Everyone can take steps to prevent type 2 diabetes. Even small steps make a difference. And even if you already have diabetes, the things you do for a type 2 diabetes prevention program still help control your blood sugars. They may even reverse the disease.
It helps to think of type 2 diabetes as a disease of bad timing. A healthy pancreas can secrete enough insulin to transport the sugars released from the digestion of a normal meal. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas can't secrete insulin quite fast enough to keep blood sugars normal after eating; however, it may be able to catch up during the night so fasting blood sugars seem OK.
When cells are exposed to high blood sugar levels, they make themselves "resistant" to insulin. This keeps a flood of sugar from rushing in. To overcome insulin resistance, the pancreas needs to make an even greater amount of insulin to lower blood sugars, but it can't... so blood sugar levels go still higher and cells become even more insulin-resistant.
Fortunately, there are four important things you can do to stop your downward spiral into type 2 diabetes:
1. Eat less food, more often. That's not too hard, is it? Even if you make no other dietary changes at all, simply eating less food gives your pancreas more of a chance to make enough insulin to keep your blood sugars at healthy levels. Try to limit yourself to 1 to 2 servings of carbohydrate and 1 to 2 servings of protein in any four hour period.
2. Never eat more than 3 servings of carbohydrate at a time. Many people can stop type 2 diabetes in its tracks just by limiting their carbohydrate intake to absolutely no more than 3 servings of carbohydrates at a time. You might actually get away with eating a slice of cake... but not if you also eat a dollop of mashed potatoes and a roll. People who already have type 2 diabetes typically have to eat even less carbohydrate at a single meal, preferably no more than 2 servings.
3. Don't "pig out" at the salad bar. You probably already know that bacon bits and mayonnaise-based dressings pack on the pounds or kilojoules. Maybe you don't know that even otherwise healthy leafy greens and raw veggies have to be eaten in moderation. That is really because of the peculiar biology of your lower digestive tract.
Stretch receptors in your colon send a signal to your pancreas to get ready for a large amount of sugar whenever you fill up on any kind of food... even alfalfa sprouts. The pancreas sends out insulin to transport the released sugars but it also send out glucagon, a glucose-producing hormone, just in case the meal did not really release a lot of sugar, to keep blood sugar levels from going too low. Since prediabetics and type 2 diabetics don't respond well to insulin, the net effect is higher blood sugars... even if no carbohydrates are eaten at all!
4. Test, test, test. Most diabetics don't like testing their blood sugars, and not without reason. If you poke the wrong place on your finger, it hurts! (Try the side of your finger pad, it hurts less). But the more you test, the more you know about how food affects your body, and the easier it will be for you to keep blood sugar levels healthy.
Would you like more information about alternative ways to handle your type 2 diabetes?
To download your free copy of my E-Book, click here now: Answers to Your Questions... its based on questions many diabetics have asked me over recent months.
Beverleigh Piepers is a registered nurse who would like to help you understand how to live easily and happily with your type 2 diabetes.
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