Help Lower Diabetes Risk with These Three Easy Steps
Making small lifestyle changes – rather than drastic, hard-to-maintain ones – may help you avoid serious health problems, such as diabetes, in the future.
Here are some steps you can take to reduce your diabetes risk:
1.) Eat high-fiber foods, such as whole grains. Whole grain breads, cereals and pastas help to regulate your blood sugar and stave off the progress of diabetes. A recent study shows that increasing insoluble fiber, such as oat fiber, into your diet can improve overall insulin sensitivity in as few as three days.1
2.) Use dairy as a defense. Low-fat milk has lactose (a type of sugar), protein and fat – all of which can improve your blood sugar. The lactose in dairy can reduce the level of insulin in your blood, protein will fill you up and fat will help you feel satisfied. Consuming two servings of low-fat dairy a day can help reduce your likelihood of developing insulin resistance by 20%.2
3.) Get the right amount of sleep. Too little sleep may double your risk for diabetes, according to a
The same study showed that people who slept more than 8 hours tripled their odds of developing diabetes.3 Structure your sleep schedule so you can devote a full 8 hours to quality sleep.
1 Cereal Fiber Improves Whole-Body Insulin Sensitivity in Overweight and Obese
Women, Martin O. Weickert, MD; Matthias Molig, MS; Christof Schofl, MD; Ayman M. Arafat, MD; Barbel Otto, MD; Hannah Vichoff, Corinna Koebnick, PhD; Angela Kohl; Joachim Spranger, MD and Andreas F.H. Pfeiffer, MD, Diabetes Care, 29: 775-780, 2006.
2 Compound in Dairy Products Targets Diabetes, Science Daily, August 4, 2006.
3 Association of Sleep Time with Diabetes Mellitus and Impaired Glucose Tolerance,
Daniel J. Gottlieb, MD, MPH; Naresh M. Punjabi, MD, PhD; Ann B. Newman, MD,
MPH, Helaine E. Resnick, PhD; Susan Redline, MD, MPH; Carol M. Baldwin, RN, PhD;
F. Javier Nieto, MD, PhD, Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 165 No. 8, April, 2005.
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