What To Eat After A Prediabetes Diagnosis
A diagnosis of prediabetes isn't a life sentence to type 2 diabetes — think of it as probation. You have a chance to change your outcome, to fight the disease, and you don't have to feel restricted in your food choices even though you'll be making drastic changes in your diet.
Prediabetes affects about 79 million Americans and is diagnosed when blood-glucose levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. With this condition, you're more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and could already be experiencing diabetic issues.
But nothing's written in stone yet. By losing about 7 percent of your body weight and adding moderate exercise to your routine (e.g., briskly walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week), you can reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by 58 percent, according to the American Diabetes Association.
The following slideshow depicts the basic changes you need to make in your diet to lose weight and start making healthy food choices. Keep in mind, though, that you can have too much of a good thing. Your portion sizes are crucial in fighting diabetes. Eating too much of even the healthy stuff can affect your weight. Check out WebMD's guide to serving sizes here.
Also check out two books suggested by the ADA: Healthy Calendar Diabetic Cooking for $19.95 and What Do I Eat Now? for $17.95.
Click here for the What to Eat After a Prediabetes Diagnosis Slideshow.
— Melissa Valliant, HellaWella
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