So, you have been diagnosed with prediabetes? Don’t panic! It’s not the end of the world and if you play your cards right, you might even reverse it. The key here is, aside from being active physically from now on, is in what you eat.
Unfortunately for you, sugar is present in almost every food imaginable, more so for Filipinos and other cultures that subsist on rice. Yep, rice is filled to the brim with carbohydrates – which get turn into sugar once they are sent to the blood stream as energy source for the body’s cells. But, not all foods with sugar are created equal. Some have more sugar in them than others.
See below for the kinds of food that, as a prediabetic, you should steer clear of to actually have a chance of reversing your condition.
1. White Bread, Rice, and Pasta
Wait. Before you wait to the high heavens about the unfairness of it all, let us be clear first. Nope, we’re not asking you to swear off rice entirely. Yup, you can still eat rice, although in extreme moderation as to speak. Also, if you love rice and pasta or bread, you need to choose among the three which you really really want to include in your meal plan. You can’t have all three.
For example, if you’re munching on bread, you might as well skip rice and pasta for the day, and the same goes for both rice and pasta. You need to understand that the three of them are filled with carbohydrates that eventually turn into sugar.
If you really must eat them, then switch to a low-carb and high-fiber version. For example, you can replace white rice with brown rice. You can also do the same with pasta, although you might need to look for low-carb versions of pasta recipes. Whole wheat bread does the same thing to white bread so that gets you covered for all three.
2. Sweetened Cereals
Despite the claims of cereal brands that they are healthy, these are still processed foods that probably have more carbohydrates than a cup of rice. Furthermore, they provide very little protein, a very useful nutrient that helps your body feel full enough and at the same time, keep your blood sugar level stable. As for the ‘healthy’ cereals such as granola cereal, they are also chockful of carbohydrates – a half-cup serving of about 55 grams contains as much as 30 grams of carbohydrates.
3. Packaged Snacks
If you are thinking of substituting pretzels and crackers to the usual high-carb and high-fat snack choices, it would be better if you’ll reevaluate first the ingredients of said packaged snacks. Each of these snacks, even those touted as “healthy” contains refined flour and only provides very few vitamins and nutrients. What they have in quantity are carbohydrates – plenty of them that can rapidly increase your blood sugar level.
More often than not too, these snacks might contain even more carbohydrates than what their labels state. A study found out that snack foods actually contain as much as 7.7% more carbohydrates than what was written on their labels.
4. Dried Fruits
If one dries fruits, the flavor and their nutrients become more concentrated with the loss of water, resulting to a more flavorful and nutrient-packed fruit. However, this also means that the sugar content of the fruit becomes more concentrated as well. For example, a cup of grapes contains 27 grams of carbohydrates while a cup of raisins have 115 grams of carbohydrates. This doesn’t mean, though, that you should swear off fruits of all kinds. You can, instead opt for low-carb fruits as an alternative. These include the following:
- Watermelon
- Cantaloupe
- Avocados
- Peaches
- Honeydew
5. Fast Food
These days, if you’re one to follow health blogs and such, fat seemed to have been rehabilitated from its role as the main cause of death among adults and of obesity among children. Sugar is getting all the bad press right now and to be honest, they’re probably right. However, that doesn’t mean that for those with prediabetes should start munching on fast food. They’re still bad for you. Why?
Well, there’s this thing called high blood pressure and high cholesterol – two complications that severely increase your risk of diabetes if you have them. If you’re prediabetic and you have those two, your chances of reversing your condition are close to nil.
Moderation Is Key
As always, the key here is moderation. Which is, yes, we know, it sounds so easy when stated but very hard in actual action. To be fair, even the unhealthiest foods available contain a bunch of vitamins and nutrients, and enough carbohydrates to power your body. The only complication is when we go over the “moderate.” And when we eventually contract diabetes, we wonder what the hell we did wrong.
A healthy diet and an active lifestyle – those two constants are almost always what you just need. A bit of supplementing with your trusted herbal supplement for diabetes like Ampalaya Plus would definitely help and add to that a mindset to cut back on all things unhealthy, and we’re pretty sure that you’ll manage to reverse your prediabetes in no time.
