Eating Your Way to Long-Term Diabetes Remission
By Aliyah N. A.
DIABETES
Diabetes is a common health concern among American men, women, and more recently children. Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. In healthy individuals, insulin helps glucose from the food you eat to get into your cells to be used for individuals. In those with diabetes either the body doesn't produce enough insulin (Type 1), or sugar is resistant to the insulin being produced (Type 2). In some cases, women develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes is when a hormone produced by the placenta causes unstable blood sugar levels. This post will focus on Type 2 Diabetes, causes, triggers, and dietary intervention necessary to heal, reverse, and prevent the disease.
UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIABETES
The development of Type 2 diabetes is associated with obese and overweight individuals because carrying excess fat increases insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when sugar is unable to pass through insulin in your cells. When sugar is unable to pass through, it remains in the blood causing high blood sugar levels.
In healthy individuals, the sugars from the foods you eat use insulin to travel from your blood into your cells. In those with diabetes, this process doesn’t happen as efficiently because of insulin resistance. But what makes sugar resistant to insulin in the first place? Fat accumulation. Because of excess fat in your cells, there is no room for the sugar to pass through. Therefore type 2 diabetes can be managed through a healthy diet and lifestyle changes. In some cases, cleaning up your diet and consuming certain foods daily can cause long-term diabetes remission.
MY MEDICATION LOWERS MY BLOOD SUGAR, DO I STILL NEED LIFESTYLE CHANGES?
Your doctor may prescribe different types of medication to help stabilize the amount of sugar in the bloodstream. These medications do this by increasing the amount of insulin released by the pancreas, reducing the amount of glucose released by the liver, delaying the breakdown of carbs to sugar, or blocking enzymes to slow the digestion of starch.
Though these will all act to stabilize blood glucose levels, controlling the amount of sugar in the bloodstream is only treating the symptom of diabetes, not the cause.
To treat the cause of insulin resistance, you must reduce the amount of fat in muscles, blood, and cells. You must also keep LDL cholesterol levels low because LDL kills beta cells (insulin-producing cells), which the body stops generating in your 20s. Do this by incorporating lifestyle changes such as increasing exercise and dietary changes to address the cause and reduce the amount of fat in your cells.
DIETARY CHANGES FOR DIABETES MANAGEMENT
Knowing what to eat to help stabilize blood sugar helps.
Here are some tips:
Fiber - increasing your intake of dietary fiber is a natural way to manage diabetes. Because fiber slows the release of sugar, it can have the same effect as some medications. Fiber is a plant-specific nutrient found in high amounts in whole grains, beans, and vegetables. So, eating more foods like brown rice, black beans, quinoa, broccoli, artichokes, flaxseeds, green leafy vegetables, and berries every day can help stabilize your blood sugar levels over time.
Healthy fats - Having the opposite effect of unhealthy fats, healthy fats help to reduce the amount of fat you carry in your body. They also stabilize blood sugar by slowing down digestion. Healthy fats include avocado, hemp seeds, walnuts, chia seeds, and cashews.
Phytonutrients - Phytonutrients are plant-derived nutrients or chemicals your body uses to stay healthy. Some phytonutrients help to block sugar from being absorbed beyond your gut wall into the bloodstream. Eat fruits low in sugar like grapefruit and raspberries, vegetables low in starch like asparagus and green beans, and high-fiber grains like oatmeal and wild rice.
What to Avoid
Specifically, consuming high amounts of trans fat, saturated fat, sugar, starch, and LDL cholesterol spikes blood sugar levels in those with diabetes, increases weight gain and fat accumulation, and can lead to a new diabetes diagnosis. Here are common food sources:
Trans fat, sat. fat and dietary cholesterol - red meat, eggs, dairy, coconut oil, vegetable oil, soybean oil, cheese, shrimp, processed meat, poultry, pork, refined grains
Caffeine - because caffeine is a stimulant, it can cause blood sugar spikes. Avoid consuming caffeine in sodas, coffee (including decaf), green tea, white tea, black tea, cocoa beans, chocolate/chocolate flavored foods, energy drinks, some kombucha, and sweet tea.
Excess sugar - Sugary drinks like sodas, fruit juices, sweetened teas, and foods like cookies, cakes, and ice cream are the primary source of added sugar in the American diet. Unfortunately, findings from several studies point to sugar-sweetened foods and beverages increases the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, even in people who are not carrying excess body fat. Sugar-sweetened beverages are also uniquely harmful to children, as they can contribute not only to obesity in children but also to conditions that usually do not develop until adulthood, like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Even those foods that may seem harmful are still high in added sugar. These include:
Regular and low-fat yogurt
Condiments (like ketchup and BBQ sauce)
Canned beans, fruit, and foods
Granola/Granola bars
Protein bars
Spaghetti sauce,
Pre-made smoothies
Non-dairy milk
Peanut butter
Whole grain bagels
Removing drinks and food with added sugars from your diet is a great step toward preventing the development of diabetes and stabilizing blood sugar levels in those with current diagnoses.
Instead, opt to buy natural and unsweetened foods and always look for foods with the least amount of ingredients. As a good rule of thumb, if you’re unsure of what an ingredient is on the back of a label, don’t eat it.
TAKEAWAYS
Eat a diet rich in whole plant foods like fruits and vegetables
Switch to whole grains to increase fiber and reduce starch
Eliminate processed foods and drinks with added sugars.
Exercise at least 45 minutes a day