbal, and fruit teas. Replace other drinks with water. Filtered tap water is best, as it is as good as bottled water (in most U.S. areas, at least), minus the cost and environmental impact of plastic bottles and transportation. Freshly squeezed vegetable juices, apple or orange juice. Almond milk or soy milk.

Animal products: meats and dairy
Limit the consumption of animal products to only a few times a week. Eat smaller portions. Many health experts recommend eliminating them completely, and eating a diet that is close to vegetarian.
You may not like this recommendation, as I know this is highly controversial. I realize, most people are not willing and ready to do it. When eating dairy and meats, choose organic, humanely produced products, with no antibiotics, or harmful preservatives, and low fat content.
Low-fat yogurt with live cultures. Omega-3 rich eggs, salmon, shrimp, chicken and turkey breast.

Physical Activity

If you haven’t been exercising much over the past few years, you need to start slow to avoid the pain and ache that might discourage you from continuing. For example, a good way to start will be with a 20-minute walking routine, that you can do once or twice a day, breaking it into two 10-minute sessions.

Walk at a rate that is brisk enough to raise your pulse rate to about 100 beats per minute (unless you are taking beta-blocking medication), so that you start to breath faster, even feeling slightly breathless. With practice, you can start to aim your pulse rate to be in the target range for your age. Increase the length of the walk/exercise, when you start feeling more fit and up to it.

Once you get used to exercising on a regular basis and become more fit, you can start to pay more attention to your pulse rate. Aim to maintain your pulse rate within the correct rate for your age group. This will help prevent you from over-exerting yourself, while making sure that you are exercising hard enough to burn excess calories and lose fat.

Start varying your routine by including other sport activities that you enjoy. Swimming, yoga, tennis, taking a Zumba class, or riding a bike are all great physical activities to pursue. Add some strength training too.

Target Heart Rate Calculation Chart

How to calculate your pulse rate?

Place your fingers on the inner side of your wrist, on the same side as your thumb, or at the side of your neck under your jaw. Count your pulse for ten seconds every 5-10 minutes when exercising, to make sure you stay within the range.

Age Range Pulse Range
20-29 — 20-27
30-39 — 19-25
40-49 — 18-23
50-59 — 17-22
60-69 — 16-21
70+ — 15-20

When you are just starting out, keep the rate at the lower level. If your pulse gets too high, take a break and wait until it slows down. Start exercising again at a more gentle rate.

Make sure you always warm up before exercising by doing some stretching and bending to prevent injuries. Cool down at the end by walking slowly and doing more gentle stretches.

With time, you will find that you will be able to exercise more strenuously, allowing your pulse to get closer to the upper end of the range. After physical activity your should feel energized, not exhausted. Check your pulse after finishing the exercise. After ten minutes, your pulse should fall below 10 beats per minute.

You should not exercise after a heavy meal, if you have been drinking alcohol or don’t feel well. You must stop immediately if at any point you start to feel dizzy, unusually short of breadth, or feel chest pain.

Check your blood sugar levels prior and following the physical activity. Always have with you some high energy glucose snack, in case you develop symptoms of hypoglycemia. Ask your doctor if you have any questions about your exercise routine, or have any special conditions (such as a history of heart attack).

Sources

http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/specialtopic/physical-activity/print.html

http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/cat-diabetes.html

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

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