Today 415 million people are diabetic worldwide, and it's expected to grow by half a billion by 2040. It prevents people from enjoying a normal life and adversely affects them in terms of chronic diseases like kidney failure and blindness in case of prolonged high glucose levels. Type 2 diabetic patients accept it as fate and try to leave with it by restricting them from eating many delicious cuisines they love and some pills that help them lower glucose production in the liver.
Nonetheless, patients don’t understand that diabetes is a metabolism disorder which occurs due to an unhealthy lifestyle, and it can be cured/glucose level can be maintained at a normal level with the right kind of diet and lifestyle. Yes, here are some measures you can take to increase insulin sensitivity and live a happy, healthy life just like any other person without diabetes.
The Key to all these measures is to balance the sugar levels.
1 - Intermittent fasting
Recently intermittent fasting has gained immense popularity due to its benefits in improving overall health, and according to some research, it can also extend a healthy lifespan. Out of all the benefits, it can also help lower blood glucose to the extent that you don’t have to take diabetes medication to control it. Through Intermittent fasting, people practice an organised eating pattern in which they fast for a certain period. The time of fasting can differ from 12 hours/day to 16 hours/day or a single day in a week.
The fasting practiced during intermittent fasting may reduce fat and insulin resistance by limiting overall calorie intake and also through metabolic reprogramming. Under this metabolic reprogramming of intermittent fasting, the body starts breaking-down fatty acids and ketones from the fat store instead of glucose. Thus, through this process during intermittent fasting, one can burn fat. Moreover, intermittent fasting also may also improve leptin and adiponectin sensitivity which in turn improves appetite control and reduce chronic inflammation.
2- Fibre-rich diet
Fibre also belongs to the carbohydrate community, but unlike sugar and starch, other carbohydrate types do not elevate your blood glucose level. Instead, fibre is among the nutrients that will help reduce the blood glucose rise in case of diabetes, and it also helps in keeping the gut healthy. According to the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), adults above 16 years must consume an average of 30 g of fibre per day.
There are two types of fibre Soluble and Insoluble. Since Insoluble fibre doesn’t get absorbed in the body it doesn’t give calories; in turn, it occupies more space which quickly gives a signal of being full and during digestion, it absorbs fluids and makes the stool bulky and softer which easily passes and cleans all the toxins from the gut. On other hand, Soluble fibre slower downs the movement of food through the digestive tract giving extra time for digestive hormones to act and also preventing carbohydrates from being quickly absorbed by the small intestine. The foods higher in fibre are mostly low in glycemic index which helps in controlling appetite and has less effect on blood glucose levels thus ideal for diabetic patients.
3- Protein-rich diet
We always correlate the proteinaceous diet with the people who wants to gain muscle mass. Nevertheless, Protein is not only ideal for muscle gain but also for diabetic people to lower their blood glucose levels. During the research on mice scientists notice that protein was able to reverse Type 2 diabetes and in fact, they also reported that consumption of a protein-rich diet can prevent you from getting the disease.
Protein consumption decreases the rate of digestion and prevents post-meal blood sugar spikes as well as increases the feelings of fullness. Unlike sugar and starch protein promotes fat loss and prevents us from overeating which is essential for healthy blood sugar levels.
4 - Exercise and Walk after the meal
It is noticed that a short walk after eating may help lower blood glucose levels in Type 2 diabetic patients more than exercise during the rest of the day. According to the researchers at the University of Otago, a Type 2 diabetes patient must be active for a minimum of 150 min. a week. In an experiment on 41 people done by Reynolds and colleagues, in which one group of patients was asked to walk for 150 min in a week at any time of day and another group was asked to walk within 5 min post-meal.
The sugar levels in each group were monitored and found that although the lowered blood sugar was measured in both groups, the efficiency of lower blood sugar was higher in the group who walked post-meal.
If you are done with having depressed life due to Type 2 diabetes then these measures can help you to maintain your blood glucose level and even reverse Type 2 diabetes.
Keep in mind, earlier it was impossible to sell water in packed bottle and millions of people say that it is stupid but now it is a big industry, it was impossible to fly in the sky but now it is possible to carry from one country to another in a few hours. Similarly you will find thousands of people who say that diabetes cannot be reversed, but if you have decided then you can prove them wrong and be the next one from impossible to possible .