Thirty million children and adults nationwide have diabetes, and 86 million have pre-diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA).
November is National Diabetes Month, and an excellent opportunity to take steps to decrease your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Being overweight is a leading risk factor for Type 2 diabetes; the good news is, losing just 7 percent of your body weight can decrease that risk by 58 percent, according to the ADA.
Cutting back on sugar
Before getting started, it’s important to remember that many healthy foods naturally contain sugar, a carbohydrate your body burns for energy. Processed sugars are different in that they add calories that provide no nutritional benefit and, at excessive levels, disrupt human metabolism and can pose serious health risks.
The USDA’s dietary guidelines recommend that added sugar account for less than 10 percent of your daily calories – that’s a maximum of 50 grams a day for average women and 62.5 grams for men. There are roughly 4.5 grams of sugar in a teaspoon. To keep your sugar consumption in the healthy range, dietitian Courtney McCormick, offers the following tips:
• Hold the ketchup. You know baked goods and candy are loaded with added sugar, but so are many foods you may not think of as especially sweet. A tablespoon of ketchup, for instance, has four grams of sugar. Salsa, barbecue sauce, spaghetti sauce and even bread are also hidden sources of sugar.
• Sweeten with spices. Replace sugar in coffee, hot cereal and other foods with spices that have a naturally sweet taste, such as vanilla, cinnamon and cardamom.
• Flavor your water. A 12-ounce can of soda has as much as 40 grams of added sugar. Skip the soda and drink water sweetened with fresh fruit and herbs, like strawberries and basil or lime and mint.
• Go back to the basics. The fruit in the bottom of your yogurt can come with 25 or more grams of added sugar. Buy plain yogurt and add your own fresh or dried fruit.
• Snack on fruit. One cup of blueberries has seven grams of natural sugar to satisfy your sweet tooth, but the fruit also comes with fiber to help you feel full and slow the breakdown of the sugars, so you don’t crave more calories soon after eating it.
• Bake with applesauce. Eating fewer baked goods is sure to reduce your sugar intake, but when the occasion calls for making a cake, replace a third of the sugar in the recipe with an equal amount of unsweetened applesauce.
• Eat right and often. When you’re hungry, you crave calories, often leading to sugary snacking. Reduce between-meal munching by eating healthy, filling foods four to six
times a day.
This National Diabetes Month, make small swaps to reduce your sugar intake and more easily manage your weight.
Courtesy of StatePoint
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