What to eat for pre-diabetes?

The article was professionally consulted with Master, Doctor Vu Thi Duyen - Doctor of Nephrology - Endocrinology - Department of Examination & Internal Medicine, Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital.

When patients with pre-diabetes need to maintain a healthy and appropriate diet to minimize the risk of progressing to true diabetes. To this end, patients with prediabetes need to focus on a diet rich in unprocessed vegetables, seeds, and foods containing good fats that have little effect on the vessel walls.

A diet high in processed foods, high in fat, calories, and sugar increases the risk of prediabetes quickly becoming diabetes. Therefore to reduce the risk of this progression people with prediabetes should eat a combination of foods: Include low fat and low calories in your diet including:
Fruits with complex carbs. Vegetable. Lean. Nuts. Healthy fats like avocado and lots of fish. The pre-diabetes diet requires complex carbohydrates (unprocessed carbs like cracked rice are great). They are found in many vegetables, grains, and legumes. These carbs are rich in fiber, stay full for a long time, and are absorbed into the body at a slower rate. This helps prevent blood sugar spikes.
Drinking water is another great way to reverse pre-diabetes and prevent the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Drinking water every day helps keep blood sugar under control and it is also a healthy alternative to soft drinks and fruit juices (drinks containing a lot of sugar).

Bananas are a healthy, chemical-free food that is packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Therefore, people with pre-diabetes can still enjoy fruits like bananas as part of a healthy diet.
How to eat bananas for people with prediabetes to minimize the impact on blood sugar:
Watch portion sizes: Eat a smaller banana to reduce the overall sugar consumption in the meal. Choose bananas that are not too ripe so that the sugar content is slightly lower. Divide the right amount of fruit used throughout the day to reduce blood sugar and keep blood sugar stable. Eat bananas with other foods, such as nuts or full-fat yogurt, to help slow the digestion and absorption of sugar. Monitor blood sugar when eating sweet foods, including bananas to take measures to adjust.

People with pre-diabetes need to avoid or limit their intake of simple carbs that absorb quickly, causing blood sugar to spike, causing many complications, such as sweets, yogurt, honey, juices, and some types of diabetes. fruits like watermelon, grapes.
Refined carbohydrates also absorb quickly and should be limited or avoided such as white rice, bread, pizza, breakfast cereals, cakes, pasta.

Exercise can lower blood sugar by increasing insulin sensitivity, which helps the body's cells use insulin more efficiently.
According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), exercise can lower blood sugar up to 24 hours after exercise.
If you're just starting out in your exercise routine, you need to do light workouts for 15 or 20 minutes, then gradually increase the intensity and length of the exercise after a few days.
Ideally exercise 30 - 60 minutes, at least 5 days/week. Exercises include walking, cycling, jogging, swimming, aerobics, playing sports.

Losing 5 to 10 percent of your body fat can improve blood sugar levels and help reverse prediabetes.
The risk of insulin resistance is also increased if you have a large waist (90cm or more for women and 100cm or more for men).
Alternatively, you can eat 5 or 6 small meals a day, instead of 3 large meals.

Smoking also increases the risk of insulin resistance, pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
To stop smoking you can use over-the-counter products like nicotine patches or nicotine gum.
Alternatively, you can also ask your doctor about smoking cessation programs or prescription drugs that help reduce the urge to smoke.

Sleep apnea is associated with insulin resistance. Signs of sleep apnea include:
Loud snoring Gasping during sleep Choking in sleep Having a headache when waking up Sleep during the day You can use a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) ventilator or device breathing aid during sleep.

Dietitians can provide nutritional guidance and advice on what foods to eat and what to avoid.
They can help come up with a specific eating plan for your prediabetes and other necessary strategies to maintain a healthy, blood sugar-stabilizing diet.

After a period of time or lifestyle changes such as diet adjustments and active exercise, but blood sugar does not improve and does not reach the desired target, it is necessary to intervene with blood sugar control drugs. Metformin is the first drug of choice. This group has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes by up to 30%. It can also reduce cravings and lose weight. The starting dose is Glucophage 500 mg/day then gradually increased until blood sugar is controlled.

Pre-diabetes can progress to type 2 diabetes. Therefore, you need to follow up with an endocrinologist periodically for intensive monitoring and treatment. You can also refer to the signs of changes in the body that signal diabetes such as:
Urinating a lot, losing a lot of weight, craving a lot of food (a lot of hunger) Blurred vision, a lot of fatigue, a lot of thirst. Diabetes is a dangerous disease and can leave many complications, so when you are at risk of diabetes or have signs of pre-diabetes, you need to change your lifestyle, maintain an appropriate diet. Regular health check-ups, pre-diabetes diagnostic tests to detect disease status, early appropriate treatment regimen.
Hope the information in the above article will help pre-diabetic patients build a suitable diet, avoiding the risk of becoming diabetes. If you have difficulty in building a suitable diet, you can go to Vinmec International General Hospital to visit and receive the best advice from doctors and nutritionists.

Reference source: healthline.com