Pre diabetes diet aims to delay onset of diabetes. Taking the correct diet and changing to healthy lifestyle can help those with high risks of getting diabetes to gain some control before suffering complications of diabetes.
Pre diabetes is commonly known as “borderline” diabetes. When a person had abnormal blood sugar level after oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) or fasting glucose test (FGT), the person is deemed to have pre diabetes. These are people either have impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) or impaired fasting glucose (IFG).
Pre Diabetes Diet – What Should You Do?
The main theme of pre diabetes diet is to modify diet in order to halt the progression to diabetes and its complications. Currently, the recommendations include high fiber, whole grain, limited saturated and trans fatty acids and low glycemic index (GI) carbohydrate food. It is inevitable to learn counting and monitoring carbohydrate intake to achieve this.
To fully take advantage of pre diabetes diet to prevent diabetes, it is useful to understand carbohydrates. Not all carbohydrates are equal. Our bodies process the various carbohydrates differently. Glycemic index (GI) was developed to show how our bodies process the different carbohydrates into blood sugar. Food with low GI is understood to produce low sustained blood sugar level while high GI food gives a high, quick blood sugar rush.
Some factors need to be considered when testing the response to food, such as type of sugar (glucose, fructose, lactose, sucrose), the quantity, type of starch (resistant starch, amylopectin, amylase), cooking and food processing (cellular form, particle size). There have been some studies to show taking low GI foods improve glucose control. Use wholegrain bread instead of white, eat oat based cereals, legume and pasta instead of rice are just some useful tips to pre diabetes diet.
Vegetarian diet which is based mainly on plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts has been advocated as suitable pre diabetes diet. It has not been medically proven to have advantage over non-vegan diet. Nevertheless, the principle of vegetarian diet that include limit saturated fat and cholesterol, minimizing trans fats, and consuming fiber-rich, low-GI carbohydrate foods, including fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes defers not far from recommendations of American Diabetes Association (ADA).
For the record, the general medical opinion is carbohydrate is crucial for pre diabetes control. The amount of carbohydrate takes a more prominent role when trying to reduce carbohydrate intake in comparison to the type of carbohydrates. Sucrose and sucrose-containing food do not need to be avoided totally.
Needless to say, the pre diabetes diet also aims to help weight loss. Obesity has been associated with diabetes. Some more recognized indicators of diabetes include body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and hip to waist ratio. All the pre diabetes diet plans should assist in reducing weight and improve the indicators mentioned above.
As weight management is important in ensuring success of pre diabetes diet, physical activities should not be left out. A daily moderate level physical activity of 30 minutes coupled with proper pre diabetes diet can help reduce weight by 5-10%. This will not only improve the odds against diabetes but also make a person feel much better overall.
Pre diabetes diet is not impossible. Armed with correct information and determination, it is not a feat to delay development into diabetes and its complications. Diabetes is a condition that can be put under control with a change to a healthy lifestyle and diet.