Diabetes Weight Loss
Diabetes weight loss is a crucial part of your overall diabetes control. But have you noticed how weight loss is difficult, in fact weight gains can sometimes seem to just sneak up on you?
And it happens for all sorts of reasons; eating a little (or a lot) more; being a little (or a lot) less active; eating the same amount but the wrong types of food; poor blood-sugar control and sometimes just a change in medication. All impact on the weight we carry.
Over the last couple of years I've slowly gained about 28 pounds in weight. It was only when I was thinking about what to write for this page that I realized why it had happened. I ate pretty much the same as always but my daily activity has changed. Previously I was on my feet all day coaching. It wasn't an intensive exercise regime, just strolling up and down the room whilst helping my delegates, but it obviously helped my diabetes weight loss. Over the last couple of years my main activity has been sitting in front of my computer writing articles and marketing material. So the majority of the time, I'm now sat down. I'm not exercising as I should be.
That's how easy it is to start gaining slow weight increases without even realizing what is happening until one day, you get on the scales and it suddenly hits you. You are on your way to obesity if you don't put a stop to it.
Weight gain is not only dangerous for diabetics. People who are in the pre-diabetes stage or are not even at that stage, could be creating a future problem for themselves because one of the greatest contributors to the type 2 diabetes epidemic is reckoned to be obesity brought on by our modern lifestyles.
Probably the worst culprit is how and what we eat. Eating the wrong types of foods, with high carbohydrate content, does not help our diabetes weight loss. Are you eating yourself into diabetes type 2?
4 Eating Habits Contribute to Weight Gain...
Check if you have these 4 eating habits that could contribute to obesity and possibly make you part of the type 2 diabetes epidemic...
- Unconscious eating... No, I don't mean 'sleep-eating' (I wonder if there is such a thing?) I'm talking about automatic eating without any conscious thought to what is happening. How often do you do something else whilst eating? Watching TV; reading a book; reading a magazine or newspaper; listening to music, a radio show or conversation? If you're anything like me it's probably a rare occasion when you just sit and have a meal, without interruptions.
A recent study carried out by Penn State laboratory showed pre-school children, who consistently watch TV whilst eating, ate up to 33% more than they did when they had a meal without the TV on. How much extra do you eat, without realizing it, because you are absorbed in a book or TV program?
- Eating speed... Ever finished your meal before others? Ever bolted your food down and then felt bloated afterwards? In a Sky TV program Paul McKenna (the famous hypnotherapist) explained how the simple act of slowing down whilst eating; putting your knife and fork down between mouthfuls, can contribute to diabetes weight loss. Think about it, if you're eating more slowly you'll know when you are full. You won't continue eating and get that uncomfortable bloated feeling. And you won't put extra weight on.
Watching that program gave me an 'Aha!' moment, because that's exactly what my father has done all his life. It's a standing joke in the family that he takes so long to eat a meal - he often finishes half-an-hour after everyone else. And guess what? Yep - he's as skinny as a rake. Wish I could say the same about me!
- Snacking... Are you really hungry when you snack? Or is it that you "just fancy a bite to eat"? Snacking is probably one of the biggest contributions to weight gain. It's not so much the snacking, it's what you snack on! Cookies /biscuits, chocolate, cakes, snack bars - all these contain massive amounts of sugar that increase the burden on our immune system.
If you overload your system with sugar it may not cope, you could end up with insulin resistance and that leads to type 2 diabetes. And for diabetics snacking on the wrong foods does not help their dibetes weight loss program. Healthy, no added sugar or sugar free snacks are the best options if you MUST snack.
- Sugary drinks... Do you have a favorite soft drink? If you do, is it a sugar-sweetened drink or a concentrated sugar-rich fruit juice? And, on a hot day, how much do you drink of that favorite? Half-a-liter? One liter? It's all added sugar, which not only impacts on your weight, it also impacts on your body's control of the sugar levels in your blood.
In a recent medical study in the US the results indicated that having just one sugar sweetened drink of fruit juice every day made women more susceptible to becoming part of the type 2 diabetes epidemic, by up to 80%.
Are Carbohydrates Your Downfall?
If you are already diagnosed as diabetic these 4 'habits' are a killer for your own diabetes weight loss. You see, too many carbohydrates can be the insidious culprit to weight gain. And if you have a craving for sweet foods, which are choco-block full of the wrong type of carbohydrates, cutting them out can be tortuous. It is so easy to get addicted to the foods that contain these carbs, because they taste just great! You can reduce your cravings though - and not just with will-power.
Just stopping for a moment and taking a conscious decision about what you are eating or drinking helps you to control your blood-sugars, which in turn helps your diabetes weight loss, which in turn makes blood glucose levels easier to control. Do you see the cycle pattern here? It is all interlinked. But if you do need some extra help with your diabetes weight loss check this product out to help you reduce your carbohydrate cravings.
And find out more about what your diabetic meals should include to help with your diabetes weight loss and check the delicious diabetic recipes here.
Good News... Here's how you can enjoy a sweet treat without feeling guilty or putting weight on...
Missing the taste of cookies or sweet maple syrup because you have to watch the sugar and fat you consume?
Try the genuinely delicious taste of these fat and sugar-free treats created by a diabetic for diabetics. Josephs Lite Sugar and Fat-Free Cookies & Syrups