Welcome back to Bestie!
We all want to live a long healthy life but it can be harder to do that if you’ve been
diagnosed with Diabetes.
Diabetes is a disease that either makes it difficult for your body to produce insulin
or, if it can produce insulin, it doesn’t know how to properly use it.
There’s basically 3 types of diabetes: The most common being Type 2 diabetes, meaning
your body produces insulin but can’t use it correctly.
Type 1 is less common and can be hard to manage, this type means your pancreas doesn’t produce
insulin, a crucial hormone that helps regulate blood sugar.
The 3rd type of diabetes is gestational diabetes which can occur during pregnancy and usually
goes away once the baby is born.
Doesn’t matter which form of diabetes you have because in today’s video we’re gonna
show you some tips that will help you control your blood sugar and help you live a healthy
long life!
Should you skip breakfast?
What about your stress levels?
Wait, walking helps?
Keep watching for the answers to all these questions and more!
Walking Can Do Wonders Yes, something as simple as taking a small
walking break during the day can help your health overall.
More and more studies are coming out explaining how sitting for long periods of time and avoiding
exercise can be really, REALLY bad for you.
Like - shorten your lifespan - bad.
When it comes to diabetes one study in particular found that those who took a 10 minute walk
after meals lowered their blood sugar by 12%.
If you go for a walk after the last meal of the day you could lower it by a whopping 22%.
If you notice you’ve been sitting at a desk for over 20 minutes, make sure you get up
and take a short break.
Do you have a desk job?
When do you get up and walk around?
Comment below, and let us know!
When In Doubt, Go Blue Eating can be tricky when you have diabetes,
we’ll get into what you should eat a little later in the video, but when it comes to snacking
try going for the blue stuff!
Of course we mean things like blueberries and grapes.
The anthocyanins in these types of foods have been linked to keeping your blood sugar levels
healthy.
Sweet stuff can sometimes spike your blood sugar, but if you’re craving something sweet
one serving of blueberries has the same effect on blood sugar as dropping one point on your
Body Mass Index.
Speaking of your BMI…
Get Up And Sweat Of course exercise will benefit you, why do
you think we’re always talking about it?!
It’s true, having a regular workout schedule will benefit you in a variety of ways, including
balancing your blood sugar levels.
Exercising helps your body use up that excess sugar for energy instead of turning it into
fat.
Losing weight can also help with insulin sensitivity, which in turn, will help your body use the
sugar that’s in the bloodstream properly.
Add More Vinegar Vinegar is a strong taste, that’s for sure,
but did you know that it might help your body slow down the absorption of sugar?
Especially apple cider vinegar.
Research suggests that one tablespoon of ACV after every meal might help with keeping your
blood sugar levels low and could have the power to increase insulin sensitivity.
Make sure you get the organic, raw kind of ACV for the best health benefits.
Add More Berberine Okay...what is Berberine?!
Don’t feel bad if you don’t know, I had to look it up too.
Turns out that Berberine is an active ingredient of a Chinese Herb that’s been used to treat
diabetes for thousands of years?!
Apparently we’ve been living under a rock, huh?
Studies show that this wonder herb can help your body break down carbs, which can cause
your blood sugar to spike, and use them for energy.
And it could help lower your overall blood sugar.
Some research even suggests that this compound rivals blood sugar lowering drugs.
Seems like it’s pretty strong stuff, so make sure you do your research and talk to
your doctor before taking it.
There have been a few side effects like constipation and abdominal pain reported.
Eat Before You Drink Booze can really mess with your blood sugar
in general so it’s best to keep the drinking under control, however if you are gonna drink
you want to do it on a full stomach, or while you’re eating a meal.
A glass of wine with dinner is probably okay, but drinking on an empty stomach can really
cause your blood sugar to take a dive.
Not only that, getting too tipsy can be dangerous because the symptoms of low blood sugar could
actually be confused with you just being drunk, and vice versa.
Chill out, dude.
Surprise, surprise stress can harm you when it comes to diabetes, too!
We all know that stress is a ugly part of life that can really cause problems.
You’re naturally gonna be a bit stressed out from time to time but taking the proper
steps to minimize it can benefit your blood sugar levels.
When you get stressed out your body is releasing hormones called cortisol and glucagon.
And these hormones can make your blood sugar levels rise.
Try out a few different relaxing things to see what works best for you and your lifestyle.
If you wanna combine relaxation with exercise yoga might be the answer.
Meditation can do wonders for anxiety and stress reduction.
Remember how we mentioned walking is good for you?
Why not combine that with a stress reliever like walking in nature.
It might be your new favourite activity!
Always Be One Step Ahead By this we mean, be one step ahead of yourself!
If you know you’re going to go out for most of the day, plan ahead by packing foods that
won’t spike your blood sugar too much.
Having a snack handy can also keep your blood sugar levels from dipping too low.
Something easy like a banana, granola bar or some glucose tablets can give you a boost
of sugar when you need it.
Not only will you feel more secure and anxiety free for the rest of the day, you’ll be
the awesome friend who has snacks!
Everybody loves that guy!
Add More Cinnamon Who doesn’t like cinnamon, really?!
It’s delicious, and smells like cookies.
You can put it in coffee to make it taste heavenly and turns out it might help with
your blood sugar levels!
According to research, adding cinnamon to your diet has the ability to lower your blood
sugar levels by 29%.
The funny thing about cinnamon is that it sort of acts like an alternate version of
insulin, except it doesn’t work as fast and you’d need to eat a LOT of cinnamon
to take insulin’s place.
So just adding about 2 teaspoons a day can help boost your body’s defense against fluctuations
in your blood sugar.
You can add cinnamon to your coffee, your smoothies, or even curries.
We don’t recommend eating it on it’s own...that would be less tasty.
Just Add Nuts Maybe you’re not used to snacking on nuts,
but if you have diabetes, you might wanna change that!
Not only are they a healthy and filling snack they can help your body get a handle on blood
sugar levels.
Nuts like walnuts, pistachios and almonds all contain healthy fats that can slow the
speed at which the body absorbs sugar.
As wonderful a snack as nuts can be, keep in mind that these little morsels are packed
with calories.
Try to limit yourself to just a handful of nuts each day to avoid a calorie spike.
Speaking of only eating a little of something...
Try Portion Control Controlling your weight can have really positive
effects on your health.
Especially if you’re overweight.
We’ve already covered how great regular exercise is for you, but if you pair that
with a healthy weight you can prevent yourself from getting certain types of diabetes all
together, and if you have diabetes, you’ll be able to control your blood sugar levels
better.
If you keep an eye on how much you're eating in one meal, you’ll avoid eating too many
calories at once which then will help you avoid a sugar spike later on.
Some easy ways to eat smaller portions is to use a smaller plate when dishing out your
meal.
When going out to a restaurant it’s really hard not to eat the whole meal because it’s
so delicious.
Try bringing a take out container with you and before you start eating, pack away half
the meal.
That way you get to enjoy the food twice!
This won’t work if you’re eating at a really fancy place though, those portion sizes
are already too small!!
Avoiding restaurants is probably a good idea while you’re trying to lose weight anyway,
so this is a great opportunity to try new healthy recipes at home.
Speaking of which, here’s a video about “13 Foods Diabetics Should Be Eating”
that you might wanna see.
Maybe it’ll inspire you in the kitchen!
Are you a diabetic?
What are some of your favourite diabetic friendly foods?
Why not share them with fellow bestie viewers in the comments below, we’d love to hear
from you.