powder keg. For more information, check out the Surgeon General’s report on 50 years of health consequences from smoking. Then find a smoking cessation program, such as the American Lung Association's Freedom from Smoking, and drop this dangerous habit- for life!
• Reduce your BMI.
There is evidence to support the benefits of more than one type of diet in controlling diabetes, but they all share one compelling feature: reduced body fat mass. A 2016 7 study followed 32 patients with Type 2 diabetes who applied the Paleolithic diet for 12 weeks. This diet emphasized vegetables and fruits, and protein from nuts, eggs, fish, and lean meat. Subjects avoided refined sugars, grains and dairy products.
The Paleo dieters not only became leaner, with improved body mass index overall, the percentage of fat retained in the midsection, a big indicator of diabetes, also improved. Blood sugar balance and insulin sensitivity were stabilized, and resting heart rate and blood pressure decreased. One participant was able to stop their diabetes medication, metformin, and two additional participants were able to stop their blood pressure medication. Not bad for 12 weeks!
Vegan diets also show tremendous results. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines recommend limiting animal fats, based on the results of studies in which a whopping 43% of test subjects placed on vegan diets were able to reduce their diabetes medications. The vegan group also improved their lipid profile by lowering total and LDL cholesterol levels.
The bottom line is, no one diet fits the needs of all people. By lowering body fat and improving BMI, you are adding powerful indicators for reversing diabetes.