Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/924515
Page 38 | Abby's Magazine - www.AbbysHealthAndNutrition.com •Get adequate high-quality sleep every night. Insufficient sleep appears to raise stress and blood sugar, encouraging insulin and lep n resistance and weight gain. In one 10-year long study of 70,000 diabetes-free women, researchers found that women who slept less than five hours or more than nine hours each night were 34 percent more likely to develop diabetes symptoms than women who slept seven to eight hours each night. If you are having problems with your sleep, try the sugges ons in my ar cle "33 Secrets to a Good Night's Sleep." •Maintain a healthy body weight. If you incorporate the diet and lifestyle changes suggested above you will greatly improve your insulin and lep n sensi vity, and a healthy body weight will follow in me. Determining your ideal body weight depends on a variety of factors, including frame size, age, general ac vity level, and gene cs. As a general guideline, you might find a hip- to-waist size index chart helpful. This is far be er than BMI for evalua ng whether or not you may have a weight problem, as BMI fails to factor in both how muscular you are, and your intra- abdominal fat mass (the dangerous visceral fat that accumulates around your inner organs), which is a potent indicator of lep n sensi vity and associated health problems. •Incorporate intermi ent fas ng. If you have carefully followed the diet and exercise guidelines and s ll aren't making sufficient progress with your weight or overall health, I strongly recommend incorpora ng intermi ent fas ng. This effec vely mimics the ea ng habits of our ancestors, who did not have access to grocery stores or food around the clock. They would cycle through periods of feast and famine, and modern research shows this cycling produces a number of biochemical benefits, including improved insulin/lep n sensi vity, lowered triglycerides and other biomarkers for health, and weight loss. Intermi ent fas ng is by far the most effec ve way I know of to shed unwanted fat and eliminate your sugar cravings. Intermi ent fas ng has also been iden fied as a potent ally for the preven on and perhaps even treatment of demen a. Ketones are released as a byproduct of burning fat, and ketones (not glucose) are actually the preferred fuel for your brain. Keep up your intermi ent fas ng schedule un l your insulin/lep n resistance improves (or your weight, blood pressure, cholesterol ra os, or diabetes normalizes). A er that, you only need to do it "as needed" to maintain your healthy state. •Op mize your gut health. Your gut is a living ecosystem, full of both good bacteria and bad. Mul ple studies have shown that obese people have different intes nal bacteria than lean people. The more good bacteria you have, the stronger your immune system will be and the be er your body will func on overall. Fortunately, op mizing your gut flora is rela vely easy. You can reseed your body with good bacteria by regularly ea ng fermented foods (like na o, raw organic cheese, miso, and cultured vegetables). You CAN Prevent and Treat Diabetes You don't have to be a part of the diabetes epidemic that is taking place before your eyes; you merely need to make some lifestyle changes and be mindful about your habits. The changes, detailed above, will prevent you from heading down the diabetes path, and can be the U-turn you've been looking for if you're already insulin resistant or diabe c. None of these strategies are expensive or overly me-consuming. However, they do require a measure of honest reflec on and discipline. Now that you have an understanding of what diabetes really is and how it develops, you can steer clear of behavior pa erns that harm your health, and incorporate those that will enhance your quality of life. Again, type 2 diabetes involves loss of insulin and lep n sensi vity, which is easily preventable, and nearly 100 percent reversible without drugs, by addressing your diet and other lifestyle habits, such as exercise, sleep, and intermi ent fas ng. I suggest taking a lifestyle inventory to see where you might have room for improvement. For example: • Review your ea ng pa erns. How much sugar and sugar- forming carbohydrates are you ea ng daily? Is corn syrup a primary staple of your diet, hidden in the processed foods you buy on a regular basis? Are you spending your me in the middle