You Can Prevent Type 2 Diabetes With Healthy Lifestyle Choices

Diabetes occurs when your body cannot properly use the insulin it makes, or it cannot make enough insulin. Type 2 diabetes used to be called “adult onset,” because it was almost never seen in children. This type of diabetes usually takes years to develop and specifically occurs when muscle and other cells in the body quit responding to insulin’s signal to open up for glucose. If this happens, your body will start making increasing amounts of insulin (it is trying to force blood sugar into cells.) Full blown type 2 diabetes occurs when the insulin producing cells become exhausted and start to fail. Fortunately, you can prevent your body from developing diabetes. An active life, weight control, a mindful diet, quitting if you smoke, and drinking small amounts of alcohol can all contribute to a healthy life and a provide a barrier against diabetes.

Get Moving and Shed Pounds

Working out, walking, swimming, bicycling, or any other activity that gets your body moving causes your muscles to have an increased ability to absorb glucose and use insulin. This relieves the stress on cells that make insulin in your body. If you have excess weight, then you have the single greatest risk of developing diabetes and you should make a serious attempt to trim down. If you tend to stay at home and live like a bump on a log, then get up and get moving.

Eating Awareness

Recent studies are showing that some foods (red meat, and processed red meat) raise the risk of developing diabetes. Here are four things you can do to lower your risk when you consider what you should feed your body:

• Reduce the amount of sugar in your beverages and the food you eat
• Choose good fats instead of bad fats (nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, instead of margarine, fried food, and processed foods)
• Eat whole grain products and whole grains instead of items that are highly processed

No Smoking

If you have never smoked, then do not start. If you do smoke, then you should try to stop. Diabetes occurs in smokers at a 50 percent higher rate than non-smokers. Those who smoke heavily have an even higher chance of developing this disease.

Consume Moderate Amounts of Alcohol

This tip may be a great surprise, but studies are showing that occasional enjoyment of an alcoholic beverage can reduce your risk of heart disease. It may also help reduce the chance that you will develop type 2 diabetes. Women who drink one beverage per day, are able to have an increased efficiency of cells getting glucose inside them. (Men may achieve this by drinking two beverages a day.)

You may have some genetic predisposition to develop type 2 diabetes, but you should realize that the greatest thing you can do to avoid this disease is to practice healthy lifestyle choices. It can help you avoid serious complications as you move forward with your life.