Hey guys,

I wanted to address an issue that is becoming an epidemic worldwide, diabetes. If you have recently been diagnosed you may be worried about its implications on your health or confused about how it can affect certain areas of your body such as your eyes, kidneys and the feet.

The good news is, if you are NOT currently using insulin, and have been recently diagnosed with a type 2 diabetes, chances are that you may be able to get your BSLs down to healthy level and head towards INSULIN SENSITIVITY!

Increasing your lean muscle mass, and decreasing your fat mass as in positive changes to your body composition will improve your ability to handle carbohydrates (read: sugar) more efficiently. Muscle is a more metabolically active tissue, so energy requirements and the sensitivity of insulin receptors are improved with more muscle tissue!

So, in other words, resistance training such as training with weights and HIIT exercise such as F45 and Tabata style workouts are optimal when it comes to not only fat burning but improving muscle building.

I will cover training in another post; but what you are all here for- nutrition hacks to improve your blood sugar levels and management.

1. Add healthy fats to meals

-Adding oils such as olive, macadamias, coconut and sunflower oils to meals will improve your Glycaemic Load of the meal

-Butter is NOT THE DEVIL – cook and consume with your vegetables!

-AVOCADO IS YOUR FRIEND TOO

-This does not mean putting coconut oil over your tim tams will make them healthy, it means that the insulin response will be blunted and the sharp spike that usually accompanies ingesting simple carbohydrates can be avoided

2. Eat your carbohydrates at night or post-exercise

-The body handles carbohydrates better at night, this is due to serotonin (a precursor to melatonin) production occurring in order to prepare for sleep

-Likewise, the muscles post-exercise will be depleted, ingest your carbohydrates then so that any carbs will shuttle to the working muscle and replenish glycogen stores

3. Glutamine and cream

-This is a trick that will curb carbohydrate cravings

-Ingest 10g glutamine mixed with 60ml of pure cream

-Carb cravings be gone!

4. Fish oil!

-This is one of the big players when it comes to fat loss and insulin health

-Starting recommendation would be 3-4g daily up to 10g

*May be contraindicated if you are on blood thinning medication or about to undergo any surgery*

-Supplement with a sustainably sourced one, and for everyones sake – get a burpless one (no fish burps= good socialising)

-Don’t get too invested in EPA/DHA ratio unless you want it for improved brain cognition

5. Vinegar and Lemon/Lime

-Acetic acid will improve your insulin sensitivity – by up to 20%

-Dress salads with Balsamic vinegar, or Vinaigrettes, Apple Cider Vinegar is also a great choice!

-Squeeze lemon on meals

-At least 15 mls seems to be the minimum effective does

-Consume pickled foods such as gherkins or kim chi – also fermented foods are great for gut health!

6. Green tea

-A few cups per day will be plenty – obviously no sugar added please

-Try to not add milk if you can

-Numerous studies highlight its effect on improved insulin sensitivity and increase metabolic rate

7. Healthy snacks

–Denada make super low carb icecream that is delicious (see @denada_co for stockists)

-Ketogenic snacks such as bacon wrapped cheese/meat/sausages etc.

-Nut butter + celery sticks = Great on the go snack

-Nuts; go for the most fat content such as Brazil, macadamias, walnuts, pistaschio

-Keto recipes are a must for people looking to watch their carb intake – plenty online snacks and meals

8. Consume high quality protein at every meal and limit simple carbohydrate intake

-Where possible free range, organic, sustainably farmed, MSA, RSPCA etc etc.

-Eat varied protein sources – eggs, kangaroo, beef, chicken, fish etc.

-Rule of thumb: Consuming a sick animal or one that was not fed its natural diet is not likely to be good for you

9. Consume magnesium (nightly with evening meal)

-Shown to have a positive effect on insulin receptors

-Helps with cramps and has a calming effect on muscles

-Improved sleep quality

-Consume chelates where possible – Magnesium Glycinate/Orotate/Fumarate as they have the best bioavailability

10. Limit fructose

-Fructose as found in fruits and in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup in many soft drinks does not often produce satiety and so is very easy to consume too much of

-Water is the perfect drink – aim for 3L #thirsty

-Limit soft drink consumption – not only does the Potassium Acesulfame ruin your gut bacteria, the acidity is not great on your teeth

-For when you don’t like water – kombucha is a great low sugar ‘soda’ – try Lo Bros or Remedy (points for gut health)

–Naked Sparkling drinks – natural sweetener – no effect of raising insulin

–Bai drinks – again a natural sweetener

-Sparkling water

11. Supplements

–Whey protein isolates, Hydrosylated Collagen

-Great for post workout and improving protein consumption

–Acetyl L-Carnitine

–Zinc/Vit D

-Alpha Lipoic acid

-Fenugreek see/extract

12. Eat leafy greens at each meal

-Broccoli, spinach, asparagus, bok choy, string beans, cucumber

-More colour the better

-Starchy and higher carbohydrate vegetables should be avoided where possible eg. potatoes, carrots

tl;dr

-HIGH PROTEIN, LOW CARB

-EAT MORE VEG

-WEIGHT TRAIN

-DRINK MORE WATER

-HEALTHY FATS

-MAGNESIUM & FISH OIL

If you wanted to discuss further or are worried about how diabetes can affect your feet, call 6558 8810 or book online here.