How Lifestyle Changes Affect Diabetes

Learn how lifestyle changes affect diabetes and the key to keeping glucose levels in check.

What can you do to improve your diabetes management? Research that studies the dynamic between diabetes and lifestyle conclusively shows evidence of how lifestyle changes affect diabetes. You can learn how to alter your lifestyle and environment to improve your diabetes management and overall health. Lifestyle management in diabetes requires common sense and the will to improve your health. How we live and the foods we eat can be a powerful remedy because diabetes is affected by your environment. If you can control your blood sugar levels with lifestyle changes, you might reach a point where you can lower your medications along with the help of your physician. That is the potent affect of lifestyle management in diabetes.

1. Diet

One important factor regarding your blood sugar levels is in managing diabetes with diet. Everything you put into your mouth will affect your blood sugar, so you want to know which foods will serve you best and which ones to avoid or eat less of. The American Diabetes Association provides comprehensive guidelines regarding dietary information. You will understand why managing diabetes with diet is imperative to managing your disease. That doesn’t mean that you will be left with few food options, on the contrary there are many healthy options that are good for diabetics.

Making healthy choices, such as eating non-starchy vegetables, is important when managing diabetes through diet. You should learn what fruits and vegetables are best to eat, and the appropriate portion size, so that your blood sugar levels are not radically affected. You can use a carbohydrate counting method to keep your blood sugar levels in your target range. Try to achieve a diet that is low in sugars, carbohydrates, fats and calories. Avoid white flour and rice, and eat no more than 30-45 grams of carbohydrates per day. Eating a good breakfast will help you begin each day on the right foot, and help manage your blood sugar.

2. Exercise

Regular exercise is another vital factor of how lifestyle changes affect diabetes. If you are over-weight you can lose those extra pounds with the proper exercise and diet. Limit your food intake to less than 1,200 – 1,800 calories per day for women and 1,400 – 2,000 calories per day for men. Begin a more active lifestyle by sitting less and moving around more. You do not have to do strenuous exercise; you can start off with walking and progress from there. Set small goals for your self and after a while they will become habits, and exercise will become a part of your everyday routine. If you are having trouble staying motivated, join an exercise group, go to a gym or ask a friend to join you for a walk around town or in the mall. Losing weight and staying active plays an important part in how lifestyle changes affect diabetes.

Diabetes research has proven that lifestyle management in diabetes will significantly improve blood sugar levels over a period of time. Those diabetics who partook of exercise were able to lose weight, reduce inches, and gain lean body mass (muscle). Many diabetics who have remained on the right course of managing diabetes with diet and exercise were able to lower their blood sugar levels over time. This resulted in reducing their medications, and some were able to stop taking their medication altogether. This is the proof of how lifestyle changes affect diabetes.

If you would like to learn more about how lifestyle changes affect diabetes, speak with your doctor about your diet and exercise, and also about losing extra weight. Making a lifestyle change can help you look and feel better, and perhaps even bring your blood sugar levels into the normal range. Learn more about lifestyle changes and the impact on diabetes at www.BetterHealthKare.com