Weight loss can be more challenging for people with diabetes due to insulin resistance. The body fights even harder than usual to hold on to the kilos. Here are some tips to help you shed just 2kg — a good way to get the ball rolling.
- Control portion sizes: It’s not practical or realistic to weigh and measure everything you eat. So pick one day a week to pull out your food scale and measuring cups and spoons to see if you’re eating the proper portions.”Our eyes grow with time,” says diabetes educator Hope Warshaw. “It’s easy to rationalize: But it’s just a little more.” To fine-tune your skills to eat proper portions, keep essential weighing and measuring tools on the countertop — a food scale that accurately weighs meats, fruits, and starches; measuring cups for starches, vegetables, and dairy items; and measuring spoons for fats, oils, salad dressings, and more.
- Distance yourself from tempting foods: If there are foods you just can’t stay away from — chips, ice cream, cookies — keep them out of your kitchen. If tempting foods are already in the cupboard, fridge, or freezer, toss them. And don’t use your spouse or kids as an excuse for keeping problem foods on hand. Help the whole family eat healthy. If someone else does the shopping, be sure to pass along the ban on tempting foods. “A lot of grandmas rationalize having candy and cookies around the house for their grandchildren,” Warshaw says. “Is that really what you want to feed them?” Challenge some of your preconceived notions and encourage Grandma to go healthy, too.
- Trim fat: Fats are the most concentrated sources of calories; find ways to cut just a little fat, including oils, here and there. The payoff can be big. For instance, instead of 2 tablespoons of regular salad dressing, use 1 tablespoon and dilute it with balsamic vinegar. That one move can cut 90 calories. “It’s not about following a diet, it’s about a tweak here or a tweak there,” says Warshaw. Those tweaks can add up to real changes.
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Diabetic Living is a one-stop health information source for the 1.7 million Australians who have Type 1, pre-Diabetes or Type 2 Diabetes. Backed by a team of medical experts, DL provides easy-to-understand health and exercise information along with delicious, dietician-approved recipes for everyone looking to lead a healthy life.