Weight gain is a common enemy for most diabetics who take insulin. Once you start taking insulin, you may find yourself gaining weight even if you don't eat more. To keep the extra pounds from piling on, you'll need a strategy of determination, diet and exercise.
Instructions
Comprehensive strategy
1. Watch your calories carefully, but don't starve yourself. You can eat plenty of high-nutrient, low-calorie foods like fresh fruits and vegetables. Trim your calories down by adding a salad or broth-based soup before meals and skipping the bread.
2. Spread out your meals. Eat every meal including breakfast and low-cal snacks between meals to keep your blood sugar levels even and your energy high. Skipping meals can encourage weight gain, but frequent meals will make you feel full with fewer calories.
3. Get most of your carbs from nutrient-dense vegetables and high-quality grains. Pass on white bread and white rice, limit the root vegetables (like potatoes and carrots) and reach for the whole grains.
4. Include protein and omega-3 fatty acids at every meal, including snacks. Omega-3 essential fatty acids can be found in fish, nuts and beans. A great snack, for example, is half a pear and 10 walnuts, or half a cup of plain yogurt with almonds and raspberries.
5. Get lots of fiber. Most people just don't get enough fiber in their everyday diet, but fiber is essential for healthy digestion. Getting enough fiber for your age and gender will help you clean the toxins out of your body and leave you feeling less bloated.
6. Regular exercise will help in many ways. You'll lose weight, feel better and think better, so you're liable to be more productive (and as a result, you might even make more money). All you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle is 30 minutes a day, but you must do it religiously.
7. Try other medications. If you can't keep your weight down, consult with your doctor about metformin or Byetta. Adding those medications may allow you to reduce the amount of insulin you use or even stop using it, if you are a type 2 diabetic--only with your doctor's permission, of course. These medications help promote weight loss in most people, but both have side effects that can be intolerable for some, and Byetta is quite expensive.
8. Take your insulin as directed. Don't cut back on your medications to lose weight. It's just too risky. Complications from extended high blood sugar can be life threatening and include poor circulation leading to amputation, heart disease, coma and death.
Tags: blood sugar, enough fiber, every meal, every meal including, fatty acids