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Some Diabetes Prevention Tips

Today's post doesn't exactly have much, if anything, to do with homeschooling ... however, the tips I'll share could easily be incorporated in your homeschool's health lesson plans :)

Just to update any of my blog followers who may not know about my struggle with diabetes - about 18 months ago I had some blood work done to confirm my suspicion that my blood sugar was out-of-whack. Sure enough, I was diagnosed as a pre-diabetic. One more fasting glucose number over 126 and I would have been confirmed as a Type 2 diabetic.

Having an older sister who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a toddler, and knowing how much she has been through over the years convicted me that I could not, in good conscience, allow myself to succumb to a preventable form of diabetes when my sister has had to live with a non-preventable version of the same disease most of her life. So what did I do, exactly? In a nutshell, I did whatever my physician told me to do!

My eating habits changed overnight, dramatically. I check my glucose to ensure I'm not making any costly mistakes in my eating. I make sure my A1c is checked every 3 to 6 months, and if it isn't steadily going down then I make adjustments to my lifestyle. I'm careful to pay attention to symptoms that didn't use to phase me at all - things like my vision, numbness or tingling in my feet, headaches, fatigue, and even my temperament. The result? I've lost 45 pounds (and am keeping it off without any extra effort). My blood sugar numbers are consistently low, just where my doctor would like them to be. My A1c has continued to decrease, and my goal is to hit 4.5% within the next year (at my last test it was 5.3%). My vision has improved, headaches that were chronic are now an extreme rarity. I don't get tired at mid-afternoon anymore. The heat poses no threat and doesn't bug me at all - and I used to fall apart if the temp rose above 90, haha! I could go on and on, but I'd better get busy blogging about my diabetes prevention tips!

These tips all come from reputable sources, and can be verified by doing a little research of your own. I have plenty of things that work well for me, but today I'm sharing things that work well in preventing diabetes across the board.

Tip # 1 -Eat greens, like raw Spinach (my favorite leafy green choice!). It makes a delicious salad, and it's pretty good eaten straight out of the package. If you eat potato chips for a snack, switch to Spinach and prepare to be amazed at the difference in your health. One serving a day has been shown to decrease diabetes risk by nearly 10%. Yea, that's a powerful snack!

Tip # 2 - Remember to make a fat-free choice as often as you can. Take yogurt, for example. Eat Greek for the high protein content, and eat non-fat for your pancreas. Fat-free foods improve the pancreas' ability to function optimally. And since the pancreas' main job is to produce insulin, a healthy pancreas means a lowered risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Tip # 3 - Grab a handful of walnuts and sprinkle on the flax seed. These two healthy nuts have proven themselves worth their weight in gold when it comes to diabetes prevention. Consuming them on a regular basis lowers the risk of diabetes in middle-aged adults by 20%. So snack on walnuts, add flax seed to your oatmeal at breakfast and toss it in your home-made baked goods. You won't be sorry and you probably won't even know it's in there!

Need more reasons to eat better? How about this reason - DIABETES KILLS! We all know that death is the ultimate statistic - one out of every one dies. The Bible tells us that it is appointed to man once to die and then to face the judgement. It's going to happen to each and every one of us. But it doesn't have to happen as a result of complications due to diabetes! High blood pressure, high cholesterol, hardening of the arteries, stroke, blindness, amputations, kidney disease - the list goes on and on. Sound scary? Good - it is scary. And what's even scarier? 25 million Americans have diabetes. Some estimates say that number will double, possibly triple, over the next 2 decades.

Diabetes prevention is possible - I'm living proof. If I can do it, anyone can do it. The Lord helped me once I was willing to admit I needed His help, and He is no respecter of men. He will help you, too.

Have a Spinach eating, fat-free yogurt enjoying, walnut munching, anti-diabetes kind of day!!

Day 102 done :)

Jan L. Burt
www.HomeschoolingMothersBibleStudy.com

Comments

  1. Such great advice. Would you be willing to go into more detail of what you gave up, what you added, what helped the most, etc...?
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for these tips. And I would 2nd what Very Blessed Mama said about going into more detail! My dad was diagnosed with Type 2 a few years ago, and it runs elsewhere in my family too, so I want to do what I can NOW before I fall into the same pattern!

    ReplyDelete
  3. GREAT post as always, Jan!! Looks like your readers are helping you to come up with more blogging material -- more detail in how you succeeded! You look fabulous and I'm soooo super proud of you!! Maybe I need to follow some of these things as these 20 lbs gained by my migraine pills sure aren't coming back off -- ugh!! :( I do eat the greek and non-fat yogurt at least once if not twice a day. The others I will try to incorporate more of. When I make a salad, I also always include spinach leaves, but I have to say, it's probabably not near enough! Even though I already know a lot of what you've done to get to where you are...I'll be watching for more updates as you please your readers with more detail - HA!! :)

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