Diabetes Management: 5 Important Lifestyle Changes

In the United States, 34.8 million people live with diabetes. Diabetes leads to high blood sugar (glucose) because the body either doesn’t make or cannot properly use a hormone called insulin. Insulin, which comes from the pancreas, transfers glucose into cells for energy.

You can live a full life with diabetes, but you need to manage the disease. As a naturopathic and integrative medicine specialist, Laika Rodriguez, ND, helps people with diabetes control their blood sugar.

At Salem Wellness Clinic in Salem, Oregon, Dr. Rodriguez promotes healthy lifestyle changes for diabetes management. By implementing these changes, people with diabetes can reduce their blood sugar and avoid complications like neuropathy, kidney disease, and heart disease.

Here are five important lifestyle changes you can make to get your diabetes under control:

1. Stop smoking

You might already be aware of the harmful effects of smoking on your health. However, you might not realize it worsens diabetes, too. Smokers are 30-40% more likely than nonsmokers to develop diabetes. When you smoke, you’re more likely to experience complications like neuropathy and kidney disease.

Dr. Rodriguez encourages you to quit smoking and can offer support as you make the change.

2. Balance your diet

A healthy and balanced diet is essential for diabetes management and better health overall. It’s important to limit added sugars, fat, and sodium while centering the following food groups:

Fruits
Vegetables
Whole grains
Lean protein
Fat-free or low-fat dairy or soy alternatives

Making sustainable changes to your diet can be challenging yet rewarding. Dr. Rodriguez helps you build the foundation of a lifelong healthy diet to control your blood sugar and manage diabetes.

3. Add physical activity to your routine

A healthy diet plus regular exercise helps you manage your weight. This is an essential step in managing diabetes naturally.

Most adults should aim for around 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise weekly or 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise. If you have prediabetes, regular physical activity may help prevent the onset of full Type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Rodriguez can help you develop and follow an exercise routine that is appropriate for your current level of physical fitness.

4. Drink less alcohol

Reducing your alcohol consumption is a critical step in effective diabetes management. If you don’t want to stop drinking entirely, moderation is key. For diabetes management, aim to limit your alcohol intake to no more than two drinks a day for men or one drink a day for women.

5. Manage your stress

It’s important to find healthy outlets for your stress. A high-stress lifestyle might not cause diabetes directly, but it can worsen it.

When you’re stressed, your body is flooded with stress hormones, including adrenaline. One of adrenaline’s many effects is triggering the release of glucose from the liver into the bloodstream. Over time, this can affect your body’s ability to regulate glucose, which makes diabetes harder to manage.