How to prevent diabetes

There are ways to prevent type 2 diabetes. If a person really wants to know how to prevent diabetes and its complications, there are two things that are the most important to do to avoid diabetes.

These two things will not only help prevent diabetes, but are two of the most important things to help improve health in general. The two things that must be done to learn how to prevent diabetes are to change your diet and get regular exercise. Sounds simple, but doing these things will greatly increase your chances at avoiding diabetes.

I know from personal experience with my husband about the importance of exercise when learning how to prevent diabetes. My husband has always been very active. He usually did some sort of daily exercise up until a few years ago.

I don't mean just a half hour workout. He would golf at least nine holes almost daily. On weekends, he might golf 36 holes a day. And he walked the golf course. At one point, he was active in a bowling league and practiced almost daily. At other times during our marriage, he participated in other active sports. The point is that he always stayed very active.

Then my husband was promoted to a job position that required lots of time behind a desk. Before this promotion, my husband always got plenty of exercise at work, too. His new job position required him to work lots of hours. So, his physical activity diminished greatly.

It wasn't long after the promotion that my husband started complaining of pains in his legs. He started feeling tired. Both are symptoms of diabetes. He also gained weight from lack of exercise. About a year after getting his new job promotion, my husband was diagnosed with diabetes.

He was supposed to take insulin to help control the diabetes, but he wanted to try to lower his blood sugar naturally. He cut out sugar and simple carbohydrates. Within a couple of weeks, his blood sugar had dropped impressively, but was still above normal levels.

One day soon after, he decided to spend the day golfing. When he checked his blood sugar that evening, it was actually in a normal range. This was the first normal reading he had since being diagnosed with diabetes. He continues to try to golf as often as possible. Whenever he goes golfing, his blood sugar levels are always much lower than on other days.

To this day, I swear that my husband was able to prevent diabetes for many years simply because he was so active. He had no diabetes symptoms at all until he slowed down and quit exercising. The added weight gain was also a strong contributor in the diabetes diagnosis. However, my husband has always been somewhat overweight. And after seeing how dramatically his blood sugar would drop after exercising, I really believe that his activity level was the real preventive that helped him avoid diabetes for so long.

There are several dietary changes that are effective and will help prevent diabetes for type 2 diabetics. Here are the recommendations for ways to change your diet to help prevent diabetes.

Most important is to cut out simple carbohydrates. In the diabetes world, most white foods are off limits. This means most breads, pasta, white rice, and potatoes. These foods consist of high amounts of simple carbs. Foods containing lots of sugar are also high in simple carbohydrates. These carbs will spike your blood sugar levels. The goal to prevent diabetes is to have level blood sugar readings throughout the day and to prevent blood sugar spikes.

If you must have carbs but want to prevent diabetes, look for bread and pasta made with whole grains. Avoid eating most potatoes. Eat sweet potatoes without adding sugar or syrup. Use brown rice instead of white rice.

Try to avoid added sugar at all costs. Use other sweeteners in beverages. Drink diet drinks. Try alternative sweeteners for baking and other desserts if you don't eliminate desserts from your diet.

Adding lots of fruits and vegetables to your diet will help prevent diabetes. Fresh fruits and vegetables are best, as they have fiber and nothing artificial added. If you eat canned or frozen fruits, avoid ones with sugar or other additives. If eating canned or frozen vegetables, try to use low-salt or no-salt varieties.

Beans and other high fiber foods are also important components of any diet to prevent diabetes. Fiber is very effective at lowering blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Fiber helps prevent diabetes by preventing blood sugar spikes. Fiber works by slowing the body's processing of carbs.

In order to be effective, a person must eat more than double the recommended amount of fiber mentioned by the ADA (American Diabetes Association). This amounts to about 50 grams of fiber daily. It is important to work up to this amount of fiber gradually in order to prevent discomfort. Add about four or five grams daily to your diet until you reach the recommended amount to help lower blood sugar. Also, drink lots of liquids if you consume this much fiber to prevent constipation. Besides beans, fresh fruits and vegetables, oatmeal, popcorn, raisins, nuts, and whole grain foods are high fiber foods.