Managing diabetes from a nutrition and fitness perspective
Diabetes
Diabetes is a health condition that affects how the body turns food into energy. Most of the food we eat is broken down into sugar (glucose) and released into the blood.
If you have diabetes, it means your body doesn’t make enough insulin, or can’t use the insulin it makes as well as it should, so a high level of sugar stays in the bloodstream. Over time, this can cause serious health problems, including heart disease and kidney disease and loss of vision.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease whereby the body is unable to produce any insulin. Type 2 diabetes develops when the body stops producing enough insulin or the body’s cells stop reacting to insulin produced. Type 2 is associated with lifestyle and can be prevented or reversed.
NUTRITION
The key thing from a nutrition perspective, is to manage carbohydrate (sugar) intake. Both the quantity and quality matter, and impact how the body breaks it down, and processes it into your bloodstream.
Do’s:
Glycemic Index: Eat foods that are low on the Glycemic Index. (GI) The body digests these foods slowly, which will make you feel fuller for longer. They contain less processed sugar, and are better at keeping sugar levels steady.
Low G.I. foods:
Fish/seafood: Salmon, trout, tuna, prawn.
Meat/animal products: Lean beef or lamb (limit to once a week and opt for the leanest cut, with fat removed), chicken, turkey, pork, and eggs.
Wholegrains: Barley, black rice, buckwheat, bulgar, oats.
Vegetables: Carrots, courgette, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, French beans, tomatoes, garden peas, cauliflower, lettuce, broccoli, mushrooms.
Nuts: Almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, and macadamia nuts (keep to a small handful of unsalted nuts daily as a snack.)
Fats and oils: Olive oil, and avocado.
Cooking methods: Grill, steam, lightly fry (olive oil) bake or poach food, versus deep frying.
Meat/animal products: Swap red meats for lean meat, such as chicken and turkey, and avoid processed meats such as bacon, pepperoni and deli meats. (Remove fat/skin where possible.)
Fish: Eat fish 2-3 times a week. Try including salmon, seabass, tuna, and cod for example.
Sugar/processed food: Limit or avoid sugary foods, drinks and snacks. For example, pizza, biscuits, cakes, cookies, pies, ice-cream, desserts, fizzy drinks and alcohol. Limit sugar in teas.
Vegetables/fruit: Eat vegetables such as peppers, cauliflower, sweet potato, carrots, peas, broccoli. Aim to include at least 5 pieces of fruit and vegetables daily, and include lots of colour on your plate.
Lentils: Consume lentils and beans (kidney beans, chickpeas, broad beans for example) as a healthy source of carbohydrate, and a healthier alternative to white rice, white bread, fries, and potatoes.
Hydration: Hydrate often, recommending 1.5-2 litres daily to help with overall digestion.
FITNESS
Exercise is also important to help manage weight, as well as heart and brain function, and will play an important role in supporting overall health and wellbeing.
Do’s:
Frequency: Aim to exercise 2-3 times weekly. Even 20 minutes daily can make a big difference. A little bit, is better than nothing. So even a 15minute home workout with no equipment, is better than nothing at all. Don’t view it as ‘pointless’ – just start.
Getting started: Start with a short 5minute warm up, focusing on all major joints and muscle groups (ankles, knees, elbows, hips, shoulders, back, legs, chest, abdomen etc.) For example, bodyweight squats, forward and reverse lunges, arm circles, light on the spot jog or some gentle jumping jacks.
Heart rate: When exercising, aim to increase your heart rate a little, so you feel a little bit out of breath and take short rest periods when needed. For example, move your body for 45-60 seconds, rest for 15 seconds, then repeat the movement for say 3-4 rounds. This will help improve the strength of your health and improve your overall health and fitness, as well as increase your lung capacity.
Resistance: Include resistance (weight) wherever you can. Use dumbbells if you have them, or resistance bands. Even light ones 2-4kg will work. Even your own bodyweight can be an effective form of resistance (push ups or planks for example.)
Cardio: If you have a bike or cross trainer at home, try a gentle 20minute cycle. Or better still, try including short intervals. This will help improve the health of your heart, and build endurance in the muscles. For example, try 1 minute on an easy level/resistance (if using a scale of 1-10 rate of perceived exertion, with 1 being not difficult at all, and 10 being very difficult, maximum effort) say level 3 or 4, then 30 seconds fast as you can on level 7 or 8, then drop it back down to level 3 or 4, and repeat for 10 minutes for example. You don’t have to do it daily! Even 2-3 times weekly will help. Walking is also cardio, so get those steps in daily if you don’t fancy the cardio machines.
Neat: Referred to as ‘non exercise activity thermogenesis.’ A fancy way of saying, any activity that isn’t classed as exercise. Movement basically. It’s important to move your body often, and avoid sitting for long periods. Increased movement throughout the day will help your body’s burn rate (the rate as to which you burn or use the calories/energy you consume) so try moving more. Walk when you can. Try parking the car slightly further away from the supermarket entrance for example, so you can get in more steps. Try standing up when you take work calls versus staying seated. Try moving your body when you’re at home, and take breaks away from a seated position regularly.
SUMMARY
In general, type 2 diabetes can be reversed, or if pre-diabetic, you can make changes to your diet and lifestyle to reduce your risk of developing it. Regular exercise, a healthy balanced diet and more daily movement are key components to help manage the disease and control blood sugar levels. It’s important to change your lifestyle to help prevent or reverse symptoms of diabetes, and to live a longer happier and healthy life.
