Ever wonder if you can prevent or reverse Type 2 Diabetes? Did you know that what you eat today may impact your health down the road?
It wasn’t something New Jersey resident DeWayne McCulley was thinking about, even though an estimated 30 million people in the U.S. have type 2 diabetes.1 And another 88 million have pre-diabetes.
As a biochemistry engineer, McCulley always liked to understand how things worked, and then make them better.2 He spent his career researching, testing, analyzing, and looking at data for every project he worked on. He knew his diet and exercise habits could be better, but he didn’t think much about it.
And then it happened. DeWayne’s blood sugar levels reached dangerous levels. He went into a diabetic coma, and nearly died. When he was able to leave the hospital, he decided to engineer his own plan to improve his health.
What’s so bad about diabetes?
When your pancreas can’t produce enough insulin to control blood sugar levels, it leads to diabetes. Left unchecked, it’s a chronic disease that can cause:
- Nerve damage
- Poor circulation
- Vision loss
- Kidney disease
- Heart disease, and other health problems.3
- And there usually aren’t any symptoms…at least at first.
Sounds pretty bad, right? Fortunately, medication can help manage or control diabetes. But that’s not the only way to protect your health from this chronic disease.
“Type 2 diabetes can be prevented, arrested, or even reversed,” says Dr. Michael Greger, award-winner author and founder of NutritionFacts.org.4
What you eat today will impact your health tomorrow (Especially for Diabetics) and down the road. So if your diet is bad today it will not show immediately rather than it will show in the future might not impact you tomorrow unless you are a Diabetic, but can affect your health down the road.
Your diet, exercise, and lifestyle habits can have an even bigger impact, than medication alone to prevent, control, or reverse diabetes. It’s something McCulley learned as he engineered a new diet and lifestyle to improve his health.
7 Ways to Prevent or Reverse Type 2 Diabetes
If you don’t have diabetes, keep it that way. If you’re at risk for diabetes, or you’ve already been diagnosed, you may need to take medication to keep your blood sugar levels in check. But there’s more you can do. Research shows these lifestyle habits can prevent or reverse diabetes.
Here are 7 things you can do:
- Lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. About 72 percent of all adults in the U.S. are or obese. It’s a risk factor for diabetes. Losing even 10 to 15 pounds can greatly cut your risk for diabetes and complications.
- Don’t smoke, or quit if you do. Research shows that smokers have a 30 to 40 percent higher risk of developing diabetes than non-smokers.
- Be more active. Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderate exercise per day. Take a walk. Go for a hike. Ride a bike. Pick your favorite workout video and follow along. Connect your favorite app or fitness tracking device to the FitLyfe 360 platform and keep track of your activity.
- Eat healthy fats. Skip saturated and trans fats found in butter, sour cream, red meat, and processed foods. Instead, eat more healthy fats found in nuts and peanut butter, seeds, avocados, fatty fish such as salmon, trout and mackerel, and olive oil.
- Drink more water. Drink a glass of water at meal times. Keep a water bottle with you to drink from throughout the day. And avoid or limit sugary drinks like soda, juice, and coffee with sweetener.
Get a blood test
- . It’s the best way to find out what your blood glucose levels are. A normal fasting blood glucose is less than 100 mg/dL. Ask your doctor or wellness coordinator about getting tested. Once you know where you’re at, you’ll have info to help you make necessary changes to your diet and lifestyle to prevent or reverse diabetes.
Eat more plant-based foods
If you’re serious about preventing or reversing type 2 diabetes, this is a game-changer. First, remove processed foods as they are designed by the company to be more addictive which ultimately helps the company sell more product making a higher profit. What you should do is add: more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. These foods are low in calories and high in nutrients, and help regulate blood glucose levels. Research shows that a plant-based diet rich in vitamins and nutrients can help support weight loss and improve blood sugar levels.5
Want to prevent or reverse diabetes? Adopt, or continue with, these healthy lifestyle habits to keep your blood sugar levels in check, feel better, and live longer. A quote by Robert Urich reads “A healthy outside starts with a healthy inside.” Remember your health is the ultimate priority over corporate profit.
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Type 2 diabetes. From: https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/type2.html
- McCulley, D. (2012). Death to Diabetes: The 6 Stages of Type 2 Diabetes Control & Reversal. From: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009PGGJIW
- National Institutes of Health. (2016). Symptoms and causes of diabetes. From: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/symptoms-causes
- Greger, M. (2017). How not to diet from diabetes. NutritionFacts.org. From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-not-to-die-from-diabetes/
- McMacken, M., et al. (2017). A plant-based diet for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. Journal of Geriatric Cardiology, 14(5): 342-354. From: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466941/
- 72 percent of all adults are overweight or obese. It’s so widely reported, I didn’t include the source. But it’s from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm