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A wellness approach to managing Diabetes
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Please don't eat like this!
Since this is National Diabetes Month, lets talk a bit about the disease that affects approximately 24 million people in the United States (according to the American Diabetes Association.) There are a couple of different types of diabetes, but the most common is type II diabetes, or adult onset diabetes. This form of diabetes used tobe called Non-Insulin Dependant Diabetes (NIDD) which basically means that this form is usually treated with prescription medication and diet modifications. As my expertise is wellness, I'll leave the pharmaceuticals to the experts, butthe diet modification is relatively simple in terms of what you have to do.
This information is very important for anyone with a history of adult onset diabetes in their family. Unfortunately if your parents or grandparents suffer(ed) from this chances are good that you too will develop the condition. So even if you have not been diagnosed with diabetes, these are good dietary measures to make sure that you don't. Regardless of whether you have been diagnosed, think you have it, or are worried about the future the first thing to do is incorporate a simple exercise program. Now I know that people are busy and that they don't feel like they can squeeze anything else into their lives, but simply taking a walk around the block each night when you get home from work is wonderful. I usually recommend thirty minutes of activity that moderately increases your heart rate.
For patients that don't like walking around their neighborhood, or they don't get home until after dark, get up and walk around your house during commercial breaks on TV. It does not have to be a 4 minute mile or lifting 300 pounds, all I would like is for you to increase your heart rate for thirty minutes.
The second and more obvious change is going to be the diet. The typical American eats a small breakfast (if any) a quick lunch, and a big dinner. Sometimes they just have a snack for lunch and a big dinner. Either way what you should try to do is eat small meals several times a day. You have probably heard this before, whether you read it in a magazine or a doctor told you to try it, it is a great diet modification that helps keep your metabolism up. Eat a small breakfast, a small mid-morning snack, a lite lunch, a mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and an evening snack. That sounds like an awful lot of food for someone trying to cut back, but its not when your eating, its what and how much. The snacks can simply be something small like a handful of peanuts or almonds, breakfast, lunch, and dinner can be small as well, but spreading your meals out over the day is better for your stomach and the rest of your GI tract.
Next article will include eating the right kind of carbs in your meals that can actually help you lose weight and is better for diabetics.
