Diabetes is a pervasive disease that can certain wreak havoc on your lifestyle. Diabetes occurs where the body fails to produce or properly use insulin.
As insulin release is heavily triggered by ingestion of carbs, the easiest way to control diabetes is to condition yourself to live a low-carb lifestyle. Doing this will have numerous positive benefits on your diabetes, allowing you a measure of control over the disease and permitting you to once more regain a measure of control over your life.
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Why Low-Carb?
Adopt a low-carb diet to combat diabetes. Although until recently low-carb diets were disfavored by the ADA for treating patients with diabetes, that all changed in 2008. 2008 marked the first year that the ADA endorsed low-carb dieting solutions for individuals with diabetes, a landmark change in stance. The benefits of such a diet are threefold.
First, it helps the dieter to lose weight quickly, improving overall insulin sensitivity by decreasing the body’s store of adipose tissue (fat mass).
Second, low-carb eating helps to maintain a stable blood sugar level.
Finally, stable blood sugar prevents insulin surges from occurring, keeping diabetes well in hand. Thus, low-carb eating is a viable method for individuals who want to do away with the necessity of constant blood sugar measuring and other cumbersome annoyances typically associated with the disease.
Follow a Low-Carb Plan
You should aim to be eating fewer than 125 grams of carbs per day. With that said, following a low-carb plan is simple, if not entirely easy. While this plan allows for consumption of a relatively large 125 grams of carbs per day (in contrast to most low-carb plans, which restrict the dieter to 20 or 30 grams), you must still keep one fact in mind–your end results will depend largely on the types of carbs you choose to ingest. For best results, stick to natural carb sources like fruit, veggies, oats, sweet potatoes, and limited whole grains.
Additional Nutritional Information
The remainder of your diet should be mostly clean foods–lean protein (like chicken, eggs, fish, and meat) and healthy fats (a mix of animal fats, natural fats (like from coconuts), and oils (fish, flax, olive, and macadamia nut). Sticking to these basic, natural, nutritious selections for at least 90 percent of your diet will do the most towards keeping diabetes under control.
Remember that consistency is key, so for best results do not slack off or otherwise diverge from your chosen plan. This will help keep your diabetes in check for life.
Diabetes Health: “ADA 2009 Recommendations Reaffirm Acceptance of Low Carb Diet”
