Chances are that you or someone you know struggles with diabetes. You have seen, or experienced the struggle with other health complications brought on by diabetes, or even just the mental and financial toll it can take.
Remaining the 7th leading cause of death in the United States, diabetes is so common that 1 in 10 Americans have diabetes, and 1 out of 5 Americans won’t even know they have it. [1] Even if you don’t have diabetes, you may have pre-diabetes. This means your blood sugar is higher than usual but not enough to be diagnosed with diabetes. [2]
With the high costs of medical treatments and the added stress diabetes can add to your life; there are a few simple steps you can take now to prevent or even potentially reverse your type II diabetes.
Healthy Lifestyle
For years a healthy lifestyle has been touted as one of the best ways to help prevent diabetes and improve health. Physical activity is not only effective in helping to prevent diabetes for those that are at higher risk of having diabetes but also in treating patients that already have diabetes. [3]
Recent studies have also shown that physical activity and other lifestyle changes such as; lower alcohol intake and better sleeping habits can help prevent or potentially reverse type II diabetes in some cases.[3]
Low-Calorie Meals
In some cases, combining physical activity and exercise with low-calorie meals has been linked with the reversal of type II diabetes. Combining these for the
best results is important as low-carb diets help improve your glycemic control. [3]
However, the long-term sustainability of reversal through Low-Calorie diets alone is still yet to be proven; the short-term results are promising.[4]
Overall, these are a few simple steps that you can take to help reverse your type II diabetes. Talk with your doctor to see what other personalized steps you can take to help reverse your diabetes and retake control of your life.
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References
1. The facts, stats, and impacts of diabetes. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/spotlights/diabetes-facts-stats.html. Published January 24, 2022. Accessed July 14, 2022.
2. About Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention/about-prediabetes.html. Published December 21, 2021. Accessed July 14, 2022.
3. Lemieux I. Reversing type 2 diabetes: The time for Lifestyle Medicine has come! Nutrients. 2020;12(7):1974. doi:10.3390/nu12071974
4. Hallberg SJ, Gershuni VM, Hazbun TL, Athinarayanan SJ. Reversing type 2 diabetes: A narrative review of the evidence. Nutrients. 2019;11(4):766. doi:10.3390/nu11040766
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