Reversing Prediabetes
Lifestyle changes can help avoid prediabetes and prevent/ delay progression from Prediabetes into diabetes
Losing weight (at least 5 to 10 percent of a person’s starting weight) can prevent or delay diabetes or even reverse prediabetes. We can lose weight by cutting down calories and fat in our diet and being physically active (>30 minutes/ day). Being physically active also makes our body’s insulin work better.
Eat foods with a low glycemic index – The glycemic index (GI) is a scale used to measure the effect of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels. Carbohydrates with a low (<55) GI value are more slowly digested, absorbed and metabolised and cause a lower and slower rise in blood glucose and, therefore insulin levels, helping to stabilize blood sugar. Low GI foods include most vegetables and fruits, whole grain breads, roti, pasta, legumes/pulses, milk, curd, peanuts etc. One can also eat most seafoods, pasture-raised poultry and grass-fed meats. A Prediabtetic must avoid foods with a high glycemic value, e.g. potatoes, white breads, white rice, popcorn, cornflakes, melon and pineapple.
Take the help of beneficial natural active substances in Herbs (Herbal Bioactives) to reduce inflammation, insulin resistance and free radical induced damage (reduces oxidative stress). Scientists have shown that many beneficial herbal bioactives can help normalise blood glucose levels naturally. These herbal bioactives reduce inflammation, insulin resistance and the free-radical induced damage (oxidative stress). Thus they can check Prediabetes from progressing to diabetes and prevent its health complications. These bioactives are not chemically produced medicines. Being herbal they are relatively free of side effects. Many such herbal bioactives have been clinically proven to be effective and safe and to help reverse Prediabetes. One such substance with proven anti-inflammatory, antioxidant (neutralises harmful free radicals) and antidiabetic properties is curcumin (natural bioactive found in turmeric). When taken by a person having prediabetes, Circumin delays the development of Type 2 diabetes, prevents damage to and improves the function of pancreatic cells which secrete insulin, and reduces insulin resistance. Scientific studies published in reputed journals have established that curcumin extract can help prevent diabetes development in the prediabetics with an additional reduction in body weight and waist circumference. However curcumin taken orally (as turmeric) is poorly absorbed and rapidly metabolized and eliminated from our body. Therefore, the antidiabetic benefits of curcumin are limited by its poor bioavailability.
Another highly effective herb proven to normalise blood glucose levels and with a long history of being used to prevent diabetic complications is Petrocarpus marsupium (Vijayasar)
Both these natural, safe and clinically proven herbal bioactives are helpful in normalising the blood glucose levels and checking the progression from Prediabetes to diabetes. However both these herbal bioactives must achieve effective levels in our body to be beneficial in protection from diabetes.
