How Can You Prevent Diabetes?

Diabetes is a chronic life long disease characterized by elevated blood glucose levels that can be counteracted by the actions of insulin. If you are predisposed to having this disease in either of it's two forms but do not have it, there are ways to reduce your risks for development of the condition, and quite possibly preventing it's occurrence.

First order of business is to know what causes it, and secondly, to know your risk factors and the measures you can take to defend yourself, thereby preventing it.

There are some risk factors for diabetes that you can do nothing about, such as family history. But you can certainly do something about the type of lifestyle that you lead. You can make changes to your diet to include healthy carbohydrate foods such as:

• Fresh fruits


• Whole grain breads, cereals, and pastas


• Green leafy vegetables


• Raw vegetables


• Beans


• 100% natural fruit juices, green tea, and water

Eat protein rich foods such as turkey, chicken, and fish. Beef that is 95% fat free is also a good source of protein, but I would suggest eating red meats at a very moderate level. Red meats are harder to digest, but a good porterhouse steak every now and then is truly hard to turn down. Yum!

Physical Activity:

A sedentary lifestyle is another factor for diabetes. Exercising 3 days per week will not only reduce your risk, but will also help with weight loss if you are over weight. Even a daily stroll around the neighborhood and getting out into the fresh air and sunshine (in moderation) is good for the body, as well as the mind and soul. Gardening is another excellent physical activity. Increasing your activity will also increase your endurance and lower your blood pressure.

Monitor Your Blood Pressure:

Hypertension or high blood pressure causes damage to the body organs, and is a risk factor for diabetes. Monitoring your blood pressure and taking your medications to keep your blood pressure within normal limits (if you are hypertensive) helps to prevent nasty complications down the road. Also be careful of your sodium intake by reading the labels of any processed food you eat. As a side note, I must caution everyone about those cafe steamers that became popular. They may look healthy and are advertised as such, but the sodium content says otherwise. If you eat the cafe steamers, I would advise to find something more healthful to eat instead as they are full of salt and other unsavory chemicals!

Losing Weight:

If you are over weight, dietary changes and physical activity will help you to shed those extra unwanted pounds. You will find that you feel healthier and will look healthier too. Not to mention the years it will take off of your appearance.

Monitoring Cholesterol levels:

High cholesterol and triglyceride levels lead to heart disease and can complicate diabetes. Keeping these values in check to be in the normal range can prevent this. Make sure you eat a diet that is low fats and cholesterol. You may be surprised to find out that liver, lobster, shrimp, and other seafood is high in cholesterol. I know, that's painful to learn. My favorite is king crab legs dipped in sweet creamy butter. Eating 3 oz of fried shrimp has the highest cholesterol content of 150 mg, while 3 oz of scallops have the lowest at 30 mg.

Changing your lifestyle, eating habits, and physical activity will not be an easy overnight sensation. It will take hard work and dedication to do, but when you do, you will be all the more healthier for it by taking the necessary steps to help prevent diabetes.

by Barb Hicks, RN/LMT