Research points out to a new and intriguing fact regarding a lower diabetes risk depending on your meal times
Many of us wonder how to prevent diabetes naturally, especially living in a society where fast foods and high fats are available constantly. New scientific research is pointing out the possibility to lower diabetes risk depending not only of what we eat, but actually when we eat it.
By now, you are probably aware that changing your lifestyle and the way you eat is the top priority when you have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, or with the actual disease.
What you eat is important because you need to maintain healthy blood sugar levels and remain in control of any possible triggers that could potentially be harmful for your health, that could affect the way your body processes insulin, and that could be simply dangerous.
How to prevent diabetes type 2 with diet does not come easy for many patients. In fact, a lower diabetes risk depends on a wider number of factors, including our diet of course, but also our level of physical activity, whether or not we have a genetic predisposition, the existence of any other illnesses, etc.
Sex, age, weight and ethnicity are also contributing factors when trying to identify the chance of a lower diabetes risk.
But, what does meal times throughout our days have to do with any of this? Well, experts trying to figure out methods and techniques on how to prevent diabetes naturally have taken a focus on how our bodies normally act throughout the day.
Researchers have discovered that by aligning the times of our meals with our bodies’ natural circadian rhythm has three main benefits that act as factors for a lower diabetes risk.
These three main benefits are an increased sensitivity to insulin (the hormone that controls our sugar blood levels), improved blood pressure and a reduced appetite.
Now, we’ve learned in the past that fasting is one of the factors that promotes a better health style. This is again proven by the result of aligning our eating times with our circadian rhythms, because we allow for a period of 12 to 18 hours for our body to fast and perform naturally without affecting with the digestion process.
These medical experts, in their efforts to learn how to prevent diabetes type 2 with diet adjustments, have figured out that eating late during the day and at night is bad for our metabolism, and that our bodies’ ability to control glucose is better in the morning and early afternoon, than later in the day.
Something important to keep in mind is that, these studies did not change the amount and/or the type of food the patients ate during the experiment, but rather the times of the day that they consumed their meals.
Starting as early as 8.30 am and having all their meals by 3.00 pm it’s what proved to be significant in how the patients’ bodies performed in terms of digesting their meals, processing the glucose levels, the slight changes in their blood pressure, etc.
While this research is fairly new, it is a great step into understanding better the causes of diabetes, and whether or not there is actually something to be done in order to prevent it.
As always, for patients that have a predisposition to suffer from diabetes or those that have actually been diagnosed, it is important to keep in mind that a balanced diet is key to prevent and manage the disease.
A low-carb, high fiber diet, that contains good amounts of lean protein, healthy fats and, if necessary, is supplemented to contain all the vitamins and minerals you may need, is the best way to take care of your health.
Other factors that will make a significant impact on your management plan are, sticking to a physical activity that you like and that you get to perform at least 3 times a week, having your regular check-ups with your Doctor and monitoring your glucose levels as recommended by your specialist.
Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/health/diabetes-and-diet-whats-connection#1