How to Lose Weight Safely as a Diabetic

People who suffer from diabetes and are overweight increase their risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and other problems. They also have a need for a much higher dose of insulin and may have trouble adjusting to a healthy diet or an exercise program because their blood sugar is so uneven that they often feel too tired or too weak. If you want to lose weight but have diabetes, there are some basic rules you need to follow.

Get your doctor's approval before starting a weight loss program. This is especially important if you are also exercising, as this will affect your glucose levels.

Don't fast, ever. Instead, plan your meals so you eat often but in small quantities. Fasting is extremely dangerous for a diabetic, especially if done frequently. Skipping meals is also bad for your waistline: when you avoid food for more than 3 hours, your blood sugar drops and your body actually holds on to fat as a defense mechanism.

Replace high-fat foods with their lower-fat alternatives. For example, switching to skim milk, skinless poultry or low-fat margarine can not only help you safely lose weight, but it will also protect your heart and reduce your chances of suffering other health problems.

Visit the website of the American Diabetes Association to learn more about safely dieting and exercising as a diabetic (see Resources below). The website will help you plan a diet, give you tips on what foods to avoid while trying to lose weight and teach you how to exercise safely.

Use artificial sweeteners or do without. If you have a sweet tooth, you can try some of the sugar-free desserts available for diabetic people at supermarkets and health food stores, but don't overdo it. While these foods will not raise your blood sugar too much (they do have a slight effect), they tend to be high in fat and lacking in fiber, so you may still have trouble losing weight if you consume too much of them.

Exercise. You will need to ask your doctor what activities are the best for your particular situation (which will take into consideration your age, overall health, how much insulin you take and other factors), but simple workouts that center on walking, biking or weight training can help with your weight loss goals while also stabilizing your blood sugar.

The Early Symptoms of Diabetes

The early symptoms of diabetes can be easily overlooked because many of them are mild or can be attributed to other health issues. If you are experiencing or have experienced one or more of the following symptoms, you should ask your doctor about testing for diabetes. Untreated diabetes can lead to serious health issues, including coma, blindness and death.

Increased Thirst/Hunger
An increase in thirst or hunger is an early symptom of diabetes, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Hunger and thirst are symptoms related to a decrease of insulin in the body. When the body's muscles and organs cannot process blood sugar into energy without insulin, the body believe it needs more food. The lack of insulin leads to increased sugar in the blood, which leads to excessive thirst.

Fatigue
The body's muscles and organs' ability to use blood sugar for energy is hindered because of a lack of insulin. Without the energy normally provided by blood sugar, a person with diabetes will tire more quickly and feel run down.

Unintended Weight Loss
The inability of the body to properly process blood sugar into energy leads to another early symptom of diabetes--unintended weight loss. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, without energy from blood sugar, the body begins to process fat and muscle tissue into energy. This can lead to weight loss unrelated to changes in activity or diet.

Increased Urination
The increase of blood sugar because of the lack of insulin is also the culprit for increased urination. In an effort to rid the body of excessive sugar, the work harder, increasing the need to urinate.

Blurry Vision
The excessive blood sugar levels can cause the eye's lens to swell and change shape, which can lead to blurry vision. Correcting blood sugar levels will eliminate this symptom. There are several reasons a person with diabetes may have blurry vision. However, most of these issues are related to long-term complications of diabetes and are not considered an early symptom.

How to Prevent Diabetes

As with any other medical condition, knowing how to prevent diabetes is worth much more than a pound of cure. Furthermore, since there is no known cure for diabetes-the sixth leading cause of death in the United States--taking steps to prevent the development of diabetes becomes even more critical. This is especially true if you have certain risk factors that make you a likely candidate for the disease.

Tips

1. Maintain a healthy weight. The majority of people diagnosed with diabetes (usually type 2) are overweight. Excessive weight and body fat, especially around the middle, increases your risk of developing diabetes.

2. Know your family history. Your chances of developing diabetes later in life increases if you have one or more family members with the disease. In addition, Native Americans, African Americans and Hispanics have a high rate of diabetes.

3. Stay physically active. Regular exercise can help to prevent diabetes by controlling weight and improving blood flow. Exercise is especially important if genetics put you at risk for developing the disease.

4. Eat a balanced diet, low in fat and sugars. Since diabetes involves an impairment in the body's ability to either produce or utilize insulin to convert sugars into energy, it's important to restrict the amount of glucose and starches consumed.

5. Get checked. Everyone over the age of 45 should schedule a blood glucose measurement test with their doctor every 3 years. However, if there are risk factors present, such as family history or obesity, regular testing should begin at an earlier age.

6. Monitor your blood pressure regularly and take steps to reduce it, if applicable. Approximately 73 percent of adults with diabetes also suffer from high blood pressure.

7. Increase your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables. Studies have shown that bioflavonoids, the pigments that lend fruits and plants their color, may stimulate insulin production and inhibit glycation, the process in which damaged glucose molecules bind with proteins to create advanced glycation end products, or AGEs. While most AGEs are harmless, others disturb molecular functioning and contribute to organ and nerve damage. To better understand how this occurs, remember that glycation is what causes food in the oven to brown.