Diabetes And Weight Loss-The Importance Of Weight Control

One of the biggest struggles that comes with living with diabetes is managing your weight.  It’s a double curse – the disease makes it tougher to keep your weight under control, even while the consequences of not doing so can be far more dire than in a person who isn’t diabetic.  It’s a heavy burden to bear, and many diabetics can get discouraged and give up the fight, and just let themselves go.  But that’s the road to an early grave, and you should do your best to avoid resignation.  Yes, diabetes and weight loss are tough to manage together, but it can be done.  Here are some tips.

First, you need to eat a healthy and balanced diet.  How many times have you heard that, but let it go in one ear and out the other?  The importance of eating lots of fruits and vegetables cannot be stressed enough.  We’re all supposed to be getting five or more servings a day from this category, but how many of us do it?  Unfortunately, not many of us.  But it’s even more important for diabetics.

Second, try to avoid, or at least cut way down, on diet drinks.  Yes, it’s true that they contain no sugar and no calories, but many studies have found that these drinks actually make you hungrier.  And that can create a vicious cycle – you drink diet sodas to lose weight, but you eat more and gain weight, and then you drink even more diet sodas, and eat even more, etc.  Having one every now and then is no problem, but if you’re drinking several day, that may be why you can’t keep the weight off.  Just remember – diabetes and diet drinks does not equal diabetes and weight loss.

Third, try new foods.  Of course, you’ll have to stick to your diabetic restrictions, but there’s still a lot of variety within those parameters.  But many people tend to eat the same few foods over and over.  And because that gets boring, they sometimes make up in volume what they’re lacking in variety.  So try new foods on a regular basis.

Fourth, get out and take a walk!  Always get your doctor’s approval, of course, before starting any exercise program.  But walking is almost always going to be approved by your doctor.  If it is, try to walk at least half an hour a day.  Many people find that walking right before supper act as an appetite suppressant.

So don’t give up on your goal of combining living with diabetes and weight loss.  It can be done, and it doesn’t mean depriving yourself.