Diabetes mellitus is metabolic disorder characterized by blood sugar levels elevated enough to potentially cause short- and long-term complications in several of your organ systems. Prediabetes is an asymptomatic condition wherein your blood sugar levels are abnormally elevated, but not to the extent to warrant a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. Your diet is crucially important to control prediabetes and prevent or slow progression to Type 2 diabetes.
The Diet Link
Prediabetes is a condition wherein your body becomes resistant to the effects of the hormone insulin. Insulin levels rise in response to increasing blood sugar levels after you eat. The hormone enables the transport of sugar into your muscles, liver and fat cells, where it is used or stored. With insulin resistance, your cells respond sluggishly to insulin, leaving abnormally high amounts of sugar in your bloodstream.
Lack of physical activity, a diet with too many calories and the resulting excess body weight are significant contributing factors to the development of insulin resistance and prediabetes. National survey data collected from 2005 through 2008 indicate that more than one-third of American adults have prediabetes.
Reduce Calories
Roughly 80 percent of people with prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese. Changing your diet to reduce your total caloric intake and reduce your body weight is an important component of prediabetes prevention and treatment. The National Diabetes Education Program promotes modest weight loss --- 5 to 7 percent of your total body weight --- as an effective way to slow or prevent progression to Type 2 diabetes if you have prediabetes.
To lose weight, burn more calories than you consume each day. A safe rate of weight loss is typically 1 to 2 lbs. per week, which equates to taking in roughly 500 calories less than you use each day.
Cut Fats
Of the three major categories of nutrients --- carbohydrates, proteins and fats --- fats contain the most calories per gram. As you adjust your diet to prevent progression from prediabetes to Type 2 diabetes, limit your daily fat intake to no more than 25 percent of your total caloric intake. If you consume 2,000 calories per day, no more than 500 calories should come from fats. Limiting your fat intake aids in weight management and helps correct your blood fat levels, which are often abnormal with prediabetes.
The most important fats to cut from your diet include saturated fats and trans fats. Foods that contain large amounts of these fats include animal meats, egg yolks, luncheon meats, fried foods, fast foods and whole-milk products.
Complementing Diet with Exercise
Many factors contribute to the development of insulin resistance, including your genetic makeup, weight, diet and your activity level, or more accurately, a sedentary lifestyle. Your muscles burn large amounts of sugar when you are physically active, which helps keep your body sensitive to the effects of insulin. If you've developed prediabetes and a moderate level of insulin resistance, regular exercise is an important part of reversing this metabolic abnormality. Diet and exercise complement one another for the prevention and treatment of prediabetes --- and you'll lose more weight if you're exercising in addition to dieting.
References
- National Institutes of Health: National Diabetes Statistics, 2011
- "Diabetes Care"; Evidence-Based Nutrition Principles and Recommendations for the Treatment and Prevention of Diabetes and Related Complications; American Diabetes Association; January 2002
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: Diabetes Overview
- National Diabetes Education Program: Your Game Plan for Preventing Type 2 Diabetes
- "New England Journal of Medicine"; Reduction in the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes with Lifestyle Intervention or Metformin; Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group; February 2002
- The Diabetes Prevention Program's Lifestyle Change Program: Overview of Strategies to Achieve the Weight Loss Goal
