What are the lifestyle modifications for diabetes remission? The guidelines for diabetes remission are to lose weight by expelling unnecessary body fat storage, choosing nutritious foods instead of empty calories, boosting activity levels, getting restful sleep better stress management, and quitting smoking-alcohol.
Check your Weight
Benefits of losing belly fat
Losing weight and fat storage in the body is the most important initial step for diabetes remission. First, you should know your ideal weight based on age, height, and weight. The original DiRECT study results showed that almost half (46%) of people with type 2 diabetes who received the weight management program were in remission.
How much weight do you need to lose to reverse type 2 diabetes? A person with prediabetes and excess body weight can reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 54% within three years by losing about 5% to 7% of their body weight. People who lost about 10% of their body weight decreased their risk of developing type 2 diabetes during the next 3 years by 85%.
Nutrition Behavior appraisal
What foods can reverse diabetes? Natural plant-based foods such as legumes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts, with no intake of sugar and refined foods, and limited intake of animal products—are considered beneficial for preventing, treating, and reversing type 2 diabetes.
Can I eat white flour (refined) every day?
What foods have white flour?
Which foods should you avoid? Bread, pasta, rice, cookies, cakes, pretzels, chips, muffins, crackers, pizza crust, pie crust, doughnuts, etc. made with white flour.
You should stop eating all of these highly processed, calorie-dense, white flour-based foods that have virtually no nutritional value.
Can curd, milk, and its derivatives be consumed daily in excess?
Avoid eating milk or its derivatives such as cheese and curd regularly in large quantities. An exception is a buttermilk, which you can take generously. Still, occasionally eating a little curd and cheese is okay.
Are you eating enough fruits and vegetables?
To get enough fruit in your diet, take 2 servings (1½ to 2 cups per day) of fruit. One serving is about the size of a tennis ball.
To get enough vegetables in your diet, take 3 servings (2 to 4 cups per day) of vegetables One serving is about the size of a tennis ball.
Fruits and vegetables are loaded with nutrients, fiber, and beneficial micro-organisms, which provide you with necessary nutrients, prebiotics (fiber), and probiotics (beneficial micro-organisms). Thus, fruits provide nutrients, a suitable intestinal environment, and friendly microbiota.
How much seeds/nuts should I eat daily?
To get enough nuts and seeds in your diet take one serving (approximately 30 grams or 1/3 of a cup or one handful per day).
Nuts and seeds are good sources of protein, healthy fats, fibers, vitamins, and minerals.
How many teaspoons of sugar/jaggery you are consuming per day?
Sugars contribute zero nutrients and are empty calories that can lead to obesity and numerous health hazards. Jaggery is less processed than most forms of sugar; still, it should only be used sparingly. Specifically, people with diabetes should avoid its use as much as possible.
What type of food style (carb content) are you in?
There are high-carbohydrate foods, moderate-carbohydrate foods, low-carbohydrate foods, and very low-carbohydrate foods. High-carbohydrate foods are not suitable for people with diabetes, so it is better to switch to a lower-carb diet of your choice.
Does your food contain fiber?
Women should eat 21 to 25 grams of fiber daily, while men should eat 30 to 38 grams daily.
Plant fiber is an indigestible substance that travels through our stomachs and intestines as it is. Fruit, vegetables, and whole-grain cereals are good sources of dietary fiber. The fiber keeps the digestive system healthy by proper evacuation and helps provide a suitable environment for beneficial microorganisms.
How many meals you are eating per day? 1, 2, 3, or more
Ancestor guide: Eat only when hungry, eat just 80 % of your appetite, avoid heavy meals after sunset, don’t drink (but can sip) water with a meal, don’t eat while stressed, and finish your meal at least 2-3 hours before bedtime.
During the digestive process, the purification on the cellular level is almost shut down. Thus, if you keep eating throughout the day, the cell's impurities stay longer, which creates various health problems over time.
Ayurveda says the number of meals you have in a day can make you a "Once Yogi (saint), Twice Bhogi (enjoyer), Thrice Rogi (diseased)" -- What should be the number of meals per day? This means godly people (or saint-like people) eat once a day. Normal Humans should eat twice a day. Those who are diseased or don’t mind being diseased can eat thrice or more a day.
