3. Fill Up on Fiber
Fiber is another nutrient you’ll want to keep an eye on for blood sugar management, but in this case, the more the better! It can help stabilize your blood sugars, Crandall Snyder says. It also plays a role in weight management and can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a review published in September 2017 in Advances in Obesity Weight Management & Control.
Fiber plays a preventative role, too. Studies have found that high-fiber diets can reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 15 to 19 percent compared to low-fiber diets, according to a March 2018 study published in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine.
You’ll find fiber in plant foods such as raspberries, peas, and whole grains, according to the Mayo Clinic. Beans are another good source of fiber. People with type 2 diabetes who ate at least a cup of legumes (beans, chickpeas, and lentils) daily for three months had lower blood glucose levels as measured by the A1C test, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. (A1C is a way to measure your average blood glucose levels over a three-month period, according to MedlinePlus.) Beans also are an excellent source of folate, which is linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, a common diabetes complication, according to the National Institutes of Health.
4. Get More Quality Shuteye
Poor or limited sleep affects body chemistry, and getting more slumber helps with blood sugar control, Weisenberger says. Chronic lack of sleep may contribute to the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a small study published in Diabetologia in February 2015. Healthy volunteers who slept only four hours for three nights in a row had higher levels of fatty acids in their blood, which reduced insulin’s ability to regulate blood sugar by about 23 percent, the researchers found. Lack of sleep is also linked with other health conditions, including obesity, heart disease, and stroke, according to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
