The Best Fluffy Pancakes recipe you will fall in love with. Full of tips and tricks to help you make the best pancakes.
You don’t always need a complicated diet to control blood sugar if you have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. In many cases, small, sustained lifestyle changes, along with medication when indicated, may be enough to improve blood sugar control. Here are three simple lifestyle approaches that can help naturally control blood sugar.
1. Eat starches last
In Ghana, we often regard starchy foods as the main part of the meal and everything else as the side dish. As a result, many people start their meals with starchy foods such as fufu or banku.
By the time protein foods such as fish or meat are eaten, a large amount of the starch may already have been consumed. This can make it easier to overeat starchy foods before you feel full.
Eating protein foods first and starches last can help reduce blood sugar spikes after meals. It may also make it easier to control the portion of starchy foods eaten during meals. This is especially useful for people with type 2 diabetes.
2. Take a 10-minute walk after meals
Walk for 10–15 minutes after meals, especially after dinner. If you can, aim for 20 minutes. A 10–20-minute walk after meals (especially dinner) is a simple but often overlooked way to help keep your fasting blood sugar under control by the following morning.
About 6 in 10 people living in Ghana with diabetes do not have their blood sugar adequately controlled. For many people living with type 2 diabetes, a commonly recommended fasting blood sugar goal is around 4–7 mmol/L.
Your skeletal muscles are your body’s main users of blood glucose. When you walk or exercise after meals, muscle contractions during these activities help your muscles to remove sugar from the bloodstream in a way that does not entirely need insulin, which your body (skeletal muscle) is not properly responding to.
This helps your muscles take up more sugar from your blood after a meal, which can keep your blood sugar from rising too high. When you do this regularly, it can help you better control your blood sugar after meals.
3. Work with a dietitian
If you have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, managing high blood sugar is not the same for everyone. Two people can have different blood sugar responses despite following the same dietary or lifestyle advice.
Individualized dietary counselling is more effective than generic diet and lifestyle advice. We offer dietary counselling services for type 2 diabetes, high blood cholesterol, and other nutrition-related conditions.
Medication treats diabetes, but what you eat every day also has a powerful effect on your blood sugar. Research indicates that nutrition therapy dispensed by a dietitian tailored to an individual can further lower HbA1c and improve blood cholesterol and weight status despite medication.
Want help managing your blood sugar through nutrition? Work with a dietitian. Click here to learn more or make an enquiry.