Have you heard about a medical term called prediabetes? It is a medical condition in which an individual’s blood sugar is high enough but not high enough to get diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It is said that prevention is better than cure; one can prevent diabetes if it is detected in the early stage of being prediabetic.
It is never too late to do the right thing in life; if one becomes health cautious today, then it can help prevent the life-threatening medical complications of tomorrow.
Insulin is a hormone that helps control the body’s blood sugar level and metabolism. It helps the body use blood sugar for the energy it needs and then stores the rest.
Type 2 diabetes is a life-threatening disease in which the body either doesn’t produce enough insulin or a person becomes insulin resistant.
Researchers estimate that more than 34 million people living in the United States have diabetes, out of which 90-95$ are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes can occur at any particular age, but it usually is developed in people who are above the age group of 45 years. One should always try and look for signs of diabetes like excessive thirst or hunger, frequent urination, unhealed wounds and extreme tiredness.
Not getting the right treatment for type 2 diabetes in time can lead to medical complications like nerve damage, kidney disease, eye damage, dementia and heart and blood vessel diseases.
What Are The Natural Ways To Prevent Type 2 Diabetes?
Apart from anti-diabetic medications like Linagliptin (Trajenta), Glibenclamide (Semi Daonil), or Sitagliptin (Januvia), there are many ways to treat and prevent type 2 diabetes. Making a few changes in your lifestyle now can help avoid complications of type 2 diabetes in the future.
As said by the World Health Organization, taking a healthy diet, doing regular physical activity, maintaining a normal amount of body weight, and avoiding tobacco use are some of the ways to prevent diabetes or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
Looking for the right signs of diabetes can help a person start an early diagnosis of the disease. Some of the natural ways in which a person can avert the risk of developing type 2 diabetes are as follows.
Lose the extra weight:
A person who has extra weight in the body or suffers from obesity is more likely to become diabetic. The presence of visceral fat in the abdominal region of the body promotes inflammation and insulin resistance in an individual.
Losing the extra weight in the body can help in averting the risk of chronic diseases like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and other heart and blood vessels diseases.
Eat Healthy food:
Our physical health depends to a larger extent on what we consume in our diet. Doctors around the world recommend diabetic patients avoid sugar-sweetened beverages, high trans-fat products, and gluten-made products.
One should try to take a more nutritional diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts.
A medical expert like a dietician can help in preparing a diet chart that can meet the needs and requirements of your body, taking into consideration all the existing medical conditions.
Eating a well-balanced and healthy diet can help lower the risk and prevent diabetes.
Quit smoking:
Actively smoking can make managing diabetes and regulating insulin levels more difficult due to the presence of high nicotine levels that can lessen the effectiveness of insulin in the body.
One might need to take insulin therapy to regulate the blood sugar levels in the body.
Numerous harmful chemicals are present in cigarettes that harm the cells in the body and cause inflammation, and this makes the cells unresponsive to insulin in the body.
One can prevent diabetes by giving up such unhealthy lifestyle habits.
Also Read: Diabetes: World’s 7th Most Deadly Noncommunicable Diseases
Regular exercising:
Exercising regularly has numerous benefits, and it helps in reducing extra weight, keeps the blood sugar and insulin levels within the normal range, strengthens the muscles, and improves the metabolism of the body.
One can do aerobic exercises, high-intensity interval training or strength training according to one’s choice.
Working out more frequently can lead to improvements in insulin response and function. Even working out only 30 minutes a day can help prevent diabetes to some extent.
Monitoring sugar levels:
Depending upon the severity of type 2 diabetes, a person may need to monitor their blood sugar levels once or twice every week or every day.
It is essential to keep a constant check on the glucose levels to manage the medical condition of type 2 diabetes.
Such a habit can help prevent diabetes and other severe medical complications like a diabetic coma.
Get regular sleep:
Getting a minimum of seven hours of sleep is vital to staying healthy. Sleep helps in healing and repairing the heart and blood vessels in the body.
Lack of adequate sleep causes less insulin to be released in the body, due to which the risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases significantly.
One can prevent diabetes by living a healthy lifestyle that involves getting the right amount of sleep at regular intervals.
Drink more water:
Drinking more water than relying on other beverages like sugary drinks is a good way to prevent diabetes.
Such beverages contain high amounts of sugar, preservatives and other unneeded ingredients, which are unhealthy.
Drinking more water can help the body eliminate excess glucose through urine. Looking for signs of diabetes like extreme thirst and frequent urination can help an individual start early treatment for the disease.
BOTTOM LINE:
Type 2 diabetes is a severe disease that can have ill consequences if not appropriately managed. Long-term exposure to high blood sugar in the body can cause nerve and eye damage, kidney diseases, heart disease, and blood vessel diseases.
Various medical treatment options are available for type 2 diabetes, but choosing to manage type 2 diabetes in more natural ways would go a long way in managing such a chronic illness.
