You Can Fight Diabetes and Win: How Diet and Exercise Can Help

If you hear the news that you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, you might become discouraged and defeated and wonder why you should even work to improve your health.

You’ll always have diabetes, right?

Maybe not. 

Here’s your hope: with the right diet and exercise, some cases of Type 2 diabetes are indeed reversible. At Phillips Family Medical, board-certified family nurse practitioner Pamela Phillips, PhD, FNP-C, and our expert team can build a customized plan for you to manage and even reverse your diabetes.

Here’s how we do it.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes occurs when your body doesn’t have enough insulin, a hormone that helps transform sugar into energy. Not enough insulin leads to high blood sugar levels, which can cause many serious health complications, including heart and kidney disease, vision loss, and more.

The two main types of diabetes include Type 1, which means your pancreas simply does not produce any insulin at all, and Type 2, in which your pancreas does produce insulin, but not at the levels you need to stay healthy (or your body stops responding to the insulin).

There’s no cure for Type 1 diabetes, and while a healthy diet and exercise are good for your overall health, they won’t improve your Type 1 diabetes. However, 90-95% of diabetes cases are Type 2 diabetes, which is preventable and reversible based on your lifestyle. 

How can you fight diabetes?

If you want to fight (and defeat) diabetes, you have two powerful weapons at your disposal: diet and exercise.

The food you eat greatly impacts your blood sugar levels, so here at Phillips Family Medicine we take a food-as-medicine approach to your nutrition. Because you’re taking insulin, the amount of carbs you consume is highly important, so you should carefully track the carbs in your food and drinks.

Plan to eat regular, balanced meals that avoid processed foods as well as foods high in carbohydrates, saturated fats, and salt. Stick with natural, superfoods such as healthy fats, whole foods, non-starchy vegetables, and protein-rich foods. Here’s one easy method for creating healthy meals to control your blood sugar.

When it comes to exercise, physical activity reduces your insulin resistance and lowers your blood sugar levels and blood pressure. You’ll also burn extra calories to help keep your weight in check. Here are a few tips on how someone who has diabetes can safely start a regular exercise routine.

Once you get your nutrition and activity to a healthy place, your body will respond in a positive way, reducing your diabetic symptoms.

If you’re ready to fight for this outcome, our team at Phillips Family Medical is ready to guide and support you. Our natural diabetes management is designed to return you to good health — without the use of medications.

To set up a consultation, call our DeSoto, Texas, office at 972-861-1151 or book your own time online with our convenient scheduler.