Are you concerned about developing diabetes or have been diagnosed with diabetes? You are not alone. Almost 1.9 million Australians are currently living with diabetes. It is the 7th most common cause of death in Australia. There are lifestyle factors which you can implement to help prevent and manage this disease.
Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented and is an autoimmune disease. The body attacks its own cells which produce insulin, called beta cells, which are found in your pancreas. As a result, the body is not able to take in sugar from the blood into the cells.
In contrast, another type of diabetes called type 2 diabetes happens when you develop a certain level of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when your body decreases its ability to respond to insulin. After insulin resistance increases to a certain level, you are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Your genetics do influence your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. There is good news though, as this type of diabetes can largely be prevented through your lifestyle choices. If you do have diabetes your lifestyle choices also matter to reduce your risk of developing complications from this condition. One of these lifestyle factors are your diet choices.
Your diet plays a key role in managing your blood sugar levels to stay within your target ranges in both the short term in a single meal and the long term such as over 3 months. A measure of this period of time can be testing your HbA1c which measures the amount of sugar attached to your red blood cells in your body. It can measure how much glucose is staying in your blood over a longer period of time.
Your diet also plays an important role in protecting your heart and blood vessels. Your diet, specifically your choices of fat and carbohydrates play a major role in influencing the ratio of different cholesterol types in your blood. Your diet also plays a major role in helping your blood pressure stay within a healthy level by including a range of plant-based foods which are good sources of potassium. Potassium helps to lower your blood pressure levels. Also, limiting added salt in your diet which can raise your blood pressure levels.
Achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight is impacted heavily by your diet. Understanding your individual food group needed for health and how to structure your diet to achieve these needs is important. If you are not sure of your needs the best professional to seek support from is an Accredited Practising Dietitian. An Accredited Practising Dietitian can help to tailor a way of eating to help you to enjoy your food as well as meet your individual needs.
Diabetes remission is a hot topic in the media. Diabetes remission can be defined as ‘Remission of type 2 diabetes is generally thought of as being able to maintain hemoglobin A1c (HbAc1) levels below a certain threshold without any antidiabetic therapy.’ (1) This largely is impacted by weight loss and your ability to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. The ability to sustain this remission is still being investigated and the ability to maintain this in the long term is still largely unknown.
The low carbohydrate diet is a common strategy to help improve blood sugars. If you are following a standard low carbohydrate diet, excluding the ketogenic diet this will include around 50g-130g carbohydrate a day. This can be an effective but restrictive type of eating and being able to follow this style of eating in the long term can be a limiting factor to long term sustainability of this style of eating.
You do not need to follow a low carbohydrate diet to maintain healthy blood sugar levels. Including enough protein, dietary fibre and healthy fats can promote a slower release of sugar from your blood. Removing all carbohydrates from your diet is not necessary. It comes down to the type of grain foods your select e.g. refined grains like white bread or wholegrain bread, refined crackers, or wholegrain crackers. Incorporating fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats not only can help with healthy blood sugar levels but also promote heart health.
Enjoying a greater variety of foods and a less restrictive eating pattern can also give your body more nutrients which can promote your optimal health. These includes vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and antioxidants.
Take home message: Your lifestyle choices matter. How you eat can impact your risk of developing diabetes and to decrease your risk of developing type 2 diabetes complications.
References:
- Holst JJ, Madsbad S. What is Diabetes Remission? Diabetes Ther. 2021 Mar;12(3):641-646. doi: 10.1007/s13300-021-01032-y. Epub 2021 Feb 20. PMID: 33609265; PMCID: PMC7947138.
- HbA1c test. Health Direct. https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/hba1c-test. 1/5/2024
- Episode 37 – What’s the best diet for diabetes prevention and management? Nuts for Life. https://www.nutsforlife.com.au/resource/episode-37-whats-the-best-diet-for-diabetes-prevention-and-management/. 1/5/2024
- Lean MEJ, Leslie WS, Barnes AC, Brosnahan N, Thom G, McCombie L, Peters C, Zhyzhneuskaya S, Al-Mrabeh A, Hollingsworth KG, Rodrigues AM, Rehackova L, Adamson AJ, Sniehotta FF, Mathers JC, Ross HM, McIlvenna Y, Welsh P, Kean S, Ford I, McConnachie A, Messow CM, Sattar N, Taylor R. Durability of a primary care-led weight-management intervention for remission of type 2 diabetes: 2-year results of the DiRECT open-label, cluster-randomised trial. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2019 May;7(5):344-355. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(19)30068-3. Epub 2019 Mar 6. PMID: 30852132.
- Hocking SL, Markovic TP, Lee CMY, Picone TJ, Gudorf KE, Colagiuri S. Intensive Lifestyle Intervention for Remission of Early Type 2 Diabetes in Primary Care in Australia: DiRECT-Aus. Diabetes Care. 2024 Jan 1;47(1):66-70. doi: 10.2337/dc23-0781. PMID: 37840461; PMCID: PMC10733653.
- Wang Y, Liu B, Han H, Hu Y, Zhu L, Rimm EB, Hu FB, Sun Q. Associations between plant-based dietary patterns and risks of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality - a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutr J. 2023 Oct 4;22(1):46. doi: 10.1186/s12937-023-00877-2. Erratum in: Nutr J. 2024 Jan 4;23(1):6. PMID: 37789346; PMCID: PMC10548756.
