7 POINTS TO REMEMBER:

Adopt a healthy lifestyle. Exercising regularly and eating.

Healthily is the first line of defence when it comes to preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes, especially if you have it in your genes.  If you do have diabetes, you should be following the same healthy

Eating plan as everyone else because a special ‘diabetes diet’ no longer exists. However, you do need professional help when it comes to planning your meals. A registered dietician offers the following tips:

1. Aim to eat small frequent meals to help control appetite and blood-glucose levels.  Eat three meals each day, with small snacks in between.
2. Eat the right starch Avoid low-fibre, refined carbohydrates such as white bread, pastries, biscuits, refined cereals and sugar.  Chose wholegrain, high-fibre starches that have a lower glyceamic index, for example seeded wholegrain breads, baby potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, brown rice, quinoa and rolled oats.
3. Include adequate amounts of fibre as well as soluble fibre, in your diet.  You’ll get this from fruit, wholegrains, lgumes and vegetables. Soluble fibre has a protective effect on heart health by reducing cholesterol levels.
4. Include unsaturated fats, for example nuts, seeds, avocado, olive and canola oil instead of saturated fats found in butter, full-cream dairy products, fatty meat, chicken skin.  This will help to control cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of heart disease. Omega-3 fatty acids have been proven to lower triglyceride levels in people with diabetes which is why two or more servings of fish, such as pilchards, sardines, salmon or mackerel, are recommended each week.
5. Drinking alcohol in excess leads to imbalances in blood-sugar control. If you choose to drink alcohol, drink in moderation.
6. Regular physical activity helps to improve blood-glucose levels and also assists with weight loss.
7. Achieve and maintain a healthy body weight. If you are overweight or obese, modest weight loss has been shown to improve insulin resistance, a condition where the cells of the body become resistant to the effects of insulin which means that higher levels of insulin are needed. Consult a dietician to achieve this.

Diabetes will kill more than four million people across the globe this year.  It is a disease that anyone, at any age, can develop, and it requires lifelong care and control. Diabetes is for life, but good management and regular testing could help you prevent the development of full-blown type 2 diabetes.