Vegetarian diets have long been recognized as helpful in the prevention and control of Type 2 diabetes. The American Dietetic Association in July of 2009 published a position paper stating that nutritious vegetarian diets could help to prevent and treat:
- Type 2 diabetes,
- heart disease,
- obesity, and
- cancer.
Researchers at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, set out to discover how vegetarian diets helped to prevent and treat diabetes. Their work was published in the journal Diabetes Medicine. Seventy-four volunteers with Type 2 diabetes were included in the study. Thirty-seven diabetics randomly assigned to a vegetarian diet and 37 diabetics given a non-vegetarian diet were compared. The people in the vegetarian group showed greater insulin sensitivity than those in the control group, and the vegetarian group showed greater improvement in insulin sensitivity after both groups completed an exercise program.
Insulin resistance is the hallmark of Type 2 diabetes, so a diet that increases insulin sensitivity can be expected to prevent and control this form of diabetes. The increased insulin sensitivity seen with exercise is highly encouraging. It gives those with prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes, two tools which can be used together to prevent or treat the condition effectively.
Check with your doctor or healthcare provider before beginning a program of diet and exercise, and then go for it. Many people think that a vegetarian diet has to be boring, but nothing could be further from the truth. There is a much greater variety of fruits and vegetables than there is of meats. Vegetariantimes.com is a good source of tasty plant-based recipes. Why not try:
- spicy kimchi stew with mushrooms from Korea,
- brown rice salad with roasted butternut squash,
- chestnuts and pomegranate, or
- hummus with tomato-mint salsa is something to try on a tortilla.
Want something simpler? Try spreading a little peanut butter onto sliced apples for a healthful treat.For Type 2 diabetics, exercises that will help get rid of the belly fat are good not only for weight loss but for getting rid of fat cells that can cause insulin resistance. The kind of fat found around the waistline releases molecules that hinder the body’s use of insulin. Lie face-up on a mat, knees bent and feet flat on the mat. Place your hands behind your head and curl up. Repeat 30 times a day. Place your hands under your tushy and raise your legs up, keeping your knees straight. Repeat 30 times a day.
After that you will be ready to get out in the fresh air. Grab your bicycle, take a swim, or go for a walk. Thirty minutes a day of physical activity can help with every aspect of health. Exercise is just as important as diet and, in some cases, as important as drugs in managing Type 2 diabetes.