Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects the ability of your body to convert food into energy. The body doesn't produce enough insulin or respond adequately to insulin. Type 2 develops slowly through early symptoms like constant hunger, fatigue, lack of energy, blurry vision, and excessive thirst.
It can be hard to reverse type 2 diabetes, but some studies suggest that diet and exercise may help. This guide will show you how to reverse diabetes naturally.
Foods That Increase the Risk of Diabetes
The first step in reversing diabetes is to avoid foods that increase the risk of developing this disease. These foods include:
- Full-fat dairy: whole milk, butter, cheese
- Sweets: candy, cookies, baked goods, ice cream
- High-fat meat: fatty cuts of pork, beef & lamb, poultry skin
- sweeteners(table sugar, maple syrup, brown sugar)
- Processed food: chips, processed meat, microwave popcorn
- Trans fat: fried food, partially hydrogenated oil
Top 8 Ways to Reverse Diabetes
proper diet and exercise regimen, people with type 2 diabetes can control their blood sugar levels. Here are eight easy & evidence-based ways to naturally lower your blood sugar level.
1. Healthy Diet
There is no specific diet for type 2 diabetes, but you can mainly focus on adding vegetables and fruits To your diet. Avoid refined carbs, sweets, and sweeteners, and get more fiber in your diet. You can still have fun eating your favorite foods, but you might need to eat less often or in smaller portions. The diet should also be sustainable and easy to follow. Diet plans that are overly restrictive or do not fit your lifestyle can get strong to stick with in the long run. Prolonged activities without physical movement take 30 minutes to break in between that activities.
2. Regular Exercise
Physical activity always helps to reduce diabetic situations. Exercise increases insulin sensitivity and serves to help the muscles in using the blood sugar for movement. Other practical forms of exercise that can help include yoga, cycling, swimming, running, hiking, dancing, and more. If you take any medication that reduces blood sugar, you should have light food before a workout to reduce the risk of low blood sugar.
3. Reduce Carbs Intake
Carb intake strongly influences your blood sugar levels. Reduction in carb intake is achievable by either following a low-carb diet or simply by reducing the current amount of carbs you eat. As part of a healthy, low-carb diet, people should avoid or reduce the intake of the following:-
- Wheat, rice, and other grains
- Potatoes and other starchy vegetables
- Sugar-rich food such as cakes, juices, and cookies
- Processed snack food, desserts, beverages
4. Lose Weight
Being overweight or obese can cause fatty tissue, making cells more resistant to insulin. Massive weight reduction is not needed to reverse diabetes. Losing between 1 kg and 5 kg, on average, may help reverse diabetes and allow people to come off medications or insulin. Even patients with diabetes for 15 years or longer have found it helpful. It is accurate for people of all ages.
5. Drink Enough Water
Drinking enough water will help to keep your blood sugar level within a healthy range and is also helpful for preventing dehydration. Pre-meal water intake is often associated with lower BMI, body weight, and copeptin levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. Be mindful that water and other low-calorie drinks are best for health, compared to sugar-rich ones, which lead to higher blood glucose levels, weight gain, and increased risk of diabetes. If you are living with diabetes should consume water 1.6 liters for women and 2 liters for men per day.
6. Practice Mindful Eating
Mindful eating helps individuals to cultivate awareness of both internal and external triggers of eating and interrupts automatic eating. It also allows you to eat in response to the natural physiological cues of hunger and satiety. Research among people with diabetes reveals that a mindful approach improves depressive symptoms, anxiety, well-being, diabetic-related distress, and health-related quality of life.
Here is one sample mindful eating exercise, next time when you eat, select one food to pay attention to the following.
- Notice the taste of the food in the first bite.
- Take another bite, see the taste changes, and continue to chew
- Check at what point does flavor begin to decrease
- Continue to eat and notice how the taste continues to change
- Tune in to the changing flavor
7. Try Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting has become an increasingly popular dietary practice to improve body composition and metabolic health. It is a form of diet that involves limiting your meals to a definite window of time, followed by a fixed period for having food. The fasting period can last from a few hours to multiple days. Scientific evidence suggests intermittent fasting is an effective non-medical treatment option for type 2 diabetes. Some tips for intermittent fasting when you have diabetes are as follows:
- Talk with your healthcare provider about adjusting medication or insulin dosage.
- Monitor your blood sugar level
- Balance your carbohydrate intake
- Check on your mood signs like irritability and increased anxiety
8. Reduce Your Stress Level
Stress is a potential contributor to chronic hyperglycemia. It stimulates the release of various hormones, which can result in elevated blood glucose levels. Stress-mediated hypersecretion of glucocorticoids could be a viable solution to treat type 2 diabetes. It could help reinstate glucose hemostatics. Managing your stress level through exercise or relaxation methods like yoga, pranayama, and meditation may also help you regulate your blood sugar level.
Conclusion
Eating a well-balanced diet is an indispensable part of managing type 2 diabetes. Try choosing a diet rich in essential nutrients that can limit your intake of excess calories, refined carbohydrates, and saturated or trans fats. You should always consult a doctor or dietitian before you change your diet to make the best choice. Apart from a well-managed diet, physical activity also has a quintessential role in diabetic reversal. If you do not have an exercise routine, walking is likely one of the most desirable activities to follow easily.