Diabetes and heart disease have an intimate connection—when you get diabetes, it increases your chances of getting heart disease.
So, what can you do to avoid getting diabetes and, by extension, possibly heart disease? In this article, I want to share with you some strategies you can use to live a diabetes-free life.
1. Reduce Your Consumption Of Red Meat
Studies show that eating red meat regularly can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, eating other sources of protein, such as mushrooms, herrings, sardines, mackerel, salmon, tuna, rabbit meat, chicken meat without the skin, egg albumen, sunflower seeds, and beans can reduce your risk of developing diabetes.
Concerning beans, here is a meal, called beans cocktail tidbits, which is prepared with beans, and which you can prepare and eat regularly to reduce your risk of developing diabetes:
- The ingredients you need to prepare this meal are: about 80 grams of beans flour, about 80 grams of wheat flour, the albumen or white of 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1 small onion.
- To prepare it, soak the beans in water to remove the husk.
- Afterwards, partly dry the beans, and then blend it.
- Then, add the chopped onions and half a teaspoon of salt.
- Beat the egg whites until they are fluffy and add it to the mixture.
- Mix the mixture well with dry ingredients.
- Then, roll out thinly and mold it into fancy shapes.
- Subsequently, deep fry the tidbits.
- Approximate adult serving is between 50 and 70 grams.
2. Exercise Regularly
According to the Harvard School of Public Health, exercising very often, which by itself is also good for your heart, can help you to reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Therefore, make it a habit to exercise every day. By doing this, you will reduce your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.
- Do about 20 push-ups before you bathe every morning, and another 20 before your wash down in the evening.
- Do rope jumping for 30 minutes in the morning before you go off to work, and also for about one hour during weekends when you are at home.
- Walk briskly for about 15 minutes every day.
- Run about five miles in the morning before you start working, and about 10 miles on Saturday mornings.
- Ride your bicycle for about 15 minutes in the morning before you go to work, ride to the grocery store or shop in your neighborhood when you are going to do shopping, or ride it instead of driving in a car when you are going to visit a friend who lives in the same neighborhood you live in.
- Do aerobic dancing for about 30 minutes with your brother, sister, or spouse when you have the time.
3. Cut Down On Your Consumption Of Sugar
A study conducted by the University of California in San Francisco suggests that eating too much sugar, which by itself can cause heart disease, can increase one’s risk of developing diabetes.
So, instead of adding sugar to your tea before drinking it, choose to give yourself that “sweet taste” by eating a sweet fruit, such as bananas, watermelons, oranges, or papaya, as you drink your tea. Furthermore, instead of adding sugar to your oats before eating it, choose to slice pieces of bananas, pineapples, or mangoes into it and you will still get the “sweet taste” you are looking for.
4. Avoid Smoking
Smoking, which in itself can significantly increase your risk of getting heart disease, can also increase your risk of developing diabetes. So, do your best to avoid starting this habit which can cause serious damage to your heart.
Anyway, why do you smoke? Do you smoke because you want to lose weight? There are healthier ways to lose weight, such as exercising regularly, reducing your consumption of foods such as hot dogs, pizzas, cheeseburghers, sausages, hamburghers, and processed and canned beef, all of which contain saturated fats which increase one’s risk of putting on weight, and also avoiding sugary drinks.
Or, do you smoke as a way to release tension when you are stressed, depressed, or when you are going through emotional problems? Then choose to deal with such situations by doing deep breathing exercises, meditating on God’s word often, gardening, dancing, making music, or praying.
5. Control Your Weight
Studies have shown that obesity, which has an influence on whether someone can get heart disease or not, also increases one’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Accordingly, if you are obese, do your best to lose some weight.
How can you do that?
- Skipping breakfast increases one’s chances of becoming obese. So, make sure that you eat something before you go off to work. Even if you don’t have enough time to prepare something elaborate, at least you can cook oats, which is easy to prepare and cooks quickly, and eat it with one or two slices of wheat bread or fried beans balls. And if your work shift starts in the afternoon, choose to eat a heavy meal, such as boiled plantains with cocoyam leaves stew, unpolished brown rice with egg plant stew, or potatoes with cabbage or lettuce stew in the morning, and another heavy meal in the afternoon before you go to work.
- Fry your ripe plantain with olive oil instead of frying it with palm oil.
- Fry your kelewele (soft, ripe plantain) with sunflower oil instead of frying it with butter.
- Cook your jollof rice with soy bean oil instead of cooking it with margarine or palm oil.
- Choose to eat your bread with slices of avocados instead of eating it with a spread of butter.
- Choose to eat a breakfast of green tea without sugar, bran bread, sardines, slices of bananas or papaya instead of eating a breakfast of tea with added sugar and muffins, doughnuts, sausages, slices of beef, hotdogs, margarine , jam, or jellies, all of which contain a lot of cholesterol and so can increase your risk of gaining weight.
- Reduce the amount of food you eat. You can achieve this by serving yourself on a salad or breakfast plate.
- Avoid soft drinks that contain a lot of sugar because medical experts at Harvard say it increases one’s risk of gaining weight. Instead of drinking sodas and other sugary drinks, blend a variety of sweet fruits, such as apples, grapes, bananas, pineapples, oranges, tangerines, mangoes, papayas, and sour sup, and consume it daily as your “soft drink.” Alternatively, choose to drink green tea which research has shown can help one to lose weight.
- Eat a lot of stone fruits such as peaches, plums, and nectarines, if you are already obese. Research conducted at the AgriLife Research Center in Texas suggests that these fruits contain bioactive compounds that have anti-obesity properties.
6. Pray
God has got the power to prevent diseases from afflicting people.
Therefore, every day, intone prayers such as this one, “Dear Heavenly Father, Lord who gives life, I thank You for Your mercies and Your grace which have kept me up to this day. Glory be to Your Name for looking after me. Lord, you tell us to come to You for anything our heart desires. Lord, I have come to you today to ask You to bless the efforts I am making to prevent developing diabetes. I know that unless You build the house, those who build it are wasting their time because You are the Final Authority in this world, and You give good health to us after we have done all that we can do. Lord, bless the dieting regime I am following, and bless all the exercises I do so that I can avoid getting diabetes. Amen.”
Conclusion
Do not forget that diabetes and heart disease are connected and so living a lifestyle that can help you to prevent developing diabetes can, ultimately , help you to avoid getting a heart disease.
And you can avoid developing diabetes by reducing your consumption of red meat or eliminating it totally from your diet, exercising every day, cutting down on your consumption of sugar or avoiding its consumption altogether, avoiding bad habits such as smoking, ensuring that you don’t become obese, and also by praying.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Do you have any tips to share? Share your wisdom with the world. Leave a comment.