Are you pre-diabetic? Here are lifestyle tips to stay healthy

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• Jan 4, 2023 | Kabir Chakraborty

Choose healthier carb-containing foods and watch your portion sizes.

Digital Desk: Prediabetes is defined as having blood sugar levels that are higher than usual but not high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Although the actual origin of prediabetes is uncertain, it is linked to insulin resistance. This is when your cells stop responding to the insulin hormone. Diabetes is a daily lifestyle condition for many people in India, particularly those in their forties and fifties.

Here are some precautions and tips one can be mindful of to stay healthy as a pre-diabetic:

1. Choose healthier carbohydrates

Because all carbohydrates affect blood glucose levels, it's critical to understand which foods include carbohydrates. Choose healthier carb-containing foods and watch your portion sizes. Whole grains such as brown rice, buckwheat, and whole oats, fruit and vegetables, pulses such as chickpeas, beans, and lentils, and dairy products such as unsweetened yoghurt and milk are examples of healthy carbs.

2. Keep a check on your weight 

If you have pre-diabetes, decreasing 5-10% of your body weight gradually will dramatically improve your chances of delaying or reversing diabetes predominance. Ask a trainer to assist you in focusing on your stomach for belly fat, as a greater waist circumference is associated with an increased risk of diabetes.

3. Eat less red and processed meat

If you're cutting back on carbs, you might start eating more meat to fill you up. However, doing so with red and processed meats such as ham, bacon, sausages, cattle, and lamb is not a smart idea. All of these have been linked to heart disease and cancer. Replace red and processed meat with these eggs, fish, unsalted almonds, and so forth.

4. Cut down on sugar intake

Cutting out sugar might be difficult at first, so simple practical substitutions are a smart place to start when attempting to reduce excess sugar. Swapping sugary drinks, energy drinks, and fruit juices for water, plain milk, or sugar-free tea and coffee is a fantastic place to start.

5. Exercise

Physical activity goes hand in hand with eating healthily. It can help you control your diabetes while also lowering your risk of heart disease. This is because it raises the amount of glucose consumed by your muscles and aids the body's usage of insulin.