Preventing Diabetes Efficiently
Diabetes is a common condition, but it can be prevented in a lot of cases. If you think you are at risk for diabetes, go over these tips to learn how you can prevent it.
An unhealthy diet will increase your risks of developing diabetes. Meet with a nutritionist or do some research on good nutritional habits to find out how healthy your current diet is. Identify your bad nutritional habits and get rid of them. You should stay away from any food that contains a high amount of sugar, fat, sodium or preservatives. Check the labels of your favorite foods if you are not sure how healthy they are.
Adopt a well-balanced diet. You need to eat foods all the food groups in healthy quantities. The five food groups include; cereal, meat, fruits and vegetables, diaries and fats. Each meal should include a portion of each food group, with cereal being the most important element and fats the smaller portion. You also need to figure out how many calories you need in a day. The average number of calories needed is 2,000, but it varies a lot depending on your age, sex, weight and how active you are.
If you are at risk for diabetes, you need to eat plenty of foods that are rich in whole grains and fibers. You need to eat three to five servings of whole grains a day and 30 grams of fibers. Do not hesitate to eat more than these recommended amounts. You can find whole grains by selecting foods made with whole wheat flour or by eating oatmeal, millet, wild rice, whole rye, whole grain pasta and many other foods from the cereal group. You can find fiber in beans, spinach, beets, pears, apples, berries, bananas, raisins, rye bread, peas, pecan and bran cereal.
Keeping your weight down will help you avoid diabetes. If you are overweight, you need to make some changes to your diet and exercise regularly. Meet with your doctor to assess how much weight you need to lose and ask if you are healthy enough to start exercising right away. If you have a lot of weight to lose, you might have to lose a few pounds by adopting a healthy diet before you can think of exercising regularly.
You should meet with your doctor regularly for a complete physical. It is important to get tested for diabetes regularly if you believe you are at risk. You should also get your cholesterol or your blood pressure tested since these conditions can be linked to diabetes. Do not worry if there is a history of diabetes in your family; you will be more likely to develop this condition if you have diabetic relatives, but you can prevent this from happening if you adopt a healthy lifestyle.
You should have a better idea of what you need to do in order to avoid developing diabetes. Do not hesitate to get the professional opinion of different doctors if you want to assess how likely you are to get diabetes.