Pre-Diabetes - Know The Importance of Portion Control!

Pre-diabetes is a serious medical condition which puts you at higher risk for getting type 2 diabetes. But, there are a number of things that you can do, changes that you can make like avoiding certain foods, controlling the portions of your meal and the number of hours you exercise in a week that will help you prevent type 2 diabetes.

Without pulling any punches, let us say this very clearly that any healthy changes that you make during pre-diabetes will save you from an extremely serious disease called diabetes which kills due to various complications.

Type 2 Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes

• What happens when you have type 2 diabetes is that your body does not produce enough insulin, the hormone that metabolizes sugar or is not able to use it properly. Your blood sugar therefore, shoots up alarmingly causing all the diabetes symptoms we already know of.
• Pre-diabetes is a condition when your fasting blood sugar level is above normal. It is diagnosed through a blood test after you have fasted overnight.
• Normal fasting sugar is 60 to 99 milligrams per deciliter and in pre-diabetes, it is 100 to 125 mg/dl, whereas diabetes sugar is 126 mg/dl or higher on 2 occasions.
• If you have pre-diabetes, your doctor will counsel you about developing a lifestyle plan to reduce your risk of getting type 2 diabetes.
• Most recommendations hover around losing 5-10 percent of your body weight if you are obese, more exercise and control of your portion size.

Portion size control for pre-diabetics

• You will be advised to cut your calorie intake by 250 to 500 hundred calories per day if you are overweight.
• Certain foods which are basically carbohydrates will go off your plate forever. Carbohydrates are high glycemic index foods as they convert to sugar very fast in the body and trigger insulin.
• This means sweets, rice, cookies, pasta, chips, desserts, tortillas and even a few fruits which are high in sugar like Litchis and mangoes have to be excised from your pre-diabetes diet plan.
• And, so should sodas, cold drinks, smoothies, fruit juices alcohol, tea and coffee with sugar…
• Remember, proper serving size is crucial to preventing full-blown diabetes.
• Let’s take a look at how you can do this as a pre-diabetic-

Essentially, portion control for pre-diabetics is geared towards managing

• Calorie intake, especially important for those carrying extra body weight
• Carbohydrate intake

Managing calorie intake

• Pre-diabetics should keep the calories from carbs to the minimum. They should get their maximum calories from proteins and fats.
• Which means their plates should have more lean meats and eggs, less fats and minimum amounts of carbs, like wheat.
• This has a number of benefits for blood glucose control. Eating more fat and protein-based foods will limit the uptake of sugar from your bloodstream. Fat is insulin-neutral and so are proteins. This means they don’t trigger insulin.
• Since an increased waist size is associated with decreased sensitivity to insulin, keeping your calories down by eating moderate portions of food is the best way to stop progression to full-blown diabetes.

Managing carbohydrate intake

• Pre-diabetes means that your body doesn’t tolerate carbohydrates. Think of it like this, in a meal, having half a banana is all your body can tolerate in terms of carbs.
• Use can also use the plate method which involves dividing up your plate into sections for different food groups. It helps you to keep control of portion sizes as well as helping you to enjoy a well balanced diet. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can ask a free question.