Two Meals a Day and No Snacking in Between! Eating only twice a day can also provide the benefits of fasting. One should only eat in the Morning and Evening.
Three meals a day is a balanced lifestyle with a light breakfast, a big lunch, and a small dinner before sunset with 14 to 16 hours of intermittent fasting. However, those who eat 3 meals a day are people with health problems or someone who tends to get diseases quickly due to the accumulation of undigested metabolic waste over a period of time.
Ayurveda recommends two meals a day with a 6-hour gap between them which allows for proper full digestion, absorption, and assimilation of the nutrients. A 6-hour gap between both meals provides approximately an 18-hour gap without eating anything which is the ayurvedic way of intermittent fasting.
When you have optimum health and metabolism, then you will be able to adapt to a single meal per day with 23 hours of intermittent fasting. Such a person is called a “Yogi” capable of intense thoughts and enhanced intellectual and spiritual capabilities aided by the lightness of their body.
Are you a hurry eater; How many minutes do you take to complete your meal?
People should allow at least 20 minutes to eat a meal; preferably 30 minutes so the body has enough time to handle it.
As you chew your food more required digestive enzymes are produced. Additionally, it helps to break down food further to assist digestion. Chewing breaks down food and signals the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.
Chewing the food about 32 times before swallowing appears to be an average number preferable to most foods. Foods harder to chew, such as steak and nuts, may require up to 40 chews per mouthful. Food softer to chew such as watermelon may require just 10 to 15 chews. The point is not the numbers, but until the food is liquified with saliva and ready to drink instead of swallow.
Do you have the habit of fasting (not eating anything except water)?
Fasting is a centuries-old practice that is essential to many cultures and religions. Fasting helps to regulate blood sugar, reduce insulin resistance, reduce inflammation, normalize blood pressure, improve cholesterol, improve brain function, and help people lose weight.
What is intermittent fasting? Intermittent fasting is an eating plan that switches between fasting and eating. The 16/8 method is eating for 8 hours, then fasting for 16 hours.
We discussed this subject under “How many meals you are eating per day?”, so not required to elaborate on this any further.
Activity level measurement
How active your life is?
A sedentary lifestyle is a life with less than 5,000 steps daily. Low activity is about 5,000 to 7,499 steps daily. Somewhat active are those who do about 7,500 to 9,999 steps daily. Highly active are more than 10,000 steps daily.
Sitting or lying down for too long increases your risk of chronic health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. Too much sitting can also be bad for your mental health. You may have heard the saying, “Sitting is the new smoking.”
Physical activity refers to all bodily movement including transport to and from places, or as part of a person's work. Popular ways to be active include walking, cycling, sports, active recreation, and play.
Being physically active can improve your brain health, manage weight, reduce disease risk, strengthen bones and muscles, and improve your ability to do everyday activities.
Always start small that is easy to fit into your daily life and build up from there. For example: take the stairs instead of the lift or walk up escalators when you get the chance, try walking to the school, stand rather than sit when you can (while on train or bus journeys), get off the bus at a stop or two early and walk the rest, and park your car a little away and walk the rest.
Are you doing regular physical exercise (aerobic exercise)?
Aerobic exercise is a physical activity that uses your body's large muscle groups, in rhythmic and repetitive ways. It increases your heart rate and oxygen. Aerobic exercises include walking, cycling, swimming, running (or jogging), and stair climbing.
The benefits of aerobic exercise are weight loss, increased stamina, immunity boost, lower health risks, stronger heart, better mood, and increased longevity.
The optimal amount of aerobic exercise for you is 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobics or 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobics per week.
Are you doing strength training?
Strength, weight, or resistance training is a physical activity that exercises a specific muscle or muscle group against external resistance such as free weights, weight machines, or your own body weight.
Strength training makes strong bones, builds muscles, burns more calories, weight loss, boosts energy, improves mood, and strengthens the cardiovascular system.
Do just two or three 20 to 30-minute strength training sessions per week.
Rest (Sleep) Evaluation
How many hours of sleep do you get per day?
Most healthy adults need 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night, below is considered sleep deprived and above is considered excess. Prioritize getting enough sleep each night to stay happy, healthy, and sharp mind.
Infants, young children, and teenagers should get more sleep to support growth and development. Infants of 4 to 12 months need 12 to 16 hours (including naps) and adults (18 years and older) require 7 to 8 hours of sleep.
Sleeping less than 5 hours or over 8 hours a night is unhealthy and increases blood sugar levels. So, getting enough restful sleep can help to normalize your blood glucose level. If the sleep disturbance is the cause of your high blood glucose level, then restoring restful sleep can help reverse diabetes.
Many with uncontrolled high blood sugar even after medicine, exercise, and insulin treatment; then most probably they are sleep deprived, and treating their sleep disorder can help normalize their blood sugar level.
How restful is your sleep?
Good sleep quality is defined as the ability to fall asleep within 30 minutes, wake up no more than once per night, able to fall asleep within 20 minutes when waking up in the night and sleep for the recommended hours as per your age group.
To gauge restful sleep by the next day’s freshness, energy, briskness, alertness, and overall satisfaction.
Do you experience daytime fatigue (tiredness)?
Feeling tired, sluggish, or mentally off the next day are the most common symptoms of restless sleep. This indicates you are sleep-deprived and to improve your quality, quantity of sleep, or both.
Fresh, brisk, energetic, active, mentally alert, and sharp mind on the next day are the symptoms of proper restful sleep. This indicates you are getting enough quantity and quality of sleep your body needs.
Stress level estimate
How stressful (grief, or fear) your life is?
When you experience challenges (stressors), your body produces physical and mental responses called stress. Your body uses the stress response to adapt to the new circumstances. Stress can be positive; it keeps us alert, and motivated and prepares us to avoid danger.
The “fight-or-flight response” helps the body to handle stressful situations. The body’s autonomic nervous system increases heart rate, breathing, vision changes, and more to better energize the body to cope with the satiation (stress).
Stress causes the body to release hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which may contribute to insulin resistance. Ongoing stress may lead to high blood sugar levels.
When a person has long-term (chronic) stress, continued activation of the stress response causes wear and tear on the body, which is considered to be negative to your health.
How effectively you are managing your stress?
Everyone reacts differently to the stressful situation. Learning how to cope with stress can help our mental and physical well-being.
One easy and best way to manage stress is to avoid unnecessary stresses, learn to adapt to the stressor and accept the things you can't change.
Additional lifestyle evaluation
Daily exposure to sunlight (to get vitamin D)?
Spending time under the sun may be the cheapest and easiest way to prevent diabetes. Vitamin D plays a role in insulin production (the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels).
Several studies have shown a positive association between insulin resistance and vitamin D deficiency. The lower your levels of vitamin D, the more prone you are to develop type 2 diabetes.
Sun sensitivity varies from person to person, skin color, the latitude of the location, and the time of the day. Most experts agree that for those at risk of diabetes, 30 minutes of daily exposure to sun on your arms, face, and hands is adequate and safe.
Exposure to sunlight in the early morning and darkness in the night helps to maintain the hormonal balance. The Penial gland is the master gland in charge of all the hormonal activity in the whole human body. The penial gland is directly linked with the eye activated by the sunlight; which maintains the circadian rhythm.
Are you a smoker?
Active smokers have a 30–40% higher risk of developing diabetes. The risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked. The more cigarettes you smoke, the higher your risk for type 2 diabetes. No matter what type of diabetes you have, smoking makes your diabetes harder to manage.
People with diabetes who smoke are more likely than those who don't smoke to have trouble with insulin dosing and managing their condition.
Studies have shown that insulin can become more effective at lowering blood sugar levels eight weeks after stop (quit) smoking.
Are you an alcohol drinker?
Alcohol can interfere with blood sugar levels. People with diabetes should try to sip drinks slowly and not drink on an empty stomach.
Excessive alcohol consumption can reduce the effectiveness of insulin. Over time, excessive alcohol consumption can reduce the overall effectiveness of insulin resulting in high blood sugar. This is because the liver has to work hard to remove the alcohol from the blood instead of managing blood sugar levels.
Moderate drinking is a maximum of one drink per day for women and two drinks for men. One drink is 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or 1.5 ounces of spirits.
It is always better to stop drinking and if it is not possible at least limit the consumption to the least in steps.