Mr Edward says he is tired of “his condition;” despite all he does, his blood sugar refuses to reduce. When asked about his lifestyle, Mr Edward said “I won’t lie, doctor, I have not been paying attention to what I eat anymore, but why should I when I am using diabetic medications?”
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the body does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar, keeping it down to normal after each meal. When this control plug does not work correctly, blood sugar keeps rising astronomically until it begins to damage the body.
In 2014, 8.5% of adults aged 18 years and older had diabetes. In 2019, diabetes was the direct cause of 1.5 million deaths and 48% of all deaths due to diabetes occurred before the age of 70 years, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Lifestyle modification is the primary step in tackling diabetes. There is a place for medications, but lifestyle modifications play a central role in not only lowering your risk of the disease but also slowing down its progression.
Simple lifestyle measures have been shown to be effective in preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes. To help prevent type 2 diabetes and its complications, people should approach these 4 key areas as proposed by the WHO
Maintain a healthy body weight
Obesity remains an important risk factor for diabetes. Actively taking steps to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight is important. A Body Mass Index (your weight in kilograms divided by the squared value of your height in meters) of 18.5-24.9 has been described as the healthy body weight.
Healthy diet choices and exercise remain important ways to maintain a healthy body weight. Here are some tips to help you maintain a healthy weight: eat smaller portion sized meals, avoid unhealthy meals (more about this as later), drink more water, track what you eat in calories, and get more sleep and exercise daily.
Get Active
Exercise is important to remain healthy and manage diabetes effectively. At least 30 minutes of regular, moderate-intensity activity on most days is just enough. More activity is required for weight control though. Regular exercises help to reduce your risk of a heart attack, type 2 diabetes, cancers, and high blood pressure. Exercise also pumps you up, making you feel energetic and positive all day.
Healthy Diet
Healthy diet is important in dealing with diabetes. You're what you eat and a lot of times what you eat in diabetes is key to recovery. Now, a lot of people are wrongly told not to eat certain foods but the key to dietary adjustment in diabetes is moderation for all types of food.
Add the following to your diet to kick out diabetes: vegetables (broccoli, carrots, greens, peppers, tomatoes, corn, and green peas), fruits (oranges, melon, berries, apples, bananas, and grapes), grains(wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal and barley), protein (lean meat, chicken or turkey without the skin, fish, eggs, nuts and peanuts, dried beans and certain peas, such as chickpeas and split peas, dairy such as non-fat or low fat, milk or lactose-free milk if you have lactose intolerance, yogurt, cheese, etc. See a dietician or diabetic nutrition expert to develop a meal plan.
Adjusting your lifestyle habits is integral to ensuring you keep your blood sugar level in control and lower your risk of this debilitating disease.
