Diabetes: how to lose weight

Overweight is associated with the appearance of diabetes and its complications. Here’s how to lose weight even when you’re already struggling with the disease.

When living with diabetes, the body does not produce or use insulin properly, the hormone that controls blood sugar, i.e. blood sugar levels.

This condition is closely associated with weight, so much so that at the time of diagnosis of type 2 diabetes many patients are overweight.

Not only that, recovering lost physical fitness can help prevent the onset of the disease. What’s more, losing weight can also reduce the risk of finding yourself struggling with its possible complications.

Small results for great benefits

To manage the situation it is not always necessary to lose a lot of weight: losing even a few pounds helps both to keep blood sugar under control and to lower the risk of other health problems.

However, as few as the pounds to lose may be, it is always good to go on a diet only after talking to your doctor, avoiding DIY.

In fact, ensuring an appropriate diet is essential to avoid dangerous changes in blood sugar levels, even when you are following a therapy based on hypoglycemic drugs or insulin.

The general principles

Not even for those with diabetes there are absolutely forbidden foods: the consumption of simple sugars (such as common table sugar and those present in sweets and confectionery) and saturated fats (more abundant in foods of animal origin) must be limited, but in general it is possible to eat a bit of everything, as long as in the right proportions.

This principle also applies to foods rich in carbohydrates (such as bread and pasta), whose intake must however be carefully calibrated, especially when you are on insulin therapy.

The whole grain ones – rich in fiber that help keep blood sugar under control – are to be preferred to the refined ones; Their consumption must be included in a diet rich in vegetables, other valuable sources of dietary fiber.

As for foods rich in protein, red and processed meats are better to prefer white meats (such as chicken and turkey, to be cooked without the skin), fish and legumes.

Finally, it is better to consume low-fat milk and dairy products, prefer condiments of vegetable origin and limit alcohol and salt consumption as much as possible.

The following table summarizes the indications of the Italian Society of Diabetology.

The diet to follow is therefore very similar to the recommended diet to protect your health even when you do not suffer from diabetes. However, if you want to lose weight it must be low-calorie, that is, provide fewer calories than you consume during the day. Only in this way, in fact, it is possible to dispose of the extra pounds.

Also from this point of view it is advisable to avoid DIY. In fact, thanks to the help of an expert it will be possible to understand not only how much to reduce portions, but also how to manage, consequently, the possible intake of drugs to avoid dangerous changes in blood sugar.

More active against diabetes

However, the fight against overweight does not only pass through nutrition, and to consume more energy than you ingest you can rely on another important ally: physical activity.

The basic advice for those who want to stay healthy is to practice at least 30 minutes of physical activity at least 5 times a week, but to lose weight it may take some extra effort.

Also in this case the best approach is to rely on the advice of your doctor, who will also know how to reconcile exercise with blood glucose measurements and the possible intake of insulin.