Gaining weight and not exercising increase your risk for getting diabetes. If you're already a few pounds overweight, reversing this trend can prevent diabetes and improve your current health profile. A nutritional imbalance that favors fat and sugar increases calorie counts and shortchanges your daily intakes of helpful vitamins and minerals. MayoClinic.com reports that eating more foods with fiber, such as whole grains, and eating a greater variety of foods will restore balance to your diet and help you avoid getting diabetes.
Seafood
Move away from high-fat protein foods, such as a fatty meats and fried chicken, toward fish, mollusks and crustaceans. The American Heart Association notes the superior ratio of unsaturated fat to saturated fat in fish such as salmon and trout. Eating healthy halibut, clams and crab more often may cause you to store less fat and stick to a healthy weight, your best bet in preventing diabetes.
Nonfat Dairy Products
Reducing the fat content of the foods that you eat most often, such as milk, cheese and yogurt, will aid in weight control yet preserve the vitamin and mineral benefits. For the greatest impact, the American Diabetes Association recommends choosing nonfat dairy products. You can ease into this lifestyle choice by switching from whole to 2 percent, 1 percent and then nonfat items.
Whole Grains
Start adding more fiber to your diet and reducing your risk for getting diabetes by making half of your grain choices whole grains. On every other trip to the store, choose whole-wheat over white bread and regular pasta, and brown over white rice. Eat oatmeal instead of a bagel made with white flour or a bowl of wheat bran flakes instead of pancakes. MayoClinic.com relates that eating whole grains may stabilize your weight and your blood sugar, to help prevent diabetes.
Legumes
Legumes represent another high-fiber food that lowers your fat intake when used as a protein alternative. The ADA recommends eating lentils, beans or peas several times a week to promote weight control with a highly nutritious dietary staple. Choose split peas, black-eyed peas, chickpeas and kidney, black, pinto, navy, lima and other types of beans.
Fruits and Vegetables
Eat several servings of fruits and vegetables every day for more fiber and large amounts of vitamins and minerals that help you safely manage your weight. According to the USDA Nutrient Database, oranges, berries, peaches and pears, and orange and dark green vegetables have some of the greatest nutritional value in the fewest calories.
