5 Amazing Ways to Manage Diabetes with the Setpoint Diet
The Setpoint Diet helps you manage diabetes by addressing and resolving the underlying cause of diabetes. Once this is done, managing diabetes is easy. In fact, if you have type 2 diabetes, you may even reverse it by following the Setpoint Diet.
Causes of Diabetes and How the Setpoint Diet Can Help
There are two basic types of diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes: An autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the pancreatic cells. As a result, the pancreas produces little or no insulin, and a type 1 diabetic must take insulin. Though there is no cure for type 1 diabetes, it can be managed by dietary and lifestyle changes. Only about 5 percent of the population has type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes: A disease in which the cells become resistant to insulin. The pancreas usually produces enough insulin, especially in the early years of the disease, but the body cannot properly use it. Type 2 diabetes is generally managed by dietary and lifestyle changes, but if those aren’t effective, taking insulin is required.
As type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, it is the one discussed in this article.
Though a family history of diabetes increases your risk of this disease, diet and lifestyle habits are equally important.
According to the Mayo Clinic, some of the risk factors for type 2 diabetes include:
- Excess weight: Studies have shown that an increase in fatty tissue increases insulin resistance.
- Leading a sedentary lifestyle: The lack of physical activity can make your cells resistant to insulin, and it promotes weight gain.
- Family history: If a parent or sibling has type 2 diabetes, your risk for developing this disease increases significantly.
- Race: Certain races – such as African American, Hispanics, and American Indians are at greater risk of diabetes.
- Age: Your risk of diabetes increases with age.
Though you cannot do anything about some of the risk factors for type 2 diabetes, such as family history and age, you can make changes in your diet that will reduce your chances of type 2 diabetes, or help your manage this disease. The Setpoint Diet will help you do just that.
Using the Setpoint Diet to Manage Diabetes
Following the Setpoint Diet is a great way to correct your blood sugar control issues. The plan is easy to remember, and you can implement the principles a little bit at a time. With the Setpoint Diet, you’ll learn easy and tasty ways to manage diabetes.
And you can do it with five easy tips, all of which helps lower your setpoint weight.
Setpoint Weight and Diabetes
The five dietary principles below heal your hormones and lower your setpoint weight. This is important because approximately 85 percent of diabetics are also obese. And obesity is the biggest risk factor for type 2 diabetes. This is because they are both symptoms of the same metabolic disorder: the body’s inability to use insulin properly. Obesity and type 2 diabetes are interrelated, and they can both be treated and healed with diet.
Since being overweight or obese creates insulin resistance, you will never be able to manage your diabetes unless you manage your weight. You’ll also never be able to lose weight long-term unless you lower your setpoint weight.
The setpoint weight is that number on the bathroom scale your body tries to keep you at. It’s the level of fat your hormones tell your metabolism your body needs. If you have a weight problem, you likely have a hormonal clog preventing your hormones from sending correct messages to your metabolism. If you go on a crash diet, your body will fight every pound you try to lose because it thinks you’re starving. When you go off the diet, you’ll gain every pound back, plus an additional few pounds as added insurance against the next famine.
One of the biggest causes of a hormonal clog is making unhealthy dietary choices. Luckily, you can correct this with the Setpoint Diet. Here’s how to do it.
1. Eat Lots of Non-Starchy Veggies
On the Setpoint Diet, you’ll eat at least 10 servings of non-starchy vegetables a day. (Non-starchy vegetables are ones you could eat raw, if you wanted to. Think salad vegetables, such as spinach and onions.) Non-starchy vegetables are loaded with fiber, which bulks up in your stomach, filling you up fast. It also slows the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream, helping keep your blood sugar levels steady.Eat
2. Nutrient-Dense Protein
On the Setpoint Diet, you’ll enjoy 3-5 servings a day of mouth-watering seafood, lean meats, grass-fed beef, chicken and more. Research shows that protein consumption sends signals to the short- and long-term satiety hormones, meaning that protein fills you up fast and keeps you full longer. Plus, eating protein has no effect on your blood sugar, which really helps you manage your diabetes.
3. Eat Whole-Food Fats
Contrary to popular belief, eating fat does not make you fat. You will enjoy 3-5 servings of whole-food fats on Setpoint Diet. Eating whole-food fats – such as avocado, almonds, and flax seeds — are satiating, which prevents you from overeating. Studies have shown that ingesting fats does not affect blood sugar levels.
4. Eat Low-Fructose Fruits
You are free to round out your meal with a serving of low-fructose fruits, such as acai berries, grapefruit, and blueberries. The Setpoint Diet recommends that you eat no more than 3 servings of low-fructose fruits per day. Eating low-fructose fruits instead of those higher in fructose, such as apples and bananas, will help keep blood sugar levels stable.
5. Avoid Added Sugar
Ingesting sugar has been shown, in many studies, to cause insulin resistance. It also increases blood glucose levels, which can make managing diabetes very difficult. The only way you can avoid added sugar is to avoid processed foods, and that includes sodas and other sweetened beverages. But going on the Setpoint Diet doesn’t mean your sweet tooth will never be satisfied again. There are many natural sweeteners, such as Stevia, that do not affect your setpoint weight or your blood sugar levels. You can substitute Stevia for sugar in any dessert, and it will be completely SANE